Olympic Power Games

This week Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey supposedly caused controversy and risked upsetting Wales football fans by posing in the shirt of the Great Britain Olympic team.

Unless I'm completely out of touch with the feelings of most other Wales fans, I don't see anything to be upset about. The FAW, like its counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, are against Welsh participation in a British team next summer. The argument is that by having the four home countries playing as one at the Olympic Games, then they will all be put under pressure from Fifa members who believe it is unfair for the UK to maintain the privileged position it finds itself in. And it's true, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are lucky to have sporting independence when there is an absence of political independence.

However, do other Fifa affiliated countries really care about this? I would argue that it is in the interests of other countries that our independence remains, but only in a sporting sense. Merging the four associations would strengthen the possibilities for the team. Admittedly, a GB team would contain mostly English players, but add to that the likes of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey and we would have a team that would be more of a threat to the major teams in Europe and South America. From the perspective of foreign countries, creating a permanent GB team would be to strengthen a rival.


If this were purely an argument about the team each country of the UK puts out, then surely the FA would have reservations about the Olympics too? After all, if the fears of the other FAs were realised there would be no more England football team. Yet the English, to me at least, don't seem to be at all worried about this.

The real reason that the FAW, SFA and IFA are so against the idea of a British Olympic team is because the four home associations hold high positions of power in world football which are undeserved and massively out dated. The laws of football are made by the International Football Association Board, in which Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland each hold one vote, and Fifa (represented by more than 200 other countries) holds another four votes. In the 21st century this seems a bizarre and archaic set up. It has been this way since 1958 though the organisation has existed since the 19th century. There is a long held resentment by Fifa members that the UK holds such a position in the game and it is hard to argue that today this is deserved.

Now it is easier to understand the position of the home associations. The FAW do not want to lose that position on the IFAB as well as the post of Fifa Vice-President which is retained by the UK and rotated throughout the home nations. It is not surprising that the home nations are desperate to cling to this power but it is not good for football that it remains this way. Why should the UK have as much say in the laws of the game as the rest of the world put together? It is understandable why our unique position would be threatened with a combined Olympic team.

Uruguay's pioneering 1924 Olympic team

In my opinion, Bale and Ramsey should definitely play for 'Team GB'. I would want to play if I could, after all the Olympic football tournament has a great history and for Welshmen it's likely to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to play on such a stage. While it would be catastrophic if we were to lose our Welsh national team and I am as patriotic as any Welshman, I don't think this is what upsets other major countries within Fifa. What I do feel sympathy with is the view that it is old fashioned and wrong that the UK should hold a Fifa Vice-Presidency and half the votes on the law-making board. There's no way four small countries would give up such power easily but giving up this privilege would be progressive for world football. History and tradition justifies keeping four teams, but it should not justify holding onto excessive power.

"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome" Arthur Ashe

 Today on Twitter I found a link to a graphic on a Spanish news website illustrating the 42 passes that led to Spain's first goal against Scotland on Tuesday night. Every single player, including the goalkeeper, touched the ball at least once. The Scottish players might as well have joined the Tartan Army in the crowd.

The fact that neither Cesc Fabregas nor Andres Iniesta were involved in the move shows the strength in depth that Spain possesses. Despite being without two of their best midfield players Spain are still able to display their 'tiki-taka' style of football. And with no compromise on quality. Almost every national team in the world would have to alter their approach to games without their most important midfield players, but then not every team is World and European champion. Spain play like Barcelona but the technique, composure on the ball and passing ability is emphasised far more in the education of youngsters in most of Spain. These qualities at youth level have been shown in the country's success in the U21 European Championship this summer.

On BBC Breakfast this morning, there was talk of a local authority ceasing to release the results of football matches at under 12 level. The general consensus seemed to be that this was a bad thing, that it was failing the children by preventing them from having to deal with victory and defeat, one person even claimed it was a symptom of Britain's 'Nanny' culture. But I think the point was missed entirely. The philosophy in the UK too often is to get the ball down the pitch as quickly as possible and just make sure it ends up in the net.

