A Legal View On England’s Second Goal
England did score a second goal last night, but the officials didn’t give it. It was just one mistake of many they made and they weren’t all against England.
Yesterday, I was having lunch when the goal was scored, with a judge. I asked her about the rules of evidence. For instance, if you setup a camera to see who was nicking your garden gnomes, would that be evidence in court. The answer is yes, so in a court of law, that was a goal, as clearly the ball crossed the line on the video replays.
How long can FIFA carry on their rediculous stance, that there should be no video evidence on important decisions? After all, cricket, tennis and rugby have used the technology for years and it can be argued that it has improved those games by adding not just fairness, but drama as well.
I do wonder though, that this goal could be a turning point. It must worry the major leagues in England, Spain, Germany and Italy, where so much could turn on a wrong decision, that it could be in their interests to introduce the technology for league matches. After all, supposing Frank Lampard had scored that goal for Chelsea and not giving it, had cost them a Champions League place. Would a British court rule in Chelsea’s favour? Not sure, but remember that in the end Sheffield United won compensation from West Ham over the Tevez Affair.
What would FIFA do if the major leagues went it alone? Probably throw those counties out. That could be a good thing for football, as we’d then hopefully get a new breakaway independent organisation to replace FIFA without the old farts and their dubious and rather odd decisions.
But remember this goal wouldn’t have made any difference, as England were so bad!
I also saw that the standard of the officials in the other game was bad, as one Argentine goal was offside.
So another thing FIFA must do is to allow professional referees only at the World Cup. Perhaps too, they should have officiated in say 50 matches in a major league. I suspect if that were to be the case, then the best officials would be recruited to the major leagues, no matter where they came from. That would be another good idea, as the standard of refereeing is not what it was in the English leagues and there is a need for some competent new blood.
Sir Alf Will Be Turning In His Grave
If you thought Algeria was bad, then today’s match against Germany was even worse!
You pay a manager £6,000,000 a year and the team serves up this tripe! So I know the first head to roll.
I suspect though the old farts at the FA will duck the decisions they should make and blame everybody except themselves. Endless reports have told them what to do; like cut down the size of the commitees that don’t manage our national game, stop employing people who don’t perform, that they then have to fire at great expense, get the Academy at Burton built and make sure Wembley has a playing surface worthy of the best footballers. Perhaps too, they should also make sure that the Premier League creates a few more world beaters, like the acadamies in Italy and Germany do. But then you don’t mess with the Premier League! They mess with you and give you crumbs if you’re lucky.
So who should replace Fabio? I watched the whole of the match and saw the faces of David Beckham and Stuart Pearce. Even they couldn’t do anything! But give them the authority with most of the old farts removed and Pearce as manger and Beckham as the enforcer and things might just work out.
The Kettleburgh Chequers
Yesterday, we went for a trip to East Suffolk, an area I know well, as I used to live at Debach. It was also an area, in which I followed hounds for seventeen seasons with The Easton Harriers. If you want to read more about those days in the 1970s and 1980s, read Tony Harvey’s book, Not a Penny in the Post. Hunting in that part of Suffolk, was as much about the community as it was about the hunting. Everybody, and I do mean everybody was totally welcome. It has to said that in those yeas, I learned more about the countryside, famring and wildlife, than at any other time in my life.
We passed the Kettleburgh Chequers.
The Kettleburgh Chequers
On the 10th of February in 1981, we held a gentlemen’s day in this pub to raise money for hunt funds. We met at the Kettleburgh Chequers at eleven and started hunting at about three, after quite a few drinks. C had dropped me and my horse at the meet and in the end, I hacked home to Debach, so there was no danger of drinking and driving. But when you hunted, it wasn’t always like that, but I can’t ever remember anyone getting into trouble, except from falling off a horse.
That day for a bet before hunting, Jimmy Wickham, the kennel-huntsman, actually brought the hounds into the bar.
As Tony says in the book, it wasn’t the best days hunting, but after a meal at Snape in the evening, it will be one of those days I’ll always remember.
For those who criticise hunting remember this. The hunts in those days used to collect and often humanely destroy all those animals that had died or needed to be put down in the countryside. We all come to our time in the end.
I always remember Tony Harvey once saying after a day, when we had hunted three packs of hare hounds in one day; harriers on horseback before breakfast, bassets in the morning on foot and beagles, again on foot, in the afternoon, the following. “We’ve had a very good day, but we haven’t caught anything. Ask a shooting man, if he’s had a good day, when he hasn’t shot anything.” That is the difference between hunting and shooting. I am passionately anti-anything to do with guns, as they kill people. It needs skill and in some cases courage to ride to hounds.
