Iraq has voted, less bloodily than might have been feared, though bloody uncertainty persists. In a hopeful Allawi government ad, U.S. tanks grind across the desert toward the border, dust swirling. Lads drop a ball, kickabout begins. Christopher T. George

It surely bears comparison to Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal versus England, the superb flyer El-Hadji Diouf took, airbound in the Ewood Park air beyond the desperate fingers of Blackburn’s keeper Brad Friedel but referee Steve Bennett had no doubt, pointed to the spot. He should have seen the replays as we the TV audience […]

Pelé kicked the ball: the ball’s charmed trajectory —one more golden goal. Lads play footie on waste ground, use bricks for goalposts, somehow learn the skills. Christopher T. George

All those winter evenings, Grandad listened to BBC Radio as he went over Vernon’s Pools, so many names to me as I played by the fire: Leyton Orient, Brighton and Hove Albion, and all the exotic Scottish names like Stranraer, Stirling Albion, Partick Thistle, Airdrie United, Heart of Midlothian. The embers in the grate glowed […]

In that factory land, Ted Hughes country, with its dour names, Oswaldtwistle, Bury, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Heptonstall, the ‘Pool brought their hopes of FA Cup glory, but with a second string team, all the young lads, plus an out of sorts Hyppia and an under-scrutiny Dudek, versus the claret and blue’s best, our manager’s gambit […]