Never mind patient approach play, achieved through intense technical coaching, just lazily hoof the ball up to the strikers and hope for a lucky bounce of the ball or a defensive mistake. From a very early age, boys learn that goals are all that matters and it is therefore the case that it doesn't matter how you score, just that you do. The ends justify the means, supposedly. But this approach has limitations, best illustrated by the lack of success by England and the other home nations. If, like in Spain, young boys were brought up to focus more on passing, movement and patience then they might stand half a chance. Unfortunately, the British approach favours limited players so it's far easier not to adopt Spain's approach. What's more, British football fans also have this impatience ingrained into them. If a team passes the ball around for too long in their own half, or involve the keeper for more than a couple of  touches, it is met with frustration and shouting to get the ball down the other end. What the Spanish seem to realise is that if your team has the ball, then the other team can't score.

I'm not suggesting that every club side should try to replicate Barcelona. Every team should play to its strengths, even if that means having to endure Stoke City narrowing their pitch to maximise the impact of long throws into the box. But I am suggesting that the FA, the FAW, the SFA and the IFA implement Spanish methods into the education of young footballers. Maybe then fewer teams would take the Stoke approach because British versions of players like Xavi, Fabregas and Iniesta would emerge.

A counter argument to this would be that it is harder to win football matches the Barcelona way. But I don't believe that the end always justifies the means. People remember most champions because of their results, but people will remember Barcelona and Spain because of what happened during an entire 90 minutes. That's why Spain will not be remembered as the lowest scoring World Champions in history, but as the most technically gifted and admired team for a generation. When Spain play football, it looks an easy game, but if it were an easy game, everyone would play like that.

Cymru Magic

There cannot have been many days when it was more pleasing to be a Welshman. Our rugby team won a World Cup quarter-final for the first time in 24 years (and deserve much attention, which will have to wait for now), while 12 hours before that our footballers were finally giving their fans reasons to be hopeful about the future. More important than that, they gave their fans reasons to be proud to be Welsh. For too long that hasn't been the case.

Like most Wales supporters I was highly sceptical about the appointment of Gary Speed as national team coach. His complete lack of experience of any kind of management was for me, the main reason not to give him the job. I couldn't see how a manager with experience which amounted to just a handful of games in charge of Sheffield United in the Championship could outwit the likes of Fabio Capello and Ottmar Hitzfeld in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. I still feel international management should be earned on the sidelines and not on the pitch. 

Past and present captains of Wales

Despite that, I now happily have reasons to believe the FAW weren't completely wrong in their decision making. The 2010 World Cup qualifiers were the most miserable for some time under John Toshack and when the draw was made for the European Championship preliminaries, being in a five team group we didn't even have the comfort of knowing points would come against the likes of San Marino or Liechtenstein.

Four games and four defeats in and Wales had dropped to 112th in the world and the performances against Ireland and Scotland in the Carling Nations Cup weren't a positive distraction. Being a small nation it is vital that our best players play together as much as possible and that can be seen in the performances in the last couple of months. However, keeping them together is difficult. Bale, Ramsey and Bellamy are a fearsome trio but all three are susceptible to injury. The wins against Montenegro in Cardiff and Switzerland in Swansea last night showed how important they are to our prospects in the future. Saying that, even without the suspended Bellamy we should have got a draw in England were it not for Rob Earnshaw's much-publicised miss.

Because of financial constraints and family resistance, I don't have Sky at home. Even if I did it would be unlikely that I'd have Sky Sports 3 anyway. So few people would have seen the game last night without going to a pub thanks to the FAW and the ever dastardly Sky. In any case, Ramsey and Bale got on the score sheet at the Liberty Stadium against a Switzerland side who were alone in beating Spain in South Africa last year. This result eliminated the Swiss from the competition and the frustration was evident in manager Hitzfeld's post-match interview. The website of the Geneva Tribune has the German complaining about the red card issued to Reto Ziegler, the penalty awarded to Wales and the Swiss goal that the assistant referee overruled. Switzerland will be disappointed to miss out on the playoffs but it does mean that they will have their best players available for the Olympic Games next summer which is cause for optimism: Switzerland's under 21s finished runners-up to Spain in the European Championships this summer. Like their francophone neighbour Belgium, there are many talented young players coming through. Switzerland are likely to be a threat in the next World Cup qualifiers.

