£40m wouldn’t go very far in world of football

ALTHOUGH it is better than nothing, the £40m package the Echo reported on Tuesday as helping the Welsh economy to recover would, when put into perspective, be hilarious if it were not so sadly serious.

As a former avid football player, and erstwhile supporter, the perspective is provided by the transfer fees and salaries paid for, and to, modern-day players that bring to mind the wealth of Croesus. I wonder whether Jimmy Hill foresaw, and would have approved of, what has resulted from eliminating the wage structures that he campaigned against; and rightly so back in the day .

In many respects, but without the cruelty and compulsion associated with it, football has served the same function as the slave gladiators back in Rome’s heyday: namely to entertain the crowds and to do so by fielding players of different backgrounds and outward appearance.

But unlike Rome, the financing of the entertainment has to a very large extent been “transferred” from the home-grown entrepreneurs to a motley of foreign ones, whose roots are in countries, and societies, as differently varied as the Arab Emirates, Russia, the United States and Malaysia: the latter two control Swansea City AFC and Cardiff City respectively.

To conclude, this open door to inward investment is not confined to the “football industry” as the general begging bowl is there to be voluntarily filled from any source. This contrasts with the heyday of “the Empire” when forced sales, purchases and slavery were the order of the day, a fact that might not be lost on the descendants of those who experienced the “UK’s might”. Derek Griffiths, Llandaff, Cardiff

Great times in the scouts

I ENJOYED the letter by Mike Brown about Viriamu Jones School (“Fond memories of school chess club”, Echo letters, July 27).

When, in 1947, I passed my 11+ exam in Cathays National School in Woodville Road and went to Cathays High School I had never heard of Viriamu Jones School but in my first class I was the only boy from my school whereas eight of the 26 boys were from that school.

We soon became friends and every Monday evening I cycled up to their school on their invitation to enjoy their scout troup, the 26th, which had only just begun. There were only two patrols, the Lions and the Tigers.

I was elected troup leader as, unlike the rest of the boys, I had experience with another troup, the 42nd. We had some great times together and I became very friendly with most of them despite the quite long distance between our homes.

I can remember the names of some of them even after more than 70 years and I often wonder what became of them.

Perhaps “Iggy” Griffiths, “Spud” Heale, the Lippett brothers, David Mouncher and the rest are still about. I’d love to know.

David Yorath

Cathays, Cardiff

Put a virus testing station at airport

I GAVE up some time ago on the Government’s grasp of science or rationality, but I cannot fathom why the media fail even to ask relevant questions.

While we insist that people travelling from Spain to Britain must quarantine for 14 days, why do we not have a virus testing station at

Gatwick? I know that we have some elsewhere because TV showed them. The same TV which does not even ask that those arriving in Gatwick from Spain have their temperature taken.

This is insane, to assert that these people, all concentrated in one spot as they leave the plane, are a possible health threat, yet we take no steps to discover the facts. Science based on facts is the best kind. Neville Westerman

Brynna

Such hard work caring for loved one

Football has served the same function as the slave gladiators back in Rome’s heyday...

RIGHT now the care system is broken. It has been decimated by coronavirus.

Successive governments have let down older people and not tackled the problems with social care.

For instance at the age of 93, I am still the sole carer for my 66-year-old autistic, pernicious anaemia, insulin-dependent diabetic, asthmatic, learning-difficulties son, who lives with me and who is recovering from the after-effects of sepsis, including having to wear a catheter.

I love him to bits, but the continuous years of strain and the fact that more cutbacks means there is even less help available than ever makes me wish I could have the opportunity at times to be lonely!

I am partially sighted, hard of hearing, arthritic (ankylosing spondylitis), hypertensive, partial paralysis left hand, bone dislocation/toe amputations in right foot, heart murmur, etc. You name it – we’ve got it.

All our friends and relatives are dead. We live in what has become a student area, mainly transient young foreign students who are mostly away at present.

I cannot walk because of two mild strokes, but manage, somehow, with a three-wheel stroller to get around the corner some days to shop at Tesco because the man who used to shop for us temporarily has got his job back.

When I was in my 60s and 70s I was still caring for elderly relatives for 16 or 17 years, who, otherwise, could have cost the state quite a lot as they had no money, but they dreaded the thought of going into care so gave up their council flat to live with us.

It was hard unpaid work as I was ineligible for the carer’s allowance. They both died within a month or so of each other in my home, both in their 90s.

Why on earth the doctors have not added the names of my son and I to the vulnerable list is beyond my comprehension.

Barbara MacArthur

Cardiff

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