Rich Man's Plaything

I have been a fan of Sheffield Wednesday for almost twenty years now, and nothing, until two days ago, has made me consider no longer being a fan. Through relegations and promotions, the ups and the numerous lows, I have followed them, but please consider the recent developments.

The team as of Wednesday lay third in the league, and only two points behind second place.  After a run of three defeats, they had still drawn a home crowd of 36.600 (the highest in the whole football league this season outside the Premiership) for their game against Sheffield Utd, which they won. The chairman, Milan Mandaric then sacked the manager.

This same chairman had only recently been acquitted of tax evasion, but then since he is a very rich man, he would be.  The trouble with tax law is that it is not black and white.  There are lots of different things that you can do in certain situations, and it depends a lot on your motives.  And motives can never really be proven in a court of law, and least not without reasonable doubt.

It got me thinking about how much the world is now nothing more than a rich man’s plaything.  A bit of a leap from a football club sacking its manager you might say, but hear me out.

Sticking with football, a vast majority of clubs are owned by rich men, and they don’t always treat them as they should.  With Roman Abramovitch at Chelsea who also sacks managers for fun, with the problems at Portsmouth and now Rangers, along with other numerous clubs that have been mismanaged financially, with no thought to the human and emotional side which is the fans and which is what keeps the clubs going.

Then there are the oil companies who happily ruin ecologies all over the world, and the banks who constantly gamble with other people’s money and as we have seen with the recent crash, their lives and livelihoods too.  It’s rare to find a politician (especially in the UK) who isn’t a millionaire and of course there are the media moguls and the advertisers who constantly tell us what we can read and see, and more importantly what we can’t.

We have all become the baby brother who is thrown out of the sandpit, forced to stand by and watch as the older brother accepts payment for his friends to soil into what should be ours to enjoy, before they all go off and destroy someone else’s toys.  How we stop them, sadly I have no answers for.

Bourne's Identity

For a while now I have seen books in the library by an author called Sam Bourne.  To me it always cried out as the type of books which I occasionally read, and mostly enjoy, but somehow feel that I should be reading something meatier.  This sounds rather pompous I know, but it’s not meant to be.  It’s more the fact that a lot of those books are in fact very bad, and by reading them it almost feels as if you are giving credence to the bad book industry.

Anyway, I recently found out, after listening to Radio 2’s Drivetime show, that Sam Bourne is in fact Jonathan Freedland.  Being a well know journalist in his own right, his agent and publishers had decided that his thriller writing should come out in another name because they were worried that the target audience for the books would be put off by seeing Freedland’s name on the cover.

Ironically this was the reason why I had not previously read any of his books, but quickly rushed out to get one from the library after I had found out the truth; yes, perhaps I am a bit snobbish after all, and certainly odd.

The book I have just read is called The Chosen One, not his latest, and not his first either.  It sits somewhere in the middle.  But still, it is very good.  It starts off with a brand new hope of a President (where have we heard that before?) having recently taken office, but then two bombshells about him are broken within two days...a third is posited.  The person leaking this information is then found dead and the whole country is asking: Was he silenced by the President?

The book is exciting and definitely a page turner (I read it in just over a day), but also poses some intriguing questions. I won’t give them away here since that would ruin the story, but take it from me that as well as being a thriller it does have a meatier content.  And I will definitely be looking out for more Sam Bourne books in future.

True Rubbish

Having heard good things about the recent version of True Grit I recently watched it, only to discover it was yet another Coen Brothers mess of pointless tripe.  After The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading, I should have learned; evidently I have not.

It starts, like most of their films, interestingly enough, with fourteen year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) coming to claim the body of her father who has been shot by one of his hired hands, and who has then ridden off.  She shows off her resourceful character by negotiating a reasonable sum of money from a horse dealer, before going off to look for someone to track down the man who shot her father, and bring him to justice.

Sadly, although the set up is intriguing, the story is pulled off badly.  The men are all hard and hard drinking, mumbling their lines to the extent that the dialogue is hard to follow; I imagine that this was meant to imbue ‘character’, but in the end becomes annoying.  But it proves the fact that the characters are all very one dimensional, including Mattie who turns up with pluck but with no back story to confirm why.

As the film progresses it turns more and more into a generic western, with men showing overblown heroics, who earlier in the film were getting drunk and arguing like old ladies.  And when the ending finally comes you are left with a feeling of being robbed of two hours of your life.

