Dave’s Football Blog

Over at Soccer FanHouse, I’ve been writing a little about the so-called rumble between Columbus Crew fans and the Inter City Firm, a band of West Ham United hooligans. As you can see from this video, the actual confrontation turned out to be quite lame.

Well, guess what shows up in my inbox today?

Hello Dave,

I am currently working on the cinema release of Cass, which is based on the life of Cass Pennant member of West Ham’s ICF.

The film is due for released on 1st August and I was hoping you might be interested in feature the trailer and information about the film on your blog.

Please let me know if this is possible, I have placed the synopsis and trailer links for you below and here is a link to the website - http://www.cassmovie.co.uk/

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yes, it’s a movie about the Inter City Firm — just four days after the Inter City Firm shows up in the news, attempting to make trouble at an MLS match in America. Could it be that this so-called hooligan attack was really *gasp* a publicity stunt for this film?

If so, it’s either utter baloney or utter genius. Or both. I haven’t figured it out just yet. Either way, I have a hard time believing this is a total coincidence.

(Photo by Mike Thorn)

Rugby viewers in New Zealand last weekend got a little surprise with their sport — four minutes of hardcore porn. It seems a scheduling screw-up caused Prime TV to switch off from the game and over to Desperate Black Wives 2. As opposed to Desperate All-Black Wives, I suppose…

The mother in this news report — which, sadly, does not show the slip-up — seems strangely aghast and bemused at the same time. Or is that just the normal reaction to porn down in New Zealand?

(Spotted on Deadspin. Video spotted on FanHouse.)

The 2008 Tri-Nations Rugby Union series kicked off today in New Zealand — you may have seen the giant ad for it to the right there — and what better way to get it started than with a big fat haka from the All Blacks? If that doesn’t get your blood pumping a little faster, nothing will. (In case you’re wondering, yes, the Stellenbosch ELVs are being tested this year.)

The boys at MediaZone were nice enough to hook me up with a Rugby Channel account, which I will be testing today. They seem eager to give away a free one-month subscription to the Rugby Channel through this site, so keep an eye on this blog for details.

Yes, I’m aware that the Super 14 Final and Guinness Premiership Final are both scheduled for tomorrow. I’ve just been unable to get excited about club rugby this year. That’s one reason why I haven’t posted this video, which showed up on With Leather last week, until now:

I don’t care what style of football you prefer. That’s a quality play.

If you’re an Aussie Rules fan, that would be no…

(Spotted on The AFL Show)

The future of rugby union in the southern hemisphere appears to be up in the air. Super Rugby is considering a complete overhaul to try and revive sagging interest in club rugby union in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. At the same time, the Tri Nations series could expand and add more nations, but it faces one key problem:

The bulk of Argentina’s players, as well as those of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, are based in Europe. Whatever else might change in the brave new world, the timing of the competition will remain roughly the same - running from July to September.

That prevents both Argentina and either a combined Pacific Islands team or one of the three individual nations, depending on how things are structured, from gaining access to their best players. A competition featuring full-strength New Zealand, Australian and South Africa teams and a half-strength Argentina and Pacific Islands would be a disaster.

Indeed. That’s why it’s time for SANZAR and Europe to come together for the good of the sport. It’s time to combine Tri Nations with Six Nations, add Argentina and create Ten Nations Rugby.

Think about how big an event this would be in world sport — ten giants among national rugby union teams, criss-crossing the planet for nine weeks to play each other in a competition to determine true supremacy in the sport. Tell me that wouldn’t attract a huge international audience. Granted, it might be a scheduling nightmare, and those long plane trips would certainly test the limits of those athletes’ endurance, but it might be worth it to keep interest in rugby union alive in the nations where it’s most popular.

What do you think, rugby fans? Would you like to see Ten Nations Rugby? Or is there something else SANZAR could do to keep Tri Nations interesting?

Hard enough to survive a good smashing on concrete steps, anyway. I’d like to see that dork behind the anchor desk try to survive that.

(Spotted on Deuce of Davenport.)

We report, you decide…

(Spotted on With Leather)

It’s been a pretty crappy offseason for AFL commissioner Andrew Demetriou. First, he tried to move the Kangaroos from North Melbourne to the Gold Coast and was summarily rebuffed and called mean names by nice old ladies. Then he announced plans to expand the AFL to 18 clubs with new additions on the Gold Coast and Western Sydney. Not only did he get AFL club presidents questioning the speed of this move, but he’s gotten the rugger buggers really, really pissed off.

