Oi Oi Lads, let's smash his face in, just after this game is over.

Football hooliganism was, and is, a very strange thing. It reached its worst in the 80's. English football teams in particular were very bad indeed. In fact, ALL English teams were banned from ALL European competition from 1985 to 1990. What caused this ban? It was put in place because of the Heysel Stadium disaster, in Brussels. Basically what happened was that during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus. The hooligans from both teams started a bit of a riot, and part of the stadium collapsed. 39 Juventus fans were killed, and 600 more were injured. It was deemed that the Liverpool hooligans were largely to blame, and so they were banned from all European competition for 6 years. All other English teams were banned for just 5 years.

Heysel Disaster Madness

You see, football, when it's played very well, is one of the most beautiful things you could possibly see in your lifetime. Why then, does such a relatively non-combat, gentlemanly game have in its past, and still does to some extent, the most vicious and violent fans of any other sport?

A lot of the ferocity may come from the fact that football teams are, here comes the gooey cliche, just a fact of life for many many people around the world. Religion is often inextricably linked to certain football teams as well. For example, if you're a Catholic born in Glasgow, you'll almost certainly be raised a Celtic fan. If you're a Protestant born in Glasgow, you'll almost certainly be a Rangers fan. So in the Scottish capital city , you have a very old religious disagreement acting itself out within the two football teams.

I love football, but I can't figure out why you'd want to smash someone's face in just because they support a rival team. It's supposed to be about friendly rivalvry, even at the pinnacles of the World Cup or the European Cup final. If you're a hooligan, or you feel you may have hooligan tendencies, let me tell you, "STOP! Don't punch anyone, don't throw bottles at opposing supporters, just enjoy the game. Sit back, sing for your team, boo the other team if you want, but don't let it get physical!"

Thank God that hooliganism has been very harshly dealt with over the years, because the vast majority of us football fans just want to be able to go to the stadium, watch the game, buy some horribly overpriced beer, and enjoy ourselves. It's very hard to enjoy yourself when you're spending most of the 90 minutes dodging bricks and having to take your friend to the hospital for stitches.

I don't know how this works, but Scottish police use totally
non-violent tactics like this at Celtic/Ranger games.

Thank you police, I never thought I'd ever say that! Thank you for making football a viable and safe alternative to watching TV talent shows and visiting relatives you don't like.



     

Do yourselves a favor, and join this league.

There is a fantasy football app/program operating on Facebook. I am part of a mini-league that has less than 20 members/participants. I would like you to join this league, in order to bolster our numbers.

The link is https://www.facebook.com/fantasyiteam‎

So, if you're interested in football/soccer, please join our league. The PIN number is 27898. 

Join up, pick your team, have fun!

The Royal Baby will support............

The Royal baby, George Alexander Louis Windsor His Majesty Dark Lord Whatever, was born a few days ago and the whole world has reacted as if they've never seen or heard of such a thing as a baby before. It's just a baby ladies and gentlemen, it's nice that he's healthy and all that, but thousands of babies are born every day! It's not such a big deal.

Anyway, football fans all over the world have been debating over which team the Royal Baby will grow up to support. I say "football fans all over the world", what I really mean is ME! Sad little me, I was so bored that I actually wrote a blog post about which football team Prince George will support when he's old enough to whip his butler for bringing him cold soup!


If this baby grows up to support the team of his father, he'll support Aston Villa(English Premier League). Not a bad choice really, Aston Villa have won many many trophies down the years, but haven't won anything for a long time. I don't know which team the baby's mother(Kate Middleton) supports, but since she's very posh, she probably supports Chelsea F.C.. A very nice choice for the baby to make, because Chelsea have been incredibly successful in recent years. Since this baby is the Prince of Cambridge, he could end up supporting Cambridge United. A truly terrible team at the moment, but who knows? Maybe the Prince could inject some serious amounts of money into the club, and then the English Premier League will have another Man City on their hands(not likely, by the way).

German fans, because the Royal family is largely German. 

Now, we all know that very posh, upper class people typically do not like football, because football is a working man's sport. They tend to like sports such as Polo, Rugby, Croquet, Butler Whipping and shooting defenseless animals in the face for no reason! But since they apparently represent "the people" of the Commonwealth, they have to pretend that they care about football. And they've pretended very successfully in my opinion. For example, Prince William and David Cameron support Aston Villa. If they REALLY didn't give a shit about football, they'd just say that they support Manchester United because they're the "best" team in England. But they don't, they support Aston Villa, because of Aston Villa's great history of success and pretty colours. 

Anyway, the Royal Baby, in my opinion, will pretend to support one of the London clubs. It could be Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, QPR or even Charlton Athletic. Seeing as Tottenham are on the way up, I'll put money on the Royal Baby growing up to support Tottenham Hotspur.

There it is!....................I'm a fool, I know. Bye.  

You'll Never Walk(Win) Alone.

Liverpool Football club have come out victorious against the now ironically named Melbourne Victory! Over 95,000 people packed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground(MCG), and just before the game, they all sang the famous Liverpool anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" in unison. A stirring sight and sound for sure.

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

Many people believed that Liverpool would absolutely demolish Melbourne Victory. They didn't. They only won by two goals. In fact, Melbourne Victory played better throughout the whole match. Their passes were better, they were physically tougher, and they seemed to retain possession of the ball a lot better.

But, Liverpool ended up scoring twice and winning. Why? Because they have these so-called "star" players. Now, the "star" players are very very good, but I just don't like the word "star", and I can't think of a better word to replace it. So let's just call them "twinkly" players for now.

These twinkly players include Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, and to a lesser extent, Raheem Sterling. These players are able to play just that little bit better than the rest for brief periods of brilliance. This is what scored Liverpool their two goals tonight against Melbourne. Steven Gerrard scored the first goal after a trademark charging run up from midfield. The second goal was largely due to Luis Suarez taking on several defenders and eventually toe-poking it to another Liverpool player who tapped it into the net.

As good as Melbourne Victory are, they just don't have these "twinkly" players in their team. Even though they played tougher and arguably better than Liverpool, they didn't have the classy experience of Gerrard or Suarez. It's a bit like a beautifully delicious bowl of ice-cream. You can eat the most extraordinary bowl of ice-cream on its own, and you'll love it, but it's made SO MUCH better with a sprinkle of nuts, or a squeeze of raspberry sauce. The nuts and raspberry sauce in this stupid analogy are Gerrard and Suarez-type players. I hope you understand, because I'm not too sure I do!

It's no wonder that Barcelona and Manchester United are the best teams in the world. It's because their whole teams are made up of these star players. Barcelona vs Melbourne Victory, now THAT would've been a game to watch!      

You just can't write this stuff! Why football is the best sport you've ever seen!

To show you just how good football is, I'm going to concentrate on describing just one game. The 2005 Champions League Final to be exact.

                                                 25th May in Istanbul, Ataturk Stadium.

                                                          Liverpool F.C vs. AC Milan

AC Milan were thought by most to be the best team in the world, by quite a margin. Liverpool were the underdogs, they had a pretty rough time qualifying for the final, but they did qualify after a controversial goal against Chelsea F.C. in the semi-final.

The game began in the usual manner, then Milan's captain, Paolo Maldini, scored a goal within the first minute of the game. Liverpool were shaken by this very early goal, and it showed. Then, Hernan Crespo scored in the 39th minute, and then again in the 44th minute. A minute later, the first half of the game came to an end. It looked like it was all over for Liverpool. There was seemingly no way back, and many believed that Milan could go on to score a couple more goals.

Nobody knows exactly what Liverpool's manager, Rafa Benitez, said during halftime, but whatever he said worked perfectly, and set the stage for the greatest sporting comeback in history.

Liverpool changed a few players, and changed their formation into more midfield-based one. Dietmar Hamann was asked to man-mark the Milanese star players Kaka and Pirlo. Within ten minutes of the second half, Steven Gerrard, Liverpool's captain, scored a goal with his head. This goal urged the Liverpool fans on and they sang and bounced their hearts out. Two minutes after Gerrard's goal, Vladimir Smicer took a shot from a long way out and it went in! Two goals in two minutes.

Liverpool's equalizing goal came from a penalty kick. Steven Gerrard was fouled inside the penalty area and earned Liverpool's chance at a third goal. Spaniard, Xabi Alonso, took the penalty. He kicked it to the bottom right, but Milan's goalkeeper saved it, Alonso then ran up to the loose ball and fired it into the top of the goal. Three goals in six minutes for Liverpool! Now they were on equal terms with Milan. GAME ON!

The rest of the game was played out, and neither team scored another goal. It went into extra time, and still neither team scored a goal, although Liverpool's goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek, pulled off a miraculous double-save to deny Andriy Shevchenko(Milan's best player). The game would be decided on penalties. Yes, the dreaded penalty shootout.

The penalty shootout, and the whole game, came down to Andriy Shevchenko. It was match-point, and Shevchenko HAD to score, or else Liverpool would be European champions.

 

 He took his shot, but Dudek managed to get his left hand in the way, and Liverpool won their 5th Champions League title, after a 21 year gap since their last victory.

I'm not even a Liverpool fan. I don't support Liverpool, but I did that night!