A SMALL number of English people are not responding correctly to football, it has emerged. The Institute for Studies believes it has identified a sub-group of the English race that is not only indifferent to football, but in some cases actively dislikes the game. Professor Henry Brubaker said: âWhatâs truly shocking is that some of these individuals consider themselves to be male. It had long been accepted that some women and homosexuals struggle to engage with football, but itâs harder to understand how a straight man might malfunction in this way. âWe have government approval to carry out necessary tests on the âball-deniersâ. Since vivisecting several of them and looking at bits of their brains under a microscope, they are biologically identical to fully-functioning humans. âSome of our experiments may be considered inhumane but clearly we cannot risk whatever is wrong with them mutating into a virus.â The phenomenon of ball-deniers became apparent last week when Roy Hobbs passed through his village summoning all males to the England game. Self-appointed football-summoner Hobbs said: âBefore each game I travel the streets in my shiny official England cloak, knocking on each door in turn and so that all males of football age know it is time to attend the pub.â However 36-year-old Wayne Hayes failed to respond appropriately. Hobbs said: âHe refused to join us. Looking over his shoulder, I could see that his television was switched to a non-sport channel. I didnât understand.â Hayes, who has since been quarantined in the Institute for Studiesâ laboratory, said: âI donât know what it is, I just struggle to identify emotionally with these men and their leather sphere. âPerhaps itâs because Iâve never met any of the players in âEnglandâ. They feel like strangers to me. âPlease take these electrodes out of my nose, I think theyâre touching my brain. Is my family safe?â Professor Brubaker said: âHayes claims to be naturally ambivalent to football. Clearly this is impossible. On some level, even if he doesnât realise it, heâs being spiteful.â
This is may be not a good time to confess that as yet I have not managed to catch a full 90 minutes of any game at the Euro's. I am now in a dilemma though - I will be able to see all of the England game tonight, but they have been doing well without me - do I risk it or should I deliberately miss the first 20 minutes?