Gold Coast Titans boss Michael Searle has attacked the Australian Football League’s expansion plans, labelling the AFL “cannibals” and vowing to fight to protect his team’s turf. …

He said the AFL’s aggressive attempt to make its presence felt in the region was the greatest challenge facing his (National Rugby League) club and he intended to be pro-active in repelling its advances.

“The AFL is aggressively trying to expand into traditional rugby league markets and we have to be equally aggressive in defending and growing our game,” Searle said. “The AFL has shown itself as a sport that wants to cannibalise. It doesn’t want to co-exist.

“I have great respect for what the Brisbane Lions have achieved in the past 10 years and feel for them in the predicament this will put them in, having to share revenue in a finite market. This battle has just begun, but we must have a plan that will counteract what the AFL is trying to achieve.”

To understand why this is a big deal, you have to understand the concept of club membership, which appears to be very unique to Aussie sports. These clubs don’t just want fans to buy tickets, walk in, cheer and leave like most American sports owners do. They want these supporters to feel like they’re involved in the success of the club itself — and with their financial support, they often are. Membership gets you special ticketing privileges, voting rights within the club, lots of free and discount gear, and the general feeling of being part of a very large family.

(This explains why the Sydney Swans supporter I spoke with at the Grand Final party in Raleigh would kiss the Swans logo on his cap in the middle of every other sentence. The membership system makes the Swans really feel like his club.)

Of course, the catch is that membership costs money, and Aussie sports fans only have so much of that. As Ando points out over at the AFL Footy Blog, lots of sports radio callers in Melbourne have said they can only afford one club membership, and they find themselves having to choose between the Melbourne Victory and their AFL club. So while the A-League and AFL schedules don’t compete with each other, the clubs themselves do.

Thus, the NRL is pissed off that the AFL is trying to encroach on their territory, because suddenly, they have to compete with them for members in markets that were exclusively theirs. That might be the main reason these football codes keep sparring with each other. It’s not enough to say that your code is superior — you have to convince your members to put the other code down so that they can help you sell more memberships.

As all these football leagues seek to expand, the battle for members will only grow more fierce every year, and old ladies will find even more entertaining words to describe Andrew Demetriou. References to roosters and lollipops grow more likely every day.

Have you ever had days when even the most ordinary things seem to drive you completely batshit for no apparent reason? As you can see from this picture, Carlito knows exactly how you feel.

It has been a crazy week for football around the world, though, what with the Champions League knockout stage and the Super 14 starting, the NAB Cup well under way, and in America… the scouting combine. Oh, yes, the NFL scouting combine. There’s nothing creepy at all about young men in T-shirts and shorts being ogled by geezers with clipboards. Nothing at all.

It’s a sign that we take the NFL a little too seriously — some guys more than others — but really, where don’t they take football seriously on this planet?

Here’s a look around at some football stories around our planet this week:

• Michael David Smith has the combine covered. [NFL FanHouse]
• The Gladiator helmet has your brain covered. [Mighty MJD @ Yahoo]
• The Dolphins want to bring the Premier League to Miami. [Pitch Invasion]
• Just who is this Richard Scudamore character? [BBC Football]
• The troubled life of Gazza. [Goal]
• Trouble ahead for MLS? [ESPN Soccernet]
• Red cards ahead for swearing footballers? [The Offside]
• Is FIFA looking to rugby to help beleaguered refs? [Reuters Soccer Blog]
• Not everyone digs those ELVs. [The Rugby Blog]
• A lesson in drop punting. [Kick2Kick]
• AFL rejects plan to plunder Ireland. [Fox Sports Australia]
• Fantasy football is everywhere. [AFL Football Blog]
• Matt Walsh is watching you. [Deadspin]
• Troy Vincent may be full of shit. [Mighty MJD @ Yahoo]
• Everton waits for Michael Bradley. [Liverpool Echo]
• A primer on football in Argentina. [Pitch Invasion]
• Those UEFA Cup knockout ties look pretty good. [Reuters Soccer Blog]
• Some useful soccer news web sites. [The Offside]

That ought to hold you for a little while. In the meantime, I’ll be straightening up the house this weekend, as some fellow Carolina Railhawks supporters are coming over to watch the Carling Cup Final. Meanwhile, the Premier League, Super 14 and 6 Nations are on, while Australia will witness the A-League Grand Final and more NAB Cup preseason footy. Set your DVRs accordingly. I did.

Enjoy your football, everyone!