The Sporting Piglet

From Playing with Pigs

Yesterday Piglet came out of school and said: "You have to get me shin guards for tomorrow."

I do not like to hear a piglet say "you have to," without some honorific title, I prefer something like: "O noble mater familias who bore me amid unbelievable pain and suffering and has nurtured me at considerable cost to your social life ever since, I beg of you humbly on my knees ..."

Corruption and the ritual realm of football

As corruption and in-fighting are exposed at the heart of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), I have been remembering a comment Ken Loach made in an interview about his film Looking for Eric.  He was being asked about the Football Club United of Manchester, set up by outraged fans after the Glazer family bought Manchester United FC for purely financial purposes (Ken Loach is a member of FCUM, and one scene in Looking for Eric revolves around teasing of a FCUM fan).