Being A Ball-Boy Can Be Hazardous To Your Health?

Who would've thought the being a ball-boy could be Hazardous to your health? I thought that smoking, having unprotected sex and doing drugs were dangerous past times. Read more of the story here.

2012 Holiday To London-NYC-Niagara - Day Seven

Brekkie. Grabbed a 390 bus to Notting Hill Gate to visit the Portobello Market on Portobello Road. Arrived at 10am, after getting slightly lost and having to ask for directions, and it was already crowded. Lots of wondrous jewellery, silverware, shirts, toys and bric-a-brac. Couple of hours of pushing through the crowds and searching for stuff. Some quality items and bargains to be had. Bought some churros and spicy beef stew (yum) for lunch. Quite delicious. When it was time to go we headed out so that The Boy could buy a compass that he'd seen and wanted as a souvenir.

Browsing for jewellery in Portobello Market

Caught another 390 and made very good time down Oxford Street as there were only buses and taxis using it. So good that the bus driver had to stop for a few minutes as he was ahead of schedule. Arrived at the hotel in plenty of time to change for the match at West Ham.

Walked to Goodge Street Station but it was closed for engineering works. Had to get to Euston Square Station instead which, thankfully, wasn't too far away. Quite a few Hammers fans on board and a few from Sunderland. Took a bit of working out whereabouts to enter the ground at Upton Park - the streets were lined with food and t-shirt vendors. And some God botherers. No bottles with caps allowed within the stadium.

West Ham's stadium panorama

Our seats were near the top of the stand and the view was great. To my left were some Bosnians, maybe, to our right were some locals (who weren't that interested in striking up a conversation despite a few efforts), behind us some gobbing-off locals who provided running commentary (complete with expletives) and next to them a group of Chinese who made silly sounds for the whole match and didn't seem to know what the rules are. Sunderland scored after nine minutes, after a poor defensive pass, and held the lead for 83 minutes against an attacking outfit who scored the equaliser in about the second minute of time added on. Phew! The crowd got into it and they had been subdued for much of the match. The Boy had to go to the loo at half time and the queue was huge. Didn't take long though.

Goal mouth action

Final scoreboard

 Visited the stadium store after the match as The Boy wanted a Hammers watch. The queue was longer than for the toilets! Grabbed a cheap burger, £1 instead of £3.50, on the way back to the tube station. The queue to enter the station was about 300m long even some 45 minutes after the match had finished. No trouble to get on the tube though. A policewoman offered to take our photo at the station - very nice of her. Changed trains at West Ham which offered another photo opportunity.

Mark Ham in West Ham

Following a late meal at Costa we took a long walk around Bloomsbury. Still busy and some of the buildings looked beautiful at night. Ended up in Soho and did some souvenir hunting. The realisation hit us that we were so close to Oxford Street from our hotel that walking wouldn't have been a problem. Lovely to walk around at night. Topped it off when a truck driver abuse a Merc driver for not knowing how to drive and blocked the road. The truckie showed him what to do to unblock the road - hilarious. Back at the hotel I booked train tickets to Cambridge and then onto Peterborough.

Photo Album Vol I
Photo Album Vol II
Photo Album Vol III
Photo Album Vol IV (Final)

Rafael Benitez In Line For An Award

Can't say that Rafael Benitez has endeared himself to Chelsea's fans. Can't say that Rafael Benitez has endeared himself to Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, either. But he's just ripe for the picking when it comes to a meme.

Rafael Benitez meme

Chelsea Memes

Chelsea played West Ham United overnight - great scoreline for Hammers fans. And Chelsea is well known for parking a bus, i.e. stacking the defence, in front of goal. So, what more can I say?
Match report here for the 3-1 win by the Hammers.

Totally Looks Like

Why don't we play a kids' game - spot the differences

Spot the differences

Disappointing Sports Journalist

Very disappointed to hear the following on News Radio when I woke up and an hour and a half later on the way to work;
"Adelaide Utd and Perth Glory played out a 1-0 draw yesterday..."

Where has the professionalism gone in journalism? Surely somebody could've tapped the sports reader, who was obviously without a sporting bone in his body, on the shoulder and corrected the script.

posted from Bloggeroid

Arsenal vs Reading Scoreline Meme

Gotta try and get this one out there before anyone else. Might be 12 hrs late though. Truly a remarkable result.

