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.
I would never support a 'down south' team. Newcastle United is my team. Up your Arsenal.
ReplyDeleteMarcellous might prefer the Chelsea team, as he'd be able to go straight to a concert at Royal Albert Hall after a match.
That's a low-down dirty trick! Spying and thereby cheating to win! They need to be banned for the rest of the season. In my opinion anyway. But since you already have a ticket for the game, don't waste it, go anyway and just enjoy watching whatever teams play.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, the end of the world is nigh. In this household Andrew goes to Leeds to watch his football team and my daughter moans about the uncouth behaviour of football fans when she is on the train. The police were out yesterday morning on her Manchester train station and they had submachine guns according to her but I doubt it was for football fans ;)
ReplyDeleteSorry, Neil, but you got the name of my beloved Stuttgart club wrong. It‘s the VfB, of course! You‘ll always spot me as a true VfB fan as I am wearing my long red and white scarf while standing on the windblown platforms of Stuttgart‘s highy efficient and fastidiously punctual local trains.
ReplyDeleteCheating, plain and simple, and it tarnishes the win for the team because they'll never know if they would have won fair-and-square without it.
ReplyDeleteChelsea? Is that a team?
ReplyDelete(KIDDING!)
Drama in football land, with cheating allegations and everything! I'll be curious to hear how this plays out.
Sorry to admit this, but my extended soccer mad family in England are Saints devotees.
ReplyDeleteI guess my team was a nothing. You didn't mention it in any final. Oh well next year . Maybe?
ReplyDeleteI don't get it. I think teams study the games of the other teams all season long so they should already know all the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents.
ReplyDelete