The Sentinel Amsterdam vol. 4 #3 by Consultancy Market Media

vol. 4 #3 – 21 December 2010

The Sentinel Amsterdam

Integrity, heart, humour

FEATURE

The Greatest Game of All Perspectives

16+ TRENDs

CHRIST MASS perspectives OPINION TRENDs CARTOON SPORT CLASSIFIEDs

CONTENTS

In this issue FEATURE p. 03 Perspectives

The Greatest game of All

‘The dark, bitterly cold Christmas of 1914 delivered a world at war a special gift’

P. 08 LIFESTYLES

P. 20

16+

Border landing

‘Some folk yearn for excess or are more nocturnal by nature’

‘ ...relaxing in what must be one of the country’s nicer conversions of an old-fashioned cinema’

TRENDS p. 18 sport p. 28 more:

Christ mass

The Gold Room

‘Swap your candles for garden torches ‘

Perspectives p. 09 Jane Hutchison LIFESTYLES p. 14 The adventures of Eleanor Rigby and Penny Lane FILM REVIEW Room 2C

p. 19

CARTOON

p. 24

Sport Falling out of love with football

p. 26

ColoPHon The Sentinel Amsterdam e-mail: sentinelpost@gmail.com website: www.thesentinel.eu The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photos/illustrations that are subject to copyright. If you consider your copyright to have been infringed, please contact us at sentinelpost@gmail.com.

Editors – Gary Rudland & Denson Pierre Design, realisation and form – Andrei Barburas & No-Office.nl Webmaster – Simon O. Studios Webhost – Amsterjammin.com

Contributors – Shane Brady, Jane Hutchison, Annegien Kok, Eleanor Rigby, Dirkje Bakker, David King & Colin Bentley

FEATURE

German and British troops play football in 1914. Picture: Imperial War Museum, London.

The Greatest Game of All By Shane Brady

FEATURE

‘It all started with a few Christmas carols between the Saxon Infantry and the Welch Fusiliers’

FEATURE

The Greatest Game of All It is regarded by some as the greatest game of football ever played, yet there is no official record of the score or even who won. Two teams, sworn enemies, faced off across a French field in the most appalling conditions imaginable. The pitch was an icy, crater-filled quagmire, littered with debris. Helmets and bayonets for goalposts. It looked like a war zone, because that’s precisely what it was. The dark, bitterly cold Christmas of 1914 delivered a world at war a special gift: a truce. Nothing too unusual about that, except it was both spontaneous and unauthorised. The combatants took it upon themselves to meet and mingle in no man’s land, between the trenches, where they had spent month after miserable month flinging young bodies and hot lead at each other. After all, the politicians had said it would be all over by Christmas. Do you hear what I hear? It all started with a few Christmas carols between the Saxon Infantry and the Welch Fusiliers across the battlefield at Frelinghien, near Armentieres, on Christmas Eve. Then on a freezing and foggy Christmas morning, a Saxon hoisted his helmet on to a bayonet and held it up over the parapet. When no shots were fired, a few brave German souls ventured out, followed by some officers.

They were eventually met by a British officer, who wanted to know what the jolly hell was going on. Handshakes and pleasantries were exchanged and a truce called, initially so that each side could retrieve the bodies of their fallen from no man’s land for burial. Due to the fierce fighting, many corpses had been left lying in the open for some time, frozen.

‘both sides later met and exchanged beer, plum pudding and photos of loved ones’ Moved perhaps by this grim task and the spirit of the season, both sides later met and exchanged beer, plum pudding and photos of loved ones. There, on the battlefield, Fritz and Tommy found much more common ground than they had ever imagined.

FEATURE

“We often talk about footballers as heroes, but the real heroes were those men and women, some of them footballers, who gave their lives in the two World Wars, and those servicemen and women who still fight for us today. We should remember them always.”

