FAIR JUDGEMENT

I read Lord Toulson's obituary in the Times and Daily Telegraph today. He was only 70 years old and he died in the operation theatre during a heart operation. I was privileged enough to know Roger, who put two boys into my boarding house at Charterhouse and they were both very keen footballers. Older son Henry was 1st XI captain and Thomas played in lesser teams but was just as enthusiastic as anyone else on a football pitch.

Roger Toulson was a lawyer who went through the many impressive levels of law, being appointed to the Supreme Court in 2013. Apart from linking him to football through his family, they lived at White Hart Lane in a Surrey village and were Spurs supporters, I read that he represented Luton Town FC in 1986 in a conflict over FA Cup ties being played on their artificial pitch. he could see no reason why these matches should not be played. I am sure the legalities were more complex than this!

At the time Luton were in the heady First Division and they laid an artificial pitch which proved to be very unpopular with most of the other English Football League clubs, indeed Luton had beaten Liverpool 1-4 at home in October 1986 but lost 0-2 at Anfield in March.

Many Division one clubs claimed that the pitch gave away teams an unfair disadvantage and to add to their woes, away fans were banned from the Luton stadium, a ruling that got them kicked out of the Littlewoods Cup-known as the League Cup.

For the FA Cup 3rd Round on January 11th, Cup holders Liverpool came to Kenilworth Road and in front of a BBC screened cup tie, could only draw 0-0 on the "plastic" pitch in front of just over 11,000. Manager Kenny Dalglish claimed that the pitch was a disaster and should be ripped up. Tempers ran hot!

The replay was due to be played at Liverpool whose pitch, despite a cold snap,  was in good condition. When the weather changed, the Luton team was stranded on the day of the match at Heathrow, with bad weather preventing flights. Roads were blocked and the police advised against taking a coach to Anfield.

In case of another draw, Luton rejected a neutral venue, so the teams tossed a coin, before the replay, to decide the venue of a third match. Luton won.
On January 26th, Luton then parked the bus at Anfield in front of a frustrated crowd of over 34,000 watching a 0-0 draw.
Dalglish naturally asked why the coin toss could not be done after the second match!

The deciding tie therefore was at Kenilworth Road where 14,500 turned up to see the Hatters "rip" the cup away 3-0, from the Liverpudlians. The Times article below explains what happened.
http://www.lfchistory.net/Images/newspapers/riley/19870128vLuton.pdf

Luton then lost to QPR after a replay ironically a club with an artificial pitch.

POINTLESS GEOGRAPHY QUIZ?

If you are unhappy with England penalty takers then have a word with the Portuguese and especially Ronaldo who was let down by his team in the Confederations Cup yesterday, leaving their hero stranded as the last penalty taker, when they went 0-3 down to Chile aet.

To make up for post penalty stress disorder, here is some excitement to keep you going before the new season starts; the Europa League!
Current holders of course are Manchester United.
It kicks off with the First Qualifying Round today with these following fixtures for British and ROI clubs (all you have to do is guess which country these clubs come from-clues are Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Denmark (two clubs), Liechtenstein, Norway (two clubs) Finland, Lithuania and of course the British and Eire clubs:
FC Levadia Tallin v Cork City
Lyngsby v Bangor
Haugesund v Coleraine
Odd v Ballymena Utd
Bala Town v FC Vaduz
Connah's Quay v HJK
Midtjylland v Derry City
St Johnstone v Trakai
Crusaders v Leipaja
Rangers v Progres
Ungmennafelagio Stjarnan (famed for a long name and goal celebrations..fishing, diving, going to the toilet, human bicycle, Rambo shooting) v Shamrock Rovers
Games are played today and on July 4th
Using Country Coefficients decides how many each country may enter to the competition. England therefore get 3 entries but vacate one due to Man Utd going to the Champions League! Kosovo only get one berth.
Aberdeen join in at Qualifying Round Two and then who knows when the English get involved?
Everton join in the Qualifying Round 3rd.
Teams to join in even later are Arsenal, Villareal, Hertha Berlin, Lazio and Lyon to name a few.

HAVE YOU SPOTTED? ENGLAND NO GOOD AT PENS.

England U21s were put out of their misery last night when they were beaten by an efficient German side on penalties. The Germans were well ahead after England had had a good start and were 2-1 up. They were outplayed for most of the game and seemed unable to cope with the Germans strategy.

The link beneath will give you the records of English national penalty shoot outs.
You will need to look towards the bottom for England's record.
http://www.penaltyshootouts.co.uk/countries.html

So, England in international history has been given 115 penalties, scored 82 and  had 33 saved or missed.
England has conceded 81 pens had scored 55 against had 26 were saved or missed.

Tournament disasters include:


1990 at the World Cup on July 4th v West Germany 1-1 aet lost 3-4 pens:
excuse The west Germans had more experience in taking penalties
1996 Europeans on June 22 v Spain 0-0 aet WIN 4-2 at Wembley
outplayed the English crowd helped
1996 Europeans June 26 v Germany 1-1 aet loss 5-6 at Wembley
Southgate side footed his kick
1998 King Hussain International Cup Morocco May 29 v Belgium 0-0 pens 3-4 loss
it wasn't a vital tournament
1998 World Cup 2nd round June 30th v Argentina 2-2 aet 3-4 loss
Goalie Carlos Roa's blatant gamesmanship unacceptable apparently
2004 Europeans June 24 v Portugal 2-2 aet 5-6 loss
the state of the penalty spot
2006 World Cup July 1st v Portugal 0-0 aet 1-3 loss
fear and foreboding of the inevitable
2012 Europeans Q-final June 24 v Italy 0-0 aet 2-4 loss
The Italians had Pirlo!
BY THE WAY do not forget AUGUST 4th 2012
Great Britain (8 Englishmen in team) v South Korea in Olympics at Cardiff 2-2 aet lost 4-5 on pens-Sturridge missed.

V9 ACADEMY ON TRIAL

Remember Jamie Vardy? Well he respects the route that his career took through non-league football and has invested £100,000 of his own money to establish the V9 Academy where 42 handpicked recruits from the Non-League are put under the footballing microscope. Meeting at the Manchester City training complex recently, the candidates were given a "pep" talk by Jamie himself who mapped out his life so far and then handed over the hopeful trialists to coaches, nutritionists and sports' scientists.