Xherdan Shaqiri, Swiss starlet

As for Wales, the population of our country will always mean we lack strength in depth but I don't think this can be used as an excuse for failure. Small countries can and do punch above their weight. One example is the strange and sudden emergence of Armenia. They have a population almost identical to Wales and go to Dublin on Tuesday with a decent chance of a playoff place, something unthinkable in previous years. Wales' World Cup group, unfortunately assembled while we were 112th in the world, should be beyond our capabilities. Going to Serbia and Croatia will be difficult, as will a feisty Hampden Park in Glasgow. In particular I would really want to attend our game with Belgium to see the likes of Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. Our other opponents are Macedonia, bizarrely coached by John Toshack. He could spring a nasty surprise.

In any case, while I don't expect us to qualify for Brazil 2014, and would in fact be happy with a 4th place finish come October 2013, I don't dread the start of our next campaign as I did this one. Whatever the result of our final game in Bulgaria on Tuesday, the tentative signs are that we'll be competitive against most other countries, we have players who are capable and a manager who is hungry for success. While that alone is not enough to represent Europe at a World Cup I'm starting to feel proud of the team that represents Wales in international football. And surely that's what matters most.

My solution to (some of) Scottish football's problems.

Celtic - European Champions, 1967

As I write this, the champions of Romania are taking on Benfica in the Champions' League, while tomorrow the champions of Cyprus and Belarus will also be in action in Europe's elite club competition. Meanwhile, the champions of Scotland tonight are playing a domestic game against Kilmarnock.

Club football in Scotland is in a terrible state. It seems a long time ago that Rangers and Celtic were anything like a major force in European football yet it was only 3 years ago that Rangers reached the Uefa Cup Final. This season though, Rangers lost to Swedish side Malmo in the Champions League 2nd qualifying round, and went on to lose in the Europa League qualifiers to Maribor of Slovakia. With Scotland's league now ranked 16th in Europe, its second best team no longer qualifies for the Champions' League and yet Celtic also failed to navigate the Europa League qualifiers losing to Switzerland's cup winners FC Sion. However, the Bhoys were lucky when Uefa ruled that Sion broke rules regarding player eligibility and they were given a reprieve into the group stages. On top of that, Edinburgh's Hearts were humbled 5-0 at home to Tottenham while Dundee United were eliminated by Polish opposition.

As tempting as it is to compare the state of football in Scotland with England, I don't think it's fair to judge the Scottish game based on what England has. It's true that the Old Firm no longer posess teams of a Champions' League standard, but any team would struggle in Europe if they found themselves in the SPL. The most obvious, and unfortunately these days, the most important obstacle to the development of the Scottish game is money. To illustrate the stark difference between the SPL and the Premier League, Manchester United earned more than £60 million in TV revenue last season. Blackpool, who finished 19th, received the least, £37 million. On the other hand, Rangers, Celtic, Hearts et al. received just £1 million. It makes you think how Premier League clubs would fare without the TV millions.

Unfortunatly, the Scottish Football Association hinders rather than helps the situation. Many people comment on how dull the SPL is because of the fact that it's only Rangers or Celtic that win the tournament, but I think what's more dull is the fact that only one team gets relegated. In the 2007-8 season Gretna were deducted points and finished the season 27 points behind 11th place Kilmarnock. As a result, for the vast majority of the season there was nothing to play for except Uefa Cup places for any team other than the Old Firm (Motherwell finished 3rd, 26 points behind Rangers). Disturbingly, the SFA thought that a 10 team league would improve the state of football in Scotland. Thankfully, protests by fans, including one by Aberdeen fans during the Scottish Cup semi final at Hampden Park, led to the SFA abandoning that plan.