In the bleak midwinter On Boxing Day, after they had run out of things to talk about, they did what most young men would do and organised a scratch game of football. Germany had a formidable army football team at the time and Britain would later form a Footballers Regiment, but it is not known if any professional players took part in the Christmas Truce match. That’s because the professional leagues were still underway in Britain and this was a source of much angst at home, as many thought it disrespectful to keep playing while the troops were risking their lives just across the Channel.

Remembrance Day last year, the English Premier League and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission released a short film, Glory Days – Football in Times of War. You can watch it at www.cwgc.org/glorydays/dvd/ . There are also many good books on the subject, such as The Christmas Truce by Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton, and online resources, such as www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWfootball.htm .

Others, however, resented calls from the establishment to suspend competition, as it would deprive the masses of one of their last remaining forms of entertainment during the war. The footballers themselves settled the argument, led in no small part by Edinburgh’s Hearts team, who signed up en masse and took a lot of their supporters with them into battle.

God rest ye merry gentlemen Both sides would lose some great footballing and sporting talent, as a generation was decimated on those killing fields during the ensuing four years. More still had lives and careers ruined by gas, wounds and shellshock. That is not to say for a moment that the loss of a sportsman should count for any more or less than any other soldier. To put it in perspective, the Royal Welch Fusiliers alone would lose 1,050 men on that French front, virtually the entire 2nd battalion that had been among the first to join the Christmas Truce.

The Christmas Truce was recently rated as one of the greatest football games of all time. High praise, indeed, in this age of obscene wages and mercenary players. On

David Beckham summed it up at the launch of the Glory Days DVD: “We often talk about footballers as heroes, but the real heroes were those men and women, some of them

FEATURE

‘...news of the Christmas Truce filtered around the world’

footballers, who gave their lives in the two World Wars, and those servicemen and women who still fight for us today. We should remember them always.” Back to the great game itself, or games, as a number were played as the truce spread down the line, some with tins or sandbags for balls and involving up to 100 men. The score, as if it matters, was 3-2 to Germany (according to several accounts); but there is some mention of an equaliser being scored right at the death. More on that later. For those few precious days, at least, humanity triumphed over the futility of war. Liverpool legend Bill Shankly would later famously say that football is much more important than life and death. In this instance, at least, he was right. Joy to the world As news of the Christmas Truce filtered around the world, the top brass on either side were none too pleased about their troops fraternising, for it ran the risk of humanising an enemy they had taken such great pains to demonise. That can’t be good for business, old chap. The truce lasted just a day in Frelinghien but a week or more elsewhere, before the orders came through from HQ

that full hostilities should be resumed at once. Legend has it that when the dreaded whistle finally went to go ‘over the top’, a Scots Guardsman dropped his bayonet, took up the ball, dribbled it all the way across no man’s land and unleashed a fierce shot into a German bunker before he was cut down by machine gun fire. If true, has there ever been a more poignant shot in the history of warfare?

Perspectives

PERSPEcTivES

16+

‘it makes no sense to close bars at around 1.00, 2.00 or 3.00am in the heart of what is known to be one of the most adult, wild and dirty party towns in the world’ By Annegien Kok

At least one of the Dutch political parties is proposing unlimited café and bar opening times on the busiest squares of Amsterdam, enabling everyone to stay out as long as they like. There is certainly a lot to be said in favour of this idea. In the first place, it makes no sense to close bars at around 1.00, 2.00 or 3.00am in the heart of what is known to be one of the most adult, wild and dirty party towns in the world. The early closing times are something of a paradox in the context of coffee shops, a 16-year-old age limit on drinking, openly displayed prostitution areas, psychoactive mushrooms on sale, and so on. Very often, tourists are surprised that they need to find a hostel to get a roof over their heads, because even the dance clubs aren’t open until breakfast time. Besides, there are other cities in the Dutch countryside where you can party and smoke indoors harder and longer than we can here, so it’s about time the capital caught up with the bush.

