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I've not caught a whole lot of the 2007 Cricket World Cup but I just watched the final and it was a really extraordinary match in more ways than one.

Adam Gilchrist put in a truly astounding performance and scored 149 off 104 balls and broke two records in the process not only the highest total in a World Cup Final but also the quickest century too.

Thanks to Gilchrist the Australian team set a daunting total for Sri Lanka of 282 from 38 overs to win (due to rain the number of overs was reduced to 38).

The Sri Lankans to their credit didn't seem too fazed by this and when Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara got into their flow they looked to be on target to get the required runs. The loss of Sangakkara's wicket came as a bit of a blow but that did mean that their captain Jayawardene would be coming to the crease and if he could pull off yet another great innings as he did in the semi-final against New Zealand there was still some hope.

It wasn't to be though as firstly Jayasuriya's wicket fell, the weather stopped play yet again and on the return Jayawardene suffered a bad LBW decision.

With the light fading and the run rate rising to unattainable levels the match descended into farce when with three overs to go the umpires offered the light to the batsmen. Everyone then assumed the match was over and Australia were declared the winners of the tournament followed by the organisers bringing out the stanchions onto the pitch for the award ceremony only for the umpires to order them off and to restart the match again.

The foregone conclusion now reached it's actual conclusion with the end of the 36 over and Australia were now officially the champions of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, their third in a row.

Labels: Sport

England have made a fine start under new boss Steve McClaren with a comfortable win over Greece by four goals to nil.

The Chelsea player John Terry made an auspicious start to his tenure as England captain by scoring the opening goal.

Labels: Sport

McClaren picks inspirational Terry as captain

Steve McClaren admits he chose John Terry as the next England captain because of the inspirational qualities he has shown in leading Chelsea to two Premiership titles. "I'm certain I've got the right man in John Terry," McClaren said yesterday. "I'm convinced he will prove to be one of the best captains England has ever had."

McClaren favoured Terry over Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, who was also strongly linked with the candidacy. Though both are captains at their respective clubs, there had been a fierce internal debate among McClaren's closest confidants over who should be handed the responsibility at international level. In McClaren's opinion the qualities Terry has shown at Stamford Bridge, where he has worn the captain's armband since the age of 22, marked him out as being the most capable candidate.

Couldn't agree more, I've been wishing John Terry to be the England Captain for quite a long while now.

Labels: Sport

The head of Zinedine Zidane could have brought a sense of triumph to France in the final of the World Cup yesterday instead it brought a sense of disbelief and despair.

It could have been the perfect finish to the career of the greatest European footballer of his generation and after France had taken the lead from Zidane's penalty it looked as if it would hold true.

But Italy's Materazzi soon equalised and the two teams were deadlocked and neither seemed likely to score until the perfect chance fell to the head of Zidane but a heroic save by the Italian goalkeeper Buffon denied him.

Then in the second period of extra time came incident that will be forever remembered as the defining moment of this World Cup, Zidane seemed to lose his head and headbutted Materazzi in the chest, which after the intervention of the fourth offical caused the French captain to be sent off.

Who can say whether losing their talismanic leader cost France the match? I don't think it's true, the Italian penalty takers were flawless and France seemed fairly composed and unaffected, so I think it just simply came down to the awful nature that is the lottery of the penalty shootout.

Interestingly Zidane will be the only French player to leave the tournament with a trophy. He was awarded the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament, an award that was voted on by the press during halftime of the final. It's likely that had the voting taken place after the match then he probably would not have won this award.

Labels: Sport

The bane of the England football team in major tournaments the penalty shootout did for us yet again and we lost to Portugal. Was the loss of Rooney who got sent off for what seemed a quite vicious stamp on an opponents groin the deciding factor in the match?

Who can really say but I'm sure it will be much discussed in the days to come. Down to ten men England upped their performance and held Portugal at bay and though the real chances were few both teams looked like they could score. But it was not to be and the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo repeated his performance from two years agao and made the crucial saves in the penalty shootout.

