Balls to it - the changing faces of footballs

This weekend sees the arrival of the Seitiro Hi-Vis football, the yellow version of the ball used in all Premier League games… Now an annual event, when the league use an apparently more visible ball for the gloomy winter months. Another evolution in the key piece of equipment in the game? Or just a blatant excuse to plug budding Sunday Leaguers to shell another £80 or so in order to try and recreate a mental dipping Ronaldo free kick.

The Blue Man Group picked up the wrong shade

The history of the football is a tale worthy of a Hollywood movie, one of those My Fair Lady jobs where the star becomes refined, floaty and, in the case of the Simpsons, yellow. But is that better? In years, will people reminisce about the 2011 Premier League football, and how simple and elegant it was? At least the current video games allow us the choice to change the ball, and I doubt many will choose the current.

The encylopaedic Soccerballworld.com shows a history of footballs used during World Cups since 1970, and it screams 'classic'. Perhaps it is also a link to the wider screening of games on telly, when the ball became almost as symbolic as the kit. Plus, they just looked awesome, seeing Carlos Alberto finish off Italy in the 1970 final, that Adidas Telstar ball, white with black hexagonal patches, nestling beautifully in the bottom corner.

The 99p flyaway ball was a success

Of course the goals themselves are the key, or the thing of beauty on occasion. But does the ball make that much of a difference? Players (mostly goalkeepers) make a big song and dance about how the ball moves in the air, but do they wish for the days when the ball would be a big leather brick, absorbing water? Would Javier Hernandez be as proficient a header of the ball if he got a concussion every time he went for a header?

  

Ouch

These footballs were blamed for senility and dementia by former Celtic player Billy McPhail, and perhaps many more - but football has changed. Sure, some of the ideas are the same, but with all the football on TV, and the marketing exploits, people want to see quick, fleet footed players. Imagine the thigh strength required to put one of those old balls in the top corner from 30 yards!

So maybe it's a matter of personal taste, and we all have our memories... But my personal favourite is the Tango Espana... What's yours?

Back of the net

APOEL of my eye - has Platini got it right?

APOEL Nicosia. Oţelul Galaţi. Viktoria Plzeň. To some, amongst the top 32 clubs in Europe. They are currently in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. APOEL even top their group after matchday four, a group featuring three of the last four winners of the Europa League (Porto, Zenit and Shahktar).

Of course the European Cup (a more appropriate name) has been littered with small teams throughout it's history. Without seeking to disrespect, winners between 1986 and 1991 include Steaua Buchurest, Porto, Crvena Zvezda and PSV Eindhoven - perhaps a time when a smaller club could genuinely have ambitions to go far, albeit with the help of a kindly draw, something the group stages have had a massive effect on.

Porto celebrate in 1987

But from the mid 1990s until the present day, the final stages of the tournament has almost exclusively been the preserve of Europe's elite - perhaps with the exception of 2004, when the final four were Monaco, Deportivo La Coruna, Chelsea and eventual winners Porto, under the leadership of a then little known Jose Mourinho.

In 2007, Michel Platini became UEFA president, and one of his main briefs was to reduce the monopoly of clubs from England, Spain and Italy, and has taken steps to guarantee more places for the champions of clubs from the smaller nations which have swelled UEFA so much. Each season, as well as those places guaranteed for the high finishers in main leagues, 5 places are reserved for the winners of other domestic leagues - this season's such representatives being APOEL (Cyprus), BATE Borisov (Belarus), Plzeň (Czech Republic), Genk (Belgium) and Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia).

 Michel picks the venue for the UEFA Jolly Boys outing

It is certainly a good time if you're a fan of discovering new places - but what are the other benefits?

• Money: The obvious one. Entry into the group stages of the tournament is worth millions to the participents. Even just the guarantee of 6 matches, with the sponsorship, TV and ticket sales that come with it.
• Experience: The chance to face Europe's best players is an opportunity that is rarely replicated at league level - Messi, Van Persie, Ronaldo probably won't play too much in the top flight in Finland, so the clubs relish it.
• National development: The native players from these clubs benefit from the exposure to the world class players, something which may well be behind some of the more surprising rises in Euro 2012 qualifying, with Bosnia, Montenegro and Estonia in the playoff round.
• Shop window: Even with the riches of Europe, some clubs make their living by developing and selling on the best talent (Arsenal?) - a good run to perhaps the knockout round could inflate prices hugely, and let the world know all about their star striker...

 Europe's scouts queue to get into a 1st round qualifier before the days of YouTube

Rumours of a breakaway European super league continue, but isn't football a better place with the risk of the upset? EasyJet would probably go out of business, you know that on the European matchweeks that half their clientele are on their way to pastures new...

Put a monkey on it - betting on football

You've seen the queues. Desperate men, waving bits of paper, screaming random numbers at each other. Nope, not the Stock Exchange, but the pokey stall on the stadium concourse... Men who have been putting a fiver on Lee Dixon to score first goal at 40/1 since the year dot; or those who believe that today is the day, when he can quit his job and live a life of luxury, yet still turn up on the terraces on a Saturday afternoon (or Sunday - see earlier blog!)

What's the attraction? Do we need an extra incentive to make a game that more exciting? Knowing full well that one goal, booking or throw in can make a difference is unpredictably brilliant sure, but for money as well?

And then... Players themselves get involved...

