FC United of Manchester and Red Fascists

We've been away this past fortnight but Facebook, Twitter and t'interweb generally help to keep you in touch, so I wasn't surprised when a rumpus kicked off around FC United again. Socialists really are tedious and dreary.

This one kicked off when a board member listed a range of political parties that they have decided are incompatible with supporting FC United. One of them was the UK Independence Party. Bear in mind that this is a club that constantly bangs on about equality, equal rights and standing up for the whole community. This is a decidedly Stalinist approach to people whose political views you happen to disagree with. What has my politics got to do with watching and supporting a football club?

It seems that if you want to leave the European Union, and believe in controlling immigration, then you are a raving racist/fascist/Nazi in the eyes of the commissars at FC United and they don't want you polluting the atmosphere at their games. I don't support UKIP but believe in a sensible immigration policy and independence from the EU. I am not a racist or a fascist and certainly no Nazi, neither is UKIP. That is the schoolboy level of political debate your average socialist is capable of in 2014, name calling and hurling abuse.

This juvenile labelling, especially the word 'racist' adds nothing to serious debate and has now led to the word 'racist' meaning absolutely nothing. It is nothing more than a word of abuse used to smear people and close debate. The left in this country seem to have an unhealthy obsession with race which makes me wonder what is really in their minds, deep, deep down. On a political level it is a vicious and cynical ploy to divide and rule. But deeper I fear their obsession with race has some deep rooted psychological reason that a psychiatrist could probably study quite extensively.

Ultimately there is no place for politics in sport. What I do know is that many people have walked away from FC United because of the increasing level of political extremism among senior members. I for one am not prepared to support the sporting section of an intolerant, bigoted, fascist/socialist organisation. It's sad because the club was set up for admirable reasons but I can no longer support the club any more than I could support the Glazer owned Manchester United.

Racism In Football-Kick It Out

The older I get the less I seem to understand. Earlier I blogged about Police and Crime Commissioners and how I just can't see the point of them. Now it's racism in football and Rio Ferdinand apparently setting up a trade union for black players only. Odd as I thought apartheid was a thing of the past, but so be it.

What I don't understand is why the authorites seem to be allowing virulent racism in football, apparently sweeping it under the carpet much more effectively than professional cycling swept doping under the carpet. Apart from Suarez and Terry behaving like pillocks I'm unaware of galloping racism in football. It seems to me that there are a higher proportion of black players in football today than the proportion of black people in the general population. Or are some clubs actually barring black players? I don't think so.

In the 1970s there were racist chants aimed at black players but the world has moved on and in recent years, watching football virtually weekly, I've been unaware of racism apart from the odd unpleasant individual. Maybe it is rampant in some Eastern European states, but certainly not in the UK.

Rio Ferdinand seems to be in a constant state of rage about race but doesn't stand up and give examples of racism in football. Earning more in a week than most people earn in a few years it doesn't seem to me like racism in football has held Ferdinand, or the many other successful black players.

The more I hear about this rampant racism in football the more I wonder why anybody gets involved with such an unpleasant sport. Maybe we should all boycott until it's cleaned up, as happened with cricket and rugby under apartheid. That Ferdinand should be making such a fortune in such a vile racist industry sickens me. He should walk away and have nothing to do with such a thoroughly unpleasant game. After all, he's probably made enough money from it to live in comfort for the rest of his life.

Smoking At The Cricket

Cricket is a very civilised game to watch, even when playing Yorkshire. Yesterday I spent the day at Liverpool watching Lancashire play Middlesex. Glorious weather and, after a shaky start, a good batting day for Lancashire. I got chatting to the chap next to me, we then got chatting to the three people in front of us. It's very sociable watching cricket and with games lasting up to four days, from 11-00am to 6-00pm, great friendships can be forged among the spectators.

During the afternoon the chap next to me set off to stretch his legs, it was just coming near to the resumption of play after the tea break. About ten minutes later he came back to the seats carrying five ice creams, one for each of us. Once again I was subject to an act of kindness from a stranger as I had been last week, which I blogged about here. I still don't know the name of my friend the ice cream man, or the other people I spent the day with, but to me the whole day  encapsulated the spirit of cricket.

But then up pops Sky to bring us back to reality. Lord's, the headquarters of cricket, has a very civilised policy which allows smoking in ten percent of the seats. A wonderful policy which treats people like grown ups, if you don't smoke don't go in the smoking areas. Much more civilised than the infantilising and oppressive smoking ban.

But a Sky cameraman  has complained that he copped a whiff of smoke while filming a cricket game. What a great big softy. He should have been taken off the cricket and stuck in a poxy, windowless TV studio filming some bizarre freak show that passes for a television programmee on Sky. Instead Sky has asked the MCC to reconsider the smoking areas at Lord's.

Here comes the next, more sinister part of this situation. Sky pays £100m into cricket each year, and he who pays the piper calls the tune. How long before the MCC tries to bribe its members into voting for a complete smoking ban for fear of losing the Sky money?

One of the reasons I gave up my season ticket for Manchester United in 2005, apart from the Glazers, was that television money had corrupted the game. I only hope that in this relatively small matter the MCC sticks two fingers up at Sky and respects the wishes of its members. Don't sell the soul of cricket the way the soul of football has been sold.

Tiger, Terry and Playing Away

What a sad sign of the times that Tiger Woods had to appear before the world's media grovelling and whining like a dog about to be put down. He makes a fortune from a game that should only really be played by middle aged businessmen licking the arses of their clients, then plays away from home in the trouser department. Big deal.

