FOOTBALL SUFFERS AT SOUSSE

As the aftermath of the Tunisian unravels, an ex-professional player, some football fans, a referee and a Gaelic football player are named in those dying or injured.

Three generations of Walsall FC fans, grandfather, Patrick Evans, 78, Adrian Evans, 49, who worked for Sandwell Council and Joel Richards, 19, a local referee with a great future, according to Birmingham FA, were killed on the Sousse beach. Joel also played Gaelic Football for Connollys GFC.

Owen Richards, a teenager from the same family, survived with an injury and was a nephew of Adrian. He protected a women during the horrific event. The Bescott Stadium is mourning these deaths and the photo shows the family at Wembley when the Saddlers played Bristol City in the Johnstone's Paint Cup Final.

Justgiving is raising money through the Darren Wright Foundation online. Please have a look.
https://www.justgiving.com/darrenwrightfoundation

The ex professional is Denis Thwaites, born in Stockton, who played for Birmingham City between 1961-72. He made 89 appearances for the Blues and scored 18 goals. His wife Elaine died with him and we share his family's grief.

IT'S THE ISLAND GAMES

If you happen to be on holiday in Jersey, then you have a treat because yesterday evening saw the opening ceremony of the 2015 Island Games, which run until the 3^rd of July. It's free!

24 islands from all over the world, with 2700 athletes, are invading Jersey, competing in sports ranging from Archery to Volleyball! There are 32 venues and 900 events to administer and this is the second time Jersey has hosted this great event.

Football of course is one of the sports on offer, as teams from Aland (have a look at the atlas), Froya, Hitra and Ynys Mon (Anglesey). Better known islands taking part are Bermuda, the Falklands, Greenland and St Helena, all travelling thousands of miles to take part.

Major sports have a long history on Jersey, for example, the Muratti Cup is a football tournament between the Channel Islands that was first played for in 1905. Football is a popular event in these games.

The Island entrepreneurs are jumping on the bandwagon with many attractive events on offer. There is the screening of Rossini's Opera, Cinderella (very topical) and the Island Games Flower festival; it is going to be a carnival.

The official mascot of the Games is Indigo, the silverback gorilla, that lives in the Durrell Wildlife Park on the island. Silverbacks seem  to be in the news a lot these days?? The next games will be held in Gotland in 2017.

BISHOP'S LEGACY AND COLIN'S ASHES

Bishop Auckland FC is one of the most famous and well known amateur football clubs. Well, those of us who lived through the 1950s and 60s and who are a bit OCD on footy history would say so.

Founded in 1882 by theological students from Oxford and Cambridge when they were studying at Auckland Castle (the seat of the Bishop of Durham), the club adopted light and dark blue colours and formed a team called Bishop Auckland Church Institute. The club later evolved into Bishop Auckland Town in 1886.

The Bishops dominated amateur football, post war, with the great Bob Hardisty as their captain. I visited the ground recently and found a very neat modern stadium called Heritage Park, nestled on the edge of town.

So they have Northern League status (the NL founded in 1889, is the second oldest league in the World) and do very nicely in Step 5-6 of the pyramid, having once been top dogs with 7 NLeague championships and 3 runners up between 1947-56. They appeared in the Amateur Cup Final 18 times with 10 wins, which is remarkable. They even loaned players to Manchester United after the Munich Air disaster in 1958, some of whom, including Hardisty and Warren Bradley, gained both amateur and professional international caps at that time. Bradley who is the only English player to do this in one season,

This week the club has been blessed with an even greater reward, when life long supporter, Colin Rowell, left £300,000 in his estate to the club. Colin was a life long fan who watched the club from an early age and saw all the great victories. He died recently at 79 years of age and the former furniture factory worker, who had no close relatives, left the sum to be spent on the improvement of their new stadium. Club chairman, Richard Tremewan, was licking his lips, thinking of the wonderful things he and his board can do to the new ground, especially in Colin's memory.

Firstly they have scattered his ashes on the pitch, so that he can “join in” the new season.

SO WHY ARE THE ITALIANS SO GOOD?

The World's toughest football match Calcio Fiorentino took place on Florence yesterday, a game that originated from the Roman sport of harpastrum. This game, also known as calcio storico (historic football) began in the 16th Century and probably started in the Piazza Santa Croce, being also known as “giuoco del calcio fiorentino” (Florentine Kick Ball or calcio).

Mussolini insisted on the game being called calcio and not the western way of football or soccer, maintaining Italy's nationalism.