I hope Portugal go on to win as it is slightly less crushing in retrospect to go out to the eventual winners but I think that the winner might just prove to be the resurgent force that is France.

A great match, much better than the England-Portugal one, saw the favourites Brazil put out by a French team that most people thought were over the hill. Perhaps they have secretly discovered the fountain of youth because they were back to their best form in their previous match against Spain after spending years in a state of relative mediocrity and they kept that form up here against Brazil.

It's not as if they have replaced their aging stars with new young talent like Argentina, this team still features the players such as Zidane and Barthez the world champions of 1998 and the laughing stock of 2002.

This will be the first time since 1982 that we've had all European semi-finals with neither Brazil nor Argentina making it to that stage here. I think that we will probably see a final between the hosts Germany and the comeback kings of France.

Labels: Sport

Now that was without doubt the worst performance of any Englishman on the football pitch this World Cup and no I'm not talking about th team this time I'm talking about the referee of the Australia v Croatia match Mr. Graham Poll.

I think that's saying something given the dire fucking shite that our team has been at times in their matches that I consider his performance that bad but it really was. I'm so glad that Australia were able to come back and equalise again and finish the match 2-2 and thus proceed to the next stage as they came close to being robbed due to the incompetence of Poll.

Two clear penalties were not given one for a deliberate handball which seemed more obvious to me than the handball that he gave a penalty for earlier. Plus one awful tackle that was appropriate for a rugby match that he missed also.

Not to mention his fucking up of carding Simunic who ended the game with three yellow cards and a red card. Apparently Poll explains this as the first card we think given to Simunic was actually given to the player Simic but I think he's compounded his mistake there by trying to cover his ass and actually just ends up looking an ass. That's because he forgets that Simic actually did pick up two yellow cards from Poll in the match and thus a red so either way Poll has given three yellow cards to one of them.

Labels: Sport

It's been bugging me all day because I've wanted to be wrong about the issue of whether the prize money for the winner of the Women's chmapionship should be equal to that of the Men's. I now have an argument with which I've convinced myself.

As a sidebar I think I'm just getting stupidly incensed by this because I'm fatigued from getting riled up all the time by the knee-jerk reactions of John Reid at the Home Office and so have picked on a different government minister to rant about today.

They are like fucking movie stars it's all about bums on seats so irrespective of whether they are making a 3 hour epic or a short 90 minute movie they get payed for their box office draw i.e. for bringing in the punters.

So even though the work is seemingly unequal because the men play longer that's irrelevant because the actually work they are being payed for is bringing in the crowds who are paying to see them play.

Now this works for me and I'm happy or least I am until I find out that the male players are actually much more popular with the spectattors and more people pay to see their matches than they do to see the women's matches.

Labels: Sport

A piece in today's Guardian newspaper.

Jowell joins women players' call for equal pay at Wimbledon

The culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, will today call for the abolition of the pay differences between men and women players at the Wimbledon championship.

In a letter to be sent today - exactly one week before the competition starts - to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which organises the event, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport will express "deep concern" over the gender disparity in prize money at the tournament.

Two months ago the French Open announced it would offer equal prize money to its men's and women's champions. The Wimbledon tournament is now the last major tennis championship which does not offer equal pay to the competition's winners. Supporters of the pay discrepancy point out that women play three-set matches rather than the longer five-set matches in the men's game.

I'm all for pay equality but I don't think their is a case here for the Women's champion to be awarded prize money equal to that of the Men's champion.

Pay equality surely must be based on equal or equivalent work and I don't see there being equality of the amount of work they have to do. The Wimbledon Championship is a business and though the women's matches may be of equal draw to spectators and broadcasters because the Men's matches take longer spectators get more tennis and broadcasters get more footage.

Therefore the Men's matches are worth more to Wimbledon and the male players should therefore be payed a greater amount than the women.

