An Illustrated Guide to Soccer & Spanish By Elliott Turner, Illustrated by Erik Ebeling Published by Round Ball Media LLC, 2011 $5.99 (available here) ISBN: 978-0-615-48583-6 Although perhaps too much can be made of the so-called language of football, it’s true that the game possesses its fair share of linguistic quirks. The Football Lexicon, co-authored by occasional Two Unfortunates contributor John Leigh, did a marvellous job highlighting these and the overuse of the word “adjudged” as well as the currency of Hollywood Passes, playmakers and those mysterious channels displays the oddness of the sport’s idiom. As far as other languages are concerned,…
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What to do with an International Weekend
In recent weeks, fellow blogger Lloyd and I have perhaps become unfaithful to the nominal brief of this site. First, I opted to join a clutch of writerly comrades at Colliers Wood United’s Wibbandune Sports Ground for the FA Cup tie against Chessington and Hook United. Then, a few weeks later, and in the same competition, we teamed up for a local derby between Oxford City and Didcot Town - a report of which can be found at the masterly website, The Real FA Cup. But last weekend and just to prove we are rounded enough to occasionally indulge in…
On Fandom - With the Fervour of a Convert
It’s an oft heard cliché that football is ‘like a religion’. That’s never an assertion I’ve been wholly comfortable with. In large part this is probably coloured by a personal lack of faith, but having been raised and schooled (at least until the age of 11) in the bosom of a strong Northern Catholic community and subsequently lived in some of the country’s most ethnically diverse post codes I’d suggest the converse is also true. Whilst many football fans make personal sacrifices at the altar of their chosen brethren their investment in their chosen club is never as absolute as that…
The Monday Profile: Pascal Chimbonda
A look at the list of players that have decided to procure the services of Willie McKay as an agent makes interesting reading. Few from a roster that includes Henri Camara, Joey Barton, Amdy Faye and Charles N’Zogbia have been shy of entering into contract disputes and the subject of today’s study, Pascal Chimbonda is no exception - the Guadeloupe born defender having joined Doncaster Rovers on Friday.Cast your mind back to the final game of the 2005-6 season - a campaign that saw Chimbonda start 44 games for Wigan Athletic, secure the right back berth in the PFA Team of…
Book Review: The Unfortunates
The Unfortunates by B. S. Johnson Published by Secker & Warburg, 1969 £20, ISBN: 9780330353298 For our latest review, our regular guest contributor Russell George has provided his view on the novel that inspired this very website, B. S. Johnson’s magnum opus. Published in 1969, this classic example of experimental literature was out of print for any years before being re-released in the wake of Jonathan Coe’s magisterial biography of Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant. Johnson was a complicated character, fiercely devoted to the highest of intellectual standards and yet much tormented. Coe quotes an acquaintance of Johnson as possessing…
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