‘cities with unlimited bar opening times have lower rates of accidents’ The plan would also be good for safety, according to the politicians, as it has been proven that cities with unlimited bar opening times have lower rates of accidents. Although this might seem counterintuitive, I believe that, in this

city, danger is to be found mostly within individuals; it is mainly about what you do to your own body. Always blame yourself for your own hangover, right? At the same time, though, I think this applies particularly to the big ‘party bars’ that have dancing poles and light shows on their stages. In the little Irish bar in the corner of one of those big squares, the only accidents are my attempted shamrock drawings in the Guinness, which end up looking more like tulips than anything else, and people singing along to Johnny Logan. But the political party’s main point is that it doesn’t suit Amsterdam to send its carousers home at so-called ‘Christian hours’.

‘it doesn’t suit Amsterdam to send its carousers home at so-called ‘Christian hours’’ Okay, this may all be fair enough but then they should also reverse other new and overly strict rules – I find the timing of this latest initiative a bit odd, since Amsterdam seems to be changing in the other direction. More and more coffee shops are closing (or being closed down), ‘magic mushrooms’ have been deemed illegal, prostitutes are having a hard time and seem to be slowly disappearing (only to re-appear in four-star hotels and call services, as well as having to risk walking certain streets and cruise bars). And then there’s the squatting-ban and the fact that gay bars seem to be closing down en masse. If things like these continue, we won’t even have a ‘wild’ city anymore.

PERSPECTIVES

Maybe the city should consider whether it’s really such a bad thing to have a ‘wild’ character. In the bar where I work, one of my favourite things to do is to convince older couples, who received their ‘Amsterdam-trip’ as a gift from their children and grandchildren for their 50th anniversary, that all the ‘wild things’ we are allowed to do here happen everywhere in the world anyway. But here they are protected as ‘freedoms’ and people can be better supported and taken care of. And ‘no, that junkie is not like that because of marijuana’. As for Amsterdam’s wild character, sometimes you just have to accept who you are and make the best of it; wear it with pride. It is too bad that over the past few years the city has started to feel as if it is getting a bit cranky. Did Amsterdam party too hard? Besides the knowledge of odd bars in Ireland that keep on

serving remaining customers after ‘closing time’, many of the tourists and expats are actually from places where bars are emptied a lot earlier than they are here. So, I believe some bars here are good as they are and do not need the unlimited opening times, especially to retain that cosy feeling. With some other bars, however, it might well be good thing. Some folk yearn for excess or are more nocturnal by nature. Either way, my main issue here is that I think that Amsterdam needs to be more consistent. Unlimited opening times are not going to compensate for all the other freedoms that are gradually being taken away from the city. Amsterdam has always had a wild image. It is just like any good night out; sometimes you might be a bit sore afterwards or not exactly proud about every single aspect of the night before. But as long as it has been exciting and not too tame, it is all good!

‘all the ‘wild things’ we are allowed to do here happen everywhere in the world anyway. But here they are protected as ‘freedoms’’

PERSPECTIVES

‘Unlimited opening times are not going to compensate’

LifestylES

‘Blind Date Guy gave away two pieces of crucial information’

The adventures of Eleanor Rigby and Penny Lane By Eleanor Rigby

n to… ‘tis the seaso Speed date, apparently, both literally and figuratively. Not content with our previous months of abject failure, Penny and I upped the ante considerably this month, undertaking not only an evening where we lost our speed-dating virginity but also a flurry of dating speedily. Upon a friend’s recommendation, Penny and I signed ourselves up for an expat speed-dating event. This seemed like a great idea six weeks prior to the evening but as the day loomed, the nerves kicked in. No-one wants to spend just three minutes talking about where 28 different men come from, where they work and how long they’ve lived in Amsterdam. Smug Married’s foolproof advice, therefore, was to open by asking how they felt about David Attenborough and move on to asking for an impression of a scared courgette. Yes, this was after the glühwein we’d drunk to allay our nerves. LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! Thwarted by deep snow and a significant lack of transportation (bikes had been abandoned in favour of high heels), we arrived somewhat flustered, having done our make-up in the taxi, which slid across icy tram tracks. Add to this the fact that the organisers had neglected to note my name from our joint booking, and that my badge