If the women played five-set matches I'd be on the other side of the argument but they don't. There is a disparity but not inequality in my opinion.

Labels: Sport

Two really outstanding matches in Group E today.

Ghana v Czech Republic
Bloody hell what a hell of a match that was. Following the Czech's first game I thought they would beat their African opponents relatively easily. How wrong could I have been? I had underestimated Ghana totally and they were simply wonderful on the pitch today and ripped open the Czech defence in a way that the US just simply didn't manage in the first match.


USA v Italy
The US really held it together with only 9 men and deserved the draw for definite and I was hoping one of their attacks would result in a goal and they won it.

The effort they put in today was great.

The group really is wide open which is rare and anyone can qualify. Unfortunately no chance of both USAS and Ghana going through though as based on their respective matches today they both deserve to.

Labels: Sport

German footballer Moritz Volz has a great sense of humour and his own website.

Plus being German he has devoted a section of his site to The Hoff.

Being German, I love David Hasselhoff. It's actually the law back in the Motherland. For me the Hoff is almost like some kind of higher spirit. Hoff-ness is everywhere. The Hoff is a big inspiration - in times of trouble I often ask myself "how would the Hoff deal with this situation...?"

See the old stereotype about Germans is not true. I hope he has a good World Cup it'll be a shame that his team will probably lose to Aregentina in the Quater-finals.

Labels: Sport

There were some good points to the US team's game today but they were well and truly outplayed by an outstanding Czech team and the amazing talent of Rosicky.

Rosicky is the player to watch this World Cup I think.

Eddie Johnson looked dangerous and with a bit of luck and some better delivery to him a win against Italy is possible I think. The US face a hard task here but it ain't over yet.

Labels: Sport

BBC Sport: Luiz Felipe Scolari will not be next England manager.

His decision, which he said stemmed from media pressure, has led to severe criticism of the Football Association's handling of the search for a new coach.

Scolari said: "The English FA is going to choose a name. My name isn't one of them because I'm closing this matter."

The Brazilian, the coach of Portugal, said he had been shocked by intrusion into his life by the English media.

"There are 20 reporters outside my house now," said Scolari, who had been strongly tipped in this week's media to become Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor.

Looks like the FA have dropped the ball on this one and fucked the whole process up completly. I thought that it was almost definitely going to be Scolari that would take over after Sven-Goran Eriksson. But it is not to be.

Can't say that I'm too disappointed though, I've had my doubts that he was really suited for the job. Not that his nationality is a problem for me, Sven being Swedish was never an issue for me, but the style of play of his previous jobs with Brazil and Portugal is very different to that of England.

It might have worked out but it really seems now that it won't be happening.

Labels: Sport

I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered.

BBC News: Football legend George Best dies

Labels: Sport

Was there ever a better time to dump David Beckham as captain of the England football team and give John Terry the job than now. But getting sent off for sarcastic clapping is the fucking pathetic shite we expect of Rooney not an England captain. Notably I missed the sending off but only noticed via the BBC News article about sarcasm.

I never believed Beckham should be captain, as great a footballer as he is and he is amongst the best England has ever produced he clearly lacks the necessary attributes of a leader of men.

Labels: Sport

A possibly dodgy penalty decision then another one that was more clear cut that wasn't given and now two yellow cards within the space of a couple of minutes for Beckham.

Could a ref be any more controversial than in this match?

Well I guess this might solve the midfield problems as there remains very little option without Beckham in the picture.

Labels: Sport

The England cricket team were worthy winners of The Ashes having outplayed the Australians in each match since the first one at Lords which they lost. We musn't forget the England women's team either who also triumphed over the Australians in their Ashes Test series earlier this summer.

Both teams were celebrating their wins in a parade through London.

England's cricketers were given a rapturous reception in Trafalgar Square at the end of the Ashes victory parade to celebrate their win over Australia.

