Football....why do we do it to ourselves??!!

Victory for Hillsborough victims....at last

2011-10-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

A slightly different entry today as I celebrate the verdict of the Government to ensure the release of all files and details of the horrific Hillsborough tragedy which occurred twenty two years ago.
Ninety-six unsuspecting football fan's died, 766 were injured. A human tradegy didn't really sum up the scale of the disaster.

All the injured and dead were Liverpool fan's, something which rocked the City and the whole Country, and still to this day, the families of the deceased and the injured still seek the answers they feel they are entitled to.

The Hillsborough disaster was and still is the deadliest stadium tradegy in British history, and one of the worst in International football, coming just four years after the infamous Heysel accident, also involving Liverpool.
Heysel though was a completely different set of circumstances and it has been proved that at a time of football hooliganism, Liverpool fan's were at fault for the Belgian incident.

This time however they were most certainly not, and although the authorities pointed the finger at the fan's of England's most decorated club, there were so many differing statements that this will cease to be the case.
The ground of Sheffield Wednesday was being used for the F.A Cup semi final between Liverpool and their rival's Nottingham Forest, the game was abandoned after just six minutes due to the severity of the happenings in the Leppings Lane end of the ground.

The stall wart sport programme of the time, Grandstand, cut to live pictures as the bedlam ensued, showing harrowing images of the human crush. The country watched as football fan's, just going to watch their team in a showpiece semi-final, clambering over anything and anyone to sustain their life.

As the happenings unfolded, supporters were seen ferrying their fellow supporters on advertising boards being used as makeshift stretchers, up to but not beyond a line of police which had been assembled along the half way line to stop Liverpool supporters from getting to the Nottingham Forest fan's at the other end of the ground. This was clearly not the case as people of all ages died amidst, in my opinion, severe police negligence at the dealing of the situation.

The facts are staggering, ninety-four people died on the day. People of ages ranging between ten and sixty seven. Seven hundred and sixty six more people were injured, of which three hundred were hospitalised.
Four day's on the toll rose another one victim, a 14 year old boy, attached to a life support machine, gave up the fight and the total stood at ninety five dead.
It was nearly four years after the fact that the death toll reached its final number as twenty two year old Tony Bland was taken off of life support after showing no sign of improvement and remained in a vegetative state.
Seventy nine of the victims were aged thirty or younger, the youngest of the victims was ten year old Jon-Paul Gilhooley, the cousin of Liverpool's current captain Steven Gerrard.

Out of forty four ambulances that were in attendance that day, only one was let in to care for the injured and dying.
Accusations were quick to emerge, in the era of football hooliganism the English tabloid The Sun was first to brandish generalisations of the fan's that had been in attendance, nearly all of which has since been proved to be un-found. This publication of false information still berates Liverpudlians and many of which still boycott the purchasing of the paper to this day, and will do for a long time to come.
Following the tradegy an inquest now widely known as the Lord Taylor enquiry was published. This was a more in depth look into the factors that contributed to the deaths and injuries of so many innocent people.
This report dismissed many of the conspiracies surrounding police accounts of the day, contradicting stories and reports were put to bed by the ground-breaking Lord Taylor.

As a direct product of the enquiry, the fences and stadium security measures were scrutinised and in lew of this the fences were torn down and standing terraces were no longer standard in England.

The Coroner Dr Stefan Popper, had declared that all victims were dead or brain dead by 3.15 p.m on the day of the match, just nine minutes after the game had been abandoned.
One of the victims mother's, Anne Williams, who's son, via witness statements was still showing signs of life at 4.00 p.m the same day was angered at the coroner's decision, which was clearly a flawed decision by the professional commissioned with the dealing of the bodies. Her case against the 'cut-off' signalled by Dr Popper was rejected in 2009.

The on-going fight for the truth and answers rages on, twenty-two years after the fact. Yesterday the case for the files to be released as public information was heard in the House of Commons after an e-petition in favour of this rose 139,000 signatures.
The unanimous decision was upheld by the entire room and the files will get to see the light of day, and the families of all the victims will finally get some answers, whether they are the answers they are hoping for, time will only tell.

All the families want is the truth, and if people are held responsible then so be it, but this is not why they have pushed for the information to be released. They just want answers, the true answers....and who can blame them....

Just How Good Is Lionel Messi ????