Then there were five days for the lades under scrutiny at Sports' City. Three squads were selected and the first games were manic-each player trying "too hard" to impress. Those assessing these players included Chris Ramsey (ex QPR), Alan Stubbs (ex Celtic) and Robbie Stockdale (ex Sunderland).

Teams were rotated, there were training sessions, gym workouts, jacuzzis, game analysis and presentations on fatigue and recovery. Ex-Huddersfield Town sporting director, Stuart Webber, now at Norwich City spoke about the detail clubs go into when trying to recruit a new player. Family, past history, social media posts are studied. there is no stone unturned.

Meulensteen, the Dutchman once on Alex Furgeson's right hand, explained how he made Ronaldo convert from a "sulky diletante" into a universal superstar. He got players to break their "game" into FOUR CORNERS-tactical, physical, personality and tactical and then write under each their strengths. Meulensteen then coached a session on changing the pace of a game and the rhythm of play.

Scouts and representatives from almost a 100 clubs, mainly in England but also Spain and the USA, were on site, watching every move and no doubt learning a bit too. Opposition squads from the PFA, Welsh Champions TNS and Bangor city were also wheeled out as opposition. The scouts made notes and reported back to V9.

And now , it is a wait by the phone!
http://www.v9academy.co.uk/team/

HUMILITY IS THE KEY TO THE ALL BLACK CULTURE

After a game should you have the pleasure of a comfortable, heated, hot water supplied changing room, do you leave it as tidy as you found it? Does your club have a principle that all teams, when they go away, tidy up on the side of the pitch, picking up those pesky sticky tapes, gum wrappers, water bottles and old bandages? Back in the day you might even have picked up half sucked, chewed orange peel!

Well, a good coach will insist on tidying after a game and do bit of housework before the dressing room door is closed on their way out, win or lose, hard done to, ectastic!

James Kerr has written a book called: "Legacy. What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business Of Life".  It delves deep into the reasons why New Zealand Rugby teams are so successful.
Actually a lot of their sports' teams are good! Cricket, sailing, netball.....

With a small population of about 4 million in a country with an area similar to Britain, despite lying on the other side of the world, New Zealanders prove that their sport will guarantee them a "place on the map".

Back in 2004, following a heavy defeat by the South Africans, the players got involved in drinking games and many were left in poor shape. Things had to change; "better people make better All Blacks".

The All Black players now have total "ownership" of their team, they make their own decisions on the pitch, as well as off it. Pre-match team talks before the team goes out to play are banished. Why prepare for days and reach a peak of excitement, only to have more stimulation shoved down your throat seconds before you engage?!

When players step out of line, their punishment is decided by the "leadership group" selected from the players not the management. Players are chosen on character more than talent! They are part of an extended family and they all follow the "Spearhead". Whanau means the Maori extended family.

All Blacks know the legacy set by previous New Zealand teams and accept the jersey that is handed on to them. Role models are important and players know there is an inheritance and they are role models.

When they leave their dressing room, where ever it is, the team leaves the changing room tidy, they literally "sweep the sheds".

Champions do extra. It is obvious, they do more than the optimum! Extra training, going the extra mile.

All players have a trigger mechanism that takes them from a red head (angry, out of control) to a blue head ((an optimal brain-calm, controlled). Some players stamp their feet when they feel they are going red! Others look into the distance for inspiration!

Over last season, several incidents surprised home team officials in English football. Lincoln City always left their dressing room tidy (home or away), England C do and Alan Turvey who was the Isthmian League chairman got Robert Dyas (then sponsors) to supply each club with brooms at their AGMs to stop away dressing rooms from being left "trashed". BRUSH UP ON TRUE VALUES.

Well it's a start!

GOTTA GO TO GOTLAND

I have done this one before but not for 2017! As Glastonbury ends. Gotland begins! It is the 2017 edition of the Island Games where 23 "qualified" islands take part in 14 sports at a selected venue. This began yesterday and runs on until the 30th June.
http://www.islandgames2017.com/

"The Year of Sports" was first held on the Isle of Man and the games have run since 1985, bringing together small communities of a similar heritage. To take part you must have lived on the island for a minimum of a year. So no ringers! The International Island Games Association welcomes 24 islands, some as a geographer I have never heard of (Hitra and Aland) and others more well known Rhodes and Guernsey).

Like all tournaments, the games attract over 3,000 sportsmen and women and gives opportunitites for economy, volunteering and education, as the host island fires up for a week of intense activity. This year the host for the second time is Gotland; do you know where that is?

23 islands from all over the world compete and over 3000 participants will play in a variety of sports including football, triathalon, cycling, golf, archery and swimming to name a few.

The Manx team (IOM) has a solid reputation having been at the top end of the medal table in past years.

Needless to say Football is the most popular sport........
http://www.islandgames2017.com/sport/soccer/

LAW and GREAVES

After the disappointment of the Lions defeat in Auckland, here are two short videos to cheer us up.
The quality is not great but you know what's going:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTtpd07cIA8 features some of Greaves' best goals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HQhV3ujyg features Denis Law;s backheel against former club Man Utd....it sent them down!

And this week we celebrate Jimmy Greaves and Denis Law being inducted into the Walk of Fame at the National Football Museum, Manchester.

If you have not been to the NFM then do visit it in the building first built for Urbis-a celebration of Urban Developments-a good geography half day! Even better as a footy museum full day!!

Sports' artist Paul Trevillion designed the new Plaques (see him with Denis), Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, was there, as were Mike Summerbee, Gordon Taylor (PFA) and Walk of Fame CEO Dave Courtney.
Jimmy Greaves' son accepted the plaque on his dad's behalf.
Three other heroes were "plaqued", Eusebio, Maldini and di Stefano.

THE MEDHURSTS

Harry Medhurst was born in February 1916 and he played football for his local club Woking and then West Ham, Chelsea and Brighton where he spent one season, his last as a player. At Chelsea he made his mark as a goalkeeper, keeping 32 clean sheets in 157 appearances. He went back to Chelsea after he retired from playing and became an assistant "trainer". Eventually this transformed into a physiotherapist, retiring in 1975 and he ied in April 1984. He also played Minor County cricket for Cambridgeshire in the 1950s.