27 players start the game but there are no subs or extras. The teams try to get the ball into the opponents caccia or goal. Winners can be presented with a cow!

The game waned until the 1930s when it was revived and is still played today, allowing head butting, punching, wrestling etc but only between one v one. Mobs are not allowed to develop.

The team consists of goalkeepers, full backs, half backs and forwards playing in a vague shape.

Looking at the video, you may have to give some time to view it all. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EioSnjSjq00

There are several officials, including a referee and six linesmen and a few medics on site.

The game lasts for 50 minutes, it is played in a space the size of a regular football pitch and the goal runs the entire width- 40 metres or so.

1950 THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Just after the war England had a team that was regarded as the best in the World. But Walter Winterbottom, who was the national team's first “tracksuit” manager was losing some valuable stars who never had the chance to show their skills on the world stage. Tommy Lawton was one of the reasons why Italy had been comfortably beaten in 1948 and 1949, George Hardwick, a seriously good full back and Frank Swift, the country's huge handed goalkeeper were on the decline. Whilst England was looking forward to its first World Cup in Brazil in 1950, centre half Neil Franklin was becoming a Bogota Bandit, lured to Colombia by wages of £120 a week and Lawton had joined notts County because he was offered a day job as well as his weekly wage for paying in the Third Division South! The post war team was being dismantled.

England went to Brazil expecting to do well. Despite a long journey, a dreadful experience in the Hotel Luxor on Copacabana, where food and rooms were awful and the place full of journalists, the players had no rest or comfort, but were confident of success.

When they saw a friendly match between the hosts and Mexico at the Maracana, the players were amazed at the skills performed by the South Americans. The first England match, on June 25^th, in their group was against Chile and in a dour game England won 2-0 with goals from Stan Mortenson and Wilf Mannion, but four days later, they were shocked by a defeat against the totally unfancied USA, a team made up from amateurs. Stanley Matthews was not selected, the Yanks scored a fluke and England had to beat Spain to qualify. They didn't and that was that.

Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian centre-forward, scored a header (or deflection?) after 37 minutes past Bert Williams and England had a Frank Lampard (over the line goal) score disallowed and another clear penalty ignored, as well as many chances scorned. Gaetjens,a restaurant dishwasher by trade, had a brief history with two French clubs and returned to his home country only to “disappear” in 1964 as a victim of one of Papa Doc Duvalier's Tonton Death squad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ESTvxyqsI

NEW MASCOT, NEW SEASON

Partick Thistle unveiled their latest mascot, Kingsley, this week, opening a new season of investment from Kingsford Capital Management and hopefully successful football results. David Shrigley is the Turner prize nominated artist who has produced a creature who looks like a cross between Lisa Simpson, the Teletubbies sun and the Good Morning Britain emblem plus something else which I can't quite recall. The investment is worth £200,000 so let's hope the lucky charm works more successfully than Jaggy MacBee the previous puppet! Maybe punters can think of a new name for the club since it was once known as Partick Thistle Nil.

Comparatively, other mascots appear not to have upset too many fans but have their own idiosyncrasies.

Hartlepool mascot, H'Angus the Monkey became famous for representing one of the worst teams in the league but also for standing for town mayor in the local elections!

There is the famed Football League Mascots race held at race courses during the season raising money for the Prostate Cancer Charity. My son, organising the event at Doncaster, had to step into the Crystal Palace costume of the Eagle when the actually mascot man failed to turn up. He had to run a couple of hundred metres with a huge beaked head and clawed feet. Needless to say he didn't win but the Bantam from Bradford City did, because he carried no weight!

Other mascots have varied influence and taste, some from American Football are downright scary.

RATTIN, MARADONA, SIMEONE, GOD!

On June 22^nd 1986, the infamous “Hand of God” incident put pay to England's chances of winning their Mexico World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, when Maradona punched into the net, a looping deflection beyond the massive Peter Shilton. Of course, a gentleman would admit to cheating and ask the ref to disallow the goal but not Diego! Although Maradona also scored one of the great WC goals ever to make it 2-0, Gary Lineker brought us back into the game and had he got onto one of John Barnes' crosses at the end of the game we might have pulled through. This is Peter Reid's account of the game. If you also watch the video he is the one left in Maradona's wake as he took England apart.

https://youtu.be/wLszSPkSgqI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY40__rBvSk

In 1966 the previous World Cup meeting with Argentina led to the disgraceful scenes of England manager, Alf Ramsey, wrestling his players away from the Argentinians after England had won 1-0 at Wembley in the WC quarter-final, insisting that they were not to swap shirts following the unruly behaviour of the opposition, particularly Rattin the perpetrator of several horrible tackles.