Andy Carroll Meme

Andy Carroll is transferring from Liverpool to West Ham which csn onky mean relegation for The Irons.

posted from Bloggeroid

Something Strange Is Happening

As the summer transfer window nears its final stages, something strange is happening. Eurosport. Eurosport is happening. And it is strange. Very strange.

Methinks there's a little bit of content needed for this article. Or did they just decided to forgo the padding and print a full quality article?

As the summer transfer window nears its final stages, something strange is happening.

Google Images - Phillipe Troussier

Whilst reading the news at lunch time today I spotted an article relating Everton's David Moyes stating that Australia deserves to host the 2022 FIFA (TM) World Cup although he didn't think too much of the pitches on offer in this country. To the right of the article was a poll for "Who is your pick to replace Pim Verbeek as Socceroos coach?" This caught my interest and I looked at whose names they were putting forward. Names included Graham Arnold, Marcelo Bielsa, Fabio Capello, Paul Le Guen, Marcello Lippi, Frank Rijkaard, Philippe Troussier, Aurelio Vidmar and Other. Had to do some searching with Google for Marcel Bielsa and Philippe Troussier as I wasn't sure who they were. Have a look at the search result, especially the images.


Images for Phillipe Troussier?

Judging from the pictures I think that Phillipe Troussier does a mighty fine impersonation of Bernd Stange, one-time much-loved Perth Glory coach. Well, there is a button to "Report images" but it's only for reporting of offensive material. Not to tell them that their image search is a little muddled.

Thoughts On The World Cup Final

- Arjen Robben needs to be told that prima donnas don't win World Cups. Only Maradonas win World Cups. His attack on the referee for failing to pay a free kick close to goal when being hampered by Carles Puyol was ferocious. If only he had the same attack on the ball the Netherlands would have been three goals up by that stage. Can't say I've ever seen such poor sportsmanship aimed at a ref, without physically assaulting him that is, by anybody else. Disgusting behaviour worthy of a red card, almost. Officials should never be treated with such contempt. Hang your head in shame, Robben.
- When is a studs-up tackle to the chest not a red card offence? When Nigel de Jong kicks Xabi Alonso. And to think that Miroslav Klose got a second yellow card for an accidental trip. Refereeing needs to be consistent.
- Xavi Hernandez, I'm pretty sure, received a yellow card for playing on too long after offside was called and kicking the ball away to waste time. Good call ref. But Arjen Robben, already on a yellow card, does much the same thing and doesn't get penalised later in the game. What did I say about consistency in refereeing decisions?
- If the Dutch had played their natural game they would have had a much better chance of winning. Where was the free-flowing, complete football?
- You'd think that a professional striker would have the ability to chip a goalkeeper. Robben again gets a mention.
- Only one team was trying to play and that was Spain. Counterattacking is rather counter-productive.
- Spain deserved their win. And my heart wanted the Dutch to win.
- I had red eyes from getting up at 2am to watch the game but the Dutch players will have red eyes from crying for the next four years.
- I was alarmed at Xabi Alonso being substituted and then David Villa with extra-time/penalties looming. But it indicated that the Spanish coach didn't want it to go to penalties and was looking for the winning goal. Great coaching, as it turned out.
- Tactically the Spanish were superior and the Dutch coach only has himself to blame for the loss. That much is apparent and I normally wouldn't place that much emphasis on the coach's ability to influence how the game pans out with tactical changes.

FIFA's Stance On Technology Is Rather Like The Proverbial Ostrich

FIFA, Federation Internionale For Arse-Covering, has a rather dim view of using technology in football matches that would make the game better, fairer and save their face. I'm talking about that goal-that-wasn't from Frank Lampard against Germany and Carlos Tevez's first goal against Mexico from a blatantly offside position. What's FIFA's take on that? Just stop showing contentious decisions, or, as the case may be, non decisions, on the big screens. Yes, that will surely make the controversy go away. What about the billion or two at home watching the game who can't believe that such a fundamental part of the game, the ball crossing the goal line, can't be adjudicated upon effectively with relatively inexpensive and readily available technology?

Nothing like sticking your head in the sand, is there guys? And this from a sporting body which has even more members than the IOC.