His son, Norman, followed his father to "work" and became an assistant at Chelsea, where he worked for 25 years, leaving in 1988, He quietly finished his career off at Torquay and Plymouth when he migrated west in his "retirement". During his time he became the England physio and he and worked from the mid 1970s would have been on the bench during to the 1990 World Cup when he worked with the likes of Bobby Robson and Paul Gacoigne.

Peter Osgood recounts a story when he broke a leg against Blackpool at Stamford bridge. Norman raced onto the pitch to treat the wounded centre forward. He knelt down beside osgood and cradled his leg. Norman asked Peter if his leg hurt and Osgood replied, "No, Norman, but you have got the wrong leg!"

When Norman eventually looked down on the right leg, he rolled the sock down, saw a bone protruding through his sock, went white and Ossie thought they would need two stretchers to get them both off the pitch.

Norman died on June 19th.

BOGOTA BANDIT

Funny things happen around the Solstice and indeed during an end of season tour in 1950 with his English club, Manchester United. Charlie Mitten's life should have experienced a proper "sunrise". As it was, it was more like a sunset.

Mitten had joined United in 1936 but only made his mark after the war in 1946. He starred in the 1948 FA Cup Final against Stanley Matthews' Blackpool. Wearing the number 11 shirt, he reputedly outshone the Blackpool winger. United won 4-2.

On the tour, Charlie Mitten was phoned by the president of  Independiente Sante Fe Club from Colombia. The South American club had just signed Neil Franklin and George Mountford from Stoke City and the Colombian wanted more. The maximum wage was still in process in England, so £50 a week was 6 times more than he was used to. £10,000 was offered as a signing on fee.

The catch was that the Colombian DiMayor league that Sante Fe played in was not recognised by FIFA (who must be obeyed!) and therefore should Mitten sign up, he would be outlawed. The rewards were too obvious and he was shown his yearly salary, win bonus, house, chauffeur, maid etc.
When he told Matt Busby, the United manager, the Scot said "Good God, do they want a manager?"

Mitten was also meant to be with the England squad in the Brazil World Cup but he told the FA that his wife was expecting a baby and he dare not leave her. His first season in Colombia was successful with 25 goals and he played for a Colombian Select XI against the World Cup winners, Uruguay.

Mitten went back to England when Colombia eventually joined FIFA, so he had to go back to his original contracted club. He was then suspended by United and sold. At this point Mitten was offered a contract with Real Madrid, but he declined and missed joining one of the most successful club sides in history, starring along with Gento, Di Stefano and Rial.

Instead he joined Fulham in 1951-2 but they were soon relegated to Division 2 (old). He then played alongside Johnny Haynes until 1956 when he took on the managership of Mansfield Town and then Newcastle Utd until 1961 when the Toon were relegated and Mitten sacked.

In the north-west, he fluttered with Altrincham in the non-league as player-manager. He enjoyed a bet and had a job at the Manchester White City greyhound stadium.

Mitten played one international for England in a "friendly" against Scotland in 1946. He never represented his country officially.

CharlieMitten died on January 2nd 2002 aged 80.

GOAL NETS AND PARALLEL SHADES

I got a few responses over the pitch size blog and the headman at Liverpool FC's training ground, David Roberts, put me right on a couple of points. That's done and dusted so to speak, though he did tell me that the PL has a ruling on "parallel shades" which make reference to the mowing patterns left by some enthusiastic groundsmen who clearly have got too much time on their hands!
The PL says, keep the lines simple and across the pitch to aid referee's and assistants making decisions! Yes, that puts pay to the crop circles and diagonals-it makes sense.

Recognise this pitch (easy) and the one above!
So now we go onto NETS and the letter "what I sent" to the Daily Telegraph whose letters' page yesterday had a submission from a gentlemen exalting the inventions that had come from Bolton! He included goal-nets; I looked that up, could not find a reference to Bolton (he may know more than me) so I replied with what I know about nets and got published.

Here is the letter of reply:

LIFE'S A PITCH

So Tottenham can't reduce the area of the Wembley pitch to suit their "pressing" style of game. The Premier League has a standardised pitch size of 100m x 69m, with only exceptions where the existing ground construction prevents adjustment (according to rule K21).

Stoke (6600 sq.m) photo below, Crystal Palace and White Hart Lane (6700), Everton (6800), Leicester (6834), Burnley (6864) and Liverpool (6868) fail to reach that minimum area due to limited space at their grounds.

Chelsea (6901 sq.m) just tops the "minimum" area,
Newcastle United (6968), Brighton and Hove Albion (7245) already have pitches that comply whereas Huddersfield Town has been asked to increased their width by a metre to come up to scratch, although other sources say their pitch is a sizeable 7245 too.

The new "White Hart Lane" is built to meet standard requirements and Pochettino has had a Wembley sized pitch marked out at their state of the art training ground.
The Wembley pitch is 2 yards (1.8m) wider and 5 yards (4.57m) longer than the present White Hart Lane. (1 yard = 0.914m)
Wembley measures in at 7245 sqm (105m x 69m).

Spurs won one of the five matches they played at Wembley last season and they also lost four games at the national stadium stretching back to the 2008 League Cup final. is it really pitch size that makes the difference?

Clubs that have no problems with size are Southampton, West Ham (London Stadium), Watford (all 6936), Arsenal, WBA, Man Utd, Man City, Bournemouth, Swansea (all 7140).

Middlesbrough (7245), Sunderland (7140) and Hull (a huge 8436) take their sizes to the Championship.

SIZES SEEM TO VARY FROM ONE SOURCE TO ANOTHER! HAVE A LOOK AT THIS.
http://www.squawka.com/news/how-tottenham-must-adapt-to-the-size-of-the-wembley-pitch-if-they-are-to-continue-developing-next-season/937074

ROSS AND ROBERTO FAIL TO HIT THE SPOT

I went to see Martha and the Vandellas on Friday night in the Holmfirth Picturedome. What could go wrong? We had some Kiwi friends staying and decided to show them the very best of Yorkshire, so what better than the Mediterranean tapas Aldea and a Motown concert by an ageing American songstress and her side kicks. Martha Reeves has been singing since 1957 and her group named Martha Reeves and Vandellas was hot from 1967-72 producing 26 hits on the Motown Gordy Label, including Dancing in the Street and Heat Wave. She has been through the mill a bit.

