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| The Unofficial World Football Championships Posted: 22 Oct 2009 01:10 PM PDT
Basically, the UWFC people treat international football as if it was boxing or wrestling, in which you have a title-holder and challengers. When the current Unofficial World Champion plays against any other nation, the title is up for grabs. If the other nation wins, they become the new Unofficial World Champions. And so on. All “A” internationals count, so that means any full senior international game, be it World Cup final or just plain old friendly. The idea started in 1967, when Scotland faced World Cup holders England at Wembley in a European Championship qualifier. Here’s a nice nine minutes plus YouTube video of that game (with a very Scottish introduction)… Scotland won 3-2, ending England’s 19 game unbeaten run, which led to Scottish fans declaring their team the “unofficial world champions”. At some point (I can’t find exactly when) someone decided to take this idea of an unofficial world champion and trace it all the way back to the beginning. The first ever international match was in 1872, between what were then the only international teams in the world: England and Scotland. Unhelpfully for the UWFC, that game finished 0-0. But they met again in 1873, England won 4-2, and the UWFC title is traced from there. You can see the full list of title matches here. Brilliantly, that famous game 1967 game between England and Scotland actually was an unofficial title match in hindsight, as England happened to be UWFC holders as well as actual World Cup holders at the time. Of course, it’s all done with a smile, and not taken too seriously. Most teams are probably unaware of the UWFC title’s existence. I can’t decide if that adds to the charm, or is a missed opportunity to add a competitive edge to international friendly week. Either way it keeps FIFA happy, because the UWFC’s fun loving approach doesn’t threaten their dominance or profit margins. Here’s what FIFA have to say, according the UWFC website:
Current holders the Netherlands have had the title since November 2008, when they beat Sweden 3-1 in a friendly. They last defended it by drawing 0-0 vs Australian on October 10th, but face a genuine challenge on November 14th when they play a friendly against Italy in Pescara (to show solidarity with the earthquake hit region). |
| German Security Firm Increases Your Confidence In South Africa 2010 Posted: 22 Oct 2009 11:12 AM PDT
All of days ago we were treated to a trailer of Fahrenheit 2010, the documentary which takes a look at the devious desires behind FIFA’s insistence on a World Cup in South Africa. Not quite sure it’ll have the clout to do any damage (read: bribes), but it shines more light on an already illuminated subject. So how about the news that the German national team won’t be leaving their compound without bulletproof vests? It would seem that dirty tackles are the least of their worries in South Africa. BaySecur, the security consultancy in charge of Jogi’s boys next summer, gave us a little view into the process:
So in other words, treat them like a president under assassination threat. Or the pope. What’s going to happen is South Africa will turn into the real life interpretation of a pretty poor Steven Seagal or Nicolas Cage film. Presumably with better acting from Mario Gomez. And then Michael Ballack and Jogi Loew will meet in a dark room at an airport under black ops surveillance. Then Jason Bourne will come in and save the day (both in terms of the actual day and film quality). And voila, the fourth in the Bourne series will be…. There is one silver lining for all of this, however: standards are set so impossibly low they can’t possibly fall short, can they? (Don’t answer that.) |
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