Was Half-Time Longer Today?
It was very hot and after the collapse of Fabrice Muamba last season, did the referee make half-time a bit longer today?
If he did, it was probably a wise decision.
Living Near Premier League Grounds
The Halifax has done a survey of house prices near Premier League grounds. It’s here in the Telegraph.
As I live within walking distance of the Emirates Stadium, I’m not bothered, especially as I have a buy-to-let close to both Old Trafford and Carrow Road. Don’t ask me why an Ipswich supporter should have those! But suffice to say, they were purchases my late wife made without consulting me. Although, I did think that nearness to football grounds could be an advantage.
My Most Expensive Ticket Ever!
I went to the Olympic athletics last night and I got some tickets for Thursday morning in the ballot. But I really wanted to see Mo Farah run on the last Saturday night.
I didn’t get a ticket in the ballot, so as I’ve finally sold my stud, I decided to try to buy a ticket for the Saturday night. But I couldn’t so I bought a ticket for the Friday night, to see some more finals.
I’ve never really paid a high price for a ticket and certainly, I’ve never paid over the odds. Although, I did buy an unwanted Senior ticket at Sheffield Wednesday for £10 instead of £11 from a tout at Sheffield Wednesday.
The most expensive ticket, I’d bought was one for about three hundred to see Ipswich play Torpedo Moscow in the Moscow Olympic Stadium. But I suppose it did include a flight from Luton.
I went on the official site and bought one for Friday night for seven-hundred or so.
Does that seem excessive? Probably at the moment, yes! But ask me again on Saturday!
An I Was There Moment
One of the BBC presenters on Sunday was talking about Mo Farah on Sunday. It could have been Brendan Foster or Steve Cram, who were both good distance runner in their time, but they were nowhere near as good as Mo .
Whoever it was said that it was one of those I was There sporting moments, like Roger Bannister running the first four-minute mile, Llanelli beating the All Blacks or Liverpool winning the Champions League in Istanbul.
Obviously, the 82,000 in the Olympic Stadium were actually there, but how many of the British squaddies on Olympic duty will claim they sneaked in to watch? After all, servicemen are not known to varnish the truth to make better tales are they? Especially, when it’s about something like being the Army’s champion for painting lumps of coal white! i.e. Anything where no-one gets hurt.
A survey done in a few years time, will show that there were at least a quarter of a million crammed into the stadium.
What is going to be the size of the claimed crowd on Saturday?
Millennium and Wembley Stadiums Compared
I’m not comparing anything, but their use for football, as I’ve experienced both in the last few days.
I’d say Wembley is very Jaguar, whereas the much less expediently-built stadium in Cardiff is more Audi, with more concrete and wood and less marble.
On the other hand, the sight lines in Cardiff, may even be better to those at Wembley. You also seem to closer to the action. I wonder, if this is because it is a much squarer stadium than Wembley. Only an architect with experience of sports grounds would know.
Food in both stadia is the usual gluten-rich junk, but then as the Millennium Stadium is in the centre of Cardiff, anybody who like me is choosy with his food will eat off-stadium. That is not really an option at Wembley, so I always eat before I leave home or in the centre of London.
The Millennium Stadium does lose on access to the trains, whereas Wembley has improved greatly in the last ten years. I believe Cardiff Central station is being rebuilt, so hopefully, better access will come. But a nearly three hour wait for a train to London is unacceptable, even if First Great Western were their usual helpful self, even handing out bottled water.
We Can’t Win Everything!
I did try to get to the womens football on Friday in Coventry, but there no tickets available. As they lost to Canada, I wasn’t that bothered, especially, as like many men, I’ll look upon the women’s side of the game in a different light.
I did go to Cardiff yesterday to see the men lose on penalties to South Korea.
I’m sure the system of deciding matches on penalties, was brought in by sneaky foreigners to make sure we never win anything.
Arise Sir Bradley
If after his exploits this year in the Tour of France (It’s the Anglo-Saxon’s now!) and then his untouchable performance in the Olympic time-trial yesterday, where he made a world-class field look like amateurs, he must be odds-on to be knighted in the near future. The web certainly thinks so.
Would he be the first Sir Bradley?
Searching the Internet only finds an anti-gay evangelical Christian web-site, a US wrestler called Sir Bradley Charles and a Sir Bradley Avenue in Sacramento, California. In my book only the last one has any credence. So who was it named after?
So I think he would be the first Sir Bradley!
There of course a lot of sites saying he should be knighted.
For different reasons, such as his part in bringing the Olympics to London, it can’t be long before Her Majesty corrects the mistake the Greeks made over David Beckham, by adding a knighthood to his name.
I Called It Right
I know a few Koreans and so I went with them to see them play at Wembley tonight against Gabon. We were a bit higher up in Club West.
Korea v Gabon at Wembley
The view was a bit better, than for the game last night.
It wasn’t an exciting game and the goalless draw was about fair. But it meant that Korea came second in their group.
When Great Britain won, it meant that the tickets, I’d bought on spec to see the quarter-final in Cardiff won’t have to be sold on.
I just felt the two teams might meet there. And I was right!
So it’ll be off on a High Speed Diesel Train on Saturday. What better way is there to travel to see your team?
Great Britain v Brazil At Wembley
I thought this would be a must-see event and as over 70,000 went I wasn’t alone in my thoughts. As ever I took a few pictures.
But there were empty seats as the pictures show.
The football was very good.
Perhaps to me, the difference between the two sides was that every time the ball went lose, the British team were on it, like a pack of hounds. Even the goal scored by Steph Houghton was after Brazil failed to clear a corner.
The one mistake Britain made was missing the penalty, but in the end that didn’t matter.
Scots Get Their Flags Wrong
At Hampden Park today, they showed the wrong Korean flag, as reported here.
The North Koreans got annoyed, but would they be missed if they pissed off home!
I for one would have cried all the way to the toilet.
So perhaps, Glasgow has done everybody a favour.
The Anonymous Widower 