 Beppe celebrates his accumulator coming off

In the summer of 2011, it emerged that the latest betting scandal to affect football was to engulf Serie B in Italy, involving teams including Atalanta, Cremonese and Hellas Verona. The usual allegations were made, people being part of certain crime rings and owing money, but the most amazing thing was that Marco Paoloni of Benevento even went so far as to dope his former teammates in games. And for what? Pure greed? Infamy? Or just a belief that it was fine?

The most famous betting scandals in England involved a handful of players in the early 90s including Liverpool legend Bruce Grobbelaar. He, along with John 'Awooga' Fashanu and Hans Segers, were charged with conspiring to corrupt after being caught out by the Sun newspaper. Although no specific matches were mentioned, he was ordered to pay £500,000 due to evidence of dishonesty. The first match after the allegations was for Southampton at home to Arsenal, and he was showered with fake £20 notes bearing the 'Bank of Grob'. Alas he also kept a clean sheet and watched a penalty from Paul Dickov reach orbit.

Bruce was nervous at the visit from the Police

Betting is fun. Betting is dangerous. Maybe that's why it's fun. It's a different beast from fantasy football or office sweepstakes. The fact that most big clubs have an affiliation with a betting company (what do we call them? Bookies? Turf accountants?) means that it's big business, and they want us to splash the cash, and even better, the clubs know that if you win, you're more likely to buy that new 4th choice keeper shirt for your kid, or the limited edition club cushion.

But we can't the corrupt few players or the mega-rich clubs ruin it for us... And next time we get an offer of a free bet, or see Ray Winstone's head floating in the air saying "Bet, naaaaaaaaaaaaah", just have a flutter - it could make that Europa League tie live from Andorra just that little bit sweeter...

Stick a ton on it you schlaggggggg

The Fourth Estate - football in print

Football in the papers. It's part of life. We can spot a sports fan just by watching them in a newsagent, on the train or in a library. They're the one who pick up the paper, ignore perhaps world changing events on the front page, and flip straight to the back. But what else do we see when we pick up that paper?

Like most other parts of the printed media, you can get a good idea of the philosophy of that paper just by the name on the top. Humour, gossip, agendas and good traditional journalism can be found in different measures in each.Take Britain's dailies for example. Each will have a different viewpoint on events, and you could quite easily read a different one every day and have that day's mood satisfied.

Classic headline? Or just lame pun?

Twitter has made minor celebrities of football writers, oracles in a community of people wanting everything yesterday, where free opinions aren't enough. A retweet of an up-and-coming blog or an endorsement can do the power of good. A good teaser post by a journo could earn their paper hundreds of sales.

But papers (and of course their writers and editors) can create a huge amount of controversy. The most famous (infamous?) perhaps being the Sun's reporting of the Hillsborough tragedy, recently re-visited as part of the Parliamentary debate. The Guardian's Barry Glendenning caused a small ripple of annoyance after making a comment about Spurs perhaps milking minor miracles... Reputations are made and broken, and again going back to the Sun, the Graham Taylor turnip incident.

Taylor's alternative to the England manager umbrella

After England's miserable Euro '92 campaign, The Sun referred to the manager Taylor as a turnip, and thus pretty much tarring him for life, even now as he is a fairly regular (and often insightful) contributor to BBC Radio 5.

Does our choice of newspaper reflect us? Should we pigeon-hole the papers, to the point where we have to be exclusive - the Guardian is capable of being just as humourous as a red-top, while the Star has been known to make the odd insightful article... Even if it is just Sepp Blatter's designs for women's football kits...

The Telegraph's coverage of women's cricket was obviously flawed

Clothes maketh the man - football shirts

Iconic images. We always have those ingrained somewhere in our heads - when we think of certain players, we look back to the grainy black and white photos, the fuzzy TV screens, or the incomplete Panini Mexico 86 sticker books.

Terry Butcher is immortalised in a blood stained England shirt from 1989. Pele in the simple yellow Brazil shirt of 1970. The memories of Croatia v Denmark at Hillsborough in 1996, a team of mysterious strangers (mostly) donned in tablecloths swiped from a local Italian restaurant.

A huge market exists for the replicas of such jerseys. eBay, websites and collectors make a killing helping big kids lust after the shirts we remember. Some of these shirts get reproduced, perhaps as a money-making lust from the manufacturers. We see the football stadia full of men squeezing into the shirts of young boys. But is it ever the same?

 

Awesome player, but is the shirt now worth more?

The shirts are polyester firestarters, itchy as hell, not the supposedly eco-friendly pieces of today, which claim to be made of recycled bottles, absorb sweat and are supposed to look good with jeans. Classic designs, with enormous collars, simple stripes and peeling sponsor logos.

But will any of today's shirts be classics? And indeed how long can we wait before a shirt is a true antique? Sport shops sell current England shirts for less than a plain white t-shirt, ensuring that they are seen all over, a triumph for now, but I doubt they'll be remembered.

We all have our memories. Mine are of Michael Thomas in 1989, the classic Adidas yellow shirt, and I queued for hours to have him sign my replica at Islington Woolworths, only for him to pass comment that it had a large 2 on the back, the number of Lee Dixon, saying "I hope that was the score and not for Dicko".

Up for grabs now...

Maybe after the research for this blog, we can drum up a market for this shirt, and hopefully the video below will explain why!

Brazil v Zaire, 1974 World Cup

Brilliant. No amount of awful clip shows will take this away from me.