2011-05-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Very, is the simple answer here.
Yet another formidable performance from the Argentinian magician against English Champions Manchester United at Wembley in the Champions League Final saw his club Barcelona cruise to a 3-1 win at the hands of the Manchester club.
The win propelled the Spanish giants to super-stardom, that's if you have been living on Mars for the last few years that is!!!
The victory saw Barca notch up their fourth European Cup victory, this followed them winning their third consecutive domestic title, beating their bitter rivals Real Madrid into second again.
Now I watch a lot of Football and I am now starting to run out of superlatives for this current Barcelona side, just the sheer dominance of the past couple of season speaks volumes but here I am going to spell out just how influential and consistent the jewel in their crown is, the one, the only, Lionel Messi.
I heard some rumours about the chance of Cristiano Ronaldo being touted around for the extraordinary price tag of £150 million!!!!! Yes you did read that right, £1 5 0 M i l l i o n.
Now I'm not his biggest fan but I certainly can appreciate the class of the man, he really is something special, but, he is half the player Messi is, so if Ronaldo is worth £150 million, just how much would Messi be worth???
Obviously he won't be going anywhere, but you must be thinking in the region of £200 million if the tariff has been set with the Ronaldo price. There are so many reasons why he would command more money, here are but a few......

He IS consistent.
He scores goals.......consistently.
He works his socks off for 90mins EVERY game.
He never sulks.
He has bundle's of skill & an end product.

Ronaldo has a couple of these qualities but if you are forking out some serious cash for either one of these players, both of which have been billed as 'The Best Player on Earth', I certainly know which one I'd be contacting and begging them to join my ranks.
So Messi IS the best in the world, I can't find any other reason at all to think otherwise, but how does he compare to the Greats of years gone by????
In my un-professional opinion the Greatest player ever is Pele, run close by Maradona, Zinedine Zidane and George Best.

These four players were once the dominant figure's of the footballing world.
George Best was probably the best example of pure Natural enjoyment of the game, personified. Unbelievable close control, wizardry, and of course could finish the moves or runs off in considerable style. The only disappointment for him was that hailing from Northern Ireland he never got the chance to perform on the World's greatest stage, The World Cup, but he certainly performed everywhere else he could, even off the pitch which was perhaps his own downfall.
Zidane was for the want of a better word 'Mecurial'. He floated around the pitch with such ease it was breathtaking, mixed in was the skill's, trick's and flicks that every supporter wants to see, unless it was against your team and even then you have to applaud. He could also add goals to his armour through either foot and indeed his head, but for Zidane his greatest moment came playing for Real Madrid at Hampden Park in the Champions League Final in 2002 where he performed the most perfect of volley's even then most picky of technique hunters couldn't argue with. Sadly his career ended in controversy as he was sent off for the 'infamous' headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final on Italy's Marco Materazzi, but this was after Zidane became only the fourth player in history to score in two different World Cup Finals.
Maradona needs no introduction, especially if you are English, but the little Argentinian was undoubtedly a Genius when it came to football. For English fan's he will ALWAYS be remembered for the 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 World Cup Quarter Final. But if you delve past this controversial moment you will also find the 'Goal of the Century' in the same game by the enigmatic Maradona. It truly was one of the best goals ever and it wasn't the only goal like that he scored I'm sure. Again close control, trickery galore and goals to boot. As with the previous 'Great's' his career veered towards self destruct as in 1994 in U.S.A World Cup he was sent home in disgrace for failing a drugs test.
Last but be no means least, in my opinion, the GREATEST PLAYER of ALL TIME....
Edison "Edson" Arantes do Nascimento.......of better known to the masses as PELE.
The Brazilian wonder was the epitome of everything a footballer should be, power, pace, skill's never seen before, passes from heaven, idea's worthy of coming from Einstein, and all rolled into a 5ft 8" man from Tres Coracoes in Brazil.
He made his mark in his home country before blowing the minds of the footballing world when he was an un-known 17 year old, announcing to the world the next generation of footballer to everyone. Skills that the European game had never thought possible, and all from this youngster from Brazil.
His career was only just beginning, and without writing his entire career out for you guys, because believe me I would be here all day, I'll sum it up......1,281 goals in 1363 games.....
Any player that has a record like this I think it speaks for itself......
So where does Lionel Messi rank in amongst all of these illustrious names?????
Given he is only a mere 23 years of age at present, he has already won five La Liga Title's, three Champions League Winners medals, scoring in two of the three, and he also became the youngest player ever for his National Team in 2006.
Clearly there is plenty more to come from Messi, I already rate him in my personal top three, those being Pele, Maradona and now his compatriot Messi, but I certainly believe that he is more than capable of at least over-taking Maradona in that list.

