I didn't see the game so I can't pretend to have an informed opinion about it... seeing MOTD highlights doesn't count either (seeing it 'live' on television also doesn't count for much unless you turn the sound off) – I was away at the outlaws in the shires engaging in polite conversation and my other hobby, hunting – however, under the guise of 'fixing' the brother out-laws computer I did manage to get a stream off the internet, a quality one too – for about 5-10 minutes in the first half before I had to go off and help Sophia ride a pony called Harry. After that I dialed in the rifle for the evening... the new ammunition I got is awesome, in terms of consistency, and worked well in my already excellent hand made British rifle and I, for a bet with the father out-law, got the queen in the eye on a five pence piece from 35 meters with one shot... Adebayor and RvP take note - consistency and accuracy are the most important factors when it comes to shooting - but I digress... besides, hitting a static target in training with good light and low wind will never fully prepare you for the hunt proper – you have to really understand an animal in all aspects of its environment before you can successfully hunt and cleanly kill it... pinging pennies is for children.
Oh yeah – and to all you idiots out there who place hunting in the same category as kiddie fiddling (while happily eating intensively farmed meat of the worst kind) – consider this: the only meat I eat is game i.e. wild + free and the only game I eat is game that I have hunted myself. I have not eaten farmed/processed meat for over 17 years... you want the truth about animal welfare then go and check out a battery chicken farm – it will open your eyes and then some. Hunting i.e. violence is innate in every one of us... cruelty is not.
Back to football and the match - the bit I saw was Sagna breaking down the right to get stamped on and dispossessed by a Fulham player (the commentator gave a shocked 'slightly late tackle' platitude for the blatant foul before reassuring us that the ref got it right) – Sagna went down feverishly checking his metatarsals and Fulham hoofed it into touch; we were a goal down by this stage – so I don't know what happened there. Needless to say my opinion from this short window was that Atkinson was a wanker – or far too open to persuasion from the home crowd (who were, fair play to them, getting right behind their team). I think Fulham are a vastly underrated team, and I even had cash down on a draw... I should have layed but I was being greedy. Fulham were the only team to get a worse deal than us at the hands of the officials last season and were probably robbed in the region of 20 points, all things considered. The Fulham fans however... well – I know a few and they are deep in denial about all this, they blame themselves, the manager and the team. My mate Markey-C is a Fulham fan and reckoned that they had a couple of bad calls last season and 'it all evens out' – this pre-programmed 'opinion', as I have stated before, has no foundation whatsoever and is the drone of the witless moron... listen for it, it is usually pre or post fixed by the phase: 'at the end of the day' – put the two together and you will have either:
- A fan so confused that he has no opinion whatsoever.
- A talking head smugly yanking the wool over a fans eyes whilst pouring bullshit in his ear.
Markey-C went to the final match against Portsmouth and was in rapture to avoid relegation... he reckoned it was the best match he had ever attended. I would have been furious and demanding answers. I would have been 'egging' the referee (free range organic) and waving a banner. I would have been instigating a riot.
Anyway - after we got the throw in and Sanga had recovered we were duty bound by 'fair play' to return the ball – we did, but it was passed back into touch around about the point where Sanga got stamped on. The Fulham fans broke into a chorus of:
"Same old Arsenal – always cheating"
Both for the foul which was now a 'dive' in the eyes of the Fulham fan and the subsequent play back into the corner... I would have expected more from the Fulham fans – they, after all, have had some harsh lessons of late but seemed to have learned nothing whatsoever. This is the nature of football and the fan – the fans are not a union, they are a collection of mobs or gangs and it is utterly tribal. Football, on the other hand, is a sport – a beautiful sport that is currently being pinned down and raped by the money men in conjunction with the media and the bookmaking industries. It is being destroyed and the fans just sit their and gloat when decisions go in their favour to swing the result towards that which is most profitable or in the interests of the agendas of the relevant interested parties... after all – it all evens out at the end of the day doesn't it?
Don't get me wrong – from what I saw we were having an off day and I don't begrudge Fulham three points as, fuck knows, they deserve them. The Joker reckons that they got mugged last season for political reasons relating to the Al Fayad court case over his sons' death – and the only reason that they weren't relegated was because he dropped the case in the face of extreme indifference from the establishment... I don't know about that – but I wouldn't rule it out. He also reckons that Pantsil should have got a straight red for the foul on Eboué – but, like Arsené, I didn't see it. I hope that this 'off day' is not the confirmation of my fears that the team has had its spirit broken... this is, after all, a London derby at the start of the season so why weren't we more up for it?
Talking of Arsené not seeing it – he, and all managers, can't see much this season due to the removal of the replay screens from the dugout as a mark of 'respect' for the incompetent twat in the black and his henchmen... really – just what the fuck is going on? Get on with the game? Get on with the corruption of the game is more to the point! Is anyone actually buying this nonsense – is anyone actually believing their eyes anymore?
Competitive sport is a thing of beauty – it is as close to the truth of a particular aspect of the human condition as you can experience without brutality... it is abstract brutality and truly tribal in concept and execution. Alas – I don't think we'll be seeing very much of a competition this season – there are too many tourists, too many leeches and too few people willing to tell the truth... it is becoming re-brutalised on the abstract level!
Have we truly become the Orwellian proles; ignorant, distracted and too involved in our own petty rivalries to consider that the thing we hold most dear, the thing that gives our sport it's most sacred relevance, is being looted and sold by the dirty and small minded? How did we get lulled into just going along with 'popular opinion', which – after all is just the proclamations of the talking heads and their paymasters, as if they are the 'experts'. We trust that power and money comes to the most deserving. We assume that the people in charge have our best interests at heart and are sympathetic and understanding to our culture... Here's the truth - they are not, rewards come to those least deserving in business, politics and now, it seems, football – we, the fans of this game, are the true experts and we should make our voice heard... instead we are the chickens in a battery farm caught in the thrall of the money machine - sometimes I really do want to start a riot; a slow burning, abstract metaphysical sort of riot which will purge the system from within – but I don't know how and I can't yet find the spark I need.
In the mean time I will keep my eyes open and try my hardest to hold the integrity of the game over and above the support for my team. It's going to be hard, especially when Tottenham are involved – but it's the only way...
*Arsenal News*
Here's some of the stuff you already knew; there's been some ins and outs: Senderos off to AC Milan and Silvestre from Manu... I don't know what the new team is going to look like but things are being shaken up – Eboué, it seems, is now centre mid and Touré is looking to find a role somewhere in midfield too... where as Silvestre is our new centre back with Gallas? I'm not sure I entirely 'get it' and I don't rate Silvestre much – please don't tell me that this is the 'big signing' we've been promised – but I suppose that's why I'm not a football manager... I'm looking forward to see how it pans out though – I'm sure the game against FC Twente tomorrow will give scope for some tweaking and an insight as to the future dynamic of play.
