WORLD CUP

[bulekingfisher]

Hello ouch readers


I don't know about you but I' bl**dy sick to the back teeth of the media coverage of the football after all it's only a game of very little consequence in the order of life compered to been homeless in minus 8c degrees or the flesh + blood people in war torn Ukraine where are our priorities of welfare to other people

[JLR2]

I tend to avoid it in the main because of the numbers of workers who died building the stadiums, stadiums which will mirror many of the white elephant structures we see following big sporting events. What bits of the world cup I do see I use my German channels to cover as in doing that, because I know very little German, the commentators verbal goes over my head.

[Sunny Clouds]

I'm not a football fan and I agree with Bule's comments about priority and JLR's comments about stadiums and worker deaths.

That being said, I do think that societally in England, and, I get the impression, a range of other countries, football has some useful functions as a competitive sport.

I think that for a lot of people supporting a football team isn't so much about the football as about belonging to a group and socialising.  I also think it offers men an opportunity to express emotion in a society where often we don't let men express much emotion except, for instance, anger.  Watching football, men are allowed to express upset.

So I'm not a football fan and I feel rather disgusted by which countries get to host the World Cup, but I can see why there are a lot of fans.

Also, I think there may be quite a few people out there that already know all about the misery happening around us and who want to avoid it.  How I feel about how people are suffering is that when today I bought some warm slippers, I said to the assistant that I thought they were lovely and that the only downside to wearing them would be my guilt over how many people can't afford slippers.

[JLR2]

Did you just slip them slippers in a bag then Sunny     Given we now know the result of tonight's match we can relax and be content knowing England will not face Morocco and the terrible embarrassment for England of being beaten by Morocco made worse were it to be due to a Mr Kane trying to hit the moon in a penalty shoot out.

[Sunny Clouds]

But surely pubs need England to stay in the competition as long as possible?  Now they'll have to find something else to show on their big screens to lure the customers in to get spend more than they can afford and get drunk.

My new slippers are dead cosy, as is my beanie hat I just bought.  Sudden memories of school games lessons and feeling cold if I was in one of the positions they gave me round the edge of the hockey pitch because I was useless.

Maybe that's why I liked doing martial arts and army stuff.  Nice, warm clothing.  Ok, I'm never going to find football wonderful but now I admire footballers running around in their little shorts.

[JLR2]

Ah the pub trade, that hospitality in general, along with tobacco sales and donation levels to charities are the main guides to the government's economic policies. I get the feeling all these areas of spending are monitored by the folk at the Chancellors office to assess just how much they can cut in public expenditure. If the government doesn't see any sharp falls in donations to charity or tobacco sales falling they take it that folk still have more than enough money. However one area of donations governments of all colours pay a great deal of attention is in political donations to their own party's funds. If they perceive a fall in donations benefiting them they very quickly set about making the changes required to please their regular donation making donors and bring about a reversal of their funding decline.


Funny Sunny, you mentioning army gear, as I type this I'm wearing my No2 dress shirt (British) under my army pullover. My regular (no pun intended)  jacket when out and about be it shopping or doing whatever in the garden is a army 56 pattern para jacket, the one with the 'crapflap' with brass press down stud fastenings. I never wear the jacket when wearing my combat trousers, that would be a bit too much. The combat trousers are great when shopping for a few smaller things as the big pockets on the legs are great for putting things like a newspaper or when I'm buying a wee 500gm bag of raisins for the local blackbirds. I've a few of the No2 shirts as I find them to be hard wearing and the ones I have are a few years old so certainly worth the few pounds they cost me.

[Sunny Clouds]

Don't get me going on army shirts.  Why did I need four different shirts/blouses, two different pullovers, a skirt and two different trousers, three different jackets...even two different sorts of shoes to go with the skirts in addition to two different sorts of boots.  Utter, total madness.

Mind you, the point came not very far through my career when I worked out that most male personnel hadn't a clue what us girlies should be wearing, which meant packing for short attachments easier.

Ooh, random irrelevant memory of army naughtiness.  In barracks, getting ready for formal photo and using an eyebrow pencil to outline the muscle edge down the lower leg before putting tights on, to look fitter.

I don't miss much of my army uniform, although the memories of my combat jacket, ooh, all those lovely pockets.  Most women's clothing of any sort has expletive all pockets. The thing I wish I hadn't got rid of, though, wasn't an issue item, it was private purchase, secondhand from a foreign army, I think.  A sleeping bag with a really good quality waterproof outer layer, including what I think of as a 'padded hood'.  Beautiful.  I was mad to get rid of it.

[KizzyKazaer]

Going back to the football.... interesting though the discussion on army uniform is! ... I confess to being a big-tournament fan, following both the World Cup and the Euro Championships especially in the knockout stages.  I wouldn't compare it on any level with the misery of homelessness or the Ukraine war - we need as much light relief as we can get, in my humble opinion, and enjoyment of sport or any other diversion is no reflection on a person's compassion for the sadnesses in the world.  We can't be social justice warriors 24/7...

[ditchdwellers]

I agree KK. We all need something to look forward to and events like this do bring people together and can be really helpful for many people to feel part of something, and lose themselves to the enjoyment and camaraderie it brings.
A lot of sports individuals and clubs do a lot to engage young people in sports and many raise the profile of under represented groups and issues. I'm thinking of how Marcus Rashford raised the profile of the access to food in schools for all and the importance of children getting adequately fed throughout the year.
I think this year perhaps more than most, people need something to focus on that isn't about cost of living, war, or climate change.

[Sunny Clouds]

Football songs and unity...

Not long ago (a few weeks? not many) I was watching Youtube and clicked on one of those options the algorithms give you if you listen to music of music it thinks you'll like.  One song was one I hadn't listened to for a long time and that I'd never listened to much.  "You'll never walk alone."  I found myself enjoying it. 

But more to the point was the official video - which is clip after clip of what seem to be Liverpool football fans either singing it or smiling and hugging one another etc.  I thought that if I were a Scouser, I'd be tempted to go to matches just for the song and the sense of unity.  I rather think I might then develop an interest in the football itself.

So you could start by being interested in the actual football, or you could come to it from another direction and be interested in it.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned the issue of knitting & motives.  I think it's relevant, but I'll post the  next post on it which you could skip easily.

[Sunny Clouds]

Different reasons, same activity...

Think of someone knitting.  Where I live, the stereotype is a woman attending a 'knit and natter' group, but think of the different reasons for doing exactly the same physical activity...

Any of the following could be done whether you love it or loathe it...

Knitting for a living, knitting for essentials, knitting to express your artistic side, knitting as a way of meeting people, knitting to calm down, knitting to learn to be more dexterous etc.

Two people sitting next to each other knitting may have very different reasons for knitting.   It's entirely possible neither realises the other has different reasons.

You could sit in a community group, knitting and nattering and various members might be doing it... to be with people, to make 'connections', to have support making something they want when they don't actually enjoy knitting, to have others near them to help them with the tricky bits etc.

The variations go on.

I reckon sport's like that.  I reckon that's why stuff like football is so important in our society.