and listing on every potential suitor’s sheet was simply Penny’s Friend, we were not off to good start. This was soon worsened significantly by the fact that the men who had already arrived, seemed to be the wrong side of the 25-40 age bracket. Before the dating had even begun, the catastrophic start was cemented by the sudden arrival of three of my former male colleagues, two of whom were actually the company owners. The thought of spending three minutes with each of these men filled me with utter dread and I had to warn Penny of their many flaws, such as the fact that one, to my knowledge, was still married. MISTLETOE AND WINE Beginning the evening with severe trepidation, I soon embraced the conversation and did even managed to ask one jolly Scotsman what he would look like if he were a mushroom. While Penny was soon exhausted by the vacuous conversation, we did both also manage to pay some serious kudos to Sir David. This, it would seem, is the best way to approach speed dating, as you soon weed out those with and without a sense of humour. Now, it is not that we’re wholly anti-Dutch but it was a little disappointing to find five dates who were Dutch at our expat speed dating. These men were followed by a stream of unlikely candidates: Drunk Depressed Mancunian; Mr. Five Times Speed Dating Expert; Sleazy Italian Straight in for the Kiss Guy; Exact Clone of Gestapo Man; Three Minute Power Station Lesson Bloke; Intense Interrogation Guy; Geography Quiz Oddball; and a host of other unmentionable characters who have thankfully not occupied any space in my memory.

LifestylES

‘...the organisers had neglected to note my name from our joint booking, and that my badge and listing on every potential suitor’s sheet was simply Penny’s Friend’ The experience was utterly exhausting but I would wholly recommend it, nonetheless. Anyway, the upside of this is two dates for me! I managed to score 2/3 in my matches and the dates are up and coming. It is a rather strange process, as you have to then wait for one of you to take the lead and establish e-mail contact. But hey, it worked. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU? Penny was not overly enamoured by speed dating but she has begun to put notches on her dating tally. In a continuation of the ‘Amsterdam can just be too small’ theme (e.g. seeing your former boss at speed dating), Penny has been set up on a not so blind date. After meeting with a male friend – whom we have also challenged to attempt two dates a month, perhaps making a case for a gender argument – Penny was set up with a friend of his. After a number of initial texts and attempts to finalise arrangements for meeting, Blind Date Guy gave away two pieces of crucial information, which allowed Penny to deduce his identity.

By naming his industry and the day of his Christmas party, Penny managed to figure out that not only had she met BDG before, but he had also asked her out and she had politely declined, due to his inebriation. Not entirely deterred, as sober potential was certainly there, Penny went on the date anyway. A good time was had by all and date number two has already happened. Chalk up two to Penny! NOT SO LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS In the meantime, I have partaken in three dates. Yes, a mighty three, in the space of a week. This is nothing if not tiring. But alas, I have run out of word space and you will all have to wait in suspense for the details, till after the festive season.

CLASSIFIedS

Located in the heart of Amsterdam (Voetboogstraat 11, just off the Spui), the ABC Treehouse is “a unique cultural center”. With generous support from our corporate sponsor, the American Book Center (www.abc.nl), we offer an exciting agenda of lively discussions, workshops and cultural events, and have earned a reputation as “a major point of artistic and literary exchange for the city’s Dutch and multicultural communities.” - (www.iamsterdam.com). Our guest authors are writing on the hottest - and sometimes most controversial - topics; our groundbreaking graffiti and gay pride exhibits have broken taboos and visitor records, and our special Discussion Events have brought together Americans and Iraqis, Israelis and Palestinians, Republicans and Democrats for a lively exchange of ideas and viewpoints. And sometimes, it’s just about having a good time: enjoy music and theater during our Theaterworks evenings, or knit a new scarf at Crafty Me. Visit our website to see a full list of our events and workshops: www.treehouse.abc.nl, or stop by and join the ABC Treehouse community!

CLASSIFIedS

Min 5 participants – themes: voice, creativity, communication, connection There is a place; times will /can be arranged .

