Unbelievable
Frankly somewhat disappointed in all of you, here we have a national football team playing their first match in the biggest football competition in the world and not a mention of the fact on these boards, in fact it takes a 60-70% Scotsman to even raise the issue. I appreciate the press have been slightly more low key re expectations, but no mentions at all, none!!
I say 60-70% Scotsman as I have always thought there ought to be a proper formula to define the percentage of being Scottish/English/Irish/Welsh (accountants really are a right pain, they want certainties).
To explain I had a father who was English although not born in England but in an army hospital in Cairo to English parents (I am therefore eligible to support Mo and Egypt), he first came to England age 2 (Catterick, but doubt that qualified him to play for Yorkshire) and his father was then posted up to Scotland when my dad was 4. All my father’s schooling was in Scotland, his first degree was in England, his war service was in England and his second degree was in Scotland, he then lived and worked the rest of his life in Scotland. So, he appears to have been English with Scottish influences, or as he described himself, North British. And then I had a mother whose father and mother are certainly very Scottish, the male line stretching back to shepherds from North of Rannoch and carrying the name of the Clan most responsible for the 45 rebellion kicking off (sorry about that.)
So, based on the above I ought to have had both national team selectors hammering on my door after the 70th Haymarket reached the final of the Edinburgh seven a sides all these years ago, my resolute defending on the right being akin to Graeme Souness on his Scottish league debut for Rangers at Easter Road, just without his subtlety.
Anyway setting aside my 60-70% for this evening , I suspect I will also persuade one of the children to support England with me; this was so much easier when my daughter was in love with the Chelsea trio of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry- as a concerned father I tried to put her off John but he kept turning up even when not expected.
We will possibly either suffer like the rest of you through a turgid 1-1 or have our hopes raised by a great England’s performance only to have them later dashed in a penalty shoot out once they reach the knock out stage, the England modus operandi (The Scottish one being to have all hopes dashed much earlier during the qualification process- a form of national euthanasia)
So, can the English team kindle a spark of ingenuity to work out a different way to leave a tournament, or does perpetual groundhog day now beckon?
p.s. If Scotland were there business would be stopping today at about 3-4 to ensure we could all get to the pubs in time for the game, something is wrong, you just do not appear to be taking this football lark seriously enough.
Replies (31)
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(Sigh) This is one of the few places you can go on the internet to get away from discussions about football and love island. You've just shattered that peace and quiet, so now I'm going to mug you off.
I'll happily entertain discussion on the former.
Any attempt to discuss the latter should be met with a flogging, live streamed on AWeb for us all to see.
As a 100% Scot (although there is some Irish (Northern Part) if you stretch back as far as Great Grandparents), all I have to add is:
Come on the Tunisia!
And the Belgium;
And the Panama!
That ought to be enough.
Love you're "North British" comment though. I'd pay good money for someone to make such a remark in Holyrood, just for the sheer joy of watching the separatists contort with rage.
It's entirely possible that I have a bit of Viking in me.
One day I'll need to research my ancestry in a bit more detail, but I've had cursory looks in the past and it would seem my family name was common in the Kingdom of Dál Riata.
Given it's location, it's quite possible there was some overlap with the Vikings when they came to say hello.
Blimey - I'm 100% with TV on this.
Might have felt different if there was an EU team, but can't see one on the list, so back to gardening.
The site is called accountancy web not football web. I don't see anyone discussing any other sports. The sooner football is off the telly the better lol
Finishing at 4pm, ordering pizza, pub for 5pm, game kicks off at 7pm, deliriously happy / miserably sad at 9pm!
The football fans like me are probably busy getting work done so we can watch the matches later! I shall be in my England shirt (kindly bought for me by my children) cheering them on but probably not expecting great things. My son burst my optimistic balloon this morning on the way to school when I said England should easily beat Tunisia - to which his reply was that Germany probably said the same thing about Mexico!
These days, I get thoroughly depressed watching overpaid English primadonnas trying to kick a ball in the correct direction!
DJKL is a new tactic we are employing, as since 1990 the media has backed the team so heavily that we usually have it won before a ball is kicked, the best players in the world then crumble under pressure, or in the case of Wayne Rooney get caught with an 80 year old hooker and we crash out with a wasted generation of talent.
This year we are trying a different approach saying nowt not giving ourselves a chance until we get to the semis.
I must admit I would be struggling to name any of the players if they were standing next to me.
Dare to dream.
Isn't Cricket the sport for accountants?
Cracking match last weekend scotland vs england
I will be watching what will probably be my first football match all the way through out of choice since the last world cup tonight.
I think I suffer long term football fatigue following being off work on long term sick during a world cup.
I have no desire to watch or hear about 22 grown men running around a field practically in their underwear kicking a ball about and being paid stupid money to do so.
There are much better things to do. They just painted the walls next door. I may go and watch them dry.
Sounds like sneering through envy.
Your description reminds me of Danny Baker on Saturday. People generally don't say, 'Apollo Space Mission to the Moon? Just a bunch of men in a tin can,' or ' Picasso masterpiece? Just some paint splashed on a piece of canvas.'
When done properly, there is a beauty to it. I can understand it is not to your taste but there is no need to deride it.
I've noticed a tendency for people I know on Facebook to make similar derisive comments about football and yet as far as I can see they don't spend their entire lives engaging in useful/worthwhile activities for the benefit of society and humanity. They have hobbies or interests that I find boring and pointless but I don't make similar remarks. I'm not sure why people feel they are entitled to make such comments about something I enjoy and feel passionate about as if there is something wrong with me for wanting to watch. Frankly there's lots of activities that I find boring and pointless (Rugby, Dancing on Ice, Love Island, Sudoku, etc.) but I don't make disparaging comments about them as we all like different things. Also, unlike in my youth, there's plenty of other things to watch on TV if you don't like football so the fact that there's 24/7 coverage shouldn't affect those who don't like it.
Thanks - turned into a bit of a rant but I'm not sure what annoys me most - that attitude or the men who challenge me to explain the offside rule when I say I'm a football fan 'cause obviously, being female, I can't possibly understand the rules of football! Less prevalent nowadays fortunately but a regular occurrence when I was younger.
Not possessing a TV helps me, I don't have to avoid it when at home.
The fact that the town centre has a 25ft screen set up to show every match, on the other hand, is a bit of a downer.
I have to admit, though, I fail to see where my remarks were disparaging. I thought they were quite an accurate depiction of "The Beautiful Game".
There does seem to be a snobbishness when it comes to football.
If you are able to name a bunch of paintings you are seen as being intelligent and cultured.
Being able to recite off all world cup winners and host nations in date order, as well as the top 10 goalscorers of all time, not so admired.
Is it a class thing perhaps?
Football has historically been a working mans sport, perhaps frowned upon by those in their ivory towers, who disapprove of the boisterous nature of it all.
Tunisia to win @7/1 is a good bet,
a draw @14/5 is not bad either
But I know nothing about football
Tunisia to win @7/1 is a good bet,
a draw @14/5 is not bad either
But I know nothing about football