Are You Blind Referee?

Yesterday I met a referee. This I found extremely surprising, as I didn't know they existed outside of a football field. Furthermore, he was nothing like how I expected him to be. Whilst he had refereed up to Blue Square North standard, been an assisstant referee to Blue Square Premier and fourth official in the Championship (and had the pictures to prove it), he had perfect 20/20 vision (which is apparently a very good comeback to arsey players), and he never carried a portable TV with which he could watch a different game. Also, he did not have cards that he was 'itching' to get out of his pocket and frankly couldn't care less about who was at home. Yes, he was a football fan just like you and me, but, he said, when it came to his job, he wanted to do it to the best of his ability, not to annoy the bald, shouty man in the crowd.

Happy Birthday Owen Hargreaves

Having had a quick look on BBC Sport today I saw that Birmingham's Scott Dann has been ruled out for the rest of the season, and Chelsea's Frank Lampard has suffered a calf injury in training. These two injuries, whilst obviously extremely important to the individuals involved, are afforded nothing more than a few sentences before the articles move onto the players who are going to replace them in the upcoming matches.

The British Home Championships, Gareth Bale and the British Lions FC

It has recently been revealed that the (English) FA are holding talks with the other home nations (Scotland, Wales and Northen Ireland) regarding a tournament to be held in Wembely in 2013 to mark the 150th anniversary of the organisation. This would mean the revival of the British Home Championships which ran for exactly 100 years from 1884 to 1984. However, according to the general secretary of the FA Alex Horne this would be a "one-off" and England would not join the Carling Nations Cup which is set to be contested between the Republic of Ireland, Northen Ireland, Wales and Scotland in May this year. Alex Horne did not however, completely rule out the possiblity of it happening in the future, saying "I wouldn't want to commit to a resurgence of a tournament, but as a one-off it has real merit and I think we should take it a step at a time. It's still early days in the conversations at the moment."

Plans for 2011

I really shouldn't be doing this right now. I'm in my January exam period and should be swotting up on analysing and assessing arguments, psychophysics and David Hume as I write. But instead I'm writing a post on my blog. Why am I doing this, I hear you (one man and his dog) ask? Mostly procrastination, but I've also had an idea which concerns the very question I just asked. Why am I doing this? Writing a blog? Furthermore, why do other people write blogs about football? Why do they support different teams? Why do people even watch football matches? Why do people play?