Arsenal Postpone, Chelsea Don’t
Can I assume that this is because most Chelski fans wouldn’t be seen dead on a train, so the strike makes no difference to their prawn-sandwich eaters?
The Sir Bobby Robson Bridge At Ipswich
The bridge spans the River Gipping at Ipswich.
It effectively connects the new housing on the west bank to the offices, waterfront and football ground on the other.
Note that the River Gipping becomes the Orwell at Ipswich. The name might come from the same source as Gippeswyk, the old name for Ipswich.
92 Clubs – Week 7 – 5 Clubs – 9 Trains, 1 Tram
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
Day 43 Day 44 Day 45 Day 46 Day 47 Day 48
So it’s all done now!
As there was only five clubs, the highlights of the week are thin on the ground.
Best Signposted Stadium of the Week
Wimbledon was the easiest to find, as I just got on a bus and waited until, Kingsmeadow was announced. It is one of only a few stadia, which are announced on the buses. Only London stadia can be announced on buses and a few are, although others have their own stations.
Worst Signposted Stadium of the Week
This has to be a joint award to Wycombe and Yeovil. I hardly saw a sign to any of the grounds, that would help a walker or a driver.
Most Surprising Town of the Week
Wolverhampton surprised me. The ground is fairly close to the centre and easily walkable from either the station or the tram. There’s even an underpass under the busy ring road connecting the ground to the town centre. Quite a few grounds need these. surely, they mean that fans can get a meal or a drink in the centre before or after the match. I seem to remember seeing a report, that the proximity of Portman Road to Ipswich town centre, was worth millions a year to the town.
Dump of the Week
I know Yeovil has evolved over time and totally sold itself to the car, but surely they could do much better. I would be repeating myself endlessly, if I added to what I said on Day 48.
Who Will Be Chelski’s Best Manager This Year?
Or should it be this month?
After all the current incumbent can’t be given much more time by Roman Abramovich, can he?
Gay Footballers
There are no openly gay footballers in the UK, although there are others in countries such as Sweden and the United States.
It is relevant to look at the history of black footballers to get a handkle on how gay footballers will appear in the UK.
Viv Anderson was the first black footballer to play for England and he burst on the scene in the mid-seventies with Nottingham Forest. His rise had a lot to do with Brian Clough, who I suspect didn’t give a care about anything other than your ability to play football. And Anderson could certainly play!
At the time Anderson made his mark, Other black players also made the breakthrough. Notably, this was the three players Cyrille Regis, Brendan Batson and Laurie Cunningham at West Brom. But now black players are commonplace and we’re even seeing the sons of black players entering the game and being successful.
I first saw black players in the early 1960s. There weren’t many and they did get abuse. The most notable was Albert Johanneson, who played for Leeds.
It has been a long journey from the 1950s and 60s to where we are today. And I don’t think that there are many, except those on the Far Right, who regret it.
It will be a long time before gay footballers are in the same high position. Judging by the time scale it took for black players to be fully successful and accepted, it will probably be somewhere between ten and twenty years.
One of the differences between black and gay players, is that although black players are obvious, gay ones are not. So how many are there out there at the moment.
There are probably more than you think!
I don’t have any evidence, but news stories over the years have constantly found quite a few gay policemen. In fact, in one case, the Chief Constable of Sussex police made an appeal for gay officers, to help solve a homophobic murder and was totally surprised at the response he got.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if there are quite a few gay footballers. I suspect too, that many of their team-mates know the truth and keep the secrets of the dressing room. After all, all footballers know how their eccentricities or problems are reported in the tabloid press.
Some months ago, I wrote this.
I was at the Ipswich Inter Milan match in the San Siro, when I found myself sitting next to a journalist, who worked for one of the more outrageous tabloids. We chatted about various topics concerning football and Ipswich in particular and I can’t remember how it came up, but we started discussing my coeliac disease. I then said that the statistics indicated that there must be at least one footballer, who must be a coeliac. I suggested it might make a story, as it might help those with the disease. He then said that the readers of his rag wouldn’t be interested. But if I knew a footballer who was gay, then that would be a very valuable story.
THe full post is here. The last bit may well be the key. Despite what is generally thought, there have been a large number of intelligent and very savvy footballers. I always note Derek Dougan, who was not considered very bright by the press to be very bright in his early years, but went on to be an author and a very good chairman of the Professional Footballers Association. So I do not think it unlikely, that one of the current crop of footballers, who is coming to the end of a good career, who just happens to be gay, will come out. I suspect too, that he won’t sell his story to the tabloids. After all with the coming out of Gareth Thomas, they can now see that the support from most people and the media is very strong.
