Football

Neglected – by <3 [ { – a u b r e y – } ]

So football season has begun in earnest, because the half of every local paper is comprised of local news, while the other half is EPL news. I can’t say I was never a football fan. I was, until I attended this school that was sucky at football but good at rugby union.

I suddenly remembered what a big fan I used to be when Naomi asked me how come I didn’t watch soccer like the rest of the country. I recalled the Tottenham Hotspur’s 1980/81 team anthem with glee, then scared myself a little bit because I still remembered a lot of the lyrics:

Ossie’s going to Wembley
His knees have gone all trembley
Come on you Spurs
Come on you Spurs

Come on you, Spurs are on their way to Wembley
Tottenham’s gonna do it again
They can’t stop ’em, they boys from Tottenham
The boys from White Hart Lane

Spurs are on their way to Wembley
The kings are claiming the throne
Everybody will be singing
When the Spurs go marching on

We are the boys of Keithie’s army
And we’re marching off to war
We’re sending our soldiers to Wembley
Under General Burkinshaw

Chorus

In our ranks there’s Ossie Ardiles
He’s had a dream for a year or two
That one day he’s gonna play at Wembley
Now his dream is coming true

Ossie, we gonna be behind you
Altogether man for man
We know you’re gonna play a blinder
To ween thee cop for Tottingham
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That funny last bit, “to ween dee cop for Tottingham”, was sung by Osvaldo “Ossie” Ardiles, one half Tottenham’s star duo, together with his fellow Argentinian Ricardo “Ricky” Villa. And they wreaked havoc in the first division in ’81 and 82, when they also won the F.A. Cup back to back. Which was a very big thing in those days. Football fans in Singapore in those days lived for two things – the F.A. Cup and the Malaysia Cup.

Ah, the pre-EPL days, when football was a sport and not quite yet a business. Back in the day, I stayed up late with my older sister to watch the F.A. Cup finals ‘live’ via satellite, which was a very big thing because ‘live’ feeds were a bit dodgy and prone to technical mishaps – the 1987 Rugby World Cup final in Auckland had its sound feed mangled, leaving the RTM’s lone Malay language sports commentator to ad lib.

1981 was a great year for Spurs, they won the F.A. Cup for the 6th time (and in 1982 for the 7th), but the reality of sporting businesses began to sink in, when in 1983, it became the first football club to float shares on the London Stock Exchange.

And so, I lost interest in football, starting calling it soccer, and no matter what anyone tells you, it’s not because I can’t play the game. I’ll have you know I’ve been sent off the soccer pitch a few times for ‘boisterous play’.

But go, football season! I’ll be watching. Sorta. Until this starts in a couple of weeks.