Costs for a workshop are Euro 300 for up to 7 participants & Euro 400 for 8-12 participants.

Feel, want, need? exchange, enable, permit supportive, relaxed, fun

Contact: Fire Lotus Email: Lennie St Luce - 4firelotus@gmail.com Tel: +31 (0)6 2866 5886 Feedback vocal empowerment Oct 2010:

“Thank you so much for an extraordinary evening , it’s all still running through my mind....it was spot on.” - Ingrid“The evening was fantastic, all the women were very enthusiastic and happy.” - Truus-

trends

Christ mass By Dirkje Bakker

‘Forget about sitting at the old, oh so boring and festively decorated table inside, like those who are behind the times’

Last summer, the ‘outdoor kitchen’ became the new, must-buy item for everyone who already had a new kitchen or the Nespresso machine, the BeerTender and the Fire Basket. Well, seriously, it was a smart move to invent something that isn’t really a tool or a gadget, but still has all the features of something that could actually be useful in a small-scale war.

Now for the Christmas trends. After spending thousands of euros on an ‘outdoor gadget’ in a country that really isn’t at all BBQ-friendly, weather-wise, another trend born of necessity is emerging at the end of 2010. (I wanted to say “Even though there is global warming, but no! The Netherlands is never going to turn into Australia no matter how often you practice the F*ing accent, mate…”).

If you really want to be ahead of the pack, a so-called early adopter of customs from the lower lying regions of Europe, the thing to do this Christmas dinner is: the outdoor It was *new*, had a users manual bigger than an A4 page, barbeque. Forget about sitting at the old, oh so boring and was very heavy and big (i.e. cannot be handled by a girl), festively decorated table inside, like those who are behind had some buttons (if not a remote), some special non-stick the times. Swap your candles for garden torches (hopefully metal parts and all of the options and accessories one you have a few leftover from the summer, as they are could ever dream of (yes, like a car). This object of affecquite hard to find in winter). Get out the cheap red wine tion is particularly smart in terms of marketing, as one (preferably from Aldi, because “it doesn’t matter” for glühcould make it sound as if it would improve the lives of wein, or sangria for that matter), cloves, oranges and the women, who of course like cooking so much, and during woolly hats, ear warmers, bottles of Jagermeister and the summer it is so very hard to keep the kitchen cool. Besides, barbeque-sized turkey. Just for you, the glühwein recipes it’s much more fun to be outside together with the rest of almost clog up the world-wide-web, while all around, the family, as opposed to buying an iPad, which is “just Christmas lights, real Christmas trees, heated seats, heat another gadget”. cannons and fire-proof gloves are flying out of the shops and off market stalls. In fact, the ‘outdoor kitchen’ is really just a very, very large barbeque grill that everyone must have, because bigger is always better.

Film review

Room 2c film

El Laberinto Del Fauno (Panâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Labyrinth) (2006)

By David King

Set in Francoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fascist Spain of 1944, we follow 10-year-old Ofelia, her pregnant mother and brutal serviceman father. Upon meeting a mythical faun, she takes on a series of challenges to help her escape this world. Blurring fantasy and family life, we see the choices that can affect life and death as easily as choosing left or right. Director Guillermo Del Toro turned down double his budget to make this film in English. Good on him!

Cartoon By Colin Bentley

For your Yuletide entertainment, I bring you the comedy sensation of the year. The one... The only... Mr Tommy Coopello!

Grazzi, grazzi... Not-a-like this, just-a-like that!

LIFESTYLES

Border landing ‘The Netherlands is not really an island radiating from Dam Square to nothing more than a distance covered by a gentle cycle trip lasting forty minutes’

By Denson Pierre

Although not always fully engrossing, Amsterdam life can easily be comfortable and lazy enough to enable locals to forget that ‘the Netherlands’ is not really an island radiating from Dam Square to nothing more than a distance covered by a gentle cycle trip lasting forty minutes. I mean, who ventures into the backwaters of this country unless forced to do so by family commitments or through some delusional thought process that says living in the increasingly edgy and intolerant areas is really an intelligent choice, because maybe the housing there is ‘affordable’ or even cheap?

