the other football

Left Backs

The Other Football blog was never intended for a wide audience, rather a place to put some random observations and commentary through their paces. My Melwood.

I am now considering promoting the blog, perhaps under a new name, ramping up the quantity of posts, perhaps incorporating a little new technology.

The Other Football name is reliable but increasingly unoriginal.  And I don't own the domain.

I am considering "LeftBacks.com". I am mindful of attracting a political as well as football audience.  I may instead begin a podcast (why not...everyone else has) called Left Backs.

For the uninitiated, proper "Left Backs" are a breed apart. 

Often quirky characters, they are capable of both the most beautiful football and the most horrendous crimes ever to be witnessed on a football field.

Suggestions on how to improve my game are welcome.  A Blender goes to the esteemed reader who can name the Left Back pictured above. 

The Boot Room

This blog has been in the shadows for about two years.  It is devoted other stories about football, in particular the intersection between politics and football.

The blog was began with an eye on the first World Cup in Africa.  It was intended to serve as a complement to my research on the African Disapora and football.  A place to practice.  A training ground.  And a place to say what needs to be said. A terrace.  The research has been slow, but it is beginning to take shape.

When I started, and as far I could tell, there were few blogs like it. Now, there are many useful contenders.  The quality of FIFA’s coverage has also dramatically improved.  FIFA’s site is now both comprehensive and packed with interesting, well written stuff.  Well done them.

Unfortunately, the prism through which many view their football remains narrow and hyped. I hope the back to the roots experience in the upcoming tournament in Africa will help liven people’s football brains. 

I am now throwing the blog open.  I hope it can be a place those of you who know me and others out there can exchange views on football.  As such, I will be inviting discussion and focusing more on the South African 2010 qualification process.

Davy

Welcome

Welcome to "the other football" blog.

This blog is not intended to be topical, though I will occasionally comment on football news and views. 

This blog will supplement my book project on the African Diaspora and football. 

You can expect regular postings here from now on.

The Other Ahmet

I was saddened to read the obituary of Ahmet Ertegun in today's New York Times.  The man "who championed Soul and Rock" died on December 14th, 2006, aged 83.  Twenty six paragraphs containing one thousand, two hundred and fifty one words taking up nearly one half of the page are devoted to the memory of Ahmet's life.  Ahmet loved "music, jazz, blues and hanging out".  Amen Ahmet.  But there was another Ahmet.  The other Ahmet loved football.  One sentence or eighteen words is all that was devoted to Ahmet's other love.

The New York Times was right to give the late Lamar Hunt (who also passed away yesterday), the man who first coined the phrase "Super Bowl", much of the credit for turning the derivative game into the exceptionalist American phenomenon it is.  Hunt's other passion oil also got an honourable mention. But in failing to acknowledge Ahmet's 'love' of football, stating matter of factly that Ahmet and his brother founded the New York Cosmos Association Football Club with their music fortune, the New York Times may have missed the essence of the man. 

As Ahmet passed from his coma to the sounds of Charles, Coleman and Coltrane, a net rippled and the crowd cheered.