Captain Michael Vaughan thanked the "fantastic" thronging crowd and admitted: "This is beyond a dream."

The team later enjoyed a Downing Street reception and went to Lord's to hand over the Ashes urn for safe-keeping.

England beat Australia in a series for the first time since 1987 after drawing the final Test at The Oval on Monday.



"It's been a long night," said Vaughan, who clasped the replica Ashes urn throughout the celebrations. "We've celebrated in true English fashion and this is incredible.

I almost wish it wasn't over I'd love to see many more matches of the quality we've had this year. In fact given that the matches will no longer be shown on terrestial TV following Sky buying the rights I wonder if I'll ever watch test cricket again.

Labels: Sport

In Affectionate Remembrance of AUSTRALIAN CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 12th SEPTEMBER, 2005, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P.

N.B. — The body will be cremated and the ashes will be taken back from the Aussie bastards."

It's all over the match was drawn and the Ashes were won by England for the first time in 18 years.



Such a small thing it is to get so worked up over ain't it.

Labels: Sport

Here we are at the Oval for the fifth and final test match of the Ashes series and Australia would seem to be in a dominant position with a score at the start of the fourth day of 277-2 in reply to England's 373 all out.

But the Australians still have a lot to do in order to win this match. They are still trailing by about 100 runs and so would need to be scoring another 300 runs in this innings in order to get a decent total in which to bowl England out in.

I think it will ultimately come down to a lack of time to finish the job, what with the interruptions by the weather. But there is still a lot of cricket to be played here in the final two days so anything could happen.

Labels: Sport

Congratulations to Ricky Ponting for a truly admirable performance if even if did rob England of what could have been a good victory in the Third Test match.

Very frustrating to be only one wicket from victory but I suppose the Aussies must have felt the same after the second test ending only a few runs from victory themselves, although they were lucky to get that close in the first place.

So all square and all to play for in the final two matches. The Ashes really is turning out to be all that I had hoped.

Labels: Sport

My god did I underestimate the batting prowess of the Australian bowlers. What was a healthy margin of over 100 runs for England to bowl out the last couple of players was soon whittled down by Warne and Lee until bizarrely Warne trod on his own wicket and then Lee and Kasprowicz.

But England maintained the pressure right to the knife edge conclusion that saw Harmison bowl a delivery that Kasprowicz edged into the diving hands of Geraint Jones to give England a thrilling victory.

Probably the best match of cricket that I can recall ever seeing, I'm still buzzing from the exhilaration.

Labels: Sport

Thanks to the awesome efforts of Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff England look set for a brilliant victory over the Aussies to level the cricket series.

Scoring 68 in the first innings and taking 3 for 52 and then a wonderful second innings score of 73 (including a six that damn near went out of the ground) and then taking another 3 wickets so far Flintoff is a sure thing for man of the match.

Damn great match all round with outstanding performances by players of both teams, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of Warne's dismissal of Strauss in the future a truly bloody unplayable ball.

Warne could still save the match but it would require a superhuman effort as they still trail by over 100 runs and the other tail-enders really aren't capable of much more than staying in.

Labels: Sport

England suffer huge Lord's defeat
First Npower Test, Lord's, day four:
England 155 & 180 lost to
Australia 190 & 384 by 239 runs

Well it wasn't too unexpected after the fine second innings of the Australian cricket team and the numerous dropped catches on England's part. But it had started out so positively on Thursday when the England bowlers had made an excellent effort in dismissing Australia for a small total and I was fooled in to thinking we had a genuine chance at winning.

One Test down and four more to go so still plenty of time for England to still cause an upset and win the Ashes.

Labels: Sport

There's nothing I like better in sporting terms* than seeing England's cricket team giving the Aussies a stuffing. Yesterday's match where we beat them by 100 runs in the Twenty20 version of the game was an excellent example of that and sets up an interesting Ashes tour.

