Although I’m not a Rugby fan, the two teams that attended Wembley Stadium today for the Challenge Cup Final, the other team being Huddersfield, were well behaved.
There was no segregation of fans, which has to be done regarding soccer.
In all, it was a carnival atmosphere, with some fans dressed as convicts, other men wearing flowery pink dresses.
When Wolves picked up the cup, many supporters of the losing team clapped their hands.
It’s the first time since 1974 that Warrington has won the Cup, so congratulations all round to them.
Some of their fans decided to stay in Wembley, visiting The Greyhound pub that’s approximately 100 yards away from the Stadium.
It was nice, seeing their fans - grown men, women and their children, sitting on the green opposite the pub, enjoying the rest of the warm, sunny weather, which was crowned by a fabulous result.
As I said to some of their fans leaving the Stadium, congratulations on the result and I hope to see some of you again next year.
£££££££
Chelsea is on top of the league!
The 3-0 result is sure to help show they are determined to break the lock Manchester United has on winning the Premiership league.
As for newly promoted Burnley, please learn from the mistakes of recently regulated out of top-flight football West Bromwich Albion (WBA); you can’t stay in the Premier league with First Division players.
I know that’s ruthless to say but that’s the way it is – this explains why Stoke City and Hull City, the other clubs who were promoted with WBA to the 2008-09 Premier League, are still in the Premiership League.
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Manchester United only just got victory today against Arsenal, thanks to Abou Diaby’s own goal.
United only just got their victory, which does bring forward the belief whether the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo has weakened this team.
Only time will tell.
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Speaking of Arsenal, it’s not surprising that UEFA has stepped in to the whole issue regarding Eduardo’s behaviour Wednesday evening.
The Euro football chiefs have charged the striker with deceiving the referee by diving to win a penalty against Celtic, in the Champions League qualifier.
Again, I think this is a case of where, as I stated regarding Drogba’s outburst during last season’s Chelsea UEFA match against Barcelona, of letting the linesman have as much say as the main referee when looking at such issues.
I must admit to being surprised by Eduardo’s actions on Wednesday, as I remember the nasty left ankle dislocation he received in February 2008 that threatened his career-playing future.
For most people, it’s a defining moment where you look at what’s important in life and it usually includes sportsmanship.
Hopefully, both Eduardo and his manager, Arséne Wenger, will come to realise this in the coming months.
£££££££
I watched Big Ron – as I still call him – doing Celebrity Wife Swap a few weeks ago with Olympic gold medal winner Tessa Sanderson.
I remember this man as the showy-with-clout manager of Manchester United, who put the glam into a club that was then synonymous with supporters wearing brown cloth caps and long matching coats – i.e., dowdy.
Along with a team that had a successful streak in the 1980’s, Ron Atkinson was a man who invented the word bling and made Manchester United a trendy team to follow, before he was removed to make way for a then unpeeraged unknown-to-mainstream-English-football manager, called Alex Ferguson.
Big Ron was responsible for introducing black football players on a mainstream scale to English football. This was particularly the case when he managed WBA, before becoming a match commentator.
So rather than ponder on the foolish remarks he said about Marcel Desailly in 2004, I hope he gets further involved in the academy in Newham, London, that Ms Sanderson is helping to run in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
Mr Atkinson has an amazing talent, which clearly showed when he was being a manager of a local Newham football team during the swap.
He is a man you can believe in; that quality is needed in a football manager.
I also saw the home – well let’s face it, mansion – he lives in with his wife.
It just goes to show, like Kevin Keegan, there has always been some football professionals who had their financial heads screwed on before the arrival of the Premiership league in 1991.
I for one hope Celebrity Wife Swap is not the last we see or hear from Big Ron.
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That leads me to what I mentioned during my last blog about recommending books to read regarding sport.
For Father’s Day this year, I brought: Beyond A Boundary, by CLR James.
My mum isn’t a cricket lover but decided to take this book with her to the hairdressers, as she usually spends all day at the salon and found this book good to read and realised why certain cricket matches are called a Test.