Geoff Hurst scored the only goal with a near post header and the rest is history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq0nxUlgXm8

Let's not forget David Beckham's sending off in the 1998 World Cup when he had been floored by Simeone-against??? You guessed it Argentina. Without him, England drew 2-2 aet and lost 4-3 on penalties, but it was his penalty that put his team through in the WC in 2002, 1-0, after Michael Owen had been tipped over. There was no bad behaviour this time round.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuUDlcxpdcg

TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY

If you happen to have the Daily Telegraph sports' section to hand, there is a very pleasant “Final Whistle” written by Alan Tyers about the football (soccer) close season. He is filling time by during the short break watching our Under 20s, 21s, Women, Andy Murray, Ben Stokes, rowing, greyhound racing etc etc.

Actually this led him onto write about Aussie Rules, which is one hell of a game, which of course, had its origins in England (or maybe Ireland?). Whatever its roots, Aussie Rules players are not over pampered like our Premier League stars and the clubs are not spoilt by excessive professionalism. Soccer did not get going until 1880, when Sydney students from The King's School took on the Wanderers, Australia's first official club and there is a thought that soccer may replace Aussie Rules eventually in popularity (and safety??).

The Melbourne Club, obviously based on the cricket club as well, Tyers states) is the World's oldest professional football club (yes, football includes everything) and was founded in May 1859. Their opponents for the past weekend was Geelong, a younger club, which registered as professional in July that year.

In Ireland, the Gaelic game had its origins around 1863, Ballygarvan appears to be the oldest documented club, though it is not clear if money changed hand then and in American Football, things happened a little later, when Allegheny and Pittsburgh Athletic clubs played out the first professional match in 1892.

In England it was the Lancashire Club of Darwen, a club that joined the Football League in 1891 but in 1879 played and paid two professionals from Scotland in what was, at that time, a strictly amateur FA Cup. The club was asked to withdraw Fergie Suter (below) and Jimmy Love from their team but this was over ruled and after the tie and two replays with them,  Darwen lost to the Old Etonians (truly amateur!!) 2-6.

Suter must have been a pro, having given up his job as a stonemason (he claimed English stone was too hard to work) and his place in Partick Thistle's team, to play football in England.

In 1883 Accrington's expulsion from the FA followed a payment of players and Preston NE and Bolton were disqualified from the FA Cup a year later.

Professionalism was legalized in 1885 and the clubs gradually joined the Football League in 1888.

STILL NO TANGERINE DREAM

Hundreds of people attended the funeral of Chris Hull at St John’s Church in Poulton, Blackpool, yesterday. He was well known to thousands of football fans throughout the town as the larger-than-life PA announcer at Blackpool FC’s Bloomfield Road until 2006.

During his incredible quarter of a century, stands have fallen and risen, great players have been and gone and there have been some tough times for the Seasiders fans to put up with, not least the situation the club is in at the moment-and see previous blog.
Hull, was the man behind the public address microphone at Bloomfield Road for 28 years, retiring as the longest serving PA man at any of the country’s 92 professional clubs.

But throughout it all, one thing never changed, his dulcet tones which drifted across the ground from the public address box.
“I have spent half my life on the mic at Bloomfield Road and there’s never been a dull moment, ” said Hull.

During his reign, eight different Blackpool chairman took over the helm and more than a dozen managers came and went. Present incumbent Neil Macdonald, the fifth manager in two years, has 13 players signed on as Blackpool face a new season, having just been relegated.
Hull, 55, did much more than hold a microphone. As a Seasiders fanatic, he had a colourful history at the club, including raising money with sponsored bed-pushes and parachute jumps when Pool almost went out of business in the early 1980s.

But what some fans might not know was that, during the week, he had a much more serious role running a successful funeral business on the Fylde coast. He said on retirement;
“...because of the continuing expansion of the business, it’s impossible for me to commit to being at every single first team fixture.”
“I have supported the club for 50 years, have never been paid a penny for doing the PA role and I will always be available to serve our football club.”
“I have seen us play in all four divisions of the professional game and I hope one day that the youngsters of the town will get the opportunity to see Blackpool back in the top two divisions.”
“This is my town, I was born here and I will always support it and the football club to the hilt.”


