1966. The Year That Changed Modern Football Forever

Much happened in the year 1966. Eric Cantona was born, the Aberfan disaster occurred in South Wales, the Toyota Corolla was introduced to the world and, of course, England won the World Cup. None of these events, however, changed the modern footballing world forever. In 1966 something which changed the entire landscape of football forever was born; the humble yellow and red card.  

Football Blogs Worth Looking At

Written For:
Chester vs Durham City 26th February 2011

Blogging has become something of an internet sensation over the last few years. Topics as varied as cooking to music are all discussed by individuals who really have a passion for what they are talking about. Football is one topic that is extremely popular to the blogging community, so much so that the Guardian newspaper published a list of ‘100 blogs to follow in 2011’ towards the end of last year. If you have some spare time The Cestrian advises you to take a look, there are some really wonderful blogs out there, but if you don’t we’ll guide you through the crème-de-la-crème of the football blogging world and give you something to do the next time an away fixture is called off because of frost.

The Welsh Premier League Restructuring: A Good Idea?

This article was written for the BackPage Football website which can be found here- http://backpagefootball.com

Next Saturday, Haverforwest County, Aberystwyth Town, Llanelli AFC, Carmarthen Town, Newtown AFC and The New Saints will play out the final fixutres of the first part of the Welsh Premier League season. After these games the league will, for the first time ever, split in two. From there the top six of the 'Super 12' will play each other twice more, as will the bottom half. The teams in the bottom half of the table won't be able to finish higher than 7th after the cut off point. Once all of the league's 32 fixtures have been completed, the team in first place qualifies for the Champion's League, with second place and the winners of the Welsh Cup being entered into the Europa League. The teams placed from 3rd to 7th will then play-off for the final Europa League spot and the bottom two teams will be relegated.

Interview With BackPageFootball

I recently did an interview with the site backpagefootball. This can be seen, in all its glory, here- http://backpagefootball.com/interviews/in-the-blog-richardsfootballblog/

Philosophy of Football: Introduction

I imagine if you say the word 'Philosophy' to the average football fan, their mind will conjure up the image of a Greek bloke in a toga, brow furrowed in concentration, with his hand stroking his long white beard whilst working out the problems of the universe. Those 'big' questions such as: do we exist, what is good and evil, does God exist, what is the meaning of life and so on. Whilst in extremely broad terms this has an element of truth about it, it does not really do philosophy justice. This definition leaves too much emphasis on answering the questions of philosophy, whereas in reality the purpose of philosophy is more closely tied to how* you study it.