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 
@cmw
I love watching IPL with my lads much in the same way as I like eating a full chocolate cake in a single sitting. It’s a bit of fun but you can’t do it too often. I once asked one of the bowlers from Essex what my lads could learn bowling-wise from watching T20 and he quite bluntly said “nothing”.
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Really we need pictures of OT from before and after he started watching IPL to see what the effect has been.
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I’d decided to support Mumbai today as they have Bumrah, but now they’re 90/6.
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I think what the fielding sides are up to at this level of T20 is devilishly complicated and very fast moving as they have plans for each bowler to every proper batsman and are constantly tweaking the field sometimes ball by ball to suit. This is impossible to follow on TV let alone radio and the commentators don’t help much at all so why one particular variety of what would normally be a crap ball is better than a different type of ‘crap’ ball remains a mystery much of the time.
I prefer the 50 over stuff, but I’m in a minority.
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@cmw
I saw a match yesterday where the bowling tactics appeared to be “try and make the batsman slog it to Jadeja”
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Will have to have a look at the paint tin to see what it says about getting pissed between coats.
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It went on the skirting boards downstairs much better than these ones upstairs. Wondering if what was on these was oil based and it’s going to end up looking like shit/coming off. Took a chance as I wanted to use it up and strangely enough the Middle One isn’t that bothered about skirting boards. Or window sills or indeed door frames. What she wanted was light blue walls and pink furniture and that’s what she’s got. First coat drying up just about OK though. Well some of it is.
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Cmw – my eldest chose black as her room colour. We’ve limited this to one wall.
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Luckily I’m not doing any of the painting.
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Walls, ceilings, skirting boards, window sills… all done by someone else.
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Craigs’ Eldest One gets the thaumaturge seal of approval over CMW’s Middle One on the decorating front.
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Thaum – she also wants an indoor swing. This is still in discussion.
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This Super League Thingy seems to be unravelling almost as quickly as it appeared. Chelsea oot! Man City oot! Man Utd’s chairman resigning.
I suppose that will now mean that the Premier League and the likes of Sky can feel good about themselves, despite the fact that they (and the greedy club owners) created a lot of the situations where this became possible.
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I guess Chelsea and Man City have owners who have been in it to spend money rather than make any. They certainly have enough of the stuff.
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@Thaum – Craig’s eldest dressing in black and threatening to hang herself with her plastic ivy is just pre-teen angst. True evil lies under the butterfly covers clutching Twisty Bunny, bathed in soft shades of sky blue and pale pink.
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Cmw – I resent that. Not the image but the implication that it’s a shallow darkness. She is become death. Destroyer of worlds.
Innit.
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And she doesn’t actually dress in a lot of black either.
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@Craigs – We’ll see who makes it always winter but never Christmas.
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The Eldest had to play touch rugby in PE today. A fat boy came charging towards her when she had the ball and though she knew she was supposed to pass it to one of her friends she screamed and dropped it at her feet instead.
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Twisty Bunny is a horrifying creature, a cuddly toy rabbit that bit too lifelike to appeal to any but the most disturbed of minds.
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CMW – how old is The Eldest? As I’ve previously mentioned, in my primary-school days, no boys dared tackle the girls.
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She’s ten and in her last year at primary school. She’s also very small, would be the smallest kid if she was in the year below or even the year below that. The girl she was supposed to pass to is half as tall again as her and probably two to three times her weight. I have explained to the Eldest that if it was full contact her team would have won easily.
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Ah okay – at that age, I was bigger than most of the boys.
The mister’s nickname amongst his primary-school friends is Titch, which will amuse anyone who’s met him. But it is completely non-ironic, as he was the smallest in his class at the time.
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Although mind you, if the incident had been full-contact rugby, her team may have won because of the red card on your daughter’s tackler.
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Painting a bedroom black always reminds me of Adrian Mole painting over the Noddy wallpaper in his room – and having the bells on Noddy’s hat coming through the paint.
https://www.eslprintables.com/reading_worksheets/novels/the_secret_diary_of_adrian_mole/Adrian_Mole_painting_his_bedro_151879/
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CMW – Nigeria is a fascinating market, combining a large and rapidly growing population, especially in urban areas where standards of living and incomes are higher (it’s all relative though – not even close to approaching real middle income on average), with a growing domestic manufacturing and services economy. To give you an idea, of this surge in urban growth, in 2000 there were only four or five cities in Nigeria with populations of 1 million or more. By 2020 that had grown to 13 or so and by 2030 you’ll probably have 24 or 25 cities with a million or more or approaching that number. By 2050, Nigeria’s population is expected to double from the current 200 million to reach 401 million, making it the third largest after China and India. The UK, on the other hand, has less than 10 cities or urban agglomerations exceeding a million people, even accounting for agglomeration of urban areas by the ONS. So, from a purely demographic perspective, Nigeria represents a tantalising market.
However, in Nigeria, it’s estimated that up to 80% of people buy used clothing, largely sourced from the EU and USA, and they don’t discard clothes on the regular basis that people in the EU or USA do, wearing them for years on end. Then you have the problem of counterfeit goods: Nigeria is famous for this. In research I’ve done there over the years, I’ve seen fake everything from whisky and champagne to home water treatment systems, gypsum plasterboard, cement (!), clothing brands, food brands and everything else. So whilst the demographics look excellent, chances are if you see a Nigerian fan wearing an English football jersey, it was bought from a second hand store or is fake, or possibly bought by a relative living in the UK and shipped back. Not as lucrative a merchandising market as the demographics suggest, then.
