The Importance of Sport (NEW CONCEPTS)

[Wile E. Coyote]

Wiley always thought the best keeper he ever saw was Atlas Orangutan, he played in the old Bristol first division, for the Bulldogs. He used to perform giant circles around the crossbar, either saving shots with his feet, or releasing himself, into the penalty area, to make flying interceptions, from corners.

His career was cut short by the invention and introduction of the goalnet.

Sad.

[Mick Harper]

Our biennial task of making a prediction about the likely outcome of a major football tournament, using the AEL's bank of supercomputers, has arrived. Here are the results:

[Mick Harper]

Fancy being the Chairman of Real Madrid? Of course you do, you used to play at being football chairmen in the backyard when you were a kid. It's open to anyone, and the election is due any time now. Just make sure you bring your club card.

You've got to be a Real Madrid member to stand for chairman. You can't argue with that. For the last twenty years. That won't be a problem to a die-hard like you, will it? Oh, and you have to be a Spanish citizen but that goes with the territory. Being a Catalan counts.

Just one more thing before I put your name in the hat. You'll have to provide a bank guarantee equivalent to 15 per cent of the club’s annual budget. That means £162m but you're good for that, right? You've got to bet some to get some.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Elliot Anderson seems to have modelled his game on Bastion Schweinsteiger. Low centry of gravity. Great at shielding, twisting, explosive.

These players never look graceful like a Hoddle or a Trent but way more reliable.

We are turrning German.

[Mick Harper]

I was impressed. And that's the main thing. The question though is whether we can keep up this relentless harrying of the enemy for ninety plus minutes in the noonday sun and when we don't have eighty per cent possession. We'll find out against Croatia.

As for personnel I've left a message for Tuchel at the desk. It'll have to be Madueke not Saka on the right, Anthony Fotheringay Floppy-Hair not Rashford on the left. But the big question is Bellingham in the middle. I'd play him in the starting starting-eleven just for the name recognition value but tell him he's on thin ice.

I'll leave the rest up to 'Tommy'. Perm any four at the back, Rice, Kane and a coupla tasty young 'uns rounding it out.

[Wile E. Coyote]

We have now got the left side and right sorted (which Southgate was unable to do) which stretches teams, but always getting someone in the middle to take advantage of all this is still problematic.

Harry as he is Royalty, fancies himself as someone who can drop back, and create assists as well as score goals. Its difficult to argue against this, (as he does do both things) but it does require Jude, to not always demand the ball now, (which he insists on) but to slyly time a late run into the space our Harry has exited, in the style of a modern day Martin Peters.......

[Mick Harper]

I would have thought 'a modern day Bryan Robson' would be more apposite. Martin Peters was scarcely worth his place (sans goals) in his day and certainly wouldn't get into anyone's squad now.

But you're quite right about the yawning vacancy in the middle with Kane so fond of going walkabout. Bellingham has lost the habit now he's at Real Madrid who have more strikers than Jim Callaghan could shake a stick at. There's Rice of course but he's flashy rather than flash in the goal department. Madueke, Eze, Saka, Rashford and Gordon can pop them in but not on a bang-bang basis.

I think we'll have to find a place for Morgan Rogers. Even if it does mean Arsenal having to pay a bit more for him.

[Mick Harper]

This interesting piece just in from an old foe/comrade of mine
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Why I'm Not Watching the World Cup—And Why You Probably Shouldn't Either Shane Fitzgerald Jun 11

Sounds a proper grouch to me. But apparently not...

I love football. I loved it when I was a kid and I love it now.

So for why, Shane?

As much as I love football, I hate the big clubs... This is why I don’t watch football much these days. But I always make a big, fat exception for the World Cup. It is my favourite thing on the sporting calendar by ten countries miles.

So for why, Shane?

I’ll tell you why I won’t be watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I’ll also explain why I think you probably shouldn’t either.

Well, get on with it then.

Some things are bigger than sport; some things are bigger than art. We all know this is true and we’ve all heard it a thousand times before. This is the most cliched of clichés and the emptiest of banalities.

You didn't mention what was bigger.

But it’s only a cliché in the world of words, not in the world of actions. Looking around, thinking hard, deciding what matters to us and where we do or don’t stand on the big questions is among the most important and defining acts of adulthood. How we go about it is one of the things that makes us us.

Makes you you but do go on (quickly now)

As fundamental, perhaps even more fundamental, is our fortitude and resolve, or lack thereof, in defending and fighting for those beliefs that live at the heart of our being.

That's a high hurdle, old chap, but one tries.

Do we just say stuff for show? Do we really believe in the things we think we believe in? Do self-interest and ephemeral pleasures weigh heavier in us when the chips are down? Are we steely and resolute in the face of the things we know are wrong, or are we lazy, limp and lily-livered? In short, are we good, or shit, or even bad?

All the above, I admit that.

I would like to answer by acting in ways that show who I am. Let me give some more background to my stance.

It would be a start.

The United States has been at war for 230 years of its 250-year history. Over the past seventy-five years or so, the most heinous acts of US aggression have led to the deaths of some 13-23 million people in at least 28 countries. In wars that the USA either backed or instigated, 6-10 million people may have been killed in 19 countries.

He's got a point.

According to a Lancet report of 2025, from 1971 to 2021 the US may have been responsible for the deaths of 38 million people resulting from its use of sanctions as a weapon of mass destruction against states and peoples it deemed hostile to American interests.

He's made his point.

An estimated 940,000 people were killed directly in violence stemming from the wars waged by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan from 2001 to 2023. The estimates for those killed indirectly are from 3.6-3.8 million. Thus, close to 5 million were killed, and remember this does not include Libya and Somalia.

38 million people were displaced across Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria. 7.6 million children under the age of 5 continue to suffer from acute malnutrition as of 2023 as a direct consequence of America’s wars in the Middle East and Africa. [He continues in this vein for some time.]

I do feel a bit uneasy.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Wiley thought it was good opening to the World Cup, lots of poor defending, followed by cut aways to a cute bellisima bouncing in the crowd, and also a few controversial sending offs'. It does make Wiley wonder if they have been a bit overhasty banning this terriorist ref. Could he have really done worse?

Apologies but I cant remember the score......

[Mick Harper]

I thought both matches were entertaining quarter-hours on BBC I-Player (as per my post on the TV thread). Remind us to avoid Mexico in the later stages, they look a bit tasty. I don't anticipate South Africa being there.

At the other game, Son Heung-min missed more goals in the first half than Spurs have missed him. I agreed when the bloke said, 'This game really needs a goal,' at half-time, but we were both rewarded with a three goal goal-fest as the South Koreans stuffed the Czechs 2-1.

I also enjoyed the cutaway to Gianni Infantino, head in hands, and the voice-over, 'He must be distraught at the number of empty seats.' Oh, I don't know, there can't be all that many people in Mexico desperate to watch South Korea vs Czechia in a nothing match in the prelims. But I was alerted to see how many empty seats there actually were.

None! The camera resolutely kept to the lower tiers which were satisfactorily filled. 'Can you move forward, people. That's it, far as you can... and stop there.' Shades of Moscow, 1980. I bet every ticket sold though when the numbers are published.

I managed to avoid the opening ceremony--as I have done for every World Cup and Olympiad since I was old enough to exercise choice--but I agree with Wiley, it was a good opening.