Mine cost nothing as I won one in a competition. Some time after, the football team I played for in London was allocated 1 free FA cup final ticket,which was balloted for and won by a mate. I had made plans to migrate to South Africa by ship and received notification that the departure date was a few days before the World Cup final. We swapped tickets.
Jack Taylor reffed the 1966 FA Cup Final - the week before he was in charge of the Swans at the Vetch!
65-3 Australia beat Uruguay by. Could've been worse I guess, a few years ago this would've been a bigger score. Uruguay and the tier 2 countries are doing pretty ok really. We still haven't had a 100+ score. Next up Scotland v USA from Elland Rd. come on the Elmas.
Must be nice for the younger Leeds United fans to have the chance to see what a full Elland Road looks like.
39-16 so Scotland manage to notch up win number 2 against the USA. Over 33,000 at Elland road. Biggest gate receipts for 15 years I imagine. Irish are currently 18-3 up against Romania. Packed crowd at Wembley too.
Day off tomorrow. Back on Tuesday were Tonga take on Namibia at Sandy Park all the way down in Exeter. Capacity of the ground is 12,300.
Was down that way a few weeks ago. They were advertising a big screen for a lot of the games with food and drink stalls. Something HCC can't manage to do for any big sporting events. Mind you, Humberside Police would be having kittens at the thought of crowds of people watching sport and having a few drinks and would insist on prohibition.
Arguably one of the best ever FA Cup finals and a record plus an attempted record too. Sheffield Wed. became the first team to lose an FA Cup final after leading 2-0 and Everton failed to match Bury's feat of winning the Cup without conceding a single goal before lifting the trophy. Bury did it in 1903 and still hold the record 6-0 Cup final win. The only other FA Cup final I have seen was when Hull City also lost a 2-0 lead against Arsenal last year. My wife's best Aussie friend is a Welsh lass and Swansea fan who is currently based in Wales on a long European holiday. In 2011 my wife went to England to visit and they went to Wembley to watch Swansea win the Championship promotion game to the Premier League. The Welsh lass is over there with her Aus husband and they are going to see the Wales v Australia match in London next week.
Tonga move into 2nd place in their group after beating Namibia 35-21. No games tomorrow, next up is: Thursday 1 October; 1645: Wales v Fiji. Millennium Stadium. 2000: France v Canada. Stadium MK. See nothing but a win for Wales which means England have a huge task if they are to qualify when they Australia on Saturday.
I've done some travelling this past week or two and the amount of advertisement this World Cup has all over the country is impressive. There are flyers/ads everywhere from road side to motorway services and pubs and shops up and down the country. Compare that to the puffby league World Cup which doesn't even make the 6 o'clock news. Why those small time peons in the north insist on playing their own ****ty version is beyond me. Rugby would be a far stronger sport in the UK if everyone played it the proper way.
Controversial Hatty, no change there . I'm a man of both codes of rugby, played both. Even converted a very good Welsh RU player to take up the 'Northern version'. His opinion was that RL is harder and faster game. RU associations across the world could teach the associations of just about every other sport how to advertise, conduct itself and how to keep its players disciplined. I've given my views before, in a nutshell RU international is better than RL, club wise I'd go with RL been the better. Just my own humbled opinion.
See that's what I don't get. By disciplined you mean when caught, the players take their telling off quietly and with fake remorse. They spend the entire game trying to punch,kick, gouge and scrape each other without being told off by the head boy. Sorry, referee. I understand that's the game. But please stop pretending it's a shining example of discipline and respect because it really isn't.
Considering the contact of the sport it is an extremely disciplined sport. Fire in the belly, ice in the mind. Not going to dispute the fake remorse, but at least they do not crowd the referee, pushing and shoving him acting like 2 year olds who are having tantrum. Clearly HT you have never played the game, as they not not spend the entire game trying to kick, punch and gouge each other. Go into a tackle half hearted and you will get hurt. the way players conduct themselves on the field is a shining example of sportsmanship, sadly this is something all but lost on a football field.
Yeah I agree with you about the referee crowding. I have played btw. I have the nose to prove it. I also spent a long time, 3 seasons, with the RAF team (photographing them, not playing lol). My nephew played for Northampton Saints. Lovely lad, turned into a total psycho when he played. I still don't get it, and I still prefer football. I also figured out why the RAF got mullered almost every game back then too. Meet up day before, get pissed, train a bit, play, get pissed. Other 2 teams met up weeks before, proper nutrition, proper training etc. Still, was a laugh. Horses for courses really I guess. I have American mates who absolutely love Baseball, I never got that either. They can't stand cricket, but I love spending a day watching it. Actually cricket is a better example of sportsmanship and respect, if you ignore the sledging. Purposely punching someone in the face, biting them, or scraping studs down someone is not a shining example of sportsmanship. Of course it's a physical game, testosterone dripping everywhere, huge guys, it's simply part of the game. I'm not overly keen on boxing either, which might explain why I don't like rugby too much I am however hugely impressed with the way this RWC has been set up and run.
I had a draft the US SERE school for 2 years, they thought rugby was brutal and winced at every tackle made. I wouldnt really say cricket is without it's UN sportsman like players, ball tampering for example. Yes its horses for courses, I pretty much enjoyed playing most sports and spectating too. I got to say though, there is no team tougher sport than the one the Royal Navy stopped in 1999. Field Gun.
Hah photographed that too. Frigging mental. I don't think any sport is "clean" tbh. Last time I was in the US there was some huge uproar over some Hall of Fame fella with cork in his bat. Found it quite baffling in all honesty. I too can and have watched all sorts of sports, some I love, some I'm meh about, others just send me to sleep.I love US basketball, am meh about Ice Hockey, F1 sends me to sleep, volleyball I can't stand.
Anywhere there is competition you will find cheats! Probably the only time you can ever write FACT & mean it 100%!
Funny how people differ. I find basketball the most boring of sports. Someone scores what the commentator describes as a vital basket. Someone goes to the other end to score what is described as an absolutely crucial one.they each continue scoring vita, important, crucial baskets every few seconds.
I've been to see a baseball game and American football game both in the USA. Whilst I cant deny the atmosphere was pretty good, I got bored of both and left. Could be down to the fact that we didnt understand the games been played, or fact that we prefered to spend the time on the piss. Same with rugby really, there are a lot of laws in both codes, to anyone who has not really played or taken an interest in the game it can sometimes come across as pointless brutality.