There are reasons for this floating amnesia and there is a rule of thumb, held internationally, that any area from which the young natives are desperate to escape ought not be one a foreigner ventures into and torture themselves trying to live there. Cities have come to pool both the best and worst of ‘civilisation’ throughout recent centuries and that anthropological fact is not skipped here. They remain more desirable and progressive than the more agrarian or parochial reaches. Away day This pre-amble is really more about explaining away an escape into pure indulgence of a football kind. Today, I am making one of the more epic day trips possible within the Netherlands, with a friend and my wife. I have crossed the entire width of the country to find new satisfaction in seeing a team I have supported for over 30 years play against

LIFESTYLES

the reigning Dutch national football champions in the UEFA Champions League. Nevertheless, I have no apology in offering up the word ‘epic’ to describe a journey that actually takes just over two hours each way by moderately fast train. My own original home nation of Trinidad & Tobago is but one fifth of the size of the Netherlands, so all journeys lasting longer than half hour feel like great ones to me. We are on our way to Enschede, a town last in the international news for tragic reasons to do with the temptation of some to heavily profit from the public’s need for spectacular celebrations. In May 2000, one of the greatest peace-time explosions within reach of residential housing occurred there, when more than 177 tonnes of Chinese fireworks (read: illegal mini-bombs) combusted and devastated the area surrounding a storage bunker. It is reported that twenty-three people were killed and close to 1,000 injured. The reasons for the chain-reaction fire and explosions were detailed later but the simple explanation was that good care was not taken to secure these ‘fun’ explosives and, due to unsafe storage practices, it was an accident waiting to happen. The impact of such an awful disaster on a small city can be profound, but is can also generate an informed resolve to be safer and wiser as a community in future. As regards

the football, the local top team, FC Twente, have done the city proud in recent times and it was now the turn of the mighty Tottenham Hotspur FC to visit them at home and settle any discussion about who were actually the better team. Before a ball had been kicked in anger, however, we had a day to spend in the city. Off the beaten track Enschede is compact, small and wealthy. Between them, the farmers and industrialists appear to commercially support a happy town, which does not show obvious scars of its economic travails, like so many others. The folk here are countryside welcoming on a football day but we were never able to get around fully, as the Champions League level of police cordoning meant that strolling around sightseeing while chatting away in English, even at 1.00pm on match day, meant we were approached by a riot police ‘liason’ officer and pointed away from the ‘locals’ already at the main square bars, drinking out of plastic pint and vaasje glasses, looking rosy, drunk and primed for a scrap to add to their journals on thuggery. Instead, we were nudged in the direction of the cultural quarter and, given that it was so terribly cold out anyway, we really enjoyed where we ended up brunching and beer sampling. Fred & Douwe wins my award for the funniest marketing coup experienced in 2010. We were in the town of Grolsch

LIFESTYLES

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;more than 177 tonnes of Chinese fireworks (read: illegal mini-bombs) combusted and devastated the area surrounding a storage bunkerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

LIFESTYLES

‘the constant smell of marijuana, which had seemingly always aromatised my many returns over the past 17 years, was absent’ beer, its brewery and the stadium down the road that represented its new fortress. Yet, we were relaxing in what must be one of the country’s nicer conversions of an oldfashioned cinema into a modern café-lounge-restaurant, with a name inspired by the business models popularised by Freddy Heineken and Douwe Egberts, just to rub in the brand warfare tactic with style. Classy. We could not get a glass of Grolsch in the largest drinking and eating venue in Enschede. Funny, really. For an unrivalled selection of greater quality beer than the usual pilsners and lagers, we also managed to do most of the proper drinking at one of a chain of quality microbrewers and cafe masters: http://www.beiaardgroep.eu/