Proof That Channel 7 Should Never Have Soccer TV Rights

I believe a few years ago that Channel 7 had the TV rights for soccer in Australia. And then they proceeded to show bugger all matches. They did a disservice to the sport for sure. This morning further proof that Channel 7 should never be sold the TV rights to soccer/football. On the Sunrise program this morning they reported that England defeated Slovakia 1-0 in the World Cup. Such a shame that England are in Group C with the Slovaks in Group F. They even showed it on the news ticker at the bottom of the screen. Ever heard of Slovenia? I suppose we should be greatful that they've finally recognised that Slovakia is no longer part of Czechoslovakia - something that happened in 1993.

Leave the soccer/football to SBS. They are the professionals. They know The World Game and Channel 7 does not as evidenced with its latest show of ineptitude.

Hands off, Channel 7.

What Is It With Italians, The Penalty Spot and Australia At The World Cup?A

What is it with Italians, the penalty spot and Australia at the World Cup? Last World Cup [Germany 2006], in case the bitter reality has been erased from your memory, Italy was awarded a penalty in the second round against Australia in the final minute of additional time. It didn't matter that Fabio Grosso had dived. Odds-on favourite to take out an Academy Award for his acting if the playing theatre had been a movie set and not a football pitch.

I knew from the outset of the match last night that it wouldn't end well for Australia. The referee and the linesmen were from Italy. I couldn't forsee that our hope up front, Harry Kewell, would be sent off for handball on the last line of defence. Kewell's lower arm moved slightly before the ball impacted upon it from a firmly struck kick but the top of his arm didn't move and that's where the ball struck. To the referee, in the heat of the moment, it probably appeared that Kewell had blocked the ball with his arm. Not actually the case, in my opinion, but unfortunately the ball struck the arm. The red card was unwarranted but would have looked pretty clear cut to the ref. Still, he's Italian and he pointed to the penalty spot. Understandably.

Pride has been restored to our football team, the Socceroos. To play for over an hour with only 10 men at the World Cup and not get beaten was a brilliant effort. Especially on those aging legs. Mind you, if the referee had sent one of the Ghana players off for a tackle from behind to Marco Bresciano, as he should have, that would have evened things up a bit. It was a straight red incident but he just issued a yellow card. If it had been in Ghana's penalty area he most probably would have booked the Aussie for diving.

Italians, the penalty spot and Australia at the World Cup don't mix. We were robbed. Again. As The Sunday Times put it- "RED-ICULOUS" and "ARMED ROBBERY". Couldn't have put it better myself.

After the 1998 World Cup match between Cameroon and Italy where Australian referee Eddie Lennie controversially sent off Cameroon defender Raymond Kalla FIFA was criticised in Cameroon for appointing officials from "non-footballing nations" [source - Wikipedia]. It's not as if the Italians should have a grudge against us.

Unfortunate as it was we Aussies will have another four years to whinge and lament. Gosh, we're the new England. Perenially disappointing at major tournaments and wanting to blame our bad luck on others. That would be sad if it wasn't so true.

Some Thoughts on Germany's Annihilation of Australia at 2010 World Cup

In case you missed it - Germany clinically disected the Aussies at the 2010 World Cup and won the match 4-0.

- At least Australia didn't throw away a win like England did against the USA.
- We can be grateful that Germany are reknowned for being slow starters. Imagine how much worse it could have been had they burst out of the blocks.
- Nice to see Australia deliver some much needed goals to liven up the World Cup. Pity they delivered them to the opposition on a platter.
- Australia's opponent in the 2nd round is likely to be New Zealand. There will be fierce competition for seats on the plane to return home when round two is underway.
- I thought that the German blitzkrieg tactic had been ruled illegal following Germany's unsuccessful World War II campaign.

ABC Online Headline - Wilkshire key to unlocking Germany - no need to open the floodgates though.

Who Will Win The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa?

Who will win the World Cup being held in South Africa in two weeks time? And does anybody care? I'm not sure what is going on this time around but normally all the water cooler talk in the weeks leading up to the World Cup revolves around who will win. Hardly a word is spoken at work and it doesn't seem that too many others are interested either. Is it because we've just seen the IPL finish the season and the T20 World Cup having been played and won (by England if you missed it)?