The book itself may be as pointless as the film, I don’t know since I haven’t read it, but if it is then you wonder why it has been made into a film.  If not, then this would have to be described as a poor rendition.  I give it four out of ten, even taking into account the good performance from Steinfeld.

Wednesday one, United didn't

The steel city derby at Hillsborough and my second bout of nervousness for the weekend.  Wednesday came into it with three defeats out of the last three, while United had won eleven of the last thirteen.  Moreover the Owls were five points behind the Blades in the league, having played two games more; it was a must win game, with the manager’s job at stake too.

The first half was even, with Wednesday missing with two headers and United going close with a free-kick that bounced down from the crossbar.

The second half began scrappy.  Neither side appeared to want to win the game and couldn’t put a move together.  Until Wednesday went down the right, Buxton put in a perfect cross and Chris O’Grady scored with a header.  The ground erupted on three sides, with only the Leppings Lane end quiet.

United came back with attack after relentless attack, but Wednesday held them off, although arguably inviting pressure onto themselves a little too much, and Bywater was forced to make a couple of outstanding saves.  But with the game into injury time they managed to keep the ball down in the opposition half until the final whistle blew, with much relief all around.

The Blades may still be favourites to take the second automatic promotion position, but they will know that the Owls are breathing down their necks, and the slightest slip up will leave them ready to swoop.

Robbing against Lawes

This weekend saw the middle weekend of the Six Nations rugby tournament and a key match between England and Wales who were both unbeaten from their first two games.  I know a post about rugby may not mean much to any Swedish readers; however I do know that you play rugby since one of my co-workers plays his weekend games alongside the Swedish captain.

The game was at Twickenham, where Wales had not won since 1988, but on a clear sunny day they started the brightest, almost conjuring a try from a well worked lineout.  They continued to dominate the first quarter and even had the chance to score the first points, until Leigh Halfpenny fluffed the penalty.

England, vastly improved from the World Cup with a new coach and set of players, duly came back into it with some excellent passing moves and strong forward play, and should have scored a try themselves but for an excellent last ditch tackle and some good Welsh defending.

There followed a series of penalties back and forth, all converted by England’s Owen Farrell (son of Rugby League’s Andy) and Halfpenny, and England led 9-6 at half time.

England had won their previous two games with last minute interceptions, and at the start of the second half it looked as if it would continue to be a winning tactic, as first Rhys Priestland had his clearing kick, right in front of his own posts, charged down and although England couldn’t score the try, Priestland himself gave away a penalty for offside and found himself in the sin bin for ten minutes.  England duly scored to lead 12-6 and Wales were down to fourteen.

Usually the side who are down a player will concede seven points and last time the two met at Twickenham, Wales had a man sin binned and they shipped seventeen. But here they played their best rugby of the match.  They kept possession, kept England pinned in their own half and were rewarded with a penalty of their own which Halfpenny slotted over.  And when Priestland returned they had technically conceded no points at all.

It was easily the turning point of the game.  England began bringing on their replacements, much less experienced than the Welsh and Owen Farrell after missing a penalty also found himself injured and had to leave the field himself following a great performance.  Suddenly Wales found themselves stronger and after relentless pressure earned themselves another penalty to level the scores at 12-12.  There were eight minutes left.

For years this was where the Welsh weakened but they have won tight matches already in this tournament and here they did again. England were attacking, but Courtney Lawes was tackled and Scott Williams wrestled the ball out of his grip.  With a smart kick forward into acres of space behind England, he set off in chase.

Now, a rugby ball with its odd shape can bounce in all directions but he got the luck he needed as it continued to bounce forwards but in a slight curve too, evading the English defence.  It jumped up perfectly into his arms and he dived over the line, just by the posts, amid roars and strains of ‘Bread of Heaven’.

Wales were ahead for the first time in the match, Halfpenny converted and it was 19-12 with five minutes to go.  England unsurprisingly counter-attacked.  They moved the ball left and right, won penalties on either wing, but they needed to score a try.  And then, as the clock wound down, it seemed that they had.  David Strettle had dived over, surrounded by Welsh bodies and the referee called for the video replay.

The wait was agonising.  Had he touched down or hadn’t he?  Would England have the chance to level the game with an unlikely Toby Flood conversion from the right touchline?  In the end the replays proved inconclusive, the ref blew the final whistle and Wales had won.

They now have the chance to secure the championship and Grand Slam if they can beat Italy and France in their final few games, but England should be pleased.  This was a much more attacking, intelligent style of rugby than they have played for many years, and come next year with some more experience, really will be the team to beat.