Some thoughtful football commentary

… from Ángel González: “¡QUE BARBARO, CRISTINANO SE DESATA! TREMENDO DISPARO A LA ESCUADRA QUE HIZO TEMBLAR EL LARGUERO. POTENCIA Y EFECTO. ESTÁ TENIENDO MÁS MALA SUERTE CARA EL GOL QUE PASCUAL DUARTE EN UNA TOMBOLA DE FERIA.” Cela made a good living from the proverbial, so I hope he’s not turning in his grave…

Samaranch

Check out Liga Loca on silent minutes and Manuel Stimulo on how “a stupid communist French idea about promoting peace among nations through sports events in which their citizens would participate as amateur idiots [was transformed] into a powerhouse steamtrain of propaganda for competition, professionalism, the Triumph of the Will, battering the weak into submission,…

Otra Liga es posible

An Iberian proposal would slash wage costs, free up time and talent for cashflow-friendly shagshow opportunities, and assimilate football to mainstream Peninsular cultural practice.

Catalan language policy: Marxist, Stalinist, Francoist or fascist?

The precedents for, and some possible implications of, the Catalanisation of Barcelona’s cinemas. Plus some crowd-pleasing video of the Quebec language police in action. (Allez! Allez! Allez! And the hell with the economy!) All in somewhat fevered response to an article by Martin Dahms in the Tages-Anzeiger.

Congolese children singing the anthem of Athletic

Some corner of a foreign football pitch that is for ever Bilbao, and I hope they got fed afterwards: The original strikes me as thoroughly Teutonic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ns2rkb3Wb8 Let’s not kid ourselves any longer: everything interesting, from nachos to nationalism, was invented by the Germans. Fortunately they tend to be generous about using the proceeds to…