It really has been a long time since I last wrote a blog!
However, my time has not been completely wasted. In fact I have been quite busy. First of all there was my holiday to Cyprus, then there was the World Cup and now it’s a hectic schedule of working desperately to clear my overdraft!
Oh well, a quick blog here…
As sports editor of Nottingham Trent’s Platform magazine, and the deputy editor of Mansfield Town’s match-day programme, it might make sense to talk about the sporting story that has not only gripped the nation of late – but the world.
Yes, I am, indeed, talking about the World-Cup.
For all England were genuinely awful, and the tournament did not live up to the expectations that we attached to it – it was still a magnificent event.
If you are yet to have gathered, I am an Ipswich Town fan, and the main talking point for us was without doubt Tommy Smith’s appearances with New Zealand.
New Zealand went into the competition as massive underdogs, and for the sake of football, rightfully went out in the group stage. However, being the only undefeated team in the tournament, they provided us that bit of magic – one of the many things we will remember the tournament by.
Another talking point from the tournament was ‘Paul’ the octopus. You know what I am talking about, right?
Well for those of you who don’t know, ‘Paul’ is a psychic cephalopod who his keepers at Oberhausen claim can correctly ‘predict’ results of football matches.
And it is not a barmy as it first sounds.
During this year’s World Cup, Paul correctly ‘predicted’ every single one of Germany’s games – including their defeats to Serbia and Spain, as well as the final between Holland and ‘La Roja’.
To put it simply, there are two jars placed in Paul’s tank – one bears the flag of a team, and the other, whoever they are playing. Also in each jar is a muscle. The jar that Paul takes the muscle out of first is seen to be the one that he has predicted.
Weird right?
But I guess every World Cup does have that quirky little thing that we remember it by. I mean, this year we had another – that irritating bee-like thing, the Vuvuzela.
Argentina ’78 had the ticker tape, Mexico ’86 had Diego Maradona and the infamous ‘hand of God’, and Germany ’06 had the WAGS.
Perhaps the one thing that these great tournaments arguably have lacked in recent times, however, is great football.