This article in Wikipedia, discusses the issue of gay footballers and is well worth reading.
So I agree with a survey from the University of Staffordshire, that found that 90% of football supporters expect there to be an openly-gay footballer by 2015.
If you look at the dynamics of the long road to success of black footballers, I would actually think that 2015, might even be a bit pessimistic.
But just as this process is happening in the UK, it is also happening across the world. So I suspect that by the time of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, one of the major football nations will have an openly gay footballer in the team. As homosexuality is illegal in that enlightened country, let’s hope that it has the right effect on the Qataris’ attitudes.
But then I live in hope that FIFA will see sense and realise that they are risking players lives and health by playing in the summer in the desert.
It Would Appear That Money Can’t Buy You Everything!
Because Manchester City lost in Naples last night, it would appear that if the Italian team win their last match, then Manchester City are out of the Champions League.
How sad! I shall be crying into my cornflakes! Like hell, I will!
At least it proves that money can’t buy you everything. Although, the jury is out on the allocation of the last two World Cups, judging by certain newspaper headlines.
The Fightback Against Cable Theft Has Begun
Last night there was a debate in the House of Lords about the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester said this, whilst proposing two amendments to deal with scrap metal theft.
As an indication of what we are up against, I would draw your Lordships’ attention to a giant screen advertisement at West Ham United’s football ground,which was seen on 27 September and which, I believe is there on a regular basis. It says, in huge letters, “We want your scrap for cash”, followed by three exclamation marks. All that was missing were the three words “No questions asked”.
So what was the evidence on the 27th of September? The picture is shown here.
Salford Claims A Victim
Tim Gudgin has read the football results on the BBC for the last 16 or so years.
Today will be his last reading, as he has resigned. He did indicate that to travel every week from the South Coast where he lives to Salford would just be too much.
The ridiculous move to Salford will change the BBC in many ways. not all, by any means will be positive.
Moving to Salford will prove to be a disastrous folly.
An Unfair Playing Field
I’m not talking about the proposal to use artificial pitches, but the fact that Mancester City have made a record loss.
In a few years time, the teams that win will be those that have the biggest budgets and pay the highest wages.
Surely, we can create a fairer system than this. Even if we upset the sheikhs, foreign and currupt businessmen, who don’t understand the offside rule and dubious oligarchs, who want to own our game.
How about these new rules?
- Penalties can only be given to the home side.
- Every player registered by a club, can sit on the bench.
- If a player earns more than a million pounds a game, he can’t be shown a red card.
- The club with the largest budget, gets all the gate and TV receipts.
- Fifty percent of matches are played overseas.
- Fans who earn less than £20,000 a year are not allowed to buy tickets.
- Clubs don’t have to release players for international matches.
- No relegation.
- The winner of the FA Cup is drawn by lots. Clubs put any number of tickets into the pot at £1,000,000 a time, for the prize money.
92 Clubs – Day 48 – Yeovil
They say you should leave the best to last, but this was not a case of that. But with Yeovil, it was much a case of saving the worst to last.
The only good bit was going to the town on a High Speed Diesel Train changing at Castle Cary for Yeovil Pen Mill.
Before I left, I looked up their web site to see how you get to the ground from the station. My eyes aren’t good, but look at this page, which gives directions to the ground. Trains, buses and walking aren’t even mentioned. So I sent the club an e-mail and of course they didn’t bother to reply. They don’t appear from the site to run a match-day bus either!
When I arrived at the station, I walked to the town centre, along a pleasant path in a country park, but once in the centre, despite plenty of signs to it, I couldn’t find the tourist information centre. I think when I did, it wasn’t signed and it was closed.
So in the end I took a taxi to the ground and got the driver to drop me at the station on the way back. I think we saw just one sign to the ground and that was when you could actually see Huish Park. So I just took a picture and retreated.
Huish Park, Yeovil
The only trouble was I had to wait ninety minutes for the train. But at least the station was worth seeing from an architectural point of view and had been well restored.
I was back at Paddington just before 16:30 to complete my odyssey.
In my travels, I have not found a town or football club with so little information for vistors. I shall not be going again. I certainly won’t have to look far for my dump of the week.
The Anonymous Widower 