Why Football Support Is Not A Welsh Nationalist Issue

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

At a club level Welsh football occupies a particularly freakish position. After all there is a local pyramid structure and we've chatted about these games in the past. But we have a small number of clubs who play in the English league structure primarily Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham.

But on Twitter recently I've seen a relatively common complaint. That people could slag off England at country level and yet support at club level a team playing in the English leagues. In other words if you support an English team you're not truly Welsh.

To me football support is not a Welsh Nationalist issue and it needs to be addressed.

Now I can see this argument if you were born say in Cardiff or Swansea for example. I've always felt that you should support the closest team from where you were born wherever life takes you otherwise. That's why my first love will always be West Ham United.

But despite being born in the East End I've known members of my family who pick, excuse me whilst I hold my nose, the North London Arsenal as their team. So this "glory seeking" is not necessarily a Welsh issue.

Furthermore you could argue why should you support Cardiff if Aston Villa say is the closest team from where you were born?

There is actually a simple solution. As regular readers of this blog will know whilst West Ham is first amongst equals I've always believed that watching other leagues are more interesting when you support a particular team. Thus I follow in no particular order Barcelona, Celtic, Fiorentina, Paris St Germain, Ton Pentre and Werder Bremen.

There is no reason therefore that the Welsh football fan could not pick the closest team from the Welsh football pyramid from where he/she was born as well as a team from the English league and support them both. By doing that if you don't live near Cardiff, Newport Swansea or Wrexham you will have the chance of actually going to watch a game (which will of course be cheaper). You are not betraying either team as they play in different leagues.

And by supporting a Welsh team Welsh league club football will improve. I'm not saying you'll be watching Barcelona. But different leagues are not unlike food. I like bacon, eggs and chips. But I also like Spaghetti. There is a different taste to different leagues. It's still football though.

Of course at an international level the Welsh football fan should always support Wales.

Whilst I of course (for reasons I've explained last year) will always root for England first.

Until the next time.

A Moving Tale: Prologue. Bereft Of Things

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I will only be mentioning the house move in passing from time to time in this blog as to not to jinx anything. I'll chat about things more fully once we have actually moved even if just to rented accommodation.

That said the weekend has been a hectic one as we (and I include my mother in this who came down for Mother's Day weekend from Essex) had to contend with the unexpected possibility that we might actually be moving this Friday. However now it would appear that the date will be around the middle of May, which is fair enough.

However before we knew that. There was a whirlwind weekend round of packing, bubble wrapping and boxing of the cardboard kind. The only break was a Mother's day dinner and for me regular trips to the local tip.

Wife. mother and a good friend concentrated on the kitchen, utility and dining rooms. I, by myself went through the study.

The thing is. Now we are in this temporary calm I'm conscious that already there is an emptiness to the house. In some rooms boxes and plastic crates have replaced furniture. One bed is going to the tip and it will be joined by at least a chest freezer that seemed to freeze quicker than the Arctic and so needed defrosting often.

All my paper books that I haven't given to the charity shop have now been packed. Including all of my Penguin/Pelican paperbacks (which were for the record a lot more than on the page of this blog - laziness I know) are now in boxes/crates and I've no idea when I'll see them again.

Wife suggested watching a particular DVD yesterday. You can guess the rest. Especially as I packed the machine as well.

Because of what we had assumed was the urgency all my Welsh language papers are crated up. It means in reality that I won't be able to return to them for at least six weeks and possibly more. Things as simple as mugs have been reduced. Wife/mother/friend have only left me with two mugs. My Fiorentina one and an olive green one from IKEA, which is my personal favourite (I've tried to get another one but they don't do it now. The handle on the latest version is too small. Only suitable for children and the president of the United States).

Kitchen cupboards/freezer that were brimming with food are now gradually being slimmed of everything but essentials. I'd be curious as to what concoctions will be produced to ultimately clear us of what was in there.

My wife actually said goodbye to the attic when we cleared it out. I laughed at her given that she and my daughter wanted this move in the first place.

Still, rooms have become sadder, perhaps because all of a sudden they've either lost their purpose or have become just places for storage. Already it's becoming difficult to remember rooms as they once were but a week ago. Odd that.

Until the next time.

Why A Sports bag Was Germain To My Support Of PSG

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday work turned out to be surprisingly good. Let's take that into perspective. Good in this context means that things turned out better than expected. Miracles are for the young and the young at heart. I definitely don't fall into either category.

Still was in a pleasant "it's Friday and I'm not working this weekend" mood on returning home. My bonhomie was extended into the night as unusually for my non work life, the evening was planned out as well. Was going to watch the French Ligue 1 team I follow, Paris St Germain, play in the first match of the season away to Bastia.

As I've explained before, whilst West Ham United will always remain first for me, I'm of the belief that foreign leagues are only interesting if you pick a team to follow. The only link (with the exception of Fiorentina, chosen because they were the closest Serie A team to where my Italian relatives lived) to the teams I've followed is that the selection was distinctly random. With Paris St Germain it came down to a sports bag.

It was during our honeymoon in Paris that my wife and I found ourselves in some of the main shopping streets in the centre. It was I think near the Champs De l'Elysee. We had discovered a few things about Paris shopping habits that day. That Mcdonalds sold alcohol (something that would never happen in Britain) and that French bread was both softer and tastier than the dental danger it was marketed as in Britain. Most of all though it did seem that the centre of Paris was more similar to the centre of London than we had anticipated.

For reasons that have now escaped me there was a need to buy a new travel bag as the one I had was broken. Remember that we went into a large store and amongst the stuff on sale there was a PSG sports bag. It was not too big, not too small.In the immortal words of Goldilocks it was "just right".

So I bought it.......and still have it today.

The bag that started my support

It seemed only reasonable that PSG became the Ligue 1 side that I followed. All because of a sports bag....yes I know.

To those who would shout glory seeker at me (and being a West Ham fan this is something I'm constantly used to) this is the right moment to point out that this happened in 1998. Well before rich new owners and Zlatan. The biggest clubs in French football at that time were Monaco and the Olympics Lyonnais and Marseille. For me PSG's recent success/domination is the closest I will ever get to feeling like a Manchester City fan.

Of course this season is an important one for PSG given the change in manager and the departure to the Premiership of Mr Ibrahimovic. Genuinely hope he does well for Manchester United (apart from when he's playing West Ham) if only because he's in my fantasy team. I should point out though that I purchased Zlatan before Mourinho did.

Here's the proof:

As a PSG player I should add

So then, yesterday. Had my PSG shirt ready.

Not a football shirt I know. But OK as,they say, for leisurewear

Wife/daughter had decided to go and see a friend that evening. Leaving me all alone..........which meant I could see the game in peace and quiet.

PSG's opponents Bastia were tenth last season which meant they had the mid table respectability that they could not be underestimated, Indeed they had the best chance of the first half. Whatever respectably some of their fans had was lost the moment they started throwing objects (relatively big things as well) to some PSG players taking corner kicks presumably because of the colour of their skin. It was terrible to see. 

It was 0-0 at half time and as the second half progressed I felt as if it was going to be one of those games despite the Parisians being dominant for most of the time. Thankfully I was wrong with Kurzawa scoring late in the second half. That was the way it stayed. 

They were happy. I was happy. Although you could see a fit Cavani is needed. Three points is still three points. Especially as Monaco could only draw.

At the end of the game went to do the most British thing about me and made a cup of tea.

We shall see what the season brings.

Until the next time.