Football. Bloody Hell!

I've been musing. Hope you don't mind...


What is football to you? Is it what it is - an enjoyable distraction and a vehicle that allows you to have a bet? Or does it mean more to you than that?

The answer to that last question possibly (although not necessarily) relies upon whether or not you support a team. And I mean really support a team, not just follow one. I really support a team, and have done since being a six year old kid obsessed and enchanted by Liam Brady's left foot. I remember being devastated when Brady left Arsenal to go and play in Italy, and you know, 30 years later, it was only the rational part of the brain that develops as a natural consequence of adulthood that prevented me from being equally as devastated when Cesc Fabregas swapped North London for Barcelona last summer.

Recently though, I have found myself hankering after the good old days in football (ie. pre-Sky), and resenting more and more what the game has become.

I love football, but I hate/resent/am saddened by:

- The sterilisation of the game so that hard but fair tackles are now recognised only by the giving of yellow cards.

- Beautiful new stadia that are exquisite triumphs of modern architecture, but which are too clean, too comfortable, and which lack the comforting grime, dirt, and memories that make the place "home".

- Bell-ends dressed as six foot dinosaurs/lions/owls prancing about before the match, acting as if they have some sort of significance to the "match day experience".

- Being subjected to a proclaimed "match day experience" which doesn't involve nervy but strangely exhilarating walks from station to ground trying to avoid the attentions of opposition hooligans, a march that tunes into that primitive part of the brain that holds man's deep desire for tribal belonging.

- "Match day experiences" that involve spending £40+ for a ticket, £4 for a beer, £3 for a programme, etc., etc. thus ensuring that taking the next generation of fan (ie. the children) to the game is something that can only be done two or three times a season.

- Corporate hospitality boxes, the occupants of which miss roughly a third of each match as they take their seats ten minutes after the game has started, ten minutes after the second half has started, and leave ten minutes before the final whistle.

- A sensationalist media desperate for clicks, hits, and newspaper purchases, which to encourage such, talk/write absolute bollocks; a media that employs thick f**kers as "expert summarisers" simply because they once played the game (mentioning no names of course eh, Robbie Savage/Alan Shearer?), or guest columnists incapable of stringing two words together (Ian Wright?).

- A weekend league schedule that has games kick off on Saturday lunch time, Saturday tea time, early on a Sunday afternoon, late on a Sunday afternoon, and on Monday evening.

- An FA Cup which is a victim of the above, has done away with replays (who can forget those midweek replays, tuning nervously into Radio 2's 'Football Special' as your team takes on lower league opposition that they have been incapable of beating in three previous matches, listening to the dulcet and delicate tones of Peter Jones and Bryon Butler?), which no longer has the radio-only draw on the Monday lunchtime, and plays semi-finals at Wembley. And people wonder why the FA Cup has lost it's magic.

- A "European Cup" that is no longer knock-out but which has a laboriously boring group stage designed to maximise the revenue of the big clubs, is won more often than not by a team that failed to win it's domestic league the previous season, and which has determined that finishing fourth in the league is more important than the glory of winning a trophy.

- The demise of terraces. I appreciate the importance of learning the lessons of Hillsborough, and not for one minute do I, even in my warped state, believe football to be something worth dying for, but ultimately it is quite possible to have safe standing areas. It works very well in Germany and the result is noisy, atmospheric grounds which allow mates to stand and sing together. Now that is what a "match day experience" should include.

- Spurs not being shit anymore.

Football should be about emotion, passion, caring deeply about the most important unimportant thing in the world. It should be an escape, the game of the people that it used to represent. It should provide joy, grief, pride and shame in equal measure; and it should be recognised that these extremes of emotion that the game does so willingly offer up to those that allow themselves to be seduced are mercifully short-lived compared to the things that occur in "real" life, the things that really matter - births, deaths, illness, personal triumphs and tragedies. These are the things that render football entirely inconsequential. And that is the beauty of the beautiful game.




Today's Betting

Well, it seems that some folks read last night's post and decided to do something about it. Well done Northern Monkey (Ridgeway Hawk - Southwell - 15/2) and On The Nose (Don't Tell Sailor - Leicester - 6/1).

Northern Monkey: Staked 2pts, +2.25pts.
On The Nose: Staked 0.5pts, +3pts.
Chasemaster: Staked 0.25pts, -0.25pts.

Tuesday 24th January: Staked £90, +£107.50.
Month to date: Staked £6,073, +£251.04, roi 4.13%.


Oh. I also miss Dennis Bergkamp. And Robert Pires. Patrick Vieira. Tony Adams and Kenny Sansom. Oh for David Rocastle. Charlie Nicholas, Steve Williams, Martin Hayes...(ahem!)...