To tide me over after the end of the World Cup and before the start of the new domestic football seasons, I’ve been spending some time trying to put together teams of international legends of the game for my foosball table (which currently lives in the Whitespace office). The table is a Garlando with a 2-5-3 formation. I put a further restriction for my team selections by only picking one player per country.
Archive for the 'Sport & Exercise' Category
That’s the World Cup over with for another four years. The past month has seen some sublime moments of football1 intermingled with the ridiculous and I don’t think that the higher echelons of the game will ever be the same again.
I had an feeling before the matches started that FIFA’s obstinate stance on introducing more technology into the game would become untenable. Their argument that the game should be the same at all levels just doesn’t wash. For a start, the game as played at the top level is already very different from the games played in Sunday league matches around the world. No club tennis player – or umpire – expects to have Hawkeye adjudicating during their rallies.
This isn’t just a bitter England fan speaking after Frank Lampard’s non-goal so I’m not about to argue that the outcome would have been different – England’s capitulation was nothing short of embarrassing.
The goal scored by Tevez despite being blatantly offside (actually replayed on the big screen inside the stadium) and De Jong’s appalling challenge / assault in the final are just two further examples of where video replay would have been beneficial but maybe officiating these kinds of infringements can wait for augmentation until goal line technology has bedded in and proved to be a success – which it undoubtedly will be. Extra linesmen referees assistants on the goal line have been tried and been shown to be ineffectual.
The Uruguayan Suarez’s handball in the final seconds of the quarter-final which was ultimately responsible for Ghana’s exit was spotted and punished. I’m not saying that he was right to cheat in this way but I don’t think I’d like anyone who wouldn’t be prepared to do the same on my team. Unfortunately he didn’t show any dignity in his celebrations after Uruguay won on spot kicks and sentiment turned against him even more. FIFA need to introduce the concept of a penalty goal to combat this.
A simple addition to the game in attempt to stop encroachment at free kicks is temporary pitch markings which only necessitate the referee to carry a can of spray paint with him.
Another rule I’d like to see introduced is the banning of defenders shepherding the ball out of play – any player employing this practice anywhere else on the pitch would be pulled up for obstruction. I’d make it illegal to shield the ball unless the player has touched it and is in control.
60 years ago, squad numbers2 didn’t exist and substitutes weren’t heard of in the English League. Rule changes – both cosmetic and game-related – sometimes help move the game forward and sometimes the experiments just don’t work (Golden / Silver goal) but doing nothing about the failings in the game is not an option. What do you think needs to be done to make the game better?
1 Football being a game played with a ball, controlled by the feet. I’m not talking about Handegg here.
2 Interesting sidenote: since squad number were introduced in 1954, the Netherlands are the first team to line up 1-11 in a World Cup final.
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games got off to a horrible start with the death of the 21 year-old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during training and there’s no doubt that this terrible event will cast a dark shadow on the memory of an otherwise excellent couple of weeks.
If this terrible accident was the low point, then the highlight had to be the debut of skier cross. A lot of people here in the UK dismiss the Winter Olympics, regarding the events as the mountain passtimes of the rich and spoiled, failing to recognise the years of training and sacrifice each and every athlete dedicate to their sport.
Throughout the Games, these athletes displayed tremendous feats of not only physical but also mental and emotional strength. None more so than ice skater Joannie Rochette who competed only days after the death of her mother and Petra Majdic who won bronze with five broken ribs and a punctured lung.
After Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang’s injury forced him to withdraw from the Beijing final in 2008, his sponsors offered their immedite support – Nike quickly releasing a special advert (from Wieden + Kennedy) with this message:
“Love competition.
Love risking your pride.
Love winning it back.
Love giving it everything you’ve got.
Love the glory. Love the pain.
Love sport even when it breaks your heart.”
You may think this was merely cynical corporate marketing but personally it beautifully encapsulates the spirit of the Games. Our day-to-day view of sport at the moment tends to be all about match fixing allegations, drug taking, personal scandal or cold-hearted business deals.
For some, the best Olympic moments feature the brave have-a-go underdog like Michael Edwards (you’ll probably know him better as Eddie the Eagle) or Eric “The Eel” Moussambani. However, in my eyes, nothing will ever eclipse the memory of Derek Redmond and his father on the track in 1992 and I don’t mind admitting that I well-up every single time I watch it.
So sang De La Soul. Oh, wait.