He will be spinning in his grave following the latest revelations at the club, reported this weekend, including fans ready to demonstrate against owner Karl Oyston, who has been banned for 6 weeks following written abuse of a fan and sent on an FA re-education course and fined. Allegedly, £11 million of club money has been paid to a company owned by Oyston family. The pitch is a disgrace with no investment, the club is a shambles, there are no training balls and the players have to use the beach for training when the pitch is unplayable. We wish Neil and the Seasiders good luck.

WAR BRINGS FOOTBALL TO FRANCE

Football in France has its origins in1870 when the nation was defeated during the Franco-Prussian War. France, it was believed, was beaten by the weakness physically and mentally of the country's people, in contrast to the Germans, who were disciplined by nationalist gymnastics.

So, a French gymnastics movement was established, there was, of course, cycling with the first organised Penny Farthing race in 1869. Sponsorship kicked in and banked velodromes sprung up, notably one at Buffalo in Paris on the site of Buffalo Bill's circus. You may have to do your own research to understand this historic reference.

Just before the First World War, the French already had rugby as a popular activity and Baron de Coubertin, founder of the Olympic movement, believed that the French aristocracy needed sporting strategies for survival and toughening up. Students at prestigious lycées set up Racing Club and Stade Francais in the 1880s and adopted rugby, rowing and track and it was in Aquitaine and Languedoc that rugby was adopted before football. I think this is still the more popular team sport here.

Football or something similar was first played in Le Havre in 1872 by a collection of English, Cambridge and Oxford graduates whose colours, light blue and dark blue, are retained today in the local league club. I was lucky enough to be part of an Oxbridge tour to Le Havre to help the club celebrate its centenary. Le Havre was a French league club and we were undergraduates. We lost 1-3. There was rugby and athletics celebrated too, so the English have a big say in France's sporting excellence. 

Football therefore, became a feature in the north-east of the country and inevitably Paris adopted a number of teams and only in the major ports was there an English influence to make football popular. Whereas in the south west of France no football was played with any vigour until the 1920s.

The First World War was good for French football, spreading the word over the whole of the country as it became unified. Youngsters in the Massif Central learned the game from lycée-educated officers from Lyons and ruffians in the Paris were shown the game by factory workers from Lille. This diffusion of the game was confirmed in 1924 when the Paris Olympics gave France its major stadium, the Stade de Colombes.

As professionalism grew, once peace happened,  it was industrial investment that encouraged the game to spread, with companies like Peugeot creating FC Sochaux in 1929, FC Roubaix developing from the brewing industry and La Cesne grain helping to set up Olympique de Marseille.

Still cannot get any football on our holiday let's TV! So back to the snooker table!!

BY THE POOL, INTO THE POOLS

Chatting over a fruity breakfast, conversation somehow got onto the football results and the marvellous James Alexander Gordon (see previous blog), whose delivery of the league and cup results on radio was legendary.

Of course when the results were being read out, punters over the nation would check their pools' coupons, some selecting what they thought would be 12 drawn matches from all those played on the day or sometimes win, draw or lose. Whatever the combination there were lucky (or down right clever) punters who made themselves a fortune.

John Barnard, from Birmingham, first had the idea of "betting" on football and he set up a pool of investors who paid in weekly, made their choices and possibly won a jackpot of a few pounds with 10% going to the administrator, Barnard.

In 1923, John Moores met Barnard and took his idea to friends, Colin Askham and Bill Hughes who invested £50 each in the scheme, which was quite a sum in those days. The trio could not earn money outside their formal employment, so they had to call the business something that would not draw attention to themselves. Askham was adopted but was born Colin Littlewood, so that made sense as a cover name for their enterprise.

They printed a few thousand coupons and sold them outside Old Trafford. Only 35 coupons were bought and of course there was a financial loss.

They tried again with 10,000 coupons at Hull's ground but only one was returned. With the hint of a loss, the others pulled out of the venture and Moores bought their shares. In 1928, Moores' brother devised a security system for the business to prevent cheating and the business took off.

By 1932 Moores was able to invest his profits in a Mail Order business and then Littlewoods department Stores in 1937.

After that it was money sunk into Everton football Club and even an English baseball team! That made Moores famous, he was knighted and died in . Littlewoods, Zetters and Vernons are probably the best known pools' companies and theyformed The Football Pools company  which now has to compete with online betting and many other competitors.

Moores died in 1993 and left his mark on society not only in football but also at the John Moores' University and other philanthropic gestures.

GARRINCHA LET OFF THE HOOK

When you are in deepest France with rugby seemingly man's only sport, there is not a lot of inspiration for my almost daily snippet, from the local clubs. There is a brilliant spotted flycatcher performing is flights of fancy outside the window but I have to resort to "on this day in football history" stuff to give me something to get excited about. So I have found another good blogspot called "otdifh" which is worth a look. But don't desert me you dozen or so loyal followers.

