Tag Archives: football

Sports

Of course she can twerk – she’s female and pretty

Leave a comment

Just in case we needed any other example of sexism, the first ever recipient of the Women’s Ballon D’or was asked if she can twerk seconds after receiving her trophy.

It is so disrespectful, childish, and immature that it beggars belief.

For more than half a century, only men were awarded with this prestigious title form France Football, but this year they finally dragged themselves creaming and shouting into the 21st Century and decided that women also deserved to be recognized. Kudos France Football.

Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg, 23, is the first ever winner. She beat competition from some of women’s greatest to claim the award, given to her for her prolific form with French club Lyon.

Ironically, just seconds before she was asked to twerk, Hegerberg thanks France Football, adding that this “is a huge step for women’s football”.

The fact that she worked extremely hard to get to where she is, making many sacrifices, that she has a great talent, and that she made it to the very top of her profession didn’t appear to matter for the presenter of the awards, French DJ Martin Solveig.

I can imagine his thought process. “She is a woman, she is blonde, she is Norwegian, then it is obvious she must twerk. I know, I will ask her that – what a great idea.”

After the incident, he posted a tweet apologizing for “the one I may have offended”. The one? May? Seriously?

Let me clarify this for you, mate. You offended Hegerberg directly, and she showed her dignity and professionalism by walking away. But you also offended millions of other women around the world, and those men who respect women and treat them like people.

The bigger problem is that is symptomatic of a society where women are treated as inferiors and/or sex objects. It’s no surprise the #metoo movement has gain so much traction. The idea of male dominance is so engrained in society that similar incidents must not be swept under the carpet of silence, but shouted about at the top of our voices.

May be it’s time to fight fire with fire, so in this spirit, I have a question for Solveig: “Do you twerk?” What a dumbass.

Read more on the incident here.

Sports, Thoughts

Successful failures

Leave a comment

I realized that two of my supposedly biggest sporting failures in terms of results were actually not as bad as I believed. No, scratch that. They were successes. Let me explain…

The first was a football game I played towards the end of the 1980s. I played in goal for the youth team of one of the bigger clubs in Malta and we were thrashed 4-0. It was a complete onslaught with wave after wave of attack.

Balls were coming at me from all direction and with varying speeds – from very fast to what seemed like ‘ludicrous mode’ (with apologies to Tesla). Now, I conceded four goals and felt terrible when the game ended. Surely, if you lose 4-0, the goalkeeper cannot feel great, can he? But what happened next surprised me.

As I was walking back to the bench, all the opposition players came to me to shake my hand and pat me on the back. They greeted me with ‘well dones’ and ‘amazing performance’. My team, too, were swarming round me. I was expecting jeers and criticism after conceding four.

The thing I hadn’t realized was that if I weren’t in goal that day, and played so well, we would have probably suffered a humiliating defeat comparable to Malta’s performance against Spain in 1982.

The next is the marathon I ran last May. I must admit, I came last in my age group. It did take me a staggering 4 hours 50 minutes to complete the 42.195 km track. A bit disappointing, I thought.

Really and truly, just finishing was an achievement in itself – it’s just a matter of having the right perspective.

The moral of the story is that you should not let your mind be clouded by doubt and lack of confidence. My Maltese teacher at school, a large part-time farmer with a permanent frown and temper (although a great teacher – just in case he’s reading this), said no matter how ugly you are (yes, he said ‘ugly’), you will still find your way in life, and even find a partner. He was right. Apparently, despite his grumpiness, or maybe in spite of it, he could always see things from a different perspective.

Uncategorized

A competition we can win

Leave a comment

Watching England take apart San Marino in the Euro 2016 qualifier was not fun, so much so that I switched to the Swiss play against Slovenia. The Swiss played better, but unfortunately lost. At least the game was fun to watch.

Despite supporting England, it was painful to see how easy it was to win the ball (I only watched the second half). If they had played in the same way against a top team, the outcome would have been very different from the 5-0 score line against San Marino.

Admittedly, small teams have been getting better recently, but they are still miles away from anything that can be considered decent, even because many play semi-professional football and hold regular jobs. Whenever one of the small teams manages a win, or even a draw, it makes the headlines. It’s like arbitrarily getting a team from the bottom division and making them play top flight football – the outcome is obvious.