I decided to read it and realised why this man was such an inspirational figure for independence and self-rule during his lifetime.
I wrote a biography piece about him for Pride magazine, featured in February 2006 – the feedback the office received about it was fantastic and was responsible for that edition being a sell-out.
The e-mails and phone calls to the then editor praising this article were daily and continued for the whole month.
My only regret was seeing the sub-editors take my name out. My thanks go to those who liked reading it – it took me a whole week to finally produce that article, such was the extent of work and essays that Cyril Lionel Robert James produced.
Another book I’d highly recommend is Paul Gascoigne’s autobiography, Gazza: My Story, with Hunter Davies, first published in 2004.
It’s a truly warming book that made me laugh, cry, get annoyed with Mr Gascoigne and generally feel his pain. It’s a warts and all revelation about him; a genius midfielder who sadly never achieved his full potential during his playing days.
I so wish that Sir Alex Ferguson had signed him from Lazio.
£££££££
I’m now being kicked off the computer I’m typing this on, so I’m signing off now!
Please don’t hesitate to visit my other internet site: www.andriagreaves.com
Until next time.
Light and Peace
Andria
X
Saturday 29 August 2009
Wednesday 26 August 2009
West Ham Vs Millwall: the truth
Hi to one and all
I realise I haven’t written for some time and I do accept full responsibility for this.
Nevertheless, I’m happy to inform you about my experiences, both yesterday as a football steward at West Ham vs Millwall and on other issues.
I can say the real West Ham fans wouldn’t of been involved in the hooliganism we’ve seen regarding Tuesday’s match – during the many times I’ve worked at this club, I’ve been treated very well by both fans and staff.
But since this was a Football Association - FA - Carling Cup match, it was decided that a certain amount of tickets had to be available to the public that otherwise wouldn’t attend Upton Park (home of West Ham football club).
Generally, this is a good thing as it gives everyone the opportunity to see a premiership team live and keeps the romance of what the FA means – Millwall and West Ham haven’t meet each other in years, since The Lions were demoted out of top flight football in 1990.
Furthermore, Millwall and West Ham are well known bitter rivals, which clearly didn’t help.
Unfortunately it also gives troublemakers the chance to take advantage of the good nature of the FA and that’s what happened yesterday evening.
It was truly a good match, with Millwall getting a well deserved in the first half. Many West Ham fans clapped when they scored. Then West Ham equalised in the dying minutes of the second half, which is when the first pitch invasion happened.
It was at a weak point of the pitch, where football fans and the camera people share the same part, near the left-hand corner of the Bobby Moore stand. The real West Ham fans were booing the invaders, who got the message and came off with little fuss within five minutes.
But when extra time was over – thank goodness it didn’t go to penalties – with West Ham winning the match 3-1, that’s when the central part of the Dr Martens Stand gave way to individuals running on the pitch.
It wasn’t easy to get them off and it’s a shame for West Ham they will be receiving fines for yesterday’s commotion, as the only thing they can do is ban the people who caused the trouble.
This isn’t going to be affective, as most of those individuals who behaved badly wouldn’t come to a West Ham match anyway, so again, the club suffers.
Millwall has an established reputation of having the most violent supporters in British football.
At the match, I must give credit to the Millwall supporters who – despite the strong police and steward attendance at the match, were well behaved during the game.
I can also empathise with the frustration of the disabled supporters at the end of the game. They couldn’t leave the building as the lifts had been suspended, a safety precaution at any venue when trouble emerges, which meant they had to stay in the building until the police said it was safe for the elevators to be re-enabled.
One disabled supporter had two of his sons waiting in the car park, which by now was being heavily monitored, for fear of any further acts of violence.
Indeed it was outside the match that further violence flared up – I can still vividly remember walking up to Upton Park underground station at night, seeing ambulance workers placing people inside their vehicles regarding head, chest and arm injuries.