Lawrence Booth of The Guardian thinks there are many reasons to be cheerful and I agree.



*Possibly beating Germany at football in an important match would surpass this.

Labels: Sport

Halo 2 and the Criminal Mind
The story of how a nice family man was corrupted by the video game Halo 2 and turned into a sociopathic clan leader within a single day.

"Watch the language around the boys, dear." She's gesturing to John's two toddlers, now playing on the living room floor. The oldest is opening a recent birthday gift, a plastic playset in a box marked with a cartoon man with a ponytail and a goatee. The words Brett The Communal Farmer are marked in pink above his head, below it says And His Life Partner, Tim! There is not a toy gun or G.I. Joe to be found in the house.

"I'm not gonna censor myself. Dave's doin' an article on the mind of the average gamer and I can't filter my thoughts. And my first unfiltered thought is that Halo 2 be da filthy."

This early exchange with the wife didn't bode well for the future, as we can see in this later episode.

She examines the TV, watching John stride up behind an unsuspecting opponent and blow holes in his back.

"Wait a second," she said. "Why did you kill that guy? Isn't he another human?"

John shook his head in frustration. "He's wearing blue armor."

"So... the guys in blue armor were also born evil?"

"Honey, if you would take a moment to think before you talk, you'd see that the uniform means he's on the other side. It's a game. Like football."

"But... you're blowing their guts out. So, like, in the Halo universe are you saying that it's a normal human pasttime to-"

"-I'm trying to play here! Don't make me get Ghraib on your ass!"

"If you talk to me like that again, I'll never let you touch my..." she trails off into stricken silence. "John, what the hell are you doing?"

What John's wife had just observed was the Halo custom known as "tea bagging." This is a sort of celebration where the victor squats over the vanquished's face to simulate dipping his testicles into the cold, dead, open mouth of the corpse much in the same way one would dip a teabag into a cup of hot water.

The article was written by David Wong and John Cheese.

John Cheese? Wasn't that the former name of John Cleese before he changed his surname?

Labels: Games, Sport

No not the insect I mean the game of Cricket. I present here two cricket related posts that I would have done separately but then I didn't.

Every few years the rights to screen cricket test matches on television are auctioned off to the highest bidder, which from 2006 will be Sky Sports. This pisses the hell out of me, there's no way that I'm paying a subscription and make Rupert Murdoch even wealthier to watch cricket. This is going to backfire horribly I feel.

Coincidentally I noticed the following at Coudal Partners today.

How To Explain the Rules of Cricket

You know the big tent at the east end of the county fairgrounds? Next to the show barn? Imagine it’s an oval filled with 90,000 Pakistanis who love to watch pie-eating—who love pie-eating more than soccer—even though it seems to the rest of us that eating pie would be a fairly unpleasant reminder of British Colonialism.

OK. Got it.

The area where the table is, where the pie-eaters sit, is called “the pitch.” At either end of the pitch is a line marking “the crease.” Now, let’s say that inside one of these creases, your pies are cooling on top of three sticks, which are called “stumps.” This contraption is called a “wicket” and there’s a man attempting to knock the wicket over by throwing a ball at it.

Is he the other pie-eater, trying to ruin my pies?

No, the other pie-eater is on your team, and he’s standing in front of his own wicket of pies at the other end of the pitch...

As well as explaining cricket they produce excellent Jewel Boxes for CDs and DVDs, which I have put to good use in my CD-ROM Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes.

Labels: Sport

BBC News: Is Spanish football racist?

Well, based on the evidence of last night's match, which saw the Spanish fans directing racist abuse at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips my opinion would be yes. Football commentator Alan Hansen said he had two words for the Spanish crowd last night 'Absolutely Pathetic'. Not exactly the two words I had in mind, I think Gary Lineker put it better when he described it as 'Deplorable'.

