I ♥ Jorge Larrionda

English referee Graham Poll claimed before yesterday's England match that FIFA had appointed arguably their best referee in Jorge Larrionda of Uruguay to referee the World Cup match between Germany and England.


Known as the King of the Red cards, Larrionda has the highest red card per match ratio in international matches, 94 in 140 or two reds every three games. He excelled at Germany 2006 refereeing four games...including the Portugal v France semi-final.


Unfortunately his inability to see with all the accuracy of a goal line camera no doubt means he'll be in for a bit of abuse from the English media during the match and the next forty-four years of post match analysis...

The English media have been over this before, remember Urs Meier, the Swiss referee who had the temerity to disallow a Sol Campbell goal against Portugal at Euro 2006?

The Sun orchestrated a campaign against this 'Urse-hole' relishing as many puns as they could dream up for the 'Swiss banker', eventually having whipped their readership into an orgiastic fondue of dribbling mentalness they published Herr Meier's personal details. The resulting 16,000 abusive emails and death threats saw Meier agreeing to take on police protection for him and his family, particularly after the Sun rented the field across the road from the Meier family home and planted a massive St George's Cross flag in it.

Some MP's even tabled a motion in the House of Commons criticising the quality of refereeing in the tournament. The BBC noted for it's fair play joined in and published all the funnier photos of Swiss stereotypes and referees.

  
We can only presume the distance from London to Montevideo will deter Sun journalists from tracking Larrionda down after the tournament... although I suspect the combine wailing and gnashing from the Englandshire FA will mean the King of the Red cards has refereed his last World Cup match.

E-A-S-Y.

Ahem. Admiral Nelson, your boys took one hell of a tedious drubbing.

England Expects...too much.

That's Not All Folks.

Last night saw this years EIFF open with Sylvain Chomet's long anticipated feature length animation homage to Jacques Tati, 'The Illusionist'.



Coupled with Jana Prchalova's wonderful 'Mondo's Search for the Sun', having its official premier at the festival, animation in Scotland is starting to take on a rosy hue.



The fact that these two works of outstanding quality were made in Scotland got me thinking about how much animation has changed in this digital age. Not just the speed and relative 'ease' of production, but that the laborious work is being diminished, that there is no longer the need for a thousand Korean background artist, as spoofed in 'The Simpson's'. 

I'm delighted that a Frenchman and Czech woman choose to live in Scotland and can find inspiration and a means to create here. It's a positive tip for the future. We've come a long way since Norman McLaren headed off to open and head up the animation department of the Canadian National Film Board, and never returned. Hopefully these films will inspire a new generation of Scottish animators to stay and work here.

 

You never know maybe one day we'll produce something as awe inspiring as Yuriy Norshteyn's Tale of Tales, probably the best animated work of all time.




http://www.djangofilms.co.uk/

http://www.oncewerefarmers.com/

It's Coming Home....

So here we are on the eve of  yet another World Cup without Scotland...and I'm awakened from the torpor of my mid afternoon hammock-time with a thought....

When England, kick off their opening match on Saturday against the USA, what anthem will their supporters belt out and the team mumble along to?


Traditionally England have used 'God Save The Queen' for football and 'Jerusalem' for Cricket, Eggball chasing usually comes supplied with Low Slung Chariots. Yet, when Great Britain competes in the Olympics it's always 'God Save The Queen', which is recognised as the official anthem. 

So surely, at this time when English identity is undergoing a rediscovery and there is no longer any perceived 'shame' about flying the St George's Cross, it's time for England to have an anthem that is as distinct to them as 'Flower of Scotland' is to us, 'Land of My Fathers' to the Welsh and 'Londonderry Air to the less partisan folks in Norn Ireland?

The English Commonwealth team carried out a poll for what their team anthem should be in Delhi later this year. The result is quite surprising. Have the English FA followed suit and embraced the idea of English identity? 

World Cup 2010 Smack down in the Chicken Wing Battle

The above image snapped on the BBC Front Page website displays a simple comment promoting Radio 4's Today programme.  

'Is USA on track to beat UK again in the World Cup?'

Hmmm as far as I can recall the UK have never had a representative team play at the World Cup. Also the USA have never played either Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales in the World Cup. I presume the reference is to England, I know that the USA played them in Brazil at the 1950 World Cup and defeated them 1-0. Scotland played its part in the Yank team with the manager Bill Jeffrey and captain Ed McIlvenny both being Scots.


Perhaps this is just another example of the BBC's interchangable use of 'England' and the 'UK'. Too often when Scots pick the BBC up on this wilful one-size-fits-all usage, we're accused of being chippy, much like the Labour MP's that shout 'who cares' across the floor at SNP MP's whenever an attempt is made to redress a Westminster imbalance, we're expected to just shut up and get on with it. Shout out and we're accused of Anglophobia...even racism! Our self loathing tabloids will soon be in full on dribbling mentalism, looking for real or imagined incidents when one drunken twat hits another, who happens to be wearing an England top...

Well come Saturday 12th of June at 7.30pm, there's only one team I'll be supporting...





and if that doesn't whet your appetite for the underdog...

"Vi er best i verden! Vi er best i verden! Vi har slått England 2-1 i fotball!! Det er aldeles utrolig! Vi har slått England! England, kjempers fødeland. Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana--vi har slått dem alle sammen. Vi har slått dem alle sammen. Maggie Thatcher can you hear me?

"Maggie Thatcher, jeg har et budskap til deg midt under valgkampen. Jeg har et budskap til deg: Vi har slått England ut av Verdensmesterskapet i fotball. Maggie Thatcher, som de sier på ditt språk i boksebarene rundt Madison Square Garden i New York: Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"