The last epitaph on hunting, is that on my stud since the hunting ban, I never see or even smell a fox. The ban has done nothing for the fox. All sorts of things can be postulated, but remember our foxes are rabies free, so have they been trapped by those who don’t value the countryside for their fur. I don’t know, but they have all disappeared. Or perhaps they’ve all gone to London, where they are a true menace.
Note that in Suffolk, you always name a pub with both the village and it’s actual name. This avoids mistakes, as there are numerous White Horses for example.
A Real Marathon
Wimbledon had a match yesterday that had to be halted for the night at 59-59 in the fifth set. It is the longest match ever.
At least these two players have lasted longer than our under-performing players, of whom only Andy Murray lasted until the third day.
We complain about our footballers, but at least youngsters, like James Milner, Connor Wickham, Adam Johnson and many others are coming through the system with promise. Where are the tennis players in the same age group with a high level of talent? Also, if cricket, golf, rowing,sailing, cycling and many other sports can do it, why can’t tennis, especially, as they have more resources than most?
Oh! No! It’s the Germans Again!
It had to happen didn’t it! Will it be penalties on Sunday afternoon?
I hope not!
So Far So Good!
England are a goal ahead, thanks to Defoe. But the biggest improvement is in the advert-free coverage of the BBC. The commentators don’t say the crass statements and make the mistakes, that those of ITV do!
Spam in French
Over the last couple of days, I’ve started to receive the usual search engine optimisation spam in French. It’s funny but it seemed to start after France’s real troubles started in the World Cup. I wonder why?
Tennis On The Radio
Yesterday, I lay in the sun in the garden and listened to the tennis from Wimbledon.
It’s funny, but tennis is rather a good sport to listen to, rather than watch.
But then, we have a very proud heritage of listening to tennis on the radio, as many times, I’ve heard the superb commentary from the great Max Robertson, perhaps in a car or whilst working in the garden or on my car. Read the Wikipedia entry about Robertson, as he was a truly great all-round broadcaster.
Tennis on Radio 5, is a bit like Test Match Special, in that it is about sport and chat, with some interesting guests during rain and between action. I remember one memorable interview by John Inverdale of Julian Golding. Inverdale was initially surprised that Golding, a black Olympic sprinter was at Wimbledon. Golding said that he had been invited by the LTA, as he was encouraging youngsters in London to take part in sport. Golding disclosed that he had been a promising tennis player, but had found the life very lonely, when travelling to overseas tournaments. So he had turned to his other sporting asset, athletics, mainly because of the cameraderie of his fwllow athletes. When we moan about the lack of decent tennis players in the UK, I hope we take advice from Golding.
But why is it that some sports, like boxing, cricket, horse racing, tennis and football work on the radio and others like rugby don’t?
I suspect that a sport which allows time for chat works. After all, some of the best BBC sports broadcasts are the racing ones from the Cheltenham Festival. Radio allows the characters to shine through.
But then as that late great broadcaster; Brian Redhead once said, if radio had been been invented after television, radio would be the dominant medium.
New Zealand Draw With Twelve Man Italy
What a result and well played New Zealand and of course Tommy Smith of Ipswich! But according to Robbie Savage on Radio 5, it wasn’t a penalty, but a well-carried out dive. And where did the officials get four minutes of added time from at the end? Obviously, they didn’t want a nice holiday being feted in New Zealand.
But Italy have followed the pattern of well-fancied European teams.
Mo Farah
Mo Farah is another who delights me and brings a smile to my face.
Over the years, I’ve done business on telephone billing systems with quite a few immigrants of Somali origin. I’ve never had a problem and those that I dealt with were a pleasure with whom to do business. They all seemed to work hard to do the best for themselves and their families. We even put in a joint bid for the billing system for a Somali telephone service, based on redundant analogue mobile phone kit.
Mo was born in Somalia and by hard work, has become our best male middle-distance runner for several decades. Let’s hope he gets a medal in London 2012! I sometimes think, I could have been a good club runner, but I didn’t have the dedication and I was an undiagnosed coeliac.
So why is it, that the Somalis I’ve met and people like Mo are a credit to their homeland, but the country continues to be a total basket-case, with lots of death and piracy?
The Anonymous Widower 