Who? Franco, or Ashley Giles. Can you imagine Spain playing cricket under that regime? What would, Sir Henry Newbolt have made of all this.
Hasn't the FA cup been devalued more by just the money at stake and fear of not finishing in this or that position, i.e. relegation, promotion, the Premier league promised land, hence nearly every club including Saints who were already out of the League cup not playing there strongest sides to progress, isn't that more to blame?
Not quite true. Real lost the Royal prefix when the Second Republic was formed in 1931. When Franco defeated the Republic he allowed Madrid to be Real again, even though a return to monarchy for the country was not to happen until after Franco's death in 1975.
I'm with you there, I was just pointing out what happened historically. I've met enough people who fought in the International Brigades against Franco, not to mention people in Spain, to know what he did to that country and its people.
Which is why I wasn't joking about Corinthian Casuals. When we start to hope players of other teams get injured, or sad and depressed because they lost in a cup final, which they played manfully to try and win, against all the odds, I start to lose faith in the way the game's heading. I knew something about CC's ethos, the spirit of the game and how it's played, is more important than anything and that just clicks for me.