Her British tour included Holmfirth, where I believe she was just warming up for her north of England programme. She and her entourage went on to Carlisle and Stockton on Tees. Having enough of that, she is then heading to Portsmouth and London.

What am I rambling on about? Well another black Motown female singer made her name on June 17th 1984 when she helped open the USA World Cup Tournament. Yes, you may remember that the top diva, Diana Ross made a splendid entrance in the Rose Bowl, singing without moving her lips and then dancing through some strangely dressed stooges to take a penalty and miss by a mile. The goal fell apart (that was meant to happen) and Diana ran into the tunnel through the created gateway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAKsGT9-XB0
After that it was penalties and errors all the way, especially for Italy's Roberto Baggio who had his ups and downs through the tournament. He and Italy began with a 0-1 defeat by the Republic of Ireland. Baggio got subbed off v Norway and then his team drew with Mexico 1-1.
Baggio came alive against Nigeria in the round of 16. They were winning 1-0 for much of the game, but Baggio with a late 88th minute precision goal and then a penalty in extra-time saved the Azurri's place in the tournament.
Two goals in four minutes against Spain in the quarters and two in the semi-final against Bulgaria confirmed his status as super star, until the final v Brazil. This dour game ended 0-0 aet, when Roberto did what Diana had done at the start of the tournament (missed a penalty) and lost the cup to Brazil.
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD_zQwI990I
Mind you Baresi and Massaro missed also, in the Rose Bowl, Pasedena, in front of over 94,000 people. What a spectacle!

WORKINGTON TOWN WORKING HARD

It was Pritt Stick, made by Henkel Ltd in Germany, that got me going. I was in Tesco looking for mushrooms and then I thought of glue. You never know when you might need a glue stick.

I remember reading that Bostick (a brand of Evo-Stik) was sponsoring the Isthmian League. Bostick is of course the world leader in adhesives and sealants. The Isthmian was sponsored for the past 20 years by the Ryman Company, run by Dragon's Den star, Theo Paphitis. The divisions will be known as the Bostick Premier and so on. The Isthmian is 113 seasons old and houses 72 clubs that rely on sponsorship.

The EVO-STIK company is already fully involved with investment in the Northern League under the Premier, North and South divisions. The Northern League clubs already go a long way to promoting the brand on social media including a match highlights programme on NPLTV.

Workington Town AFC reside in the Northern League North and were 4th in the Premier Division last season. It is 26 years since the club was ousted from the Football League. They held their own this year winning the Cumbrian County Cup beating Penrith 2-1 in May.

In the Southern League the divisions will be named EVO-STIK under various titles South-east, South-west and the EVO-STIK South Premier.

On another tack, Dani Bostick reports that an Italian PornHub is looking to sponsor an Italian football league club. Rocco Siffredi. the Italian stallion, says that sports and porn are a natural fit. It just needs a club to drop their guard and not be so stuck up.

A RUSSIAN CUP

The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup is the 10th held and this year as previously it is played in the host nation for the following World Cup.

So, Russia has the honour, to test it facilities and advertise what they have to offer. 8 teams are invited including the hosts Russia, Germany, the present holders of the World Cup, Chile- Copa America, Portugal-UEFA in Group 1
In Group 2 are nations from the various global associations;
Australia from the Asian FC,  Mexico- CONCACAF, New Zealand- OFC,  and Cameroon CAF.

Brazil has not qualified for the first time since 1995.

Stadia at the following venues are presently being completed:
Krestovsky home to FC Zenit St Petersburg apparently built by North Korean "slaves".
Kazan home to Rubin Kazan which has the largest outside screen in Europe.
Otkrytiye home to Spartak Moscow who were inspirational in founding the club.

The Fisht Stadium at Sochi named after the nearby mountain, built for the last Winter Olympics as an indoor stadium, now open.

Winners receive $5,000, Runners Up $4,500, 3rd $3,500, 4th $3,000 5th-8th $2,000...a gesture??

CARABAO

The 58th 2017-18 Carabao Cup was drawn today from the home of the company's headquarter in Thailand. Carabao is an energy drink that is investing money in the English Football League Cup, which has had several sponsors over its history. Can you name them without looking below?

Last season after many shocks to some of our premier clubs,  Manchester United claimed their first Mourinho trophy beating Southampton at Wembley. They have won it 5 times before and been runners up 4 times.

The draw took place today and we were alerted by the Sky Sports internet page which named Barnsley as seeded number 1 in the north section and Aston Villa seeded 1 in the south? Not sure if the word "seed" meant in order of favourite or just a draw number! There were a few more problems.....see below

Hull and Middlesbrough have byes to the next round. European competition teams are exempt until round 3.
The competition begins from August 7th and the 2018 final is on February 25th.

The Alan Hardaker trophy is awarded the player of match.

The draw made today is recorded on this link.....I understand there were a few glitches:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/16/league-cup-first-round-draw-live-thailand-carabao-cup-ties/

Previous sponsors:
1960-81 No sponsor, 1981-6 Milk Marketing Board. 1987-90 Littlewoods. 1991-2 Rumbelows. 1993-8 Coca Cola. 1999-2003 Worthington. 2004-12 molson Coors-Carling. 2013-16 Capital One.
2016-17 None and now Carabao.

GOT TIME?
Here are memorable moments from the EFL Cup:
https://www.efl.com/news/2017/june/carabao-cup-ten-memorable-league-cup-moments/

21 TODAY

From a penalty save by David Seaman, seconds later Paul Gascoigne scored his brilliant goal against the Scots at Wembley in Euro '96. Not much more to say about this except it was June 15th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8OlfG1dF3w

We had just drawn with Switzerland 1-1 in our first group game, Shearer scored and then we went on to thump Holland 4-1 in an extraordinary match with goals from Shearer and Sheringham two each. Top of the group! You must remember.

