The not-so-beautiful game

As a former listener for nearly 20 years of TalkSport it would be obvious that sport and, in particular, football were my favourite pastimes.

The arrival of Covid pandemonium has put paid to that and football has become a political hotbed of activism and change.

From rule changes, to lifeless stadiums, to Black Lives Matter, to dementia, to meals for children, to additional substitutes.

Every day seems like a non-stop verbal episode of Panorama.

I remember the late great Johan Cruyff who was a gamechanger in the right way, saying: ‘Football is all about the ball.’ Not anymore. It has long hidden behind the term ‘business’ and the money spread amongst the Premier League is nothing short of obscene.

But, for me, I tried to hang on to the fact that it remained a sport and that, other than the Captain Kirk technology and the non-tackling, in the main, it was still football.

TalkSport has lost me as a listener.

They will not care but there appears to me to be so, so many ‘media influencers’ given air time and writing space that following this outbreak of coronavirus, there is very little in this world that will remain the same… other than business and money, of course. Eventually, we will have a whole team of substitutes available, substitutes who can come on and take free-kicks and penalties and then go off again, six 15 minute quarters, no heading and no kicking.

Sound familiar?

Our friends across the water who enjoy the money spinning American version of football and have gulped up a number of our clubs, will eventually convert us to a headprotected, body-suit game that involves throwing the ball from one end to the other!

Dean Kimber North Shore, Hayling Island