Chills and thrills The football itself was a joyous and warm occasion, and it needed to be: the temperature had dipped to -8˚C by the time the match was over. Six goals scored; a draw and pretty much all manner of incidents and goals exhibited, all for the price of just over d110 (this is the average price for the best seats when UEFA take over your stadium with their highly polished and packaged product). Tottenham Hotspur are once again football aristocrats, having won their qualifying group in the Champions League, and can now look forward to another series of super-entertaining paydays in 2011. It was fitting to have rounded the story off in a tidy city and a modern, comfortable stadium, together with a passionate mix of fans from both teams. FC Twente go on to the Europa League and Tottenham Hotspur have to decide which bit of the sky is their limit. I, for one, would not mind going to Enschede again in future for another smooth celebration, as it was a very pleasant 24 hours spent there. On returning to Amsterdam Central Station, I noted that the constant smell of marijuana, which had seemingly always aromatised my many returns over the past 17 years, was absent. Things are changing and not just at the top of football.

SPoRT

‘That’s £15 million down the drain for England alone’

Falling out of love with football By Gary Rudland

World Cup fatigue It started last summer with the World Cup in South Africa. England were awful and, yet, Fabio Capello retained his ridiculously high-paying managerial job. It would be laughable, if it wasn’t so pathetic and gutless. The drone of vuvuzelas throughout every match was an annoyance and France were even more laughable than England. The overall quality of the football was poor and most of the supposedly star players did not step up to the plate, usually citing tiredness as an excuse. Spain did play the most attractive football on the way to their first World Cup victory, but all four of their knockout stage wins, including the final, were by a single goal to nil. Have they become Italy? On the other hand, anyone who saw the recent match between Manchester United and Arsenal, at Old Trafford, could not have failed to marvel at its intensity, demonstrating that a 1-0 scoreline does not always tell the whole story. Staging farce More recently, we’ve had the FIFA World Cup bidding process debacle, although Russia and Qatar may feel differently. It turns out that England, Holland/Belgium, the United States, Spain/Portugal and all the other bidding nations never had a real chance of hosting the 2018 tournament, since Sepp Blatter and his cronies were intent on bringing the finals to “new and developing territories”. Nice of them to let us know, instead of using us to create the impression of a genuinely democratic process. That’s £

15 million down the drain for England alone, but it could have been worse; hosting the tournament itself would undoubtedly have cost billions. Now we’re faced with a tournament in Qatar, possibly in January 2022, when temperatures are ‘only’ in the mid-twenties, instead of 40+ in summer. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and Sepp’s suggested solution is for gay people to refrain from sexual activity while there. What a joke! Premier League respite? In between, we saw the welcome return of the Premier League and our annual fantasy football competitions. While these have provided some solace (or is it merely distraction?), there have been some strange goings on in the first half of the season. Rooney was injured, then he wasn’t injured, then he was injured again. Then he was leaving Manchester United, then he wasn’t and now he’s playing again, but doesn’t look very happy about it. Injuries have blighted the first half of the season, with mainstays like Frank Lampard, Cesc Fabregas, Steven Gerrard, Robin van Persie, Jermain Defoe, John Terry and Fernando Torres, among many others, missing large chunks of the preChristmas programme. Dimitar Berbatov got off to a fine start and I’d already decided to bring him into my fantasy football team before he scored a hat-trick against Liverpool, on 19 September. I duly did so and he then failed to score for more than two months and 10 matches. I decided that I’d made a mistake and got rid of him. The following weekend, he put five (yes, FIVE!) past Blackburn Rovers. That was the final straw.

SPORT

‘all the other bidding nations never had a real chance of hosting the 2018 tournament, since Sepp Blatter and his cronies were intent on bringing the finals to “new and developing territories” ’

Managerial turmoil And don’t even get me started on the managerial sackings. Martin O’Neill left Aston Villa before the season had even begun. Chris Hughton had brought Newcastle United back into the top flight and they were in a comfortable 11th place, having recently beaten arch-rivals, Sunderland, 5-1 and winning away at Arsenal, when the axe fell on his managerial career. Preposterous! Similarly, the new owners at Blackburn Rovers have decided that Sam Alladyce is not the man for them, despite a reasonable first half of the season. Currently in 13th place, they say they want to finish in the top five this season. Fat chance! It is even rumoured that Rovers want to replace Allardyce with Diego Maradona. Now that would be worth seeing – for about a month, I’d guess.