The recent entry of Gibraltar in the footballing fray has made the situation worse – Poland demolished them 7-0, and I guess their for/against tally won’t be pleasant reading for the Rock at the end of this campaign.

So here’s what I think should be done; get all the minnows – San Marino, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Andorra and yes, Malta (do you remember the 1-12 result against Spain? And we also lost to Gibraltar in a friendly and lost 3-0 at home to Norway yesterday) – and place them in a pre-qualification group. The winner will then be allowed to compete in the actual qualifying games for big competitions.

In this way, we avoid the silly score lines for starters. Secondly, these nations will (hopefully) put more money into the game in a bid to get into the qualifying stages. Thirdly, people from these nations – me included – will watch their nation play in a competition they CAN actually win. Imagine that…

 

Sports

Let the Lions roar (and the Swiss yodle)

Leave a comment

We all know what’s going to happen because the same thing happens every four years. The footballing bigs progress to the latter stages and the rest are there just to make up the numbers. There will be, as usual, one or two teams that break the mould – it’s just a matter of seeing who it’ll be this time.

I guess Brazil start as favourites, but I don’t believe they will win it – the pressure to perform may result in a surprise or two. And anyway, as a relatively inferior Italy showed in 1982, you can beat Brazil if you use the right tactics.

With my unwavering support for England pretty much intact, despite many years of hurt, I am confident that we will progress to the quarters, maybe even semis. I’m not overly keen on Hodgson, but there have been worse. Actually, I think Hodgson is the best manager since Robson in 1990. The only problem is that we don’t have a real Gazza in the squad.

And maybe that’s a good thing – it’s potentially dangerous to pin your hopes on one player. And if you’re thinking of Rooney, he hasn’t impressed me much lately. England’s first game is against Italy – that’s tantamount the Final for us Maltese. I’m quietly confident will make it.

So who will win the World Cup 2014? I think there are four candidates who have a realistic chance – if Brazil manage to drag themselves to the final, they will win it. Otherwise, it’ll be either Germany, Argentina or Spain. The teams with an outside chance are Portugal, England, Uruguay, Italy, France and Holland. And note that three of these teams are in the same group…

If they stop being scared of their own shadow, Switzerland can also make some good headway. And the more difficult the team, the better. They beat the likes of Spain but then draw against Malta and lose to Luxembourg. Doesn’t make sense…

One thing is for sure – the Three Lions will be roaring in my house (with a couple of heart beats reserved for the Swiss). Go ENGLAND! Hop Schweiiiiz!

 

 

Thoughts

Random cleaning

Leave a comment

I’ve just invented a new way of cleaning, one which women will NEVER understand.

Basically, it’s whatever you want to do, household-cores related. The secret if to not finish anything – just do a lot of everything and see how your wife / partner looks on in total bafflement.

The thing is this – women ‘give’ us little jobs to do, well-knowing that we hate them and will get utterly bored within 10 seconds. Like, for example, folding clothes. They (women, that is) know we will do it quickly (read: badly) to get it over and done with.

And then, without prior warning, when we think we are safe watching TV or doing whatever, they will barge into the room and look at our handiwork, standing in a dictator-style stance, shaking their heads and pointing an accusing hand.

They will look down at us, berate us for not doing things ‘properly’ (very subjective what properly means, hence the quote marks) and proceed to un-fold and re-fold the clothes.

“Look at what he’s done,” they say in a patronising tone tantamount to that of Victor Meldrew (One Foot in the Grave). We are not mentioned by name, as though doing so may incur the wrath of the gods. “Creases, creases everywhere, and look at the blah blah blah blah blah. How is this possible?” (Editor’s note: I could not complete the quote as generally my mind switches off after two seconds in these cases).

And we sit there, impassive, looking on nervously as we are metaphorically beaten to the ground. It feel’s like the headmaster’s office bench all over again. The ends of our lips feel weighted down. Our ears would flop if we were rabbits.

The same applies for washing the floor (“No, not like that honey, your moves must flow better), cooking (“Do you really want to cut the onions so big?”), washing the dishes (No, don’t do it that way…”), mowing the lawn (“The lines aren’t straight, dear”), doing the beds (“Do tuck in the sheets properly, dear”) and everything else.

