 Thusday 24 July ~
Continuing our search through the WSC archive for articles with a summer theme, Davy Millar went to a pre-season tournament in Belfast and came away unimpressed, as he explained in WSC 151 (September 1999) The inaugural Belfast Carlsberg Challenge was adjudged to be a great success by nearly everyone involved. The promoter made a profit and Linfield and Glentoran each pocketed £50,000 for their efforts. Liverpool re-established contact with their Irish fans, sold a few more replica kits and got some much-needed trophy-lifting practice thrown in. And even if Feyenoord seemed occasionally confused by events, especially in defence, at least it got them out of the house for a while. |
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 Wednesday 23 July ~
This season Swansea and Cardiff will be playing league fixtures against one another for the first time in ten years. In WSC 190 (December 2002) Swansea fan Huw Richards reflected on an often fractious rivalry Gavin Gordon of Oxford United probably did not enjoy playing against Swansea in October. He got the reception George Bush might expect at a peace rally, was booed unceasingly and went off injured after about 20 minutes. Swans fans enjoyed the game even less, mind you, going bottom of the league for the second time after a 1-0 defeat. The abuse of Gordon was not racist in intent, although the Swans following is not free of that poison. Gordon's crime was not that he is black, but that he was a Bluebird. That’s all it takes. |
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 Tuesday 22 July ~
Continuing our look through the WSC archive, Tom Findlay reported from the twilight world of the pre-season trialist in WSC 116 (October 1996) In the summer months when football is supposed to take a break, thousands of “free agents” trawl around the smaller playing fields of England desperate to find a club. Loanees, refugees and YTS trainees trying to fulfil their dream. It‘s not a pretty business. Cambridge United, who have spent the last two seasons bobbing round the nether regions of the Third Division, played some 20 games through August featuring a small army of trialists. The first game of the shopping season featured 22 players the club had never seen before – none survived. |
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Weekly Howl ~ every Friday
Football snippets from the web, Wikipedia vandalism, badge of the week, Stickipedia, WSC trivia and more. Sign up for your FREE weekly dose of email WSC every Friday and visit the Weekly Howl archive --- New WSC bookElephants, Lions and Eagles describes Filippo Ricci's wide range of experiences in following African football from 1993 to 2006, while working as a reporter, yearbook editor and picture card compiler. He travels to Burkina Faso, where European scouts watch players at the African Cup of Nations, joins a packed bar in downtown Douala to watch Cameroon on TV – and is also present at FIFA headquarters when a World Cup is awarded to Africa for the first time. ---
SurveyLet us know what you think about Euro 2008 and WSC --- Euro 2008 How the tournament happened
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