Then it was Spain 0-0 in the quarter-finals (4-2 on penalties) and the dreaded loss to the Germans in the semi-finals.
www.mirror.co.uk › Sport › Row Zed › Paul Gascoigne

THE REBEL WORLD CUP

With Andorra winning their first international match since 2004, it is time to write about the small fry! With 44 passes in the game (one every two minutes) they once beat Hungary, the great Magyars 0-1. Andorra had been 66 matches winless.

By chance this morning I was in Barnsley and having chosen from a variety of barbers in town, I came across one that was going to give me a grade 4 for £5, that's one grade per £1.25. The hairdresser wore a Manchester United shirt and like all good haircut experiences you need a conversation starter. So off we went on football, France v England and Pogba etc etc. Too good for England.

We soon established that his English was pretty good, though he did not think so, and that he came from Kurdistan. What did he say about his national team...not a lot....so I said to him, "I can research this and write about it in my blog". He understood that and I gave him my "blog address". So he might be reading this!

Where is Kurdistan? It is an autonomous region in northern Iraq but has a Premier League of 14 clubs and do play in "World Cups" designed for the stateless people and minorities.

Iraqi Kurdistan FA are not affiliated to FIFA or any other association though they can play in ConIFA tournaments having played their first "international" against the Sampi (Sami) a Swedish ethnic group in 2008 which ended in a draw 2-2. This report courtesy of the Guardian newspaper will tell you much about the Kurdish team.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/oct/14/football-alternative-world-cup-kurdistan-team-jack-losh-sebastien-rabas

It is worth reading, some of the videos take time BUT will give you a bit of an  ducation about the issues The Kurds and their neighbours have to face.

FFF

France v England; a cross-channel bout. It was the Franco-Prussian war that made the French realise that their nation was lacking in strength, spirit and organisation. The loss of Alsace-Lorraine was one thing but the emergence of Prussia and unified Germany as powers hit France hard. France had been beaten because the nation was weak, especially in mind and body. They believed the Germans were fortified by their disciplined national gymnastics, so the French middle classes soon followed suit and formed clubs named such as La France, Le Regeneratrice and La Patriote. Gymnastic events often began with a declaration of loathing of the Germans. It was a start!

The first physical sport that made itself popular to the French was cycling, after all the Penny Farthing was invented in France. Soon cycle racing became popular as the inadequate railway system and rural nature of much of the country encouraged a cycle industry; sport sponsorship began and velodromes were constructed. The Tour de France started in 1903 and by 1914 there were 3.5 million bikes in France.  This was however a summer sport which went along with rowing, track and field but in winter rugby featured in the south-west backed by British industry and Paris played Bordeaux in historic encounters.

In Paris, the Elite, Anglophile embraced English sports as Baron de Coubertin set about saving the aristocracy by adopting some of the strategies of the British privileged classes, educating the effete and over-intellectual products of the French lycees. It was the students of the lycees who eventually founded Racing Club in 1882 and Stade Francais in 1883.  Unfortunately these clubs were playing rugby which became popularised before the Great War.

Football was being played in Le Havre where a bunch of Oxbridge graduates, playing in light and dark blue quarters, founded their athletic club in 1872. In 1972, I was part of a delegation from Oxbridge made up from soccer, rugby and athletics teams to visit Le Havre, enjoy civic celebrations and  play sport against the "ancient" club. Celebrations v Sport meant only one result!
Entente Cordiale.

In 1891 Paris based Scots formed the White Rovers and Standard Athletic Club. Le Club Francais was inspired by two lycee students from Dumfries and with Racing and Standard Francais a "championship" was established with six Paris Basin based teams in 1894. This set the ball rolling, the Swiss got involved and rapidly a 100 clubs gathered around the French ports, the North-east industrial areas, around Marseilles but not in the Massif where skittles remained a favourite pastime.

By the 1900s there was an English FA (founded in 1863) and FIFA sited on French soil in 1904 BUT there was still no French FF, no national cup or national league. The first international match was on 1st May 1904 against Belgium which ended 3-3. It took the Great War to pass before the French nation rallied in peace time to develop their national cup in 1917 (their 100th anniversary) and the association in 1919.

Remarkably, despite the two countries proximity, they have only played each other 30 times. The first in 1923 England won 4-1 in France. The first match in England took place in 1933 after 7 games in France and England won 4-1 again. To date the French have won 8 and drawn 5 times with England winning 17. Since 1999, France have won 4 times, drawn twice and lost once!

CRABS SNIPPED;Os OUT?

The Oystons are in the news again. Remember them? As owners of the club they apparently have been fleecing Blackpool FC for a few years now and it appears it hasn't got any better. There is a court case pending with the Owners v the President of the club who claims that club money is being stripped.

Would you put your club in his hands?

You think the Seasiders are having a bad time, then what about the Crabs? Yes, Cromer Town FC are having an even worse time. They have folded!
Their season record in the Almary Green Anglian Combination Premier was: P30 D1 L29 F22 A153 and they had a point deducted for playing an illegal player, so NIL POINTS.

If you read their website then there are tales of woe with the poor manager/coach, Lee Hackleton, facing many off pitch and latterly on pitch problems. The committee has published a heart rending statement about "off field issues", losing volunteers and no sponsors. The only fund raising now is bingo in the clubhouse and the lucrative car boot sales have been scrapped due to health and safety reasons-see below.

Lee came along during the season to a job that "no one else would touch". He had a small core of players available but there were late shows or no shows so that, a match against Caister eneded up with only 9 men in Cromer shirts.

The Ladies team has suffered similar problems and thankfully the Youth team is surviving and will inherit the clubhouse at Cabbell Park (not Crabbell??) part of which is being developed into a health centre affecting the space used for Car Boot Sales!

Worse is:-
Ferring FC (Sussex) in the Macron Southern Combination League Div 2 recorded: P28 L28 F14 A 300 (it looks as though they planned the 300th goal against??). BUT

the Ferring Girls U16s are county champions, so maybe there is hope!

Worryingly, a huge number of clubs fold every year. Some others form but.......

ps I started this with the intention of writing about Leyton Orient.....never got there.