It is obvious that to try and compare Messi to Pele, as they are separated by nearly 50 years, the game has changed so much, most of it due to the Brazilian, especially the beautiful football that is now the Holy Grail for so many club's, one that I personally think Messi's current side has now found.
So I now leave the final judgement to you, just how good IS Lionel Messi, my verdict....not bad at all....

Friendlies??? What is the point...

2011-02-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

As one of the most exciting weekends of football the Premier League has ever had comes dribbling to an end, we are all left with the expectation of another one rapidly approaching, bar one small detail......International friendlies!!!!
Now as an avid football fan I make no mistake in thinking that after 25/26 games gone in the English elite competition, the Premier League, why in hell have we got a near full fixtures list of internationals???!!!
Surely this is unthinkable and no surprise that the likes of Steven Gerrard etc have pulled out with 'injuries'
Now I'm sure Mr Gerrard will be playing some part in Liverpool's game against Wigan at Anfield this coming weekend, and therefore enforcing my view of having international friendlies at this stage of the season is ludicrous!!
With just over ten games to go before the curtain closes on another season, the fuck wit's at the F.A arrange a friendly?? What are they thinking??!!
I sympathise with club fans, I for one have a very close eye on breaking news on friendly going's on, for one reason and one reason only, no not for the result, not for the goal scorers, but for the reason and fear that one of your teams star players might get injured and as a result not be able to turn out for them in the next league game!!
With the Premier League becoming more difficult to win with every passing season I can understand fully players pulling out and it wouldn't surprise me if the clubs encourage them to do so in order for them to be fully fit for the league campaign, especially as they pay their wages, I think they are fully within their rights to request this is so.
One perfect example of this is the now retired Dean Ashton, the former West Ham striker was injured on England's training ground and as a result after much treatment was forced into an early retirement as he was unable to resume his playing career.
Ashton subsequently took the F.A to court over the going's on and has just got his pay-out.
This is scant consolation as at the time Ashton was regarded as one of the most promising and talented front men about, he was highly regarded as England's brightest hope in many years across the footballing world.
West Ham also suffered through no fault of their own and are still to this day struggling for a replacement of the quality of Ashton.
So why do the Football Association keep doing this to our game??
Surely games like this could be re-scheduled for a less dramatic and frantic time of the season??
No wonder the Welsh wizard Ryan Giggs only played a handful of games for Wales when the pressure was off, he chose, whether it be by choice or luck, to play in the most minimal amount of friendlies for his country, and is still held in the highest esteem by all of his peers.
It cannot be hidden either that at the age of 37 he is still performing at the very top level for one of the biggest clubs in world football, obviously this is not solely down to the lack of friendly participation but it makes you wonder if it has played a big part doesn't it???
If you fancy having a go at writing something try looking here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Blog-About-Soccer

Why do we do it??!!

2010-09-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

As this is my first ever post I shall keep it short, sweet and to the point...…I walked into work on Monday, as I do every(well most) Mondays, to the unprecedented barrage of abuse that comes as part and parcel of supporting a football club. My team had not only failed to win but struggled to secure a measly point from without sounding to harsh, a lower club than that of ourselves...….or so we think.
We think this because no matter what club you may support/follow, the fact of the matter is is that club is the best club in the world to each and every individual, blind to the fact that there are other teams considerably better or have more financial clout than yours, yet your club remains strong and proudly in your heart and for the vast majority of football fans will remain till death do you part.
Results, managers, leagues and cups come and go, but you remain strong and instilled in the belief that your club will once again be great or surprise you and surpass your every expectations.....or we can all hope at least.

So I pose this question to you all.....why do we stay so loyal and faithful to our teams yet survive the constant barrage of abuse, knowing all well and good that you have no bearing on any results anytime anywhere!!!!!

I'll leave it at that for now....responses will be greatly received and guesses at which team is mine will also be interesting :)