Despite being past 11pm, violent blood shedding was clearly visible on the pavements, with police having to cauldron off open spaces.
I also remember having no choice but walking on broken glass for the last 100 metres in getting to the station, such was the aftermath of the violence.
English clubs have worked so hard in eradicating hooliganism and it’s clearly a battle the police and football stewards must win – families, disabled people and individuals of colour have as much right to attend these events. Hooliganism is the opposite of this.
Right now, I feel for the safety officer and deputy safety office, Mr Ron Pearce and Mr Leon Blackburn respectively, who will no doubt have to compile a report on what happened. These two men have a lot of responsibility heaped on their shoulders, which they can’t sort out by themselves, if certain people are hell bent on violence.
More security is definitely needed, from football stewards to police – both had increased the usual amount of people to attend this match but sadly the people they had on that day was not enough.
£££££££
I’m not surprised that Jose Mourinho is once again in hot water, over his remarks that Inter Milan player Sulley Muntari should not be fasting during Ramadan.
All Muslims abstain from eating or drinking during this period during the daytime, that’s something Mourinho would have known about when deciding to play Muntari on Sunday’s draw against Bari.
A person’s religion is a part of their identity in this world and helps to signify meaning to their life.
Furthermore, it’s only for one month – I’m sure Mr Muntari wants to win games like Mr Mourinho, so I can’t help but feel Jose, by criticising one of his own players in such a public way, is scoring an own goal.
Isn’t it for the opposition to be undermining his players?
£££££££
Not relating to football, but I’m saddened to hear about the recent death of Senator Edward Kennedy.
He was a force to contend with and clearly played a strong role in getting Barack Obama into the White House.
With the recent death of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, mother of top-rated journalist and first lady of Florida Maria Shriver – who happens to be married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s only Jean Kennedy Smith that’s now alive of the original Kennedy clan who are forever enshrined as America’s Royal Family.
Although I understand some were unhappy in his involvement in the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland, I’m relived for him that he no longer has to suffer from the brain cancer which robbed him of his life.
I’m also relieved the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland are over – walking in Wembley yesterday, I went past the Army Careers office that was a target in 1994 – one man lost his life due to an IRA bomb, so again, I’m glad those days are a thing of the past.
£££££££
All of this means I don’t have the chance to talk about the sport books I’d highly recommend to read!
But the week is young, so I intend to update this log soon.
After yesterday’s commotion – I didn’t get home until minutes past one in the morning, I’ll be glad to watch (not attend) the Arsenal Vs Celtic match.
Until then, bye!
Light and Peace
Andria
PS, don’t forget to visit my other site (unfortunately, I can't put a link on it, for some unknown reason): www.andriagreaves.com
I realise I haven’t written for some time and I do accept full responsibility for this.
Nevertheless, I’m happy to inform you about my experiences, both yesterday as a football steward at West Ham vs Millwall and on other issues.
I can say the real West Ham fans wouldn’t of been involved in the hooliganism we’ve seen regarding Tuesday’s match – during the many times I’ve worked at this club, I’ve been treated very well by both fans and staff.
But since this was a Football Association - FA - Carling Cup match, it was decided that a certain amount of tickets had to be available to the public that otherwise wouldn’t attend Upton Park (home of West Ham football club).
Generally, this is a good thing as it gives everyone the opportunity to see a premiership team live and keeps the romance of what the FA means – Millwall and West Ham haven’t meet each other in years, since The Lions were demoted out of top flight football in 1990.
Furthermore, Millwall and West Ham are well known bitter rivals, which clearly didn’t help.
Unfortunately it also gives troublemakers the chance to take advantage of the good nature of the FA and that’s what happened yesterday evening.
It was truly a good match, with Millwall getting a well deserved in the first half. Many West Ham fans clapped when they scored. Then West Ham equalised in the dying minutes of the second half, which is when the first pitch invasion happened.
It was at a weak point of the pitch, where football fans and the camera people share the same part, near the left-hand corner of the Bobby Moore stand. The real West Ham fans were booing the invaders, who got the message and came off with little fuss within five minutes.