WORLD CHAMPIONS

Sadly my "readers" numbers have plummeted to single figures for some reason and I can understand the distractions that there have been recently; Americas Cup v Kiwis, Lions v Kiwis, Cricket v Kiwis; where are Brownlees? New Zealand? Are we rowing against them too? Are you on holiday? The internet can be accessed by the side of a pool in Marbella. I once bought a wood carving using my Mastercard in a rain forest shack in Bali. Come on make the effort!!

Don't care because the blog gives me a small pleasure to look forward to during my day. And today England has won a World Cup. Granted it is the FIFA Under 20 Cup beating a sparky Venezuela in a tense final that our youngsters led through Dominic Calvert-Lewis of Everton and then sealed victory with a wonderful penalty save by Freddie Woodman of Newcastle United. He denied Watford and Malaga's Penaranda to win the GK of the Tournament Golden Glove (six games, 4 clean sheets) whilst Dominic Solanke (let go by Chelsea to Liverpool) was awarded the Player of the Tournament, an award also won by Maradona, Messi, Figo (twice), Pogba and Aguero-heady stuff.

Six of our squad had played in the U17 Europeans in 2014 so there is some legacy carrying on. However in 2013 Harry Kane, Dier, Stones and Barkley were in an England team that came bottom of their group and in 2015 the winners, Serbia, included six players who were already full internationals; not so England! though our current squad boasts players with 72 Premier League appearances.

The beaten finalists ended their day in a hotel brawl with the Uruguayans whom they defeated in the semi-final.

This weekend our Women won a Euro 2017 friendly 4-0 in Biel, Switzerland. Our U20 Men (made up mainly of U18s) beat the Ivory Coast 5-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw to retain the Toulon Trophy first won in 2016.

THREEHEARTYCHEERS

OThere was no Scottish FA in 1872 and by this time the Scots mustered Queen's Park Club to represent Scotland against England. the club secretary Archibald Rae, made an appeal to raise a side and trials were held. Scotland formed a team all of whom played for Queen's Park in a 2-2-6 formation.

England chose from a variety of clubs including Notts County, The Wednesday, Crystal Palace FCs. The others came from Oxbridge Universities the 1st Surrey Rifles, Harrow Chequers, Hertfordshire Rangers and Barnes.

On the 30th November buses ran spectators from the city centre to Patrick enabling 4,000 to watch the match at the West of Scotland cricket ground, held back by a rope boundary.

The crowd raised £103 in entrance money and the Scots wore dark blue shirts, a lion crest, white knickerbockers, blue and white hoops on their socks.

England were in white with the three lions, white shirts and blue caps.....no socks?

In a close game it stayed 0-0 despite forward Robert Leckie hitting the "tape", which the judges decided had "gone over".

In what was described as a "splendid display of football in the really scientific sense....." though no goals were scored but both sides afforded "three hearty cheers" at the end of the match.

The first ever international match had been a success.

Umpires were Charles W Alcock of the Wanderers and Henry Norris Smith of Queen's Park with the Referee Willy Keay of Queens Park.

Illustrations from The Graphic-William Galston.

Prior to this official match, there had been five unofficial internationals at the Oval starting at March 5th 1870.

ACROSS THE BORDER.

Big day tomorrow as the English head over the border to face the Scots in a World Cup qualifying match. Yeehaaa! The first time the two countries met was in November 1872 in Partick and after a load of huffing and puffing the game ended 0-0.

Doh! So much for the new great game that was going to capture the whole world. The next time the two countries met was in March 1873 in England and the home team won 4-2.
By 1884 the British Championships was devised and all home countries played one another. The first tie between the Blues and the Whites was in Scotland and ended 1-0 to the Blues.
Matters toddled along nicely in alternate venues (but in 1901 and 1902 both matches were played in England-don't know why).

Between 1915-1919 no games were held and Scotland won the 1914 pre-War game 3-1, whilst England won the 1920 match 5-4.
From then on apart from the Second World War, matches were played at alternate venues. In 1939 England won in Scotland 2-1 and in 1947 the teams drew 1-1 in England.
In 1950 the teams met in the World Cup with the English winning 1-0 and again they met in another World Cup qualifier in 1954, England winning 5-4.

Two UEFA ties were played in 1967-8 and there was an FA Centenary match held in 1973 when Scotland lost 0-5 at home. By then the FA was getting fed up with odd violence marring the fixture.
By 1984 we saw the last of the British Championships games as the competition was disbanded and diplomatically the match ended in a 1-1 draw.The next series of games relied on being titled "Friendlies", or between 1987-9 the two teams met for the Rous Cup, in memory of Sir Stanley Rous who was the President of the FA.

Since 1996 games have been occasional, depending on UEFA ties, Friendlies and most recently more W.Cup qualifiers. England's last tie was a 3-0 win and we expect nothing less tomorrow after Gareth's bonding weekend with the Marines.
Since those humble beginnings in 1872 when "official" internationals began, England has won 48 times and Scotland 41. That leaves 24 draws.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT-BELIEVE ME

The future is great, so they say, but with St George's Park up and running and the new FA DNA in full use, plus Gareth Southgate in charge, can we assume that the future is bright for English football. I have written about this before recently but time moves on and as I drove 200 odd miles down the M1 today, I listened to the great news that our premium U20s have beaten ITALY 3-1 from 0-1 down, in the FIFA World Cup semi-final and are due to play Venezuela on Sunday in the Final at Suwon. This is the first time an English side has reached a WC Final since 1966. The squad has won 8 and drawn 1 fixtures this season.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2017/jun/08/italy-v-england-under-20-world-cup-semi-final-live

The other U20s, the "stiffs", in Toulon have been 5 out of 5 wins in the local tournament and in the semi-final have just beaten Scotland 3-0.

Our U19s are in a training camp preparing for their UEFA tournament in Georgia. They have had wins over Norway, Spain, Belarus, Greece, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Germany thus far, drawn 1 and lost 2 on the way.

The U18s playing in Qatar have won 4 fixtures against Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The U17s lost their UEFA tournament final in Croatia, to Spain on penalties 1-4 after a 2-2 draw. The Spaniards equalised in the final seconds of the 90 minutes, to force the shoot out.On their way to tournament final the English squad has scored 13 goals to 2 during the competition. This season the U17s have gone won 8 and lost 1 games in their age group.