There are many ideas among Scottish clubs and supporters as to what can be done, and I think the most important thing that can be changed is the timing of the season. Scotland must switch to a summer league. When I lived in Aberdeen, I came to understand Scottish football a lot more than I did before. One thing I realised is that I would not go to Pittodrie on a December night to watch Aberdeen play St. Mirren. It's mind-boggling that Scottish football has been played throughout the winter for so long. Few fans want to see a poor quality match in freezing temperatures. And this isn't freezing as in the north of England, this is North-East Scotland freezing. Many games were called off last season because of frozen pitches which led to fixture congestion. The pitches, if playable at all, contributed to teams struggling to pass the ball (which is enough of a challenge at the best of times for some). In addition to this, with Scotland's best teams having to enter European competition at an ever earlier stage, the likes of Dundee Utd and Hearts are out of Europe before the SPL season even starts. The advantages of summer football are endless:

Poor attendance at Aberdeen's Pittodrie

 Scottish summers are not too hot to play football in. Attendances in proportion to the Scottish population are good but 6 of the SPL's 12 stadiums are less than half full each game this season. I bet far more people would go to Pittodrie or Tannadice on a warm June night than in the middle of January (Further north, you could even save money on floodlights at evening games). That should be reason enough, since surely the purpose of the SPL is to provide football to its supporters. That's not all though. With the English leagues ending in May and Sky Sports struggling to find football to show, more interest would be taken in the SPL by those south of the border and the SFA could demand more money from Sky and ESPN for the broadcasting rights, which would benefit every club. Furthermore, SPL clubs would be at their peak physical condition when European competitions start. The quality of the pitches would be much better in the summer which would lead to more exciting games and possibly better players going to Scotland.


As well as switching to a summer league, which has worked well for Ireland and Scandanavian countries, the SPL must expand to 16 teams with two automatic relegation spots plus relegation playoffs. However, the self-interest of clubs is threatening to scupper this idea because they don't want to lose income by playing Rangers and Celtic at home only once a season. But it does get tiresome playing teams 3/4 times a year and there would be a far more exciting relegation battle to distract us all from the tedium that is Rangers and Celtic's mini-league at the top of the table.

The SPL shouldn't have to compete with the Premier League because with imaginative reform Scotland can produce a 'brand' that can be appealing to football fans, TV companies and sponsers alike. The financial success of the Premier League in England is something even Spain, Germany and Italy's leagues can't match so it's pointless trying to think that Scotland could compete with that. There's still enough passion for football in Scotland to believe that the days when the Old Firm could reach the last 16 of the Champions' League are not gone forever. But it might be a good (or bad) few years until we see Alex Ferguson repeating history by leading out his team in European competition at Pittodrie, or see Barcelona given the chance to improve their poor record against Dundee Utd.

Happier times for Aberdeen, beating Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup Final, 1983

My brief guide to the Granite City

King's College, Aberdeen

 

 

When someone asks me where I've just graduated university, he/she invariably reacts to my answer as if I said Tajikistan. Or Mars. And to be fair, it's understandable. After leaving Southampton Uni during my second year there, I wanted to go to Scotland, and only partly because of the reduced tuition fees. There are worse places to live than Southampton but the way things went there made me want to move a long way from both that city and from home. So after considering both Glasgow and Edinburgh, I decided to go one further and move to the most northern university in the UK.

The most striking thing about travelling to Aberdeen from Cardiff, whether by car or train, is how isolated the city is. Scotland is pretty big yet has just 5 million people and most of them are in the densly populated 'central belt'. The closest city to Aberdeen is Dundee which is 70 miles away, and other than that there are small towns whose names I know only because of listening to the football scores being read out, namely Montrose and Arbroath. Despite that, living in Aberdeen doesn't feel quite so isolated because it is a city like any other. At the same time though, it is a city unlike any other, and because of that I miss it.

