Thursday Quotables – Soccer in Sun and Shadow (July 3)

Thursday quotables is hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. To take part Lisa shares the following:

If you’d like to participate, it’s really simple:

• Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
• Comment on this post with the link to your own Thursday Quotables post. Or… have a quote to share but not a blog post? Leave your quote in the comments!
• Have fun!

Today was another day without World Cup action, although I caught the end of the Buckie Thistle vs Rangers game. I also got back to reading Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shadow, which I started earlier in the year. It’s a great read and if I don’t get it finished now I’ll probably take it away on holiday with me. Here are a few of my favourite quotes so far:

Sometimes the idol does not fall all at once. And sometimes when he breaks, people devour the pieces. (p.6)

The linesmen, who assist but do not rule, look on from the side. Only the referee steps onto the playing field, and he is certainly right to cross himself when he first appears before the roaring crowd. His job is to make himself hated. The only universal sentiment in soccer: everybody hates him. He gets only catcalls, never applause. (p.10)

How is soccer like God? Each inspires devotion among believers and distrust among intellectuals. (p.36)

In 1930 Albert Camus was Saint Peter guarding the gate for the University of Algiers soccer team. He had been playing goalkeeper since childhood, because in that position your shoes don’t wear out as fast. Son of a poor home, Camus could not afford the luxury of running the fields; every night, his grandmother examined the soles of his shoes and gave him a beating if she found them worn. (p.66)

I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of this book so far and am looking forward to getting the rest of it read soon.

A day with no World Cup!

There were no games at the FIFA World Cup today, but at least I got to see most of the TFC game tonight, which turned out to be a hard fought draw following a very questionable first-half sending off. Because there were no games in Brazil today, I thought I’d share one of my favourite football quotes with you, from the late great Bill Shankly:

Bookmark Monday – World Cup (June 9)

Bookmark Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Aloi from guiltless reading. Take a picture of one of your favourite bookmarks, post it on your blog, and head over to guiltless reading to share a link to your post.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup starts on Thursday and I’m really looking forward to a month of good football. With this in mind, I’m sharing these printable World Cup bookmarks with you. They can be found at Activity Village if you are interested in printing them off.

Book Beginnings and Friday 56 – ’78: How a nation lost the World Cup (May 23)

With the World Cup just around the corner, I thought I’d choose a football book for this week’s meme combo. My choice is ’78: How a nation lost the World Cup by Graham McColl. This is the story of the train wreck that was Scotland’s campaign at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. I was only twelve at the time, but I still have vivid memories of the events of that summer. Goodreads has the following description:

In the summer of 1978, 30,000 delirious fans paid good money to wave off the Scotland team, fully expecting them to return home from Argentina with the World Cup. The whole country was behind the soon-to-be-crowned champions, but eight days later the team was back, having spectacularly failed.

Now for this week’s excerpts:

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader, who invites anyone to join in, saying: ‘Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.  Please remember to include the title of the book and the author. Leave a link to your post.  If you don’t have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.’

The beginning of ’78:

There did not appear to be a lot in common between Ally MacLeod and Prince Charles during the late 1970’s. MacLeod, the Scotland manager, was a refined rabble-rouser whose infectious enthusiasm led thousands of people to follow in his wake; Charles, the heir to the British throne, had an uncertain, hesitant presence in public.

An interesting beginning to what turns out to be an interesting book. I read it a few years ago, but I may read it again soon.

The Friday 56 is a book meme hosted by Freda’s Voice and the rules are as follows:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.

It’s that simple.

From page 56 of ’78:

Scotland’s slack performance had not been received warmly by the crowd at a packed Hampden but Ally remained upbeat in the only way he knew how. ‘I know the supporters want wins and not experiments,’ he said, ‘but if we come back from Argentina with that gold cup, everything will be forgotten.’

Needless to say, that gold cup didn’t come back to Scotland that summer, or any other time for that matter, but it was an interesting period of time, that’s for sure. I still remember the sense of numbness and unbelief following the defeat to Peru and the draw with Iran. The crazy thing is that we could still go forward if we beat Holland by 3 goals in the final group match. With a 3-1 lead at one point, it looked almost possible, especially with Archie Gemmill’s goal in the 68th minute coming with plenty of time left to get the result we needed. However, the Dutch scored another goal three minutes later and the dream slowly died.

I’m looking forward to the World Cup in Brazil in a few weeks time, despite the fact that once more neither of my countries – Scotland and Canada – will be playing there. I think that Spain will be hard to beat again, but there may be a few surprises as the tournament unfolds. It will be a great month of football anyway, regardless of who wins.

Bookmark Monday – Goal! (October 15)

Bookmark Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Aloi from guiltless reading. Take a picture of one of your favourite bookmarks, post it on your blog, and head over to guiltless reading to share a link to your post.

Canada’s Men’s National Team has an important World Cup qualifier tomorrow. A win will see us through to the final round of qualifiers for the finals in Brazil in 2014.

Two days to go – a quote

Five days and counting

I wish the World Cup would just start now! The waiting is just too much. At least the Stanley Cup Final is still going, but there’s just no comparison. Here’s a few ads to whet the appetite and to take away from the boredom of waiting for it all to begin: