Of TVs, Coins, and the Gaza Strip

Finally I am free from ANYTHING. And I do mean EVERYTHING. No more attachments, no more projects and no more MOE reports, at least for the next 1.5 weeks, before going back to the ever so expensive London. What better way to celebrate my freedom than to just sit in front of the tv and watch football. Simply fantastic Champions League coverage on Sky Sports, which ESPN had gladly shown in its entirety. 2 matches simultaneously and a post game review featuring highlights from all the games played that night. Definitely a football fan's dream, and undoubtedly caused many a sleepy head at work this morning. But read an article on the Soccernet website just now which I found myself unable to disagree with.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=310127&cc=5739

Basically it argues that there is now way too much football, at least Premiership football shown live on tv. Matches like Portsmouth vs Birmingham, Charlton vs Middlesborough are increasingly being shown on a regular basis on that square little box, and frankly speaking, WHO IN THE WORLD REALLY wants to watch these matches? You might argue that it is a boon for fans of these smaller clubs but if you think more deeply, if they were such die hard fans, they would have gone to the stadium since they would have no problems securing tickets for such low key games. And the writer quite rightly argues that more tv exposure perpetuates this vicious cycle of mediocre club matches. Clubs like Leeds, having had more money from SKY, spent more that ever and found themselves in trouble. Financially prudent clubs like Charlton come in and take their places but frankly speaking these teams do not excite neutral fans. would you rather watch Leeds vs Man United or Charlton vs Man United? The answer is pretty obvious. The ruling in which clubs have a minimum number of matchs that must be shown live adds to this problem. And the conclusion to the article is especially pertinent. We do not want a case whereby Arsenal and Man United are shown every week (though when not I would pull my hair out) but merely increasing output to include ordinary teams is not going to work either.

The main talking about last night's round of Champions League matches has to be Anders Frisk, the Swedish referee, being hit by a coin thrown from the crowd during the Roma vs Dynamo Kiev match. Frisk had sent off Phillipe Mexes shortly after the halftime whistle for kicking out at a Kiev player and while walking to the tunnel for the break, was hit on the head. He eventually took the decision to call off the game as he deemed the 4th official not experienced enough to officiate the game and that the safety of the officials cannot be guaranteed. Frankly, it was appalling. Though not as serious as perhaps say the stabbing of 2 Leeds fans years ago in Turkey when Leeds played Galatasaray, this once again oversteps the sporting barrier. Ultimately football is a sport, no matter how stupid or unreasonable or bias the official is (or how useless the player is), attacking anyone is cowardice and is simply not justified. Do they think they are heroes? Helping their team? NO!!!!!!!!! Heroes are those who risk their lives to help others, like firemen, like soldiers, not people who think they are daring by throwing things at other people. And they are simply making things worse for their team. I will be surprised if Roma are not punished heavily for this.
But having said that, I once again must stress that the majority of football fans are not like this, at least in England. It is just that their reputation precedes them. For example,

http://www.manutd.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=105212&itype=466&icategoryid=156

A lot of things can be avoided if officials can be more open minded. For example, I had a small box of cherries with me when I went for the France vs England game in Euro 2004. The security guy who searched me, EMPTIED the CHERRIES into my bag and threw away the empty plastic box. And I must ask, FOR FUCK???? Can I throw it onto the pitch and hurt anyone with a box of cherries????? Even if you say yes, what's the point of throwing just the plastic box away then??? I still have the heavier cherries with me and CAN STILL throw if I wanted to. Another Man United fan had his aple and croissant confiscated by Porto officials last season. WHY WHY WHY???? Such unreasonable behaviour only adds to people's frustrations. Football fans are like ordinary people like you and me. Some of them spend an extraordinary amount of money to follow their team and thus must be pretty well to do. Would they really want to create trouble just for creating trouble's sake? THINK THINK THINK!!!! The world is just too full of people with heads stuck in their asses and refusing to use the space in between their ears. People like suicide bombers are just plain dumb. Just because you bomb a few people your God is going to like you and protect you for eternity?? DUMB!!!!!! I think the only solution might be for Buddha, Jesus, Allah and whoever to come down from Heaven, hold hands and celebrate some harmony day to stop all these nonsense. There are just too many stupid people around.

But somewhere somehow, there is always hope.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=310282&cc=5739

And mine do I love it when football is used as a bridge for peace. Like the 1998 World Cup match between US and Iran. Football is the world's most popular game, and thus implicitly it has a role to play in encouraging world peace. And by that all football fans have a role to play in this. By all means have rivalry between teams during games, shout all the abuse you want during a game, but after a game, have a beer and chill out!! There's still money to be earned, books to be read, food to be eaten.... football is NOT everything. Please don't fight or riot....what's the point?? If the Jews and Arabs at Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin can do it, so can everyone of us, and by extension everyone in this world.

Ok ok, I know some of you will snigger at the last paragraph and point out all the times I sulk and whatever when United loses. But I have never ever fought yeah? Will try my best not to be so affected, but can't make any promises :P