English fans are by no means above reproach and there is still instances of violent behaviour when they travel abroad, but racist abuse has all but disappeared. There are still incidents of racial abuse in English league matches but they are perpetrated by a tiny minority of fans and are treated very seriously by FA officials.

The question arises what should have been done about it?

Should the English players have walked off in protest?
Should the Spanish players have walked off in protest?
Should the referee have stopped play?

Any or all of the above should have happened but didn't. A strong message does need to be sent to fans of all nationalities that racism is not at all acceptable in the game of football. There have been calls for the Spanish team to be prevented from playing in the 2006 World Cup but I think that is perhaps the wrong move, it's is very unlikely to happen anyway.

It is a widespread problem anyway and not merely confined to Spain, FIFA must take a hard stance on this issue as it is as serious a problem as violent hooliganism. One possible move would be to ban all fans of a national team from attending future matches for a set period of time or number of matches in a similar fashion to the punishment meted out to players for such offences.

This may lead to matches being played in completely empty stadia but I think the message will get through and crowds should become somewhat self-governing with those that continue to shout abuse being shouted down by their fellow fans rather than be joined in the abuse.

Labels: Sport

I discovered this photograph in the online version of The Washington Post which has the following caption.

Virginia's Marquis Weeks caps off his 100-yard kickoff return for the touchdown. "That was just instinct. Kind of like running from the cops," said the senior tailback.

Running from the cops is an instinct for him is it? Nice to see that racial stereotyping hasn't died out in college football even if he is talking about himself. Then again perhaps he really has developed an instinct for running from the cops over the years.

Marquis Weeks's football profile. From which I noted that Marquis Christopher Weeks received his undergraduate degree in sociology in May of 2004. Congratulations Mr Weeks on your academic and athletic achievements and on your finely honed cop-fleeing instinct.

Labels: Sport

British boxing wunderkind 17-year-old Amir Khan has guaranteed himself at least a bronze medal after a emphatic win over South Korea's Baik Jong-sub.

The referee had to stop the match in the first round after Khan had landed a series of powerful blows on his opponent. Khan commented after the fight:

"I didn’t expect to beat him that quickly but I was confident I could beat him.

"I knew he had slow feet and slow hands and I used that to my advantage.

"It’s a great achievement for me to win a medal. Now I’ve got that bronze medal the pressure is off me a bit now.

"I think I can go in the ring more relaxed and more calm and get even better.

"I’m happy to win a medal but hopefully I can go on to make the final."

BBC Sport: Khan guarantees medal

Labels: Sport

High and lows of Team GB in the Olympics this weekend.

Fucking hell it's super Saturday and Britain has won so many medals today I've lost count.

As has been usual we get the Golden stuff in rowing and sailing but also oddly due to some rule breaking German Leslie Law has been promoted to the Gold medal in the 3 day eventing. The Gold for Chris Hoy in the cycling on Friday has started off a medal grab in this sport also with Bradley Wiggins also getting Gold and others sure to follow.

Shout out for the young Welsh swimmer David Davies. Fucking great performance for the 19 year old in the 1500m freestyle, I think we have a future swimming star here. Gold for Davies in Beijing.

Sunday and what should have been a joyous occasion for Paula Radcliffe turns to sorrow as she pulls out of the marathon a few miles from the finish. After the huge haul of medals on Saturday the country was downcast following this news but we did win a Silver today in rowing with the Women's coxless quadruple sculls team.

Labels: Sport

Just watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics and as is typical for such events it was a surreal bizarre affair, but it was beautifully fascinating a depiction of the history and myth of Ancient Greece the birth place of the Olympic games. Starting with the Goddess of fertility a procession toured the stadium finally finishing with a pregnant woman whose belly began to glow with an inner light as she stepped into a pool of water from which rose strands of light depicting the milky way.

Then we have the procession of the national teams in order of the Greek names using the Greek alphabet so we start with Saint Lucia followed by the team from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and in the middle of the procession we get Zambia and Zimbabwe who usually would be at the end. Commentator Barry Davies does his usual exemplary job of commentating on events outside of his normal expertise and presents is with a mix of sport and geography.

