hardtack

A photo I took of JB at Bluesfest a few years ago.

As I’m still waiting on mine and my son’s Membership packs to arrive (as yet no notification of anything being sent), I decided to phone the club… it was 3:40pm and all I got was a recorded message telling me phone hours were from 9am to 4pm and thanking me for my interest, after which it hung up. Not happy!

The World Cup final was a brilliant game… anyone who found that boring due to the fact that there’s not a change to the score every couple of minutes, would be in danger of rigor mortis setting in. The only negative for me, generally speaking, is that the commentators do not call out diving, but rather, show concern for the player that dived. I found it a bit sad that in such an important game, Argentina’s De Paul found it necessary to dive any time an opponent went near him (I haven’t heard such screaming by a player since the Wimbledon tennis final). He was a blemish in an otherwise spectacular game of football. If the commentators started calling in out in no uncertain terms, then perhaps we would start to see less of it occurring.

Bring back bell bottoms, I say!

I think Ormond Hall is where I’m thinking of for the Stoned Again shows… it was on the corner of Dandenong Rd at the top of Chapel St?

I remember us getting our first TV in 1956 (we lived in Heatherdale at the time). I was completely freaked out by Noddy (probably the creepy organ music), but loved Torchy the Battery Boy, Tom Terrific and Sooty.

I saw Zig & Zag doing drug humour at a Stoned Again show at the (was it?) Astor Theatre in Prahran in the late 70’s.

I have a vague memory of him breaking his leg live on TV as he descended the tiered seating after talking to the kiddies. He slipped and disappeared and the show went to a forced interlude.

Did you get an email notification that it had shipped? Still no sign of ours here in Sydney (and no notification of if and when it might ship).

No, it shows the base of the ball is over the line… however, the perimeter is not, and that is what matters. That’s my final word… bring on the rest of the games.

So you missed the actual video showing the foot connecting with the ball which was clearly not entirely over the line? I know, it must be doctored…a conspiracy.

Agree… we had gone for so long with barely scoring any goals in the course of play (just via penalties), so to score three goals in four games in this World Cup, is a fantastic effort.

Well, they eventually did… https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20631085/fifa-goal-line-footage-japan-germany-goal/amp/

Nonsense! ALL of the ball needs to be over the line, NOT just the area that makes contact with the ground. At first I thought that it was a wrong decision, but if you look at the shot from directly above the ball, it is clear that the ball has not completely crossed the line. And how is that cheating? Do you think the Japanese player looked at the ball and thought to himself “that ball is out, but I’m going to take a shot anyway, with intent to trick the referee and fool VAR”?

An astounding result considering the fact that for the first twenty or so minutes we were lucky not to have been scored against at least twice. I think the occasion possibly got to the players as they seemed to be doing uncharacteristic things such is running into each other and clearing the ball in a fairly haphazard way. After that, something clicked and we started to put together longer strings of possession. Our defence was magnificent. The goal was a thing of beauty… it was strange to watch as there was very little pace on the ball, and it seemed to pass the keeper in slow motion. I haven’t seen all of the goals scored in the event, but apart from Richalison’s bicycle kick, my favourite has been Guesung’s header to get S Korea’s second goal… incredible.

plus…

You didn’t have to go to that much trouble!

My son and I are just up the road in Sydney and are yet to receive our packs.

You seem to have taken my comments a little too much to heart. I’m watching and enjoying the game.

You failed to read the part where I said I had been watching the sport for over 50 years? Saying that I’m not a fanatical follower of the sport (as you obviously are) does not equate to me not watching or me hating the sport. Is it not possible to find the games in a particular event (the World Cup) uninspiring and still enjoy watching the sport generally? It’s hardly whinging to state my opinion of the games I’ve watched… I note you’ve conveniently ignored the fact that I stated that I enjoyed the Japan v Germany and S Korea v Uruguay games. Perhaps you need to accept the fact that you’re not the only one whose opinion matters. I found some games uninspiring, you didn’t… fine.

Absolutely wrong about that as I NEVER whine about umpiring decisions in AFL. However, being the low scoring game that football is, penalties can have a much bigger bearing on the outcome of a game than AFL umpiring decisions could ever have. So, the likes of Rooney and Figo are out of touch?

I’m not on the wrong thread at all. This is a thread about the World Cup which is watched by both dedicated and merely interested football watchers, all of who are entitled to an opinion and have the right to express that opinion. Sure, I’m not exactly a fanatic when it comes to the round ball game, but I have watched and followed it for over 50 years, so I’m not exactly totally lacking knowledge of the game. If VAR is so successful in eliminating diving and human error (ref’s decisions) from the game, then how on earth did Ronaldo earn a penalty kick in the game against Ghana? Even Rooney and Figo believed that wasn’t a penalty and that Ronaldo had milked it, so why didn’t it go to a full review? Why isn’t a full VAR review made for any penalty awarded (it’s not as if it will use up too much match time)?

I didn’t see either of those games, but of the games I’ve see, yep, uninspiring. I’m afraid that for me, soccer ceased to be the ‘beautiful game’ years ago when diving became a blight on the game and totally ruined it for me; so maybe my view of these games is tainted.

With my family having one foot in the Australian camp and the other in the Japanese camp, we still have hope of at least one of the two getting beyond the group stage. Japan were absolutely magnificent against Germany and so should be in the box seat to progress. My oldest son even bought himself a Japan guernsey for the occasion 😁 Apart from that game and the Korea v Uruguay game, I’ve found most games to be pretty uninspiring.

The ‘castle defence’ 😉