Light at the end of the tunnel My faith in football was partially restored recently, however. In a rare televised game on BBC2, the mighty Queen’s Park Rangers (four points clear at the top of the Championship and unbeaten in the league) took on lowly Watford (my team) on their own turf. Before the match, I predicted a 3-1 scoreline, if the game went to form. It did turn out to be 3-1, but to Watford, who could have scored seven in one of the best displays I have ever seen by the men in gold and black. Perhaps it’s time to start paying closer attention to my real team again, and leave the Premier League, with its fickle foreign owners, and FIFA, with its dubious practices, to their own devices.

SPORT

The Gold room By Denson Pierre

Every now and then the tumult created by mega-million windfalls and an apparent freedom to buy any player in the world can quickly become a burden leading to a missed opportunity, if your managerial strategy is unbalanced. This is as true in the real world as it is in fantasy football. Manchester City, Roberto Mancini and their representative in the FFG-CL, Joe O’Brien, have had an odd 2010 which, if impartially viewed, can be judged as a failure, considering the resources available to them. Not only did they not secure the Champions League berth for season 2010-2011 but they also have not blown the league away with super intergalactic football and are now clogging the news wires with stories of player discord. Manchester City will not be relegated from the Premier League but Ferdinand’s Worth Two in the Bush need a complete team reorganisation for the second half of the season, if Joe hopes to avoid relegation to the FFL. It will be a tough task, as all other teams in the game have taken to scoring well and consistently. FERDiNAND iS WORTH TWO iN THE bUSH GK Joe Hart (Manchester City) – Started the season as the toast of English cities and towns and the Italian-styled defensive shield helping protect him means he will remain a very good point accumulator. Rating 8.85 DEF Jody Craddock (Wolves) – This defence has failed to keep a single clean sheet so far this Premier League season and now he is out injured until next year. Rating 5 DEF Micah Richards (Manchester City) – It must be rather frustrating to be part of the squad at this club, where a good performance does not necessarily mean you

continue in the first team. Richards has also shown aggression aimed at goal-scoring and will probably enjoy even more success this season. Rating 8.5 DEF Jonathan Evans (Manchester United) – Will now only be a bit-part player with Ferdinand and Vidic both back to fitness. Rating 7.5 MID Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) – Suffered an early breakdown just as he was getting going this season. Has the ability to score more than most players can over an entire season in just half a campaign, however. Rating 8.75 MID Joe Cole (Liverpool) – Is there worthwhile hope left to be invested in this player? Rating 8.0 MID Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) – With Cesc Fabregas regularly injured and appearing demotivated, ‘Jack the Pugilist’ has turned out to be the fantasy football bargainprice bonus player, operating within a very attacking club team. Rating 8.75 MID Marouane Fellaini (Everton) – His team are not able to grind out positive results regularly so far this season and now maybe have concerns about relegation. Rating 7.75 MID Frank Lampard (Chelsea) – The reigning champions have experienced a worrying dip in form and his return can only significantly increase their goal threat. Cannot have top marks, as he has already missed most of the season, so far. Rating 8.5 FWD Mauro Boselli (Wigan Athletic) – Would need to increase his scoring rate by a factor of four to sensibly keep his place in a fantasy football team while playing at Wigan. Rating 7.25 FWD Javier Hernandez (Manchester United) – A key option in this game but will not be able to help this particular fantasy team, which has so many weaknesses, while now having to battle with the Manchester United first choice front two for starts. Rating 9.0 Ratings total (max. possible 110 pts): 87.85 Forecast fi nal position: bottom two http://thesentinel.eu/ffg/Latest-FFG.htm

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Micah Richards

Jack Wilshere

Steven Gerrard

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