The Name Game
16 Football Clubs With Amusing and Peculiar Names From Around the World
1. Joe Public FC (Trinidad and Tobago)
2. Take Care Tigers (Guam)
3. Full Monty (Anguilla)
4. FC KooTeePee (Finland)
5. Missiles FC (Gabon)
6. Ethiopian Coffee (Ethiopia)
7. Prime Minister's Office FC (Laos)
8. Finance and Revenue (Myanmar)
9. Wongosport (Gabon)
10. School Boys (Lesotho)
11. Mighty Blackpool (Sierra Leone)
12. East End Connections (British Virgin Islands)
13. Eleven Men In Flight (Swaziland)
14. & 15. Shooting Stars (Nigeria & Zimbabwe)
16. Silver Shattas (Guyana)
Friday, 9 March 2007
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
A decent idea worth disconsidering
Here's an interesting idea: Portsmouth goalkeeper David James has this week publicly suggested football players could give money back to the fans if they put in a bad performance. He reasons that all those fans travelling hither and yon across the country watching their teams playing away from home in all weathers deserve some form of financial reimbursement if their team play a stinker.
The idea came to mind as he travelled home on the coach with his team-mates after a heavy defeat away to Blackburn. When put to them, he found they supported the idea more than he realised. Giving money back to the supporter's club would appear to be the way forward, then... but could it work?
The first thing to consider is how to exactly quantify a bad performance. Could a performance be considered bad if a team loses due of a couple of poor goalkeeping errors, or through one or two players being sent off? Could it even be calculated with the use of the comprehensive statistical systems currently employed in the Premiership, each player's rating being reduced because of few tackles being made or low numbers of accurate passes?
One might even consider that a team could under-perform if their coach makes bad tactical decisions or buys a poor player to bolster the squad.
It seems like an idea that's doomed to failure, so is it worth pursuing? Surely if you buy a ticket to a match, you're entering a contract to be entertained but not necessarily to be given a peak performance?
And what if you support a lower-league side? Could you reasonably ask for superlative achievement week in, week out? Some Premiership fans wouldn't, and the only way you could feasilbly demand it is to ensure they're first part of a twelve-team 'Super Premiership' or some such elitist movement.
Maybe punishing players in the pocket would encourage them to pull together in order to play better. It's an old-fashioned system known as 'team work'. The idea is that you avoid playing badly in isolation by employing a dynamic new approach called 'playing well for each other.'
Just a minute - aren't they supposed to do that already? I seem to have lost sight of that small fact, and it pains me to say it but I think David James has too...
The idea came to mind as he travelled home on the coach with his team-mates after a heavy defeat away to Blackburn. When put to them, he found they supported the idea more than he realised. Giving money back to the supporter's club would appear to be the way forward, then... but could it work?
The first thing to consider is how to exactly quantify a bad performance. Could a performance be considered bad if a team loses due of a couple of poor goalkeeping errors, or through one or two players being sent off? Could it even be calculated with the use of the comprehensive statistical systems currently employed in the Premiership, each player's rating being reduced because of few tackles being made or low numbers of accurate passes?
One might even consider that a team could under-perform if their coach makes bad tactical decisions or buys a poor player to bolster the squad.
It seems like an idea that's doomed to failure, so is it worth pursuing? Surely if you buy a ticket to a match, you're entering a contract to be entertained but not necessarily to be given a peak performance?
And what if you support a lower-league side? Could you reasonably ask for superlative achievement week in, week out? Some Premiership fans wouldn't, and the only way you could feasilbly demand it is to ensure they're first part of a twelve-team 'Super Premiership' or some such elitist movement.
Maybe punishing players in the pocket would encourage them to pull together in order to play better. It's an old-fashioned system known as 'team work'. The idea is that you avoid playing badly in isolation by employing a dynamic new approach called 'playing well for each other.'
Just a minute - aren't they supposed to do that already? I seem to have lost sight of that small fact, and it pains me to say it but I think David James has too...
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Lesson #324 in "Time Killing" : Predict the Final Table...
So there I was (am) bored on a Sunday afternoon, when I stroll across the BBC's very own Final Premiership Table Predictor extravaganza roadshow webpage [see link below].
After entering a series of binary scores (1 if i think they will win, 0 if i dont and 0-0 for a draw), I pressed the update button and low and behold... somehow Chelsea win the league.
I dont know if this is a default piece of coding to the webpage or not but it suprised me to be honest. Also other things worthy of note :- Three London clubs for the drop even though Charlton escape the drop on the final day as Fulham couldnt get that much needed away win at the Riverside stadium.
Remember where you read it first ;-)
Here's my Final Table, but please feel free to follow rule #324 at work by following this link [Go on... click me... you know you want too...] and posting your findings back here on SPAOTP. I'm off to the bookies...
After entering a series of binary scores (1 if i think they will win, 0 if i dont and 0-0 for a draw), I pressed the update button and low and behold... somehow Chelsea win the league.
I dont know if this is a default piece of coding to the webpage or not but it suprised me to be honest. Also other things worthy of note :- Three London clubs for the drop even though Charlton escape the drop on the final day as Fulham couldnt get that much needed away win at the Riverside stadium.
Remember where you read it first ;-)
Here's my Final Table, but please feel free to follow rule #324 at work by following this link [Go on... click me... you know you want too...] and posting your findings back here on SPAOTP. I'm off to the bookies...
- Chelsea 93
- Man U 92
- Liverpool 78
- Arsenal 77
- Bolton 62
- Everton 59
- Tottenham 59
- Aston Villa 57
- Blackburn 54
- Newcastle 53
- Reading 52
- Portsmouth 50
- Middlesboro 46
- Wigan 39
- Sheff Utd 38
- Man City 35
- Charlton 35
- Fulham 34
- West Ham 24
- Watford 21
Friday, 2 March 2007
The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #1
Your name here...
Eleven Names You Used To See On Pitchside Advertising Boards in British Football Thirty-Odd Years Ago or So
1. National Girobank
2. Mornflake Oats
3. Bic Razor
4. Talbot (cars)
5. Bush Colour TV
6. Rizla
7. Visionhire
8. Daily Mirror
9. Kingsonic
10. Schreiber
11. Gillette Contour
Anyone got anymore to add to the list? Leave us a comment and tell us!
Eleven Names You Used To See On Pitchside Advertising Boards in British Football Thirty-Odd Years Ago or So
1. National Girobank
2. Mornflake Oats
3. Bic Razor
4. Talbot (cars)
5. Bush Colour TV
6. Rizla
7. Visionhire
8. Daily Mirror
9. Kingsonic
10. Schreiber
11. Gillette Contour
Anyone got anymore to add to the list? Leave us a comment and tell us!
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