Or does it have more to do with the fact that news emanating from South Africa appears to be focusing on the negative aspects of the country - law and disorder, violence, terrorist threats, Robert Mugabe nearby, the shanty towns, the governmental mismanagement, dictatorial leadership, etc? That would be a real shame as I believe that FIFA had great intentions of bewstowing the World Cup on Africa, with its host of developing nations, for the betterment of football (soccer - it's so difficult to get my head around that term). It could so easily have been awarded to a developed nation/s but the long term future of the game will be better served by allowing those less fortunate than first world countries to host it.

I do hope that South Africa hosts a successful tournament. It is the largest competition, along with the Olympics, so deserves to be held successfully. And I'd like to see an African nation make it to the final. To play Australia that is.

Tournament Schedule (Fixtures list)

For what it is worth I think the winner will come out of Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Spain and Italy. Dark horses would include Ghana, Cameroon and South Korea.

I don't think that Germany can win it without Michael Ballack. I'd hate to see Italy do well after they cheated Australia last time around. Spain usually wilts in the big tournaments. Oh, I haven't mentioned France. Brazil will be there or thereabouts. Argentina will do well.

Let's do a more in-depth study and be a bit more methodical, shall we?

Group A - South Africa, Mexico, France and Uruguay. Can't see South Africa or Mexico going through to the second round.
Group B - Argentina, Greece, South Korea and Nigeria. Looking at past form I'd see Argentina and Nigeria booking places in the second round. South Korea will battle for second place but the surprise could be that that is against Argentina and not Nigeria whom I'd expect to do well on their home continent.
Group C - England, Algeria, Slovenia and USA. I see England and Slovenia advancing.
Group D - Germany, Serbia, Ghana and Australia. I'd love to pick the Aussies to go through but see a somewhat vulnerable Germany lacking their captain being most assured of advancing with perhaps sentimental favourite Ghana. Serbia and Australia should make a good fist of this so it really is the group of death.
Group E - Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon. I'd expect the Netherlands and Cameroon to be playing 2nd round football.
Group F - Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia. There is a place in my heart for Slovakia but I see Paraguay going through with Italy. New Zealand should put a scare through the opposition as they have a bit of striking force and Italy may actually miss out as they are notorious slow starters.
Group G - Ivory Coast, Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. Hmm, Brazil. Obviously. Ivory Coast and Portugal to battle out the other spot with Ivory Coast getting the nod.
Group H - Honduras, Chile, Spain and Switzerland. Spain and Chile fairly easily.

Round of 16 (2nd Stage)
1A vs 2B - Uruguay vs Nigeria. Nigeria to win.
1C vs 2D - England vs Ghana. England.
1E vs 2F - Netherlands vs Italy. Netherlands.
1G vs 2H - Brazil vs Chile. Brazil.

1B vs 2A - Argentina vs France. Argentina.
1D vs 2C - Germany vs Slovenia. Germany.
1F vs 2E - Paraguay vs Cameroon. Cameroon.
1H vs 2G - Spain vs Ivory Coast. Spain.

Quarter-Finals
Nigeria vs England. Bye, bye England.
Netherlands vs Brazil. Brazil. Just.
Argentina vs Germany. Argentina.
Cameroon vs Spain. Cameroon.

Semi-Finals
Nigeria vs Brazil. Brazil.
Argentina vs Cameroon. Argentina.

Third Place Playoff
Nigeria vs Cameroon. Cameroon - better play in the group qualifying stage.

2010 World Cup Final South Africa
Brazil vs Argentina. Toughie. I'm gonna stick my neck out and say Argentina. I dunno why as they finished as the 4th best team in South American qualifying and Brazil finished on top.

There. I've said it. Argentina will win the World Cup in 2010. Now watch them tumble out in the first round. If the game isn't on too late where you are. Most of the Aussies matches are late starts (10:30pm) or early mornings (2:30am). Not sure how many I will see. C'mon Aussie.

Bloodshed Predicted for 2010 World Cup in South Africa

Everyone has a prediction for bloodshed and fighting, acts of terrorism and vandalism, racism and horror for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Well, I will join them in this prediction. But I'm not worried about the ghettos or street violence. My concern is on the football pitch. This comes after seeing the absolutely awful tackles carried out by the Socceroos on the All Whites in a "friendly" international last night. Tim Cahill and Vince Grella tackled Leo Bertos with hideous studs-up tackles and he had to leave the pitch on a stretcher. If this is what takes place in a friendly then I expect plenty of blood to be spilt in South Africa. The players don't need to worry so much about unhappy locals as playing the Aussies might be that bit more dangerous and life-threatening.