Seaton Park and St Machar Cathedral

The city boasts that at one point Aberdeen had as many universities as the whole of England, and King's College, founded in 1495 certainly looks and feels impressive and suitably ancient . Or as Laura says, like Hogwarts. Walking around the campus, from King's to the library, then to Seaton Park is the one thing I miss the most. Seaton Park is what separated my halls in 1st year from the university and it's the best park in Aberdeen. The river Don flows through it, and you can follow it all the way round to Brig o'Balgownie, an historic 13th century bridge. If you're lucky, which I was only once, you can see seals swimming and herons patiently looking for fish. 10 minutes walk further along and you reach the Bridge of Don, the mouth of the river and therefore the North Sea.

Brig o'Balgownie and River Don

While the clichés about Scottish weather are generally on the mark, I'll miss the spring and summer, because while it struggles to get above 21-22C the days are ridiculously long. It's still light enough to walk on the beach at 11pm, which means there's so much daytime to do things in the summer. Unfortunatly, the winter is the complete opposite and I won't miss the Aberdonian winter quite so much. The snow is fun at the beginning but soon gets annoying. The sun sets at around 3pm which is hideous, especially when I wouldn't generally get up before midday unless I had to. This lack of sunlight means that NHS Scotland advises that people take vitamin D supplements. The sun is spectacularly feeble even when it does make an appearance!

For someone like me, where this sort of thing is kind of important, Aberdeen scores poorly for its offerings of sport. Really poorly. The only professional team is the football club and several things become evident after living there for a while. Firstly, the wistfulness and pride the fans feel of its past. Every bookshop contains dozens of books about the '80s when Alex Ferguson created a team that became Scottish champions multiple times as well as the famous victory over Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup Final in 1983. Secondly, there's the feeling of disappointing resignation and acceptance that the city now has a team so shockingly bad. I don't think there are more depressed fans anywhere in Scotland than in Aberdeen. Thirdly there is the hatred felt towards Rangers. Three years ago I quite liked Rangers and Celtic. Now I can't stand them. That's what happens when you live in Scotland!

While I lived in Aberdeen I often felt frustrated that I couldn't just come home for the weekend, that I was too far to come home except for at Christmas and the summer. While being able to go to what is probably my favourite city, Edinburgh, was one of the best things about living in Scotland, realising that I was closer to Norway than Cardiff could be frustrating. And yet now, I wish I could go back, even for a day. Because of that I continue to curse the fact that it's so far away although part of the charm of Aberdeen is precisely that it is so far away. The North East of Scotland, to a Welsh person, is kind of mysterious, a place you never really hear about. And Scotland as a whole is like a foreign country. It takes a good while to understand the Doric dialect. An angry Aberdonian is almost as scary as an angry Glaswegian. I miss the colourful and many varieties of Scottish bank notes (none of this Bank of England nonsense). It became perfectly normal to browse a dozen varieties of haggis at Morrisons, and buy multiple packets of Macaroni pies. One of the mysteries of this world is why Macaroni pies are so prevelent in Scotland but not in any place I've been to in Wales or England. They are truly amazing.

I don't think the shopping in Aberdeen or the night life is any different from other cities around the UK (except the stand out pub 'Pittodrie' which is a shrine to Aberdeen FC), but one shop in particular is probably suffering from my lack of custom since May. Peckham's is the place to go for beer, whisky, cake, shortbread, sandwiches, and well, most other things. I have a dream that they will someday open a branch in Canton. But anywhere within a 100 miles radius would be welcome.  http://www.peckhams.co.uk/about.html

Peckham's

Aberdeen's far away from most people in Britain but it's worth visiting (in summer!) as is the wider county of Aberdeenshire. I think the town or city of the university someone goes to always becomes a special place but since it was the place where Laura first lived in Britain with me and the place I got my good old cat Lucy not to mention all the other people I met and the things I did it has added significance. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can go back.

The North Sea from Aberdeen beach