462: a word about football

Ancient Greek football player balancing the ball.
Depiction on an AtticLekythos.

The roads around here yesterday, as I arrived home from my first Saturday at the day job, were spilling over with cars; on yellow lines, pavements, corners. I guess there was a big crowd for the football. I then noticed 'Old Trafford' trending on twitter, and could hear the roars, oohs and ahhs, of football fans doing stuff. It always strikes me as odd that the activities of some people in shorts playing about with a ball, so close to my house, can be such a big bit of news. Newcastle United were awarded a penalty against Manchester United.... at Old Trafford! Wow! Still, United are, for now at least, my local teams so: Go Uniteds! Up the Red Devils! Etcetera!

No one wants to read me going on about football: it's bad enough having to listen to someone who knows what they are talking about, let alone a complete ignoramus like myself. But still, it sometimes creeps over the border into my thoughts what with living between the stadiums of the two biggest teams in the country; living in a city utterly obsessed and proud of it's football heritage (rightly so, I suppose). The football is like the weather – you need to know what is happening before you head out, or you might get stuck in traffic for a very long time. We have digital road signs telling us when there is a match on. Very useful.

Today brings the sad news of the sudden death of footballing legend Gary Speed, and on twitter there are reports of Shay Given crying on the pitch during Swansea vs Aston Villa. (unimportant aside: I met Shay Given during his time at Man City, in a previous job in my capacity as a menial worker in the service industry.) This two days after Stan Collymore tweets openly and bravely about his bouts of depression – read his full post here, a wonderful account of his suffering under the illness. What is going on in the footballing world? Maybe I'll watch Match of the Day for a clue.

That has exhausted my take on this weekend's footballing news; I'm going to have to turn down all the incoming offers of Sports' Correspondent for various international news agents, newspapers and television stations. Shame really.

Going to the Match (1928), L.S. Lowry, owned
by the Professional Footballers' Association