Little bitta English Premiership … women’s Six Nations.
Onna telly this week
Friday 16th April
| Northampton v London Irish | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 17th April
| Sale v Gloucester | 12:30 | BT Sport Extra |
| Exeter v Wasps | 12:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| Ireland v France (women) | 14:15 | BBC iPlayer/Red Button; RTÉ Two |
| Scotland v Italy (women) | 17:00 | BBC iPlayer/Red Button |
| Newcastle v Bristol | 17:00 | Channel 5 / BT Sport 3 |
| Harlequins v Worcester | 17:00 | BT Sport Extra |
Sunday 18th April
| Bath v Leicester | 15:00 | BT Sport 3 |
Ovally Balls 
On a brighter note after the school drop-off this morning I took a stroll to the site of my old workplace as I’d heard it had finally been knocked down. Happily the big pile of rubble that’s left had been left opposite a sign pointing to it in a neighbouring car park that says “Company Name” Main Entrance so I was able to get a nice photo. Stood around smoking for a bit too, was great.
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Chocolate digestive log is quite satisfying albeit it’s a bit difficult to gauge quantities accurately
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“it’s a bit difficult to gauge quantities accurately”
Chimpie has learnt nothing from the football conversation. The idea is you get on top of the chocolate digestive log and then eat the whole fucking lot.
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Is keir cool now he’s been turfed out of a pub?
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“actual fans who live locally and actually traditionally turn up to watch matches”
That’s already been under assault for years in the UK. The big clubs attract fans from abroad to games and the pre-season tours to S-E Asia and the States don’t happen because they want to grow the game.
In one part of the world it’s been going on even longer. In the 1930s my great-uncle used to travel from Co Down to watch Rangers. For shame.
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@craigs
Doesn’t count when your personal member of special branch tries to stop the landlord entering his own pub. The bit where Keir hands over the bloke’s glasses to him is a nice touch tough.
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Certainly not. He was outside it when he was told he couldn’t go in, but had his own bouncer with him to turf him in. Should be on the ‘barred from one, barred from all’ posters.
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Handing over the landlord’s glasses should play well in the Red Wall.
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In real news, someone I spoke to on skype a couple of weeks ago has just been kicked out of Russia in a tit-for-tat mass expulsion.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/19/russia-expels-20-czech-diplomats-in-tit-for-tat-response
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Wouldn’t have happened in Kent. The pub bouncers would have overpowered Keirs bouncer.
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Corbyn wouldn’t have wanted to go in the pub and wouldn’t have gone in the pub.
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Tomp – is he on Cmw’s poster too?
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Pretty confident there are different levels of this sort of thing within Kent.
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@craigs
I reckon Keir’s bouncer might have entered special branch thinking he was going to be guarding members of the royal family and top government ministers, and potentially tackling terrorists and suicide bombers. Instead he’s shadowing Keir Starmer and grappling with weedy pub landlords. Bit of a comedown.
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… “tackling terrorists and suicide bombers”and shagging environmenalists and spying on murdered teenager’s families.
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Is the European Super League bad for football? A qualified yes from me but more important is this:
https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ian-holloway-super-league-philip-5316539
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Tomp – didn’t they marry some environmentalists too? The horror!
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Environmentalists getting their own back by sleeping with the PM.
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We need good people to do these things though. Otherwise we’d have to use bad people to do them and that would be terrible.
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And as it’s back to the 80s according to John ‘MisterIks’ Harris we will definitely be needing to do them all again.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/18/denial-delusion-thatcher-years-nostalgia-royal-modern-britain
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They’re more interested in random people worldwide who are going to tune in to watch games on TV and buy loads of branded stuff.
Random person tiptoes into debate….
Can blame a combination of Big Marketing and Big Money.
Random person tiptoes out of debate lest someone think he’s Big Money. Send donations to #Lunchforthedispossessed
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OT – he probably did guard Harry in the days before Meg so probably has the relevant experience.
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@Deebee – Haven’t heard random people in Africa mentioned much. Really you need to be a random person in Asia or America if you want to be talked about.