So on this day in 1962 Chile hosted the World Cup Final despite being a very poor nation and not having the infrastructure to house large crowds for what should have been a spectacular tournament. The semi-final between Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia attracted a crowd of 5,000 only; on reflection this might be considered a decent number bearing in mind the limited fame of these two teams but come on this was the WC S-F!!!

In the final, the Brazilians were holders and were without the injured Pele (see 1966 too) and should have been without Garrincha who was sent off in the semi final against the hosts for kneeing Rojas in the bum, after having been abused all match by this over attentive defender. Brazil won their match 4-2 and the little bird was a major architect of the win, but what would they do with out his influence? 

Diplomatic circles quickly whirled, the linesman involved disappeared to Montevideo and the Peruvian referee was persuaded, by the Embassy, to change his mind over the incident and the ban was revoked. Even in those days FIFA was a bit dodgy and Garrincha played.

Brazil went a goal down to the Czechs, but after three goals in reply, Garrincha taunted his opponents by standing with his foot floating over the ball, daring the hapless Czechs to take the ball off him. Respect?

What also came out of all this was TV exposure and the great if somewhat hypnotic chant of "Braaaazil, cha, cha, cha" which resonated over the airwaves and quickly was adapted by British football crowds the following season, including 2-4-6-8 and various skipping songs from our school playgrounds. 

KEEP IT ON THE ISLAND.

If you are remotely interested in distant football teams then get the atlas out and head way south of Japan (1600 miles or so) to the island of Guam, an American territory deep into the Pacific. Guam is  ranked 174th in the FIFA rankings and has a population of 165,000. Recently they have beaten India, a nation of many millions, not all of whom play football of course but a country where the game is growing in importance.

The Guam national coach, Gary White, is an ex Bognor Regis player, who has found himself organising a bunch of mixed race footballers in this latest World Cup qualifiers. He led his team to their first ever win against Turkmenistan last week and most recently a 2-1 victory over India. This puts Guam in good shape for the next phase of World Cup qualification.

White has been coaching in the British Virgin Islands and Bahamas on a scheme designed by the FA to put more English coaches in the Premier League. If this sounds a bit far fetched then, why not have a look at Paul Watson's book "Up Pohnpei" an account of his excursion into Micronesia where he and a colleague took on the task of coaching the local "national" team? Guam gets a mention in the book and it is a very good read.

Paul's latest venture is to the city of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, where he is introducing football and having to spend much of the time indoors playing Futsal because the weather is too harsh for outdoor practice.

WAYNE WORKS WONDERS FOR WOY

After the excitement of last night's stunning victory in Slovenia, none of which I saw but did track on the BBC Sports website, Wayne Rooney has become almost England's top international goal scorer. With 48 goals in 104 appearances and a playing time of about 11 and a half years, Rooney has also scored 4 pens. 

Bobby Charlton still holds the record of 49 goals with 106 caps. He scored on debut, had a longevity of just over 12 years and scored 3 penalties and 4 hat tricks but I suspect his first place will soon be overtaken.

Gary Lineker notched 48 goals in 80 appearances, remarkably over only a 7 year period, with 4 pens and 5 hat tricks.

OWN GOALS also totalled 48 goals for England, with Jimmy Greaves coming fifth slotting 44 times in 89 games. Greaves' playing time was 9 and a half years, scoring on debut and putting away one penalty and two hat tricks. Remember there were fewer games being played in those days.

Stanley Matthews played for his country until he was nearly 42 years old, scoring 11 goals including a hat trick. He must have been good at assists to maintain his place in the team for over 22 years.....he was!

WHERE IS SLOVENIA?

Bit of a bummer, but I am in south west France and cannot find a bar that is showing Slovenia v England this afternoon. The result of the game is not crucial to our boys, because there are more games to go, but a win would give everyone confidence in Roy and his team, whose record has been encouraging but hardly sensational.

The game is in Ljubijana, where one of the country's international stadia exists. Slovenia was only a regional representative team until 1991, when it split from Yugoslavia to become a "country". At the beginning of the 20th Century Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the First World War Slovenia joined the Kingdom of Serbia and then Yugoslavia in 1929.

The first official match as a Slovenian XI was held against France, with Jules Rimet, whose name was on the first World Cup trophy, present as Chef de Mission. The Slovenians lost comfortably, but in 1991 at their independence, they drew with Estonia 1-1 in the first official international. 