José Mourinho was bought to the San Siro for just one reason as far as I’m concerned: to win the Champions League. Inter Milan haven’t reached the pinnacle of European club football for 44 years now. Until last summer, despite the ‘golden generation’, Spain hadn’t won the European for the same amount of time – 44 years.
My dream pairing for the Champions League final this year is Liverpool and Inter Milan1. A Mourinho and Benítez redux. I’ll obviously be cheering for Liverpool.
Of course if Inter beat Manchester United this evening and do go on to lift the cup in Rome this May then it’s only a matter of time before the English press start to do what they always do with regard to the national team and put the hype engine into overdrive.
In 2010 it will be 44 years since England won the World Cup back in 1966.
1 As an added bonus it will mean that Manchester United can’t achieve their stunning ambition of a quintuple of trophies this season.
As part of a multi-pronged attack on my current bout of transient insomnia I went along to the gym late yesterday evening to relax awhile in the jacuzzi. Just under an hour later I was on my way out and about to head back to the flat for a hot chocolate when I was collared by the Virgin Active front-of-house staff who were pushing their “MoveMore Challenge” – perform a timed series of exercises 15 times over a three week period. I signed up.
This has come at a most opportune time as I’m in desperate need of some motivation to get back into a good routine. The gym is simply mobbed at the start of every year and it’s a real struggle to access the equipment you want, which has been an all too easy excuse for me to stay on the sofa too often.
I’m looking forward to this actually. It should be a bit of fun and not all that strenuous in reality. If you want to hear what a real challenge is then check out the guys attempting the Outer Hebrides Sub 60 in order to raise a target of an amazing £25,000 for the children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent. Please give generously.
Last Saturday I woke up at 7am (which is the middle of the night at the weekend as far as I’m concerned) and got the train across to Glasgow for the start of the penultimate stage of the Tour of Britian before catching up with some friends for lunch at Kember & Jones.
There were a good few hundred people milling around the start area despite the damp weather. I’m willing to bet that the numbers will have been swelled by the awesome performance of the British cyclists in Beijing and the subsequent increased media exposure. Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Newton all were racing while Mark Cavendish plumped for riding the Tour of Missouri.
Last night I saw the annual Fireworks Concert that marks the end of the Edinburgh Festival. I don’t know if it was something to do with being spoilt by the Olympic fireworks or just because of the idiots around us on Calton Hill but I wasn’t as impressed as last year. Also unlike last year I somehow didn’t step foot in the Spiegeltent all month. That’s not to say that I had a quiet August of it what with leaving parties, birthdays, barbeques and the like.
My plan for the next couple of months is to get back into some semblence of fitness. I’ve not really done much exercise apart from a few short games of Ultimate since March and it’s beginning to show. I felt a very definite wobble around my middle when I was running down the stairs the other day and it didn’t feel good. However, my mum claims that she thinks that I “suit a bit of weight” and will try to stir double cream through my porage whenever I’m visiting.
The weather hasn’t exactly helped me get out and do anything as it feels like it has rained every single day since getting back from my travels. I’ve finally got around to taking my gym membership off hold so I should be able to motivate myself to do something active now that I’m paying fees once again!
I’ve just been reviewing some amazing photographs and recalling some great memories from a stunning couple of weeks of sport. I guess that’s what you’d be wanting after spending £20 billion on something in a way that a democracy just couldn’t do. I must admit that I’m suffering from a hefty case of post-Olympic come-down. The days ahead just seem so . . . empty somehow.
I managed to hog most of the bandwidth in the office yesterday watching the BBC’s online stream of the Olympic opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest and was suitably impressed. I’ve subscribed to the events schedule and again was blown away by the sheer number of events that are taking place.
I really enjoy the Olympics and am constantly amazed by the dedication of professional athletes. Until the Nerdlympics become popular I think that I will just have to enjoy watching from the comfort of the sofa.
I’m pretty sure that Team GB will achieve the modest medal target it set for itself but I don’t think that we’ll ever see the dizzy heights of 1908 as shown on this great interactive medal table from the New York Times that charts country performance since the inception of the modern Games back in 1896.
It may have escaped your notice but today the Olympic Games kicked off (quite literally, with the women’s football) — a whole two days before the opening ceremony on Friday. Even at this late stage China has decided to go back on their pledge on free expression. Not content with quashing protests of those already in the country, China have revoked the visa of a gold-medal-winning Olympian. Joey Cheek is a speed skater who also co-founded Team Darfur.
I’m not for mixing sport and politics at all but given China’s human rights record this was pretty much inevitable.