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I’m just making shit up here.
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@Craigs – I’m sure Special Branch can find a use for that too.
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In my younger days I did a trip through Laos. One day we took a jeep and boat into the jungle to see some Hmong people who were happy to sell us their buddha statues, rice whisky and silk shawls etc. Anyway, it was in the middle of the forest, 2 hours down a river from the main ‘town’, in a sparsely populated country in Southeast Asia, famous for being the most bombed country per capita on earth, and there was still a fucking Man United poster on the wall in one of the huts there.
So maybe they’re trying to break into this market too.
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Looks like the Rainbow Cup is to be given the Spanish Archer.
Derbies it is then
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I can’t figure out what that landlord is going on about. Sounds like a twat to me.
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@Iks – It’s incoherent nonsense, but regardless he’s entitled not to let Starmer in.
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CMW – once again the Cradle of humanity is left picking up the bits. First PPE, then Covid drugs, now Rich as Fuck football kicking us inna nuts. I would sharpen my pitchfork had I not sold it for a good steak and glass of red.
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“Derbies it is then”
It’ll be nice to be able to enjoy the Welsh teams looking good against each other without having to worry about them having to play anyone else.
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I’m just making shit up here.
Whatever the award is for the most redundant observation of the year is, Craigs wins it. Hands down.
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Deep Purple gave us the Spanish Archer long before British rugby kicked us inna nuts.
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@Deebee – I agree that being random should be enough, but I don’t make the rules.
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CMW, I’m going to sit in the corner and listen to Joy Division to cheer myself up.
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@Deebee – If you still had that pitchfork Craigs might have given you $8 for it. He might even have thrown in a proper (i.e. Asian) random person’s Man U poster as well.
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Deebs – did you just make up a shit award?
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$8 for a pitch fork, in good condition, is probably about right.
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Anyone celebrating 420 today?
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There’s an interesting book called Soccernomics – in which they try (anyway) to prove that the key indicator for success is salaries not transfer fees etc and that barring a few exceptions (Clough, Ferguson, Paisley, Wenger ..few others) even the manager doesn’t make a lot of difference
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You see the crazy figures that various EPL clubs quote for supporters worldwide 500M and so…. vast numbers in Africa (generically) and China and India – 500m shirts at 70(?) GBP a pop that’s a lot of money – multiplied the numbers of kits (home/away, Europe etc) that change each season ….
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There’s been too much money sloshing around professional sport for years. I remember Luke McAlister’s dad parading up and down Ripponden Road in his sponsored Fiat Uno.
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500m shirts at 70(?) GBP a pop
That’s the theory – but in reality, in Africa anyway, 90% of people couldn’t afford a 70-quid jersey once, never mind every year. There is a very good market in kit from previous seasons that get tossed by people in Europe though.
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I think in Africa the money is more from the sale of TV rights to the pay stations like Canal Plus and DSTV, who pay a lot of money for the rights. I’m assuming some of that filters through to the clubs, even if indirectly through the EPL deals with Sky Sports etc.
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Jones in!
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Man City and Liverpool can’t even beat Leeds as it is, they will be screwed with a second string. Relegation beckons.
Craigs, have you read the Siri Paiborn novels by Colin Cotterill ? Give them a try if not, quite amusing light reading detective series about set in Laos in the seventies and early eighties.
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Sbt – ooh, cheers for the recommendation.
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Nigeria got a mention on the radio a few minutes ago as one of the relevant TV markets with regard to the football thing so that’s one for Deebee’s mob. Not sure how big Nigeria would be on genuine merchandise sales with the loot making its way back to the clubs, Deebee can probably give us an idea.
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Switched over to the IPL commentary now which of course is very much in the spirit of the football thing. I really struggle to remember which team is which even during the course of a game, let alone why I might prefer one to another. In general I would favour teams that have gone for more strength in the bowling what with it being a batsman’s game and all that, but as I say I struggle to retain a handle on it anyway.
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I struggle to retain a handle on it anyway
Like Trigger’s broom?
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