England have only previously played Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup, winning 1-0 with a goal from Jermain Defoe and they won the first match in this qualifying league, 3-1, at Wembley.
So far, Slovenia has earned 9 points from their 5 games.

ITS AN HONOUR TO BE FRANK

I have been to the North-east chasing a few more football grounds and came across Horden WM FC which was a tidy ground, getting ready for the new season and had a chat with the Hartlepool United FC head groundsman, who was praying for rain to freshen up his pitch. I mentioned that I knew about Pool's latest signing from Grimsby, Carl Magnay, and reassured him that it was money well spent. Pool is one of the country's most loved clubs, probably because it has always been struggling for survival, on the brink of relegation but managed to keep in the League. Here's a bit of Carl......

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh6-h7PHlzM

I also learned that the Professor of Geography at Durham University once advised Bristol City on their drainage, which was causing the club headaches; Prof Tim Burt is an eminent hydrologist and appears in Who's Who, so he must be the bee's knees on pitch craft. He went to the ground on a match day to check out progress. He was led onto the ground and watched in horror as the groundsman dug a soil pit in front of the waiting crowd just before kick off, to show him the development!

My trip away was rounded off by hearing that Frank Lampard has been awarded an OBE and Wales have pretty much qualified for a major international tournament for the first time since 1958. Have a look at this news reel of their success in Sweden....the filming leaves much to the imagination:-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzcYM0C1E8k

Gareth Bale scored against Belgium (World Ranked 2) on his 50^th game for Wales so there will be singing in the valleys, assuming the team does not implode in their remaining games.

RED LION ROARS ON NATIONAL THEATRE STAGE

I played for Lewes FC a while back-late 1960s and early 70s. It was my first exposure to full non-league football, the Athenian League, and the lads from East Sussex were quite a decent side, playing at the famous Dripping Pan-an ancient site where monks produced salt from the invading sea.

From listening to one of the erudite Radio 4 programmes last night, I gathered that Patrick Marber is to premiere his fifth play at the National Theatre, called the Red Lion, an intimate play about a non-league, semi-pro team, and the ins and outs of running a club based on the author's experiences at Lewes FC.

The young pretender arrives at the club and is adopted by an ambitious manager. Lewes has had its ups and downs too and obviously so do the heroes of the Red Lion. Marber was on the board at Lewes for a while and helped the club get back on its feet.

Marber, an Arsenal fan, moved to Sussex with his wife, actress Debra Gillett, around the time that Lewes faced bankruptcy in 2009. With a group of fellow supporters they turned it into a community -owned club, like Barcelona.

Directed by Ian Rickson, the play is also based on their experiences at Wingate and Finchley FC,

It is an haunting and humorous play, set in a dressing room, about the dying romance of the great English game. Check its dates in London and when it is likely to go into the “sticks”.

BACK FROM THE BRINK? WILL GAZZA HAVE ANOTHER DRINK?

Today Paul Gascoigne has been on show, advertising his DVD (and Blueray) called unsurprisingly Gascoigne, which is released on June 15th. He has been interviewed by Colin Murray on Talksport which was very funny, though you will have to listen very carefully to get some of the words and punchlines. The interview is on this link:-

http://talksport.com/football/gazza-his-memorable-career-joking-jose-and-man-united-star-who-scared-him-150609150085

I saw him do his knee ligaments at Wembley in the Spurs v Forest Cup Final, a rash challenge to say the least. I suffered with him in his England shirt 1990 and marvelled at him in 1996. So he has made a film to get his point across.

The Daily Telegraph also gives him four columns. Writer, Oliver Brown, met Gazza in the Langham Hotel at 11.21am exactly. The interview revealed Gascoigne's love of football, where he said he only ever felt safe on the pitch. He admits to taking cocaine, being in car crashes, got divorced and been in rehab as well as having to suffer having his phone hacked and have many lies told about him in various tabloids, which eventually won him £188,000 damages last month.

Gazza is now 48 years old and maybe on the mend?

With Kenny Samson sitting on a park bench with a bottle in his hand and George Best dead, let us hope that Gazza is “belatedly preparing to step back from the precipice”.

David Goldblatt's exceptional volume “The Ball is Round” an exceptional Global History of Football, makes only three references to Gascoigne:-

the penalty shoot out in 1990 against West Germany and Gascoigne's yellow card which would make him miss the Final of the World Cup, had England won!

the mismanagement of Gascoigne which led to his downfall through having too much fame and money,

and finally his venture into China and the resultant shambles of his signing with Jia B side The Heavenly Horse Club, in 2003. No Jia A club would have him!

