The categories listed in the drop-down menu below relate to items which are posted on this blog. The categories are not exhaustive but hopefully will assist searching for items of interest.
We achieved something tonight that England haven’t recently been able to achieve - ie draw with Croatia, currently ranked by FIFA as the 12th top country in the World.
But, fair’s fair - England achieved something tonight that we haven’t been able to achieve recently - ie lose to France.
I watched most of our game and the Scotland performance was generally pleasing and cause for further optimism.
The bits of the England game I saw indicated that England are still pish and Signor Capello now wishes he hadn’t taken the job.
David James (pictured right in Full Monty pose) gave away the penalty by which England lost. He should never have given up his role as Denzil in Only Fools and Horses.
When I was at Dumbarton on Saturday night there was a lot of comment about the actions of the Polis at the previous week’s East Stirling - East Fife match when the Fifers secured the championship title of division 3, and attempted to celebrate in the traditional fashion, by spraying and pouring champagne over each other and the fans, only to be stopped by Central Scotland’s finest.
The kindest comment was “Don’t you think it makes the law seem to be a bit of an ass?“
Football match celebrations: Police media statement
Wednesday, 19th March 2008
The following statement was issued to media following the East Stirling v East Fife game at Firs Park, Falkirk, on Saturday 15 March.
Chief Insp Audrey McLeod of Central Scotland Police said: “During the game between East Fife and East Stirling on Saturday March 15 at Firs Park, Falkirk, officers became aware of the presence of glass bottles containing alcohol within the main stand.
“Officers spoke to members of the East Fife FC party and made them aware that the presence of alcohol and controlled containers within a designated sporting ground was contrary to the Criminal Law (Consolidation) Act 1995. The items were then removed at that time.
“During the subsequent celebrations the bottles were produced and champagne was sprayed over the fans who were gathered on the pitch. Officers again spoke to club officials, explaining the legislation again and highlighting the potential for glass bottles to present a health and safety issue, particulary with a number of families with children in the vicinity. Following a brief discussion the bottles were again removed.
“The legislation is in place to ensure football matches and grounds are safe for fans and players alike and the aim of Central Scotland Police was to allow the fans and club officials and players to celebrate in safety.”
At no time were the bottles confiscated, as stated in some media outlets, and at no time was the dressing room “raided”. The presence of the bottles within the dressing caused no issue - however their presence within the stand and trackside was contrary to the law and event planning guidance, recognised by all police forces and football clubs.
You may think this is the biggest pile of undiluted sewage you’ve ever read in your entire puff, but I couldn’t possibly comment. When you read something like this you should realise just how close we potentially are to a police state. As far as I am aware, during all the sporting events in the history of the world where champagne (in bottles) has been used as a celebratory beverage, not one single person has ever met with a significant injury. The phrase ‘bottled champagne mishap’ doesn’t exist in the vocabulary of the A+E Departments. No, all that happened here was that some over-officious officers spoiled the legitimate celebrations of most of those present at a place of public entertainment.
England completed a superb 2-1 series win over New Zealand in the early hours.
It was a highly improbable looking success after the battering England received in the first Test.
It is actually failry rare for a 1-0 deficit to be turned into a 2-1 win in Test cricket, it having happened only a dozen or so times in the previous 100+ years.
Panesar and Broad performed particularly well with the ball, and I think we may have seen the last of Harmison and Hoggard
This random cut combines three things of interest to me - firstly it’s folk music, second it’s by the Wee Toon Tellers (the ‘wee Toon’ in this context being my home town of Campbeltown) and third the song is the old traditional ‘Lord Franklin‘ (or as titled here ‘Lord Franklin’s Dream‘).
The song is more properly called Lady Franklin’s Lament, and it was allegedly written by that Lady herself in about 1855. It commemorated the life and tragic death of her husband.
Sir John Alexander Franklin FRGS (April 15, 1786 – June 11, 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer who mapped almost two thirds of the northern coastline of North America. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. His last expedition disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The entire crew perished from starvation and exposure after Franklin died and the expedition’s icebound ships were abandoned in desperation.
The song has a particularly haunting melody and lyric and it has been covered by many singers over the years including including Martin Carthy, John Renbourn, Pentangle, Sinéad O’Connor, the Pearlfishers etc etc.
Famously, the melody, and the general thrust of the lyric of mourning for lost friends, was ‘borrowed’ by Bob Dylan on his 1963 album ‘Freewheelin’, Dylan’s version being titled ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’. In fact, that’s how I first heard the song, and as a youth I remember being deeply affected by the closing verse, which comes after Dylan has recounted how friends have fallen by the wayside, and he yearns to return to the simpler pleasures of youthful camaraderie
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain,
That we could sit simply in that room again.
Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat,
I’d give it all gladly if our lives could be like that.
Dylan explicitly acknowledged that he’d based the song on Martin Carthy’s version of Lord Franklin but it was only some time later that I heard Pentangle’s version of Lord Franklin and realised the extent of Dylan’s borrowing.
But all that’s by the by.
The Wee Toon Tellers are a fantastic Campbeltown folk band, and this version of Lord Franklin is as good as any I’ve ever heard.
The above picture depicts two of the Town’s finest products - the Tellers and the Springbank (the latter being the sort of thing which certain parties frequently invite me to award as prizes here)
This is The Wee Toon Tellers - Lord Franklin’s Dream
We were homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.
With 100 seamen he sailed away
To the frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor sailors do sometimes go.
Through cruel hardships they vainly strove
Their ships on mountains of ice was drove
Only the Eskimo with his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through
In Baffin’s Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
Lord Franklin among his seamen do dwell
And now my burden it gives me pain
For my Lord Franklin I’d sail the main
Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
To know Lord Franklin, and where he lives.
We achieved something tonight that England haven’t recently been able to achieve - ie draw with Croatia, currently ranked by FIFA as the 12th top country in the World.
