Rangers Launch Fans Fighting Fund
It has been reported on the BBC, that Rangers have launched a Fans Fighting fund.
I thought, that was what they did anyway!
At least they’ll go down fighting!
A Row About the GB Athletics Team Captain
There has been a bit of a row about Tiffany Porter being appointed GB Team Captain for the World Indoor Athletics Championships. It’s reported here properly in the Guardian, but some papers seem to be following a rather different tack.
It would appear that Tiffany has two of the things that make me British; a British mother and a UK passport. I have a British father as well. Mo Farah incidentally, has a father who was born in England, has been here since he was eight and has a British passport.
So if Tiffany is the best for the job, why shouldn’t she have it, as in my view she’s more British than many in various British teams?
In some ways we put too much emphasis on where you are born and sadly, the race of your parents. Sometimes, some sports generally get it right. Freddie Brown, Colin Cowdrey, Ted Dexter, Gubby Allen, George Harris, Nasser Hussain, Douglas Jardine and Pelham Warner, all captained England at cricket, despite being born outside of the UK. This is not a complete list and I have also left out others born in the UK, but who were not English.
Harry versus Stuart
It would appear that the next England manager is still not any closer yet.
In the last two weeks, Spurs under Harry, have lost both to Arsenal and Manchester United.
England under Stuart Pearce, just lost to Dutch, by the odd goal in five. On the other hand his Under-21 side did beat the Belgians easily.
So perhaps Stuart won the last two weeks on points!
But if you think, England are in a mess, just look at Chelski!
Make Bradford British
I am not going to get into the race arguments on this one, as many are expending a lot of effort in that way.
I would argue that from a totally different point of view that it isn’t part of the UK. Last year I visited all 92 football clubs in alphabetical order. Bradford as many know, occupies a sad place in football history in the UK.
But arriving at the station, there was no maps and no information on how to get to the football ground, despite the fact you could see the ground from the platform. So it obviously wants to deter visitors and keep them out.
Even a policewomen, said that there was no direct walking route and that every year they get people who lost a relative in the tragic fire walking around looking for the route to the ground.
So it was one of the few grounds, I didn’t properly visit.
I should also say, that it wasn’t the most unwelcoming place I visited.
Has Stuart Pearce Done Enough?
Certainly in my opinion, as his other team beat the Belgians 4-0 on the night.
Graeme Obree’s Idea to Stop Drug Cheats
Graeme Obree has just said on BBC Radio 5, that the best way to stop drugs cheats in cycling is not to give them their prize money until several years after the event.
But why not add swimming, athletics, and of course, weight-lifting?
What It Is About Stuart?
Broad, Lancaster and Pearce
Can we have ever had three England captains or managers with the same first name?
Zara Phillips Turned Away from Horse Event
This was the headline on a report in the Daily Telegraph.
I wonder what Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells thinks of it all.
It Could Have Had A Fairy-Tale Ending, But It Didn’t!
Today, Spurs drew 0-0 with Stevenage in the Cup.
Stevenage’s caption was one Ronnie Henry, who just happens to be the grandson of Ron Henry, who was in Spurs, double side of 1960-61 and probably played for them in February 1962. I saw him play probably near to 100 times.
Ronnie Henry played right full-back today for Stevenage, whereas his grandfather always played left full-back.
I thought at one point that Ronnie was going to do what his grandfather did a few times. As the match neared conclusion, he moved forward and sent over a well-aimed cross, which didn’t come to anything. I seem to remember quite a few of Ron’s crosses leading to goals, but then he had better target men in the middle than Stevenage did. Ron, in fact only ever scored one goal, but it was against Manchester United to win the game. A Spurs corner had been part cleared and the ball bounced out to Ron, instead of redirecting it back in, decided to go for goal. It went straight-in like the proverbial bullet. If there was one player who should have shot more often, it was Ron Henry, but he was a very steady and unspectaculr player and he probably felt defending was his responsibility in the game.
He did nearly score on one other occasion, when Spurs were something like three up and could not be beaten, when he did a mazy dribble into the penalty area only to be upended by the defence. He was mobbed by his team mates and almost dragged towards the penalty spot, but still he could not be persuaded to take the penalty kick to get the second goal he never got.
I’m afraid they don’t make players like Ron Henry any more!
The Netherlands May Yet Win the 1978 World Cup
The Times has a small piece about how the military governments of Peru and Argentina stitched up the 1978 World Cup Finals in Argentina.
Search the Internet and there’s this article in the Buenos Aires Herald.
Here’s an extract.
The news is that FIFA, soccer’s world body, could annul Argentina’s 1978 World Cup victory. That may be putting it too harshly, but they are focusing on Argentina’s arranged 6-0 victory against Peru in the semifinal group to reach the final and keep out Brazil.
The report states evidence from Peru’s goalkeeper in that match, Argentine-born Ramón Quiroga — originally the main suspect — that a lot of his players played below form, not the strongest team was picked and the defence “did not stop anything”, that then military government president, General Jorge Videla was in Peru’s changing room talking to several players before the match and that a former Peruvian senator, Genaro Ledesma Izquieta, a political prisoner in Argentina at the time, said he was going to be freed if Argentina scored at least four goals more than Peru.
Whether FIFA will act thirty-four years later is a very awkward question. On the other hand, it was posted on an Argentinian website.
According to the report, FIFA is also annoyed that they have named their football championship after the General Belgrano.
But FIFA has also asked the Argentine FA (AFA) why the current closing tournament has been named after an Argentine navy ship (Crucero General Belgrano) sunk by the British during the 1982 Malvinas War. This could be sanctioned under FIFA statutes which forbid any political significance of tournament names. The name was “suggested” by the Argentine government which pays for the TV rights of soccer matches under the “Free soccer for all” programme which could also be looked on as government interference.
The AFA (and/or the government) however has decided to continue to use the ship’s name for the current tournament. What has, and will save Argentina from possible sanctions is that AFA chief Julio Grondona is FIFA’s first vice-president and is close to President Joseph Blatter.
I think the Falklands are the least of the Argentinian President’s problems. I suspect that the average Argentinian might like the Falklands oil, but take away free football on television and the riot would be extremely large.
The Anonymous Widower 