Make your own mind up, buy the DVD.

WOMEN MAKING THEIR MARK THIS WEEK

It has just been Women's Sport Week and with the Women's World “Soccer” Cup in full swing in Canada, with record attendances and TV coverage. The initiative has provided an opportunity for all women to raise awareness of those involved in playing, delivering, leading and working in women's sport across the UK. Try the website-www.womeninsport.org/wsw2015

A charity, Women in Sport is supported by National Governing Bodies and Sky Sport, BBC Sport, British Rowing and Sport England, to name a few.

Gary Neville has put his substantial interest behind the venture since he knows at first hand how hard his sister Tracey has had to battle to get recognised in national netball. She is now England's head coach. Gary may have had an easier path to stardom.

Reet Bains from Octagon, the sports'marketing company, a recent graduate, explains how she has become involved, as an Account Executive, in the marketing and sponsorship side of the “business” and she is now one of many women to hold an important post in what was once a male dominated work place.

You can read her “day in the life” account by clicking onto: http://www.scribd.com/doc/267781370/A-Day-in-the-Life-of-Reet-Bains

Reet has the challenging job of working on the Global Mastercard Sponsorship account, so she finds herself located at venues such as the Open Golf Championship, this year being held at the now “ALL” inclusive Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Recently, she had to host a Patrons' Day at the famous St Andrew's course and enjoyed the Patrons' Dinner in the Clubhouse, with guest speaker Tom Watson.

Reet is looking forward to focussing at the Rugby World Cup, her next venture and many more gigs in the future.

ITS A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY

The latest “friendly” international between Ireland and England took place this afternoon with the Republic at home in the impressive Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The game, however, was worth missing especially after the delicacy served up last night in Berlin. The English performance was so inept, I left the England boys passing to green shirts and went and did the strimming.

The first international between England and Ireland was played at Aigburth CC in Liverpool. It was a “friendly” and the home team won 7-0. England played only three internationals a year at that time, with matches against Ireland in Belfast, Scotland and Wales.

The first game played at Lansdowne Road, Dublin had to wait until March 17^th 1900. 8,000 watched and England won 2-0.

In 1902, after a 1-0 victory, the England team had gone to the Empire Music Hall for a post game entertainment and they were not given a particularly hospitable welcome by the mainly Irish audience. Boos and “Irish Confetti” showered from the “gods”.

In 1904 a pitch invasion, after the Irish had scored, included two men with guns firing shots into the air and dancing! The team was greeted with a shower of bottles, stones and grass sods when they headed back to the hotel after the game having won 3-1.

Belfast remained the favourite venue until 1912 and even after the partition, matches were detailed against “Ireland” and played in Belfast. Through the Second World War there were no fixtures until 1945 when Northern Ireland appeared on the fixture card for the first time and the following year the Republic of Ireland hosted England at Dalymount Park on September 30th. Tom Finney scored in a 1-0 win.

IN THE GHOST OF HITLER AND JESSE OWENS

The Olympiastadion where the Champions League Final is to be held this evening is an extraordinary building. Built for the Olympics in 1936, there is a particular significance for this structure, designed to show off Hitler's powers and his Aryan Gods. Originally holding 100,000 people, it was renovated in 2004 for the 2006 World Cup and now seats over 74,400 with Hertha BSC being the home football club and for international athletics.

Hitler's plan was to have built in Grunewald, the Reichssportfeld, and to develop a sports' complex for physical education, the Deutsches Sportsforum. 326 acres was designated with the Olympiastadion, the Maifeld (50,000) a huge lawn for gymnastic demonstrations especially on May Day and could hold 250,000 people on surrounding banks.

When the British Army occupied barracks close by after the war, they used the site for cricket and this became the home of Berlin CC in 2012.

Another venue was the Waldbuhne amphitheatre (25,000). In addition there were buildings for football, swimming, equestrian and field hockey. The black and white photo shows the old site.

Now the stadium complex is 21^st Century modern and still retains the historic features of the old building for which conservation was an important issue.
The Bell Tower for example was designed to view the whole of Berlin from its top. It is worth having a look at the Bell Tower's history which has experienced a variety of events in its life.

Rock concerts are held there. 

There is forest around the area and excellent access by public transport.

OUR GALS TO MAKE THEIR MARK

It is the Women's World Cup in Canada-starting very soon. If Sep Blatter had his way they would all be wearing tight shorts to make the game more interesting-thanks Sep.