But when extra time was over – thank goodness it didn’t go to penalties – with West Ham winning the match 3-1, that’s when the central part of the Dr Martens Stand gave way to individuals running on the pitch.
It wasn’t easy to get them off and it’s a shame for West Ham they will be receiving fines for yesterday’s commotion, as the only thing they can do is ban the people who caused the trouble.
This isn’t going to be affective, as most of those individuals who behaved badly wouldn’t come to a West Ham match anyway, so again, the club suffers.
Millwall has an established reputation of having the most violent supporters in British football.
At the match, I must give credit to the Millwall supporters who – despite the strong police and steward attendance at the match, were well behaved during the game.
I can also empathise with the frustration of the disabled supporters at the end of the game. They couldn’t leave the building as the lifts had been suspended, a safety precaution at any venue when trouble emerges, which meant they had to stay in the building until the police said it was safe for the elevators to be re-enabled.
One disabled supporter had two of his sons waiting in the car park, which by now was being heavily monitored, for fear of any further acts of violence.
Indeed it was outside the match that further violence flared up – I can still vividly remember walking up to Upton Park underground station at night, seeing ambulance workers placing people inside their vehicles regarding head, chest and arm injuries.
Despite being past 11pm, violent blood shedding was clearly visible on the pavements, with police having to cauldron off open spaces.
I also remember having no choice but walking on broken glass for the last 100 metres in getting to the station, such was the aftermath of the violence.
English clubs have worked so hard in eradicating hooliganism and it’s clearly a battle the police and football stewards must win – families, disabled people and individuals of colour have as much right to attend these events. Hooliganism is the opposite of this.
Right now, I feel for the safety officer and deputy safety office, Mr Ron Pearce and Mr Leon Blackburn respectively, who will no doubt have to compile a report on what happened. These two men have a lot of responsibility heaped on their shoulders, which they can’t sort out by themselves, if certain people are hell bent on violence.
More security is definitely needed, from football stewards to police – both had increased the usual amount of people to attend this match but sadly the people they had on that day was not enough.
£££££££
I’m not surprised that Jose Mourinho is once again in hot water, over his remarks that Inter Milan player Sulley Muntari should not be fasting during Ramadan.
All Muslims abstain from eating or drinking during this period during the daytime, that’s something Mourinho would have known about when deciding to play Muntari on Sunday’s draw against Bari.
A person’s religion is a part of their identity in this world and helps to signify meaning to their life.
Furthermore, it’s only for one month – I’m sure Mr Muntari wants to win games like Mr Mourinho, so I can’t help but feel Jose, by criticising one of his own players in such a public way, is scoring an own goal.
Isn’t it for the opposition to be undermining his players?
£££££££
Not relating to football, but I’m saddened to hear about the recent death of Senator Edward Kennedy.
He was a force to contend with and clearly played a strong role in getting Barack Obama into the White House.
With the recent death of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, mother of top-rated journalist and first lady of Florida Maria Shriver – who happens to be married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s only Jean Kennedy Smith that’s now alive of the original Kennedy clan who are forever enshrined as America’s Royal Family.
Although I understand some were unhappy in his involvement in the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland, I’m relived for him that he no longer has to suffer from the brain cancer which robbed him of his life.
I’m also relieved the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland are over – walking in Wembley yesterday, I went past the Army Careers office that was a target in 1994 – one man lost his life due to an IRA bomb, so again, I’m glad those days are a thing of the past.
£££££££
All of this means I don’t have the chance to talk about the sport books I’d highly recommend to read!
But the week is young, so I intend to update this log soon.
After yesterday’s commotion – I didn’t get home until minutes past one in the morning, I’ll be glad to watch (not attend) the Arsenal Vs Celtic match.
Until then, bye!
Light and Peace
Andria
PS, don’t forget to visit my other site (unfortunately, I can't put a link on it, for some unknown reason): www.andriagreaves.com
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