So instead, I’m reverting to random cleaning. Do a bit in the bedroom, and then strategically move to the bathroom. After some time, change a light bulb in the corridor before doing a spot of gardening and pruning. Follow this by paying some bills, checking Facebook (this is a decoy) and vacuuming the living room.

You need to be buys (or at least look busy) at all time or face being given a ‘job’.

When questioned as to what you are doing (and it will happen), you must admit to nothing. “Meeee? No honey, I’m just doing a bit of this and that, you know…”.

You see, women will not be able to understand it in the same way they do not understand football (and the offside rule!), tools, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, why men remember odd sports statistics but forget birthdays and anniversaries, and why we leave the toilet seat up.

Most things, admittedly, don’t add up, but that’s why we like it. And with random cleaning, we are still doing our part around the house (she’ll find it easier to clean stuff as it’s already been half done).

Now, I’m off to do half the dishes and wash clothes that have some form of stripes (forget colours, whites or darks – it’s stripes from now on!). Now that’ll freak her out! That, or the fact that we do actually know how to use a washing machine.

Sports

The ‘level playing field’ switch

2 Comments

It was one of those times when God intervened and levelled the playing field, one of those rare occasions when I played football and was on the best team.

You see, playing football when you are in your 40s is exactly the same as when you are in your teens – you get the very good players, the average players and the poor players. The very good ones are also the ones who complain most about everything and blame everyone else – especially when they are at fault.

That is how it was at my school – De Las Salle College in Malta – and that is how it is now, more than 20 years later, with my club FC Othmarsingen. This difference in skill inevitably leads to a drop in confidence making the gap between players far wider than it really is. This is bloody annoying!

We are now in the winter break and training consists of playing mini best-of-three three-a-side games, with the winning team staying on.

Last training, I was in a team with two average players and one poor. There were two other teams, each with two very good players and one poor player. We were destined to get our derriere whipped.

But it didn’t happen. We played better, ran faster, tackled more and scored classier goals. There were even a couple of back heels (all from our team) and I even took a pot shot with my left foot. The very good players didn’t know what hit them, and we didn’t know what had suddenly happed to our feet. And I left the pitch uninjured, which, in itself, is nothing short of a miracle.

Tonight we have football again. So please, dear God, remember to hit the ‘level playing field’ switch again if you don’t mind.

Uncategorized

April expressions

Leave a comment

It’s been a busy start to April. New job, parents over for a week, leg injury while playing football, playing football nonetheless and training for my first triathlon of the year.

First things first – having my folks over was great, but a week was way too short. It’s always nice to see them, but I was a bit worried about them, especially my dad. They are getting on in years and every time I see them I can tell the difference in health from the last as there is generally a big gap in between. I worry that each time I see them will be the last, so I plan to travel to Malta, hopefully with the kids, to see them before soon.

They don’t write songs about Volvos
So I’ve been with Chevrolet for two weeks and everything has met my high expectations. People are great and friendly, work is exactly what I ever wanted to do and the cars are fantastic.

We are organizing a number of events over the next months which will keep us all very busy. These include car launches and celebrations for the centenary of Chevrolet. I was also reading up on the history behind the man who gave our company its name, Louis Chevrolet – a Swiss émigré. He was a fascinating person and his achievements will be celebrated this year.

Automatic bliss
My boss told me how dangerous it was to drive behind a person driving in an automatic for the first time – people not used to it tend to slam on the brakes thinking it is the clutch, with obvious consequences. Until last week, I had never driven a car with an automatic transmission, and believed people who did were just lazy.

The same evening, I was taking the Chevrolet Epica (soon to be replaced by the Malibu) home. A lovely looking car, I thought as I walked towards it in our garage in Glattbrugg. Then I opened the door – of course it was an automatic.

I semi-freaked out, but then just made sure to keep reminding myself – all the way home – that my left (injured) leg should not be moved. It’s so comfortable and easy, realxing and stress-free, especially in traffic. I am a convert. Unless it’s a Camaro, my next car will be an automatic!

Injury feast
Speaking of injuries, I hurt myself while playing football. Something in the meniscus of my left knee (leg?). Last week, while still injured, I played a game of football with my team, FC Othmarsingen – we lost badly. And today, while out jogging, I felt a sharp pain in my right leg. This coupled with my chronic hamstring injury in the same leg. And the icing on the cake – a stiff neck! Ah, sports is really healthy for you.