Falling in love with football again

Sometimes these days I find football a hard game to love. The attitude of the players, the way the clubs treat their fans, the attitude of the modern fan, and of course the fetid, stinking mess that is the game's governing body - so much of it leaves a sour taste, and it seems to be getting worse.

All of this was put in stark contrast when I recently watched Next Goal Wins, the inspiring documentary about the world's worst football team, American Samoa, who were famously beaten at the hands of Australia by a world-record 31-0 scoreline in 2002.

This tale of misfits and no-hopers playing the game they love is a complete antidote to the cynical, serious, soulless phenomenon that world football sometimes appears to me to be. For those feeling jaded about the game, questioning why they ever loved it and if they ever will again, I wholeheartedly recommend you give it a watch.


The documentary is available to purchase on DVD from Amazon, here.

Have you seen it? Leave your review below, and let us know how it made you feel about the beautiful game!

Blatter and his Fifa colleagues are not fit to run football

This article will be short and unfortunately not so sweet as I only have one point to make, and I plan to make it as abruptly as possible.

Sepp Blatter and his cronies at the top of football's international heirarchy are no longer fit to represent the game and are damaging the credibility, integrity and long-term future of world football. For too long they have stood in the way of the reasonable evolution of the game and by dismissing the possiblity of any form of technology being used to assist referees in the future, they have once again shown us they are not fit to govern.

As Patrick Barclay points out in his ever-eloquent column in The Times, the level of debate on the matter appears to have been "staggeringly low". So low in fact, that there can be little doubt they were ever seriously considering the options.

The argument of football purists about the ebb and flow of the game, and the potential problems an appeals system could introduce could be overcome by limiting the use of any technology to an assistant with a monitor. With no influence from either team, and a simple responsiblity to inform the referee discreetly and promptly of any mis-directed officiating, the introduction of video refereeing could be an almost invisible addition and enhancement to the game. No fanfare required, no major overhaul of the way we play the game, just one guy with a montior and a radio-linkup to the man in the middle.

Personally I lost faith with the world governing body and it's suitability to run the game a long time ago - just about the time Sepp Blatter came to power in fact. Nothing has happened since to make me change my mind, and in fact my opinion of Fifa has only deteriorated over time. If there is someone within the ranks who can make a difference, they need to start making a stand now, before it really is too late. I genuinely fear for the future of this most beloved of sports while it is in the hands of Blatter and co., and I only hope that they aren't allowed to sabotage our game for much longer.

Henry's Call for Replay is Hollow Gesture

The Times is reporting this afternoon that Thierry Henry has called upon Fifa to order a replay of France's World Cup play-off second leg with Ireland.

Henry appears to be attempting to rebuild his reputation that has been left in tatters following his extra-time handball on Wednesday night , but my feeling is that the statement he has made is nothing more than that. Henry doesn't believe Fifa will order a replay. In fact, he's waited until Fifa have actually ruled out the possibility of a replay before making this statememt. To me it seems like a calculated gesture designed to repair significant damage to the reputation of a player who has been obsessed with self-image for the whole of his career.

I'd really rather Henry stayed out of our faces for the foreseeable future, as the only way he is really going to recover from this is by doing his talking on the pitch by balancing his exhilirating style of play with a hefty measure of honesty and integrity. It might be harder than trying to talk his way out of it, but it's the only way back now.

Did UEFA and FIFA miss something?

Take a look at uefa.com, find the match report from last night's game between France and Ireland, take a read, anything seem strange?

Here is how UEFA reported William Gallas' goal:

And so came extra time where in the eighth minute a hopeful France free-kick found its way to Henry, who squared for Gallas to head the goal that takes his country to South Africa.

Hmmmm.......

Well that surely must have been an oversight, surely FIFA - the world governing body wouldn't have missed the same thing would they?

Les Bleus came into the contest after the break but remained vulnerable to Irish attacks, meaning the tie had to be resolved in extra time, when William Gallas equalised to send his team through to their fourth consecutive finals.

Interesting......

What are we to make of this? Regardless of intent or the characters involved what occurred last night was an injustice, and a significant one at that. The World Cup is the self-proclaimed biggest show on earth and for any player probably the pinnacle of their career. To deny a nation the opportunity to compete because of this kind of error is nothing short of a travesty.

The response of FIFA and UEFA? Apparently it never happened. Presumably they hope that everyone on the planet gets their football news through uefa.com and fifa.com and they are looking for complete ignorance of the issue?

So will FIFA or UEFA make a statement about this? Will they do ANYTHING? Well when your leader is Sepp Blatter, reality is not often something that you have to deal with, so I am going to stick my neck out here and say.....no.