Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Some Rainy Day readers want more football; others, less. The "less" camp would prefer more books, music and politics; the "more" faction, less. But maybe it's possible to write about football and satisfy both sides? Consider this, then, an experiment to prove a theory. Here goes.

Yesterday, the ludicrous Gary Younge used his pulpit at the Guardian to pontificate on the South Korea-Togo game. "Who to cheer for when the football doesn't matter" was the less than cheerful heading on the piece, and it contained this gem:

South Korea is in Iraq; Togo is in a mess. Last year security forces and militia there murdered hundreds and injured thousands in the run-up to the sham presidential election. The choice between a rich nation that goes abroad to kill foreigners and a poor one that does its dirty work at home is not much of one..."

What about that "rich nation that goes abroad to kill foreigners" bit? How low can one go, eh? That Younge would use the presence of the South Korean team in the tournament as a springboard for another perverted defence of Saddam's regime is beyond belief. Well, it isn't really, but you know what I mean. It does make very clear, though, why leftists are regarded as total spoilsports.

Another example. Last Sunday, here, we said, regarding the Portugal-Angola game, which pitted former colonial master against former colonial subject, that the PC thing to do would be to root for Angola but, typically, swimming against this pernicious tide, we were going to wave tiny Portuguese flags. A bit of jest, that. But, then, we came across this post, "More Than Chasing a Ball Around" by Mike Montero, which begins: "In 1575 the Portuguese landed in Luanda, Angola and proceeded to decimate the entire country, using it as a slave pool benefiting its far more profitable colony in Brazil."

Is it being pedantic to point out that Angola did not exist in 1575? The name is a Portuguese derivation of the Bantu word N'gola, being the title of the native rulers of the Quimbundos Kingdom in the 16th century. But Pete Gloria's excellent comment on the post does the business far better than our hair splitting:

You seem full of teen affectation and wannabee cynicism, Mike. Plenty fucked up unspeakable goings-on occurred in Angola, as in most other colonies. More than you or I could bear to live thru but if you went to Angola now and you met people who actually did live thru it they'd greet you with a smile. Why not take their cue? I'd rather watch a good match of football with skillful play, not a load of flying tackles, any loser can tackle. If Jesse Owen had lost to the Aryan Superman would you still big up yon mighty 'power of sport'? Load of old cock, mister."

Which brings us nicely to Alastair Campbell, the former Press Secretary and Director of Communications and Strategy to Prime Minister Tony Blair. The man has taken to blogging, and since last Friday he's been writing an exclusive World Cup blog for Britain's Labour Party. On the eve of the Germany-Costa Rica opening game, he kicked off with this well-timed swipe at the sisterhood:

Within a matter of few days, we will have that four yearly rash of women newspaper columnists suddenly imagining that the world needs to know their views on Ronaldinho, or how confused they get that there is a Ronaldo playing for Brazil and another playing for Portugal, who have a Brazilian manager who almost came to England but it never happened because England have to have an English manager but isn't it very confusing because at the moment they have a Swede in charge with a glamorous girlfriend and what a coincidence that England will play Sweden in the opening stages. Blah, blah, blah. Memo to columnists who have never been to a football match — we don't care what you think. Take a holiday."

Phew! Talk about balls! If I ever said the likes of that here, I'd be lynched. Fair play, Alastair. So, you see, football is not just about football. It's books, music and politics, and more. Much more. And much more to come.