Our Women have gone W3 D3 L4 at U17, W8 D1 L1 at U19 and have had wins against Brazil and USA at U20.

SCOTLAND v ENGLAND; IT'S A RIOT

With our policemen and many security and emergency personnel at full stretch with "terrorism", all the nation forces need is a World Cup qualifier between Scotland and England. We may remember the invasion of Wembley in 1967 and other clashes.

Today we hear the FA is getting tough on violence with a couple of blokes being "banned" by the FA from attending games after the recent fixture with Germany.

The last time England and Scotland met at Wembley, on Armistice day 2016 there were injuries and arrests both before the match at Trafalgar Square and in the stadium. Before the match crowds gathered around Nelson's monument, traffic cones were lobbed around, lavatories were smashed and the fountains strewn with bottles and cans and of course fairy liquid came into play. There were arrests for common assault and the lads being drunk and disorderly.

There should have been a "Silence in the Square", some chance, although by the time the 14,000 Scots got to Wembley and met their opposition, the Minute Silence was immaculate.

The English FA caused controversy by promoting the Poppy which FIFA had banned as one of a political, religious, commercial or personal symbol. Thet needed that didn't they? The FA's chairman Greg Clarke and the Scots FA Alan McRae met the teams, wreaths were laid and the Last Post played. FIFA must have been fuming. NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

On the 9th May 1881, a Ladies Match was played: Scotland v England at Easter Road, (Hibernians Ground). The Scots won 3-0, wearing blue jerseys, crimson sashes round the waist, blue knickbockers, blue and white hose, high laced boots whilst the English were in white and blue with some crimson. There was second game played in Glasgow as reported below:

THIS ENDED IN A RIOT. The Nottingham Guardian noted that "The chaff of the spectators was anything but complimentary" ".....a  gang of roughs broke into the ground, stakes were thrown, but for the police there may have been bodily injury to the females, who escaped from ther ground amid the jeers of the crowd......"

1000 UP

For my 1000th BLOG I celebrate the life of Cheick Tiote, born on the Ivory Coast  in 1986, he died on the 5th June 2017, at the age of 30 years. In 1998 he made his debut at his local youth club FB Bibo. he was taken to Anderlecht in 2005, then Roda JC (26 apps), Twente (58 appearances) and in his prime, at Newcastle United, he played 139 times, scoring only 4 goals (he was CDM) and was a very popular team player. His latest move was China, playing at Beijing Enterprises, where he died during a training session.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/619978/Cheick-Tiote-China-Premier-League-footballer-training-ground-collapse-reports-Newcastle

His Ivory Coast, international career lasted 52 games between 2009-15. There have been many accolades, most remarkable are the words from the Geordies who loved him, Graham Courtney especially, who spoke so highly of Tiote on Talksport.
A Muslim, Cheick was married and had two children.

We also remember Fabrice Muamba who suffered at White Hart Lane in 2012 playing for Bolton Wanderers, but survived a heart scare. Ugo Ehiogu died at the Spurs training ground in April this year.

On a cheerier note, Chapecoense FC from the city of Chapeco, Brazil have revived their club, which you will remember was devastated by a plane crash last November, when only 3 staff survived from 70 members of the club who were travelling to a match in Medellin, Colombia for the Sud Americana Final.

With 25 players on loan, 9 youth players and those who returned from the crash, the club has won the Santa Catarina State (in the south of the country) championship after drawing the two leg final, but winning on having a better record through the season. Playing in the Serie A, Chape have 10 points from four games and top a division that includes Corinthians (formed by the great English Corinthians) and Fluminese. So we end this 1000th on a bright note.

1 in 4

With the news of Hazard's ankle operation and more importantly the serious news of Gary Mabbutt's hospitalisation after a recent diagnosis of chest pains, we all realise how much we have to be thankful for.

Males will be keen to avoid the challenges of Prostate Cancer, as the chances of having the cancer is 1-4 and Jeff Stelling is walking 15 marathons in 15 days from St James' Park, Exeter City, to St James' Park, Newcastle United on behalf of the Cancer Charity.

Along with Sky Sports and Saturday Soccer, Jeff intends to raise £500,000 on his MARCH FOR MEN, adding to previous years' totals. When he finishes he will have covered as much distance as Christiano Ronaldo will cover in 60 matches.

Jeff is visiting 40 clubs and is joined by Matt Le Tissier today along with many other celebrities such as Michael Owen, Danny Mills, Sean Dyche, Robbie Fowler, Banks, Law and Summerbee. Others more importantly are those me who have suffered the "illness" and they all have a story to tell:
https://prostatecanceruk.org/about-us/news-and-views/2017/6/kevin-webber-blog such as Kevin Webber.

As Jeff and his team walk through Day Three, he has raised over £151,000 so far. By Day 12-13 his party will be in the Huddersfield and Barnsley area.

Last year his team walked 10 days worth from Hartlepool to Wembley and raised £420,000. All this will go to research into the disease and a cure.

To see more and indeed to donate contact:
https://prostatecanceruk.org/jeffsmarch

DO I NOT LIKE THAT

I can't imagine that the England U 20 manager, Paul Simpson, will be using many excuses if his team does not get a decent result against Japan in the final group game. England are top of their group and will qualify for the knock out; they cannot be caught, but I know he will expect a high standard, win, draw or lose.
Japan however, needs a win to secure going on to the next round. If they don't get 3 points and Angola beat Cuba then they might be on the way home. England put 7 past Cuba, Japan drew with Cuba and Angola and Japan drew 1-1 when they played. The Japanese manager will be gutted if they make a mess of this.

Some managers have had good excuses up their sleeves when things haven't gone well. Graham Taylor, when England lost to Sweden 2-1, in June 1992 said; "We could have done with not having half-time, but you have to have half-time". Do I not like that!

When Malcolm MacDonald (below) managed Huddersfield Town in November 1987, his team lost a Second Division match against Manchester City 10-1. "At least three of the goals were offside he said".

