Category Archives: Football
Race & Spanish Football
I struggle to find any justified excuse for the abuse suffered by the Real Madrid star Vinicius junior and the way in which a certain high-up in the Spanish La Liga has reacted. The racist nature of chants by a large group of local fans suffered by the young Brazilian during Real Madrid’s game against Valencia last Sunday was only too evident. So was the emotional impact it had on the player who was red carded by the referee after being caught up in a tussle provoked by a …
Messi is the greatest, so was Maradona
For fear or being accused of being a party popper, and in deference to my many Argentine friends who , as I write , are having the most joyous and extended party of their lives, let me first offer my heart-felt ‘felicidades’. Argentina has not only won two world cups as a democratic country, but each have been achieved thanks by the best player of his time, with a distinct personality and unique set of skills. No need to relegate the memory of the late Maradona to make way for …
Maradona’s World Cup
Maradona’s World Cup Story By Jimmy Burns With the World Cup in Qatar fast approaching this winter in the Northern hemisphere, one football legend will be missed, and notable by his absence , even for ever remembered, Diego Maradona who died two years ago on the 25th of November 2020. During his tempestuous life and career, Maradona played for top clubs in South America and Europe-including Boca Juniors, FC Barcelona and most notably Napoli where he became an adored hero and adopted son. He was the Player of the …
Remembering Lorenzo Sanz
On the first anniversary of Lorenzo Sanz’s death from coronavirus, my friend the author Ignacio Peyro pays tribute as a football fan and a gourmet, to the man who served as president of Real Madrid from 1995 until 2000. As Peyro posts with his characteristic humorous lyricism on his Instagram account, Sanz in his heathy days always had the physical exuberance of someone had just emerged from an extremely good meal of Spanish sea food. My own memories of Sanz, which I describe in my book When Beckham went …
The Boys in the Park
Nothing like watching football played in the times of Covid to help one reflect on the sport and what if anything we might learn from it. My local beloved Battersea Park was earlier this afternoon alive with the sound and sight of young boys enjoying an outing in the glow of a gentle autumn sun, their teacher half-heartedly trying to impose some rhythm and order on their young charges’ play. Hard as the track-suited sports master tried to channel the ball and encourage a decent combination of a pass or …
The Genius of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
What separates genius from the good and even brilliant is the ability of a person to evolve with the passing of time, not just to mature, but to create anew, and still be inspirational,to remain a clear cut above the rest. In top flight football , as in other elite sports, the threatening awareness of mortality, the ease with which a player can go from his peak to a swift decline, from valued asset to beyond sell-by date, is only too common, sometimes with tragic consequences on the personal …