On the other hand, the explosion of mobile telephony across Africa and in Nigeria in particular offers a much more attractive revenue source. 20 years ago only around 250,000 Nigerians had a mobile phone. Today, about 190 million do, although this number is complicated by the fact that many Nigerians have a business mobile and a personal mobile, so you’re probably looking at at 100 million people in reality. So 100 million potential EPL viewers today, with 100 million more still to enter the market and 200 million more in 30 years time. That’s where the real money is in Nigerian consumption of EPL football.
The likes of South Africa’s Supersport and France’s Canal Plus know this and have relentless coverage of the top European leagues across Africa, although the EPL is the marquee brand. I’ve had many a bantz with my drivers across Africa about football teams and the bulk follow English ones (in Anglophone Africa), whilst in Francophone Africa it’s far more diverse – they tend to follow clubs that have Francophone African players and there is strong support for Spanish, Italian, German and English clubs in these countries.
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Deebs – expect a few mega cities in there too. Circa 10m people or more and a burgeoning middle class.
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Sadly, Dundee United will never be big in Nigeria, despite an unbeaten record v Barcelona:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/11/the-unlikely-story-of-how-dundee-united-became-an-insult-in-nigeria
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I think talk about the numbers of fans supporting the teams and buying the shirts is a bit of a side issue. It is the TV contracts that matter,
My big hope is Nigeria’s first ever pro club can make a comeback and rise to glory again. Yes, I hope Stationery Stores FC – aka the Flaming Flamingoes – can rise once more.
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Loved that article
‘In fact, while the full phrase is “Dundee United”, it seems time and repeated use has seen it worn down to just “Dundee” on occasion. In other contexts, a “Dundee” can be used to refer to one idiot, while ‘Dundee United’ has become the plural, for a collection of idiots.’
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‘Things reached a head with a Sunday Post article – reproduced in full in Nigerian newspapers – in which United forward Kenny Cameron complained of stomach bugs in the squad, as well as post office strikes and traffic jams. “Their traffic problem is far worse than that of the High Street in Dundee,” he complained.’
Marvellous. Worse traffic than Dundee. What a complete Dundee United.
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I remember watching that documentary! It was fascinating.
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The Dundee thing is hilarious too. How these memes develop and travel is pretty cool.
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The Rainbow Cup is now two tournaments, and North and a South. No SA v Pro 14 fixtures, this will not have any impact on next season’s plans, at least not yet
https://www.edinburghrugby.org/the-clubhouse/pro14-confirm-dual-tournament-approach-for-rainbow-cup
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I enjoyed the Dundee Utd article, great stuff
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Craigs, Lagos already has a population of somewhere between 13 million and 20 million depending on who you ask. The Federal government always goes for the lowest possible figure because budget allocations take into account population size as a measure. During every census, people are told to return to their home villages to register, meaning Lagos empties out for a week every decade and fills up again. The Lagos State government puts it at about 16 million, because they don’t want to provide for people living in what is essentially Lagos, but spills over into surrounding states, whilst the City of Lagos reckons upwards of 20 million in the greater conurbation.
By 2030, Kano (north) Abuja (the capital, purpose built slap bang in the middle of Nigeria to accommodate ethnic and religious tensions), Ibadan (about 100km north of Lagos) and Port Harcourt (key oil city to the east) will all populations of around 5 million or more.
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Some good news on the rugby front for Munster and Bok fans, RG Snyman is apparently close to return and looking ‘big, fit and scary’ according to forwards coach Graham Rowntree.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/arid-40270574.html
Wee Eben Etzebeth also apparently likely fit for the Lions tour, but Lood de Jager is doubtful.
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Deebs – it always seems to follow roughly the same pattern as other countries in previous years.
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Article was great until they called Lagos the capital of Nigeria. It’s not. Abuja is. Pedantic Rage over.
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Deebs – just a thought; how many of these ‘cities’ have cathedrals in them? Is it all of them? If not, we’ll, you know the rules.
Pedantic rage over.
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Speaking of pedantic rage…. OK not pedantic but unhinged.
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The man is a tit. An insult to Dundee.
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Craigs, no idea about the Cathedral Situation in Nigeria’s cities. And too lazy to Google.
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Beer consumption in the Czech republic was badly affected by the coronavirus last year, the country’s brewing body said Tuesday.
The amount consumed annually on average by each person in the country dropped by 7 liters to 135 liters, the Czech Union of brewers said.
It´s the lowest figure since the 1960s
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Deebee, there’ll be loads of them. Plus, that TB Joshua megachurch and things like that.
Also, craigs is looking at it through his Western Christian-centric glasses as per.
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@Deebee – I guess if you wanted to be kind to the writer then given that most of the research for the article was about a football tour in 1972 then Lagos was the capital at that time so it’s perhaps an understandable mistake to make.
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@TomP – What year has the record figure?
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Supposedly in 2019.
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Good point, CMW, I retract my outrage. Is that even possible? I feel like a bit of a Dundee to be honest. I don’t suppose the fact that Australia’s favourite movie star for years was a bloke called Crocodile Stoopid says anything about their national character?
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Disappointing, I’d hoped it would relate to some interesting historical or sporting event that caused everyone to get pissed for a month.
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