Football

I had intended this blog to be purely about my professional capacity in the Citrix world but what the heck. 10 seconds of the UEFA Champions League Final on Thursday 21st May in Moscow summed up football for me.

It's widely known in my private circles that I am a big rugby supporter, always have been, and therefore have little time for football and even less for footballers. Whether someone is worth £100,000 every week is neither up to them nor the employer, market forces determine those sort of things; nonetheless, for the record, I think it's disgustingly out of sync with normality.

No, that's not the worst thing. For me, the attitude of the players towards the referee in the second period of extra time summed up this sport as far as I am concerned. A fracas ensued, in which just about every player on the pitch, and the 2 linesmen, became involved. No punches were thrown though, it was all handbags at dawn. Footballers are far too feeble-minded to actually go the full distance. However, the referee was completely and utterly swamped by the players, to such an extent I did wonder about his own safety for a second. They were like a pack of wolves. Unacceptable.

I'm not claiming there aren't any fights or there's no dirty play in rugby, far from it, but at least the referee remains sacred, untouchable. His word is gospel and no-one but no-one, whether you're 5'2 and 10 stone or 6'10 and 20 stone, defies him. Owen Hargreaves of Manchester United goading and pushing the referee into giving Didier Drogba a red card is indefensible. (Having said that, Didier Drogba deserves everything he gets as far as I'm concerned, I've honestly never seen a more dishonest, underhand, devious sportsman as he.)

And all because someone wouldn't give them their ball back.

This sort of attitude to authority is consumed voraciously week in, week out by the entire football-mad youth of this country and is, without a shadow of a doubt, reflected in the way they approach figures of power at school, in sport and in the emergency services. Bring back compulsory military service I say - and I'm not the only one. How else should we restore an ounce of respect for elders and for people in those positions of authority amongst the kids of today?

Football is, in my opinion, the single worst contributor to the gradual decay of society in the UK.

PS. Just as I finish writing this, Manchester United slot the winning penalty. I'm glad a team with cheats like Drogba in it are not Champions of Europe.