Terry Butcher, another England legend, managed Coventry in a 0-1 defeat by Wimbledon in August 1991. He said "I'd like to apologise to all the fans who paid good money to watch that. If that game is the future of British Football, I want no part of it."

Airdrie manager, Alex MacDonald (no relation) after a defeat 1-2 against Aberdeen in August 1991 said, "We ended up playing football, and that's not our style." See left.....Hmmm not surprised!

It could be worse; Mike Walker was sacked as manager of Fourth Division Colchester in October 1987, while he was "Manager of the Month".

VECCHIA SIGNORA v MERENGUES

It is only a short step from the Huddersfield Town FC Stadium to Canal Side, the Premier League club's training facility. Today it was a long step from the Under 11 clubs that pursued the final stages of the PPG 6-a-side tournament latter stages and the Hepworth United Juniors Under 11 squad that played in the qualifying group.
By a long step, I meann there was a gulf in class; we played 7 matches of 7 minutes each, drew 1, scored a goal in that draw and scored another in a 1-7 defeat. It was mainly "men and boys" (girls-we had the ONLY GIRL on show by the way) and consequently we did not progress. But the kids had a run out, they tried their best and hopefully they may have learned something.

When the European Cup first was established in 1955, the FA in its wisdom refused to flaunt their club sides on such a unsure, floodlit stage. So there was no English entry but in 1955-6 Hibernian joined in, encouraging Manchester United the following season. Rangers got to the semi-finals in 1959-60, Bill Shankly took Dundee to the semis in 1963 and then of course Celtic won the Cup famously (50 years ago) in 1967.
United then won in 1968 beating Benfica at Wembley. I shall not go on with the British successes but will concentrate on the two finalists this evening.

Real Madrid was first formed in an academic institution in Madrid, where there were graduates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities in need of exercise.

I remember Real Madrid dominating European Cup football from its founding in 1955-6 through to 1960. Here are the goals from 1960 the final v Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden Park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H_89ue5s20
The Spaniards won again in 1966 v Partizan belgrade, lost to Liverpool in 1981 and eventually bounced back in 2000 beating Valencia, winning in 2002 v Bayern Leverkusen, 2014 beating Athletico Madrid, the first time two teams appeared in the final from the same city, and 2016 the two Madrids met again.

Juventus (whose colours were inspired by Notts County FC) met Ajax during the Dutch "period" in 1973 and lost 1-0, they lost to Hamburg in 1983, beat Liverpool 1-0 in 1985 at Heysel and then won in 1996 (over Ajax on pens) and lost in 1997 (to Borussia Dortmund) and 1998 (to Real Madrid). They lost to AC Milan in 2003 and Barcelona in 2015.

1998 meeting of the two clubs.

I'm looking forward to tonight's game being played in Cardiff and hope that Gareth Bale can show off his wares in his home nation. He has won the cup 3 times since he moved abroad and rumour has it that Gareth may be on his way home for good.

The Old Lady v The Meringues!

YOUNGSTERS-ENGLAND-PROUD

I have done this theme before, concentrating on our England Youth teams, who at the moment (actually not for the first time) are blazing trails abroad, suggesting that the England DNA is having an effect??!!

The Under 20 squad (made up from the U18-U19 groups) in South Korea at the FIFA U20 World Cup has played Argentina (w 3-0) in front of a 15,000 crowd, Guinea (d 1-1) and then the youngsters beat the hosts 1-0.

SOLANKE.

Their seasonal record has been: Played 9,  won 7, drawn 1 and lost one away to South Korea.
Dominic Solanke, recently signed by Liverpool from Chelsea, has been prominent at this tournament, as his team won 2-1 beating Costa Rica has. His team moved onto the quarter-finals under the careful stewardship of Paul Simpson. The young Lions play on the 5th of June at the Jeonju Stadium.
Ademola Lookman of Everton heads the squad's goal scoring record of TWO....the rest of our goals are from a variety of scorers.

Other quarter-finals include: Zambia-Italy, Portugal-Uruguay, USA-Venezuela. 4th and 5th June.

Meanwhile another Under 20 squad is playing at the Toulon Tournament and they have reached the quarter finals, playing Mexico on the 5th of June. George Hirst scored 3 (Sheffield born and with the Wednesday) and Harvey Barnes 2 (a product of the Leicester Academy) in a 7-1 whopping of Cuba under the managership of Neil Dewsnip. Their first win was over Angola 1-0 (Ugbo scored) and having qualified their match is against Japan tomorrow. The Czech Republic and Brazil complete the next round opponents, Japan will probably make it too. FUTURE?

JOHN CHARLES-THE TWO BEST PLAYERS WALES PRODUCED.

Juventus fans, visiting Cardiff for the Champions League Final, are asking locals where the statue to John Charles was. There isn't one and the Italians were bemused because they assumed that "Il Gigante Buono" would have been the Welsh's greatest footballer. From previous blogs you will understand why;
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/fox-giant-major-and-billy.html
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/with-il-gigante-buono-wales-might-have.html

Had John Charles been fit to play against Brazil in the 1958 World Cup quarter-final, Pele would not have been the match winner and who knows what the Welsh would done in the next two rounds.
After his travels, Charles finished his career at Cardiff City and scored on his debut from 20 yards inside his own half!

He gets a mention in the Wales Sports' Hall of Fame at the Principality Stadium, there is a bust at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea but the fitting homage to JC is 200 miles away at the John Charles Stand in Leeds. At a function in a Cardiff Hotel where he was the guest of honour, he was turned away because the manager did not know who he was. John Charles was voted best foreigner to have played in the Italian League, beating Maradona, Platini and Zidane. He scored 93 goals in 155 Serie A matches playing against "mean defences", many times from centre half.

Jimmy Greaves said he was TWO fantastic players. Nat Lofthouse, a centre forward, said that JC was the best centre half he had been marked by and Billy Wright, a centre half, said Charles was the best centre-forward he had marked.

JC was playing at a time when the European Cup was in its infancy and indeed he lost the 1962 quarter-final to Real Madrid where he was cruelly kicked from pillar to post by the Spaniards. John Charles never got the rewards his talent deserved.
So is Gareth Bale, the Welsh THIRD best footballing export?