England Women, ranked 6^th in the tournament, are in Group F with France (3^rd) , Mexico (25^th) and Colombia (28^th ) They will play in Montreal, Ottawa and Monkton which means a fair bit of travelling between matches. Les Blues will be their biggest test, as England have been beaten recently by the French ladies in a 2011 World Cup Quarter-final penalty shoot out, later in a 2013 European Championships group stage and the 2014 Cyprus Cup Final. Tense stuff.

Other groups include:

Canada, Netherlands, China and New Zealand.

Brazil, Spain, South Korea and Costa Rica.

USA, Sweden, Australia and Nigeria.

Japan (holders), Switzerland, Ecuador and Cameroon.

Germany, Norway, Thailand and the Ivory Coast.

So coach Mark Sampson hopes to get through the early stages and with his emerging squad make his MARK on the World Stage. Come on Gals!!

THE SPANISH WAITER HAS THREE YEAR CONTRACT

NO, I am not going to consider FIFA, Blatter, Sterling or actually YES I am going to chat about the Spanish Waiter, Rafa Benitez and his return to Real Madrid. He has a guaranteed three year contract though looking at the history of Real's managers he will do well to last that long.

Arthur Johnson (beautiful Spanish name) played in the first El Classico May 1902 and he later became manager of the club in 1910 until 1920. An Englishman, he introduced the white kit of the Corinthian Casuals and got the club going.

Since then, de Carcer (1920-6), Bru (1934-41) and Miguel Monuz (1960-74) have lasted more than most. There have been 60 managers of the club since Arthur: 105 years divided by 60.....equals?

Monuz was playing for Real at the time of the first European Cup, as it was then known, and he scored the first ever goal for the club in the EC in 1956. Real dominated the Cup in those days.

Another Englishman, Robert Firth managed the club between 1932-4 after being in charge of Racing de Santander previously. He was born in Birmingham and played there and at Nottingham Forest, Port Vale and Southend United. Clearly necessary qualifications for a job of that status!

The list of Real's managers reads like a Who's Who of European giants including Ancelotti, Mourinho, Pellegrini and Capello.

Let us not forget John Toshack, a Welshman, who made a name for himself in Spain and managed the club for two spells.

So Renee, I think he looks like the bar owner in Allo Allo, if you last for three years it will be remarkable, more will be a miracle.

RIOTS, A KICK UP THE BUM AND HOWLERS

NO I am not going to talk about Blatter. It is good news though isn't it. 

There's more excitement from Paraguay where ”oldest” and biggest rival clubs, Olimpia and Guarani, met in a derby and the Olimpian crowd broke into the Guarani clubhouse and stole their trophies, throwing them on to the pitch. Riot police got involved of course and matters were resolved eventually.

Guarani had the last laugh when their team won the match 1-0.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32967488

Almost as shameful is the play-off clash between Rangers and Motherwell at Fir Park, which led to Rangers' failure to gain promotion to the top division in Scotland, after a trouncing by the Lamarkshire side.

Look at the now unemployed Bilel Mohsni and his tussle with Motherwell player Lee Erwin. Not a good day the office for our 'Gers man. It all started with an attempted handshake, and f*** off, a push and then a kick up the backside and a punch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/32954542

By all accounts another Rangers' player was “hit” with a team flag pole from the crowd, whilst the Rangers' keeper let in a howler for the first goal. Worth having a look at the media sites for this line up of disasters.

Five players, one from Celtic and four from Rangers were sent of in two “Old Firm” matches in the space of a week in March 1991 and finally, the ref who booked St Johnstone's Don McVicar in a 1987 league game with Meadowbank Thistle was called Don McVicar.

PUNDITS CLASH

Watch out for a Step 3 pre-season friendly between Martin Tyler and Gary Neville. Well, their local teams at least. Tyler is the “right hand man” of Alan Dowson, the manager at Hampton and Richmond Borough, who play in the Ryman Premier.

Neville, of course, is associated with a Manchester club, Salford City; he is joint owner of this season's champions of the Evo-Stick NPL Div One North. If you remember the club has been taken over by the Class of 92.

Martin Tyler has played a bit and was a stalwart of the Commentators' XI that played for fun, including a match at Charterhouse against the school's social side, on the hallowed pitch.  In the visitors' team were John Motson (who never stopped talking), Alan Parry and race man, Julian Wilson, gracing the turf. Gary's done a bit too!

The game is arranged at the Beveree, H and RB's home ground, on August 1^st.