He should have been left to patch things up, or not, with Mrs Tiger then left to get on with his life. But in these puritanical days there has been a media obsession with the naughty lad that could only be eased by him appearing in sack cloth and ashes grovelling publicly to his wife, family and that bloke at 10 Acacia Avenue, Surbiton who he'd upset by having a sly shag or ten.

In the middle of the Tiger affair (sorry) the media turned its attention to former England captain John Terry. He shagged a French woman. As if that's not bad enough for an Englishman, an English football captain indeed, she was also the ex-girlfriend of a former teammate at Chelsea. Ex-girlfriend note. The only person who needed to know the ins and outs (sorry again) was Mrs Terry.

Now Mrs Terry, living in a mansion in Surrey with a hubby who earns over £100,000 a week was whisked off by said hubby to Dubai by way of an apology. Mrs Terry must be very understanding, and must love the extremely wealthy Mr Terry an awful lot, because she forgave him. And in a display of emotion she couldn't even hide from the press photographers she cuddled him by the pool of their £1000 a night hotel as a sign of genuine love and true forgiveness. The fact that she was probably a minimum wage checkout girl at Woolies Dagenham before they met is irrelevant.

What these incidents say is that the West really is in the shit when these two stories have been so prominent. The media are only giving the punters what they want and one radio station ran a poll, the result was that most listeners thought the John Terry story was more important than coverage of Afghanistan.

What was that saying about bread and circuses?

More Equality Crap

Tessa Jowell wants equality beween men and women in Olympic sports.

I'm happy with that Tessa, so long as women are happy to get in the boxing ring with men! Now that's what I call equality.

Cuba's Cantona

Here is a video of a Cuban competitor kicking the referee after being disqualified. No doubt he will claim he reacted to a racist comment, and get off with it.

Meadowbank Stadium

With politicians falling over each other in the rush to claim responsibility for Team GB's success in Beijing, let's take a look at what those unreconstructed socialists in Scotland are up to. No trendy glory hunting by politicians up there in the workers' paradise. Instead they are carrying on the legacy of many previous governments by selling off sporting facilities to property developers. Very socialist!

Here is a link to the Save Meadowbank Campaign.

Ironically enough with our cyclists, including Scotsman Chris Hoy, doing us proud the demolition of Meadowbank includes the velodrome as well as the athletics facilities.

End Of Another Tradition

As a new football season kicks off, with the English Premiership bearing little resemblance to an English league at all, another great English icon is disappearing. Walthamstow Stadium, the Wembley of English greyhound racing, has seen its last ever race. Along with Catford, Hackney, White City, Haringey and Wembley dog track itself, the stadium has been sold off to property developers.

I don't profess to be an expert on greyhound racing but do enjoy the occasional visit to the dogs. When domiciled in the capital I went with friends, and my sister and her other half, to Hackney dogs and to several charity nights at Catford, South London. It's fine entertainment and extremely sociable too, with the chance of winning, on my part rarely, the odd quid. But it is great fun first and foremost.

Of course if the government sees something is a success it has to get in on the act and a few years ago removed the tax-free status on betting at the dogs. Add to that the constant showing of greyhound racing in bookies shops, thus taking revenue away from the tracks, and yet again government action helps to destroy a part of our cultural and sporting life.

Of course a few animal rights nutters will be pleased at the closure of yet another dog track but, for my part, I think I'll counter that by popping along to Belle Vue dogs in my old part of east Manchester soon. No good crying over such closures, they need support to survive so get to the dogs when you can, I'm sure you'll love it.

European Champions League

Although the European Cup, as was, has been grossly diminished by the pursuit of cash, the quarter final draw has thrown some tremendous games up:

United v Roma-again!
Arsenal v Liverpool
Chelski v Fenerbahce
Barca v Schalke 04

Full story here.

Ice Hockey

One of the things certain to get ice hockey fans on their feet is a good fight between players, either one on one or, as happened in Manchester on Saturday night, a mass brawl. Occasionally the crowd get involved too as happened here when Serbian hockey players took on the Lithuanian crowd.

But it isn't limited to Eastern Europe. Some of the worst fights, or best depending on your outlook, are in the USA with many mass brawls and one on ones on Youtube featuring American teams.

Perhaps MPs v Electorate is worth a try instead of elections!

It Just Isn't Cricket!

Even the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website describes Zimbabwe as a basket case and Mugabe is quite obviously responsible. However, I cannot agree with talk of banning the Zimbabwe cricket team from touring England in 2009, as Miliband Senior seems to be calling for today .

If the government, the United Nations and assorted pan-African organisations haven't got the guts to deal with Mugabe and his rancid government, then don't pass the buck to our sportsmen and expect the English Cricket Board to do your dirty work. Will this government be urging a boycott of the Olympics when they roll into China? After all, the human rights abuses and lack of true democracy in China make it just as bad, if not worse by most standards, as Zimbabwe. And is Zimbabwe really any worse than most African states who we continue to deal with?

It's interesting that the current government, containing previous boycotters, such as Peter Hain, now appear powerless to act when in a position of political power. They boycotted everything South African during apartheid but seem incapable of action in the case of Zimbabwe. Perhaps they are only motivated when they see white people as the oppressors of black people but are blind, or just don't care, when it is black oppressing black and/or white.

It's the Zimbabwe government to blame, not their cricketers.