Facts by Barry: Australia has the second biggest team again and are one of only 4 teams to have competed in every games. The national anthem of Vanuatu is Yummy Yummy Yummy apparently. British Virgin Islands has only a single competitor. Comoros a country I've never even heard of. Strange. A Korean team which is a joint team of both North and South Korean competitors.

BBC coverage of the Olympic Games starts here.

Labels: Sport

England lose to Portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004.

Where did it all go wrong?

Primarily the referee's decision to disallow Sol Campbell's goal when everyone else in the stadium believed it was a valid goal. With so many decisions going the way of the Portuguese it did seem that the supposedly neutral Swiss referee was biased.

Secondly with the loss of Rooney the team just sat back and defended their one goal lead and allowed Portugal too many chances, they were bound to equalise eventually.

Thirdly the dire state of the penalty spot may have hampered the efforts of the penalty takers although this was equally hard for both teams. In this same vein why can Beckham not score penalties anymore?

Anyway I am depressed and angry and vow never to watch another football match again, although I shall probably break that vow and watch the final in just over a week.

Roll on the World Cup in a couple of years and watch us crash out of that one as well and continue our role as chronic underachievers who are robbed of their rightful place in the final.

Labels: Sport

It seems that it isn't just football fans that become violent after a night of heavy drinking. In the early hours of the morning on the live feed from the Big Brother house a major fight broke out.

Thankfully there was little actual violence because the two would be combatants Victor and Emma were restrained. It seems that Channel 4 got more than they bargained for but what do they expect when they put volatile antagonistic characters in close proximity and then give them lots of alcohol when tensions are already high due to a lack of cigarettes.

I don't why there has developed a culture of violence in this country. The scenes of violence due to the football are just an extension of a typical Saturday night. The hooligans in Portugal are probably just typical English blokes doing what they would nornally do when they are fucking pissed and that's get in a fight for no fucking reason.

Labels: Sport

From the BBC Becks on the spot.

Beckham's spot-kick miss against France cost England dear and Gary Tuhill (coach of under-15 side Beecholme Colts) reckons his players could show the national skipper how it's done - after putting away 46 in one game.

I pity the poor kids in that match it sounds like the penalty shootout was a huge ordeal that would have seemed like it would never end.

Barthez out-thought Beckham and it cost England the match so perhaps he does need a bit of practice at not aiming for the same spot whenever he takes one. Unfortunately now he'll have the dilemma if another penalty opportunity arises. He has confirmed that he will carry on taking them so will he change his spot like people may expect or will he bluff and hit it exactly the same again.

Labels: Sport

In this age of European integration and friendly competition on the field of play why not learn some offensive terms for your neighbours through the Wikipedia.

I'm just about recovered from the disappointment of England's defeat by France in the last couple of minutes of play, but I'm optimistic of the team's chances against the Swiss and Croatians.

Meanwhile as per usual the drunkenness of football fans has descended into violence.

Football violence descends upon Bath.

FRUSTRATION at England's heartbreaking last-minute defeat to France spilled over into violence in Bath last night. Pubs across the city centre were packed for the opening game of England's Euro 2004 campaign.

By 10.45pm the violence had shifted Bath's railway station as people tried to make their way home by train. At one point, crowds were stopping others getting on to the platform and then a fight involving 15 people broke out on platform two.

Five youths clad in football shirts caused trouble by throwing pint glasses in the car park of the McDonald's restaurant in Lower Bristol Road at about 11.05pm. At the same time, a woman was reported to be lying unconscious in London Road.

I was actually driving down London Road just about then and it was a lot more than just an unconscious woman I can tell you. It was a full on drunken brawl that spilled into one of the busiest roads in Bath and nearly caused a couple of crashes.

Labels: Sport