The Philanderer
Friday, February 1, 2008
The Tremeloes
We are fast approaching another anniversary, that of the Munich air disaster, which decimated the Manchester United football team, referred to at the time as the Busby Babes.
Rememberance activity includes a minute silence at the Manchester derby next week, and the forthcoming England v Switzeland game at Wembley on Wednesday. It is truely amazing how degraded working class (or the unemployed) values have fallen, that both these memorials have been in doubt because the authorities cannot guarantee the minute silence being observed.
If the event were at Twickenham, The Odsal Stadium, Wimbledon or the NEC, then I am sure the same nervousness would not surface, so what is it about this event? Are Manchester United hated that much these days, that this oafishness rises to the surface, even though press and public with no connection to United were killed in the crash as well?
The crash happened at a time when values were different, when parents and families commanded respect, when arguements at school were settled with fist fights, not knives, when kids in pubs sat in the beer garden with a bottle of pop and a straw, and when they could walk to school safely with their chums. These values are long gone in many societies and probably can't be reintroduced, but lets hope a little bit of credibility can be restored to the beautiful game on these two occasssions in much the same way as it was at Anfield, when they played the Everton theme tune, 'Z-Cars' for the memory of the murdered schoolboy, Rhys Jones.
On a lighter note, on Monday the youth team of Plymouth Argyle beat Birmingham City to reach the quarter finals of the cup, the first time they have got that far since 1956. On that occassion they were drawn away aginst the Busby Babes at Old Trafford. They lost heavily, with Bobby Charlton scoring six, and Duncan Edwards, who subsequently died in the crash, played having already been capped by England.
Rememberance activity includes a minute silence at the Manchester derby next week, and the forthcoming England v Switzeland game at Wembley on Wednesday. It is truely amazing how degraded working class (or the unemployed) values have fallen, that both these memorials have been in doubt because the authorities cannot guarantee the minute silence being observed.
If the event were at Twickenham, The Odsal Stadium, Wimbledon or the NEC, then I am sure the same nervousness would not surface, so what is it about this event? Are Manchester United hated that much these days, that this oafishness rises to the surface, even though press and public with no connection to United were killed in the crash as well?
The crash happened at a time when values were different, when parents and families commanded respect, when arguements at school were settled with fist fights, not knives, when kids in pubs sat in the beer garden with a bottle of pop and a straw, and when they could walk to school safely with their chums. These values are long gone in many societies and probably can't be reintroduced, but lets hope a little bit of credibility can be restored to the beautiful game on these two occasssions in much the same way as it was at Anfield, when they played the Everton theme tune, 'Z-Cars' for the memory of the murdered schoolboy, Rhys Jones.
On a lighter note, on Monday the youth team of Plymouth Argyle beat Birmingham City to reach the quarter finals of the cup, the first time they have got that far since 1956. On that occassion they were drawn away aginst the Busby Babes at Old Trafford. They lost heavily, with Bobby Charlton scoring six, and Duncan Edwards, who subsequently died in the crash, played having already been capped by England.
Labels: anfield, Bobby Charlton, Busby Babes, Duncan Edwards, Manchester United, The Munich Air crash
¶ 9:02 AM 0 Comments
Monday, July 30, 2007
Smoke gets in your eyes.
An article in the Daily Telegraph at the weekend indicated that Stuart Hall was nearly 78. He will be remembered by most people as the linchpin of the 'Its a knockout' television programme, a roll he shared with Eddie Waring . Eddie was primarily a rugby league commentator and made such phases as " he's off for an early bath" and "an op and under" into household sayings.
Stuart, however, has been something of a cult hero since the programme ended as he continues to provide summaries on Radio 5 Live for Saturday afternoon sports listeners. He has been providing commentary for almost 50 years, and will be continuing that service during the coming season. In the article it mentions that his first ever game was Sheffield Wednesday v Leicester in 1958, a match which ended 4-4, and was played almost entirely in fog. He had no idea what was happening so made everything up. It clearly served him well.
Fog has also played a part in embellishing the folk law status of the Kop terracing at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC.. A match was played there once and visibility was so bad that when Liverpool scored at the other end the Kop had to chat "Can you tell us who just scored, can you teeeelll us, who just scored?" A reply came back through the fog "Kevin Keegan, Kevin Keegan" to which the Kop replied paraphrasing the famous Scaffold hit single "Thankyou very much, thankyou very, very, very, very much".
Years before that at the time Stuart Hall was just starting out, England rugby teams used to be selected after a traditional game at Twickenham between the Probables and the Possibles. On this occasion fog again conspired to play a part to the extent that the selectors needed to run along the touchlines trying to see who was doing what, or listening out for shouts of encouragement to help them decide on their international side.
Throughout the game they heard such phrases as 'well played Johnston-Taylor', or 'good tackle Johnston-Taylor, or even ' excellent play Johnston-Taylor. Faced with such comments the selectors had no hesitation in selecting said player for the upcoming Five National Championship. It was only some years later that Johnston-Taylor was gracious enough to admit that it was indeed he who had called out praising himself throughout the match. His cunning stunt being rewarded with several subsequent caps.
Stuart, however, has been something of a cult hero since the programme ended as he continues to provide summaries on Radio 5 Live for Saturday afternoon sports listeners. He has been providing commentary for almost 50 years, and will be continuing that service during the coming season. In the article it mentions that his first ever game was Sheffield Wednesday v Leicester in 1958, a match which ended 4-4, and was played almost entirely in fog. He had no idea what was happening so made everything up. It clearly served him well.
Fog has also played a part in embellishing the folk law status of the Kop terracing at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC.. A match was played there once and visibility was so bad that when Liverpool scored at the other end the Kop had to chat "Can you tell us who just scored, can you teeeelll us, who just scored?" A reply came back through the fog "Kevin Keegan, Kevin Keegan" to which the Kop replied paraphrasing the famous Scaffold hit single "Thankyou very much, thankyou very, very, very, very much".
Years before that at the time Stuart Hall was just starting out, England rugby teams used to be selected after a traditional game at Twickenham between the Probables and the Possibles. On this occasion fog again conspired to play a part to the extent that the selectors needed to run along the touchlines trying to see who was doing what, or listening out for shouts of encouragement to help them decide on their international side.
Throughout the game they heard such phrases as 'well played Johnston-Taylor', or 'good tackle Johnston-Taylor, or even ' excellent play Johnston-Taylor. Faced with such comments the selectors had no hesitation in selecting said player for the upcoming Five National Championship. It was only some years later that Johnston-Taylor was gracious enough to admit that it was indeed he who had called out praising himself throughout the match. His cunning stunt being rewarded with several subsequent caps.
Labels: anfield, eddie waring, fog, stuart hall, the kop
¶ 1:04 PM 0 Comments
