John Gray in North Wales has "Wrexham" tattooed across his chest while down in Australia, Andrew and Marcellous are big fans of the London club Arsenal. often staying up late to watch live-streaming of their games. Meike Riley in Ludwigsburg, Germany never misses a Stuttgart FC home match while over in Canada Keith Kline (aka Red) is a bigger fan of Liverpool F.C. than Nurse Pixie in Edmonton. And the only reason Steve Reed moved from America to London was to support his beloved Chelsea. Yes - so many ardent football fans out there.
On Monday night, my team - Hull City A.F.C. beat Millwall by two goals to nil in the exciting second leg of their Championship Play-Off Semi-Final. That fantastic result meant we had booked a place in the final at Wembley Stadium. Oh joy upon joys! The final is scheduled to take place on Saturday May 23rd.
But something has happened to put a spanner in the works.
Just now the club, the players and the supporters should all be preparing for the big Wembley trip, buying train tickets, securing match tickets and in some cases arranging accommodation in London. There are loyal Hull City fans living in faraway places and some of them will want to attend the final in person.
On Tuesday night, we thought we knew who our opponents would be. In the second semi-final, Southampton beat Middlesbrough by two goals to one. And then news of "Spygate" began to surface.
It seems that before the other semi-final, an agent acting for Southampton visited the Middlesbrough training ground and secretly gathered live footage of some of Boro's training methods, planned set pieces and the like. He was challenged before running away. Southampton do not deny that this happened. According to the Football Association's rules, spying is verboten.
On Wednesday the issue was referred to The English Football Association for deliberation and judgement. As I write this blogpost, no decision has been made. We may have to wait until next Wednesday.
It is possible that Southampton will be barred from competing in the final but we just do not know.
The English Championship Final is one of the richest fixtures in world sport - said to be worth £200 million in extra income for the winners. That's $270 million US so this whole business is devilishly significant.
I have a ticket for the final but will I be going? We will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, let's hear a big ironic cheer for Southampton F.C.. If their final status is confirmed it will go to show that cheating can get you anywhere and if they are fined heavily it will be mere peanuts compared with the lucrative end prize.
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