Football Tales #1

Antoher day, another new series here at SPAOTP (don't say we lack imagination on this blog site). Here we'll be talking about the silly side of football, and we begin with a story submitted to us by one of our regulars, Kedge. It actually appeared in The Sun last Thursday, about a week after Kedge sent it to us, thereby proving that our loyal band of visitors are always ahead of the game in every sense.

We'll let Kedge tell all...

"My local paper had an article about Stambridge United (Division 2 of the Olympian League). Stambridge is a small village outside of Southend - two pubs, one church and a few houses. They are sponsored by a local author who is publishing a new book of football poetry. The deal is that the team's shirts carry the title of his book. There is some concern that they might get into trouble with the football officials as the book is called 'The Referee's a W****r!' The local league Referee's Association has refered this to the FA for a decision..."

You can't write that kinda stuff can you? Speaking of shirt sponsors, did you notice the Champions League match last week between Arsenal and Hamburg? If you didn't, you missed an odd sight: Arsenal wearing shirts bearing only the word 'Dubai'. The reason? Both they and their opponents are sponsored by Emirates Airlines, however UEFA rules dictate that no match can be played where both teams have the same sponsor on their shirts. Arsenal, being the away team, changed theirs and opted to show one of the destinations that Emirates Airlines flies to. I make it the first time I've ever seen that - I dunno about you!