Life on Mars

Welcome back to the seventies, the economy is tanking, unemployment is rising. The football is hooligan is back where did they go and why are they back?

The football hooligan was a uniquely British invention and an export to the world. The history of the hooligan in the UK is attributable to the decline of the working class. Great football clubs were founded on the industrial might of an empire. Every industrial area had a club, this was encouraged by the factory and mill owners of places such as Manchester, Birmingham and London. The mill owners although pioneers in industrial relations realised that sports encouraged the mental well being, of the workers and greater productivity on a Monday morning. The thought of sports on a Saturday seemed to distract from the misery of the situation.

Saturday afternoon was treated as a special as Matt Busby alluded to people work hard enough during the week they should be entertained on the weekend. People had loyalty to there individual teams but the feeling of support was not as tribal as it is now. It was not unusual for football fans to watch both Liverpool and Everton or Manchester United and Manchester City. This seemed to continue all the way through the fifties and sixties.

When the great industrial cities started to collapse in the seventies and eighties work began to become scarce. Where a person worked mattered less than where they what football team they followed. Football no longer became a tool to entertain it became an outlet for frustration. Young men without work and no wars to fight was a mixture for disaster. Football became a symbol for the fight with a decaying industrial system.

The violence on the terraces became a regular part of the seventies to the eighties. It was exported in bastardised forms across to the continent. Germany, Russia and Italy felt the blight of hooliganism. Then in the late eighties it stopped, why? Simply drugs and dance. The rave culture came out of the gay clubs and hit the mainstream. People who used football and violence as escapism for their mundane lives suddenly threw themselves into this culture and used ecstasy. The top boys of the hooligan culture moved to become the top drug dealers and rave organisers.

Now we are back in the mire, joblessness has risen and the rave culture has become a corporate issue. Like all stories from the past everybody forgets the bad old days and football hooligans have become anti-hero's with their own autobiographies and fan clubs. Worse the rest of Europe love the hooligan culture. What is even worse their was stories in the Nytimes of the Columbus crew in Mls trying to replicate the hooligan firms of England.

Where to go now ? The hooligan firms of the twentieth century grew out of the industrial cites, these new firms have grown out of the underclass that pervades the British culture. A sub-culture disenfranchised by the brave new world of the twenty 21st century. The only place they can show this frustration is in the back streets surrounding the modern corporate entities that surround the citadels of football. Stopping the fighting will be impossible the bleak view is that it must be contained.

Lions 2009

The Lions 2009.

Full-back
Lee Byrne (28) Ospreys and Wales
Rob Kearney (23) Leinster and Ireland

Wing
Shane Williams (32) Ospreys and Wales
Leigh Halfpenny (20) Cardiff Blues and Wales
Ugo Monye (26) Harlequins and England
Luke Fitzgerald (21) Leinster and Ireland
Tommy Bowe (25) Ospreys and Ireland
Centres
Tom Shanklin (29) Cardiff Blues and Wales
Jamie Roberts (22) Cardiff Blues and Wales
Brian O'Driscoll (30) Leinster and Ireland
Keith Earls (21) Munster and Ireland
Riki Flutey (29) Wasps and England
Fly-half
Ronan O'Gara (32) Munster and Ireland
Stephen Jones (31) Llanelli Scarlets and Wales
Scrum-half
Mike Phillips (26) Ospreys and Wales
Harry Ellis (26) Leicester and England
Tomas O'Leary (25) Munster and Ireland
Prop
Gethin Jenkins (28) Cardiff Blues and Wales
Adam Jones (28) Ospreys and Wales
Andrew Sheridan (29) Sale and England
Phil Vickery (33) Wasps and England
Euan Murray (28) Northampton and Scotland
Hooker
Jerry Flannery (30) Munster and Ireland
Lee Mears (30) Bath and England
Matthew Rees (28) Llanelli Scarlets and Wales
Lock
Paul O'Connell, capt (29) Munster and Ireland
Alun Wyn Jones (23) Ospreys and Wales
Donncha O'Callaghan (30) Munster and Ireland
Nathan Hines (32) Perpignan and Scotland
Simon Shaw (35) Wasps and England
Back-row
David Wallace (32) Munster and Ireland
Stephen Ferris (23) Ulster and Ireland
Alan Quinlan (34) Munster and Ireland
Joe Worsley (31) Wasps and England
Martyn Williams (33) Cardiff Blues and Wales
Jamie Heaslip (25) Leinster and Ireland
Andy Powell (27) Cardiff Blues and Wales


The day of reckoning came and went for the players of the home nations and the lions of 2009 were selected. The theme that runs throughout the side is toughness. Starting with the skipper Paul O Connell has always been the favourite for the skipper of the lions. The last lions tour to New Zealand got off to a bad start when Brian O Driscoll was taken out of the tour. The Boks can try that with POC. The response will not be pretty, be assured as Munster captain the phrase “Stand up and fight” means something.

The selection of Andy Powell and Simon Shaw really emphasises the Lions hardness and to try an intimidate the Boks. The coaches have looked at the opposition and realised that twelve years of hurt and damaged South African pride are about to come their way. Intimidatory tactics will be prevalent in both the tests and midweek games. Standing up to the intimidation will be key to success.

The real story about this lions selection has been the non-selection of certain players. The result of which I believe that England will now win the next world cup. That's right England will win the next world cup. The reason is that Martin Johnson is losing no key players. England will tour Argentina with a full squad of players. Valuable time on a tough tour will be the making of this England side with combinations formed that should help the England team.

The omission of Ryan Jones was a big shock. As Welsh captain he has been fantastic but has paid the price for an average six nations. The back row was tightly contested with the athletic an impressive Tom Croft losing out.

In the backs Delon Armatige was the big omission being the England player of the Autumn series and having an impressive six nations. The fly half position is possibly the Achilles heel for the whole tour is two fly halves enough?

Sport and the increasing waistline.

“I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfilment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
Vince Lombardi

I thought I would start this blog with a quote. This a cliché and any book on writing will tell you so. The reason for starting with this quote is not only because I love the quote but it can define life in general. Most people would accept that nothing is free in life and everything requires a modicum of work. Also most people would agree that there is great satisfaction in achieving goals through hard work.

The point of this blog is not too talk about hard work, it is too talk about a topic loosely related to this. In the past 20 or so years sport has become big business. The reason why this has become big business is that people love to watch sport. Not only do people love to watch sport but they pay substantial subscriptions to watch sports. I know this because I am a subscriber. Nearly every pub or bar you pass has some kind of live sporting event on. Television because it gets punters through the doors. So sport is watched more than ever, so why, with all this supreme athletic achievement in front of us all the time are we fatter than ever? We watch more sport than ever but we participate less than ever.

This is a serious there is a ticking time bomb of obesity in developed nations. Health care systems could crumble under the weight literally of obesity related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and depression.

Most people participate in sports through school but very few continue past the age of sixteen. Why is that the people who watch sports are not inspired to participate?. Has the sports man become so distant from the average man in the street that people do not want to be like them?

I think that there is a confluence of factors that have led to this problem. People hated playing sports at school as was not cool. Secondly the local clubs closed as people got distracted by other things on the weekend. Mainly shopping. Thirdly the arrival of the computer generation led to the idea that playing sports for leisure was dull when you have a play station. Finally the gym industry if ever there was a way of making sport appear dull and not fun turn it into a business.

All these issues have to be fixed to some degree or other but something has to be done to otherwise we literally collapse under the weight of our own greed.