What now, O lager louts?
I am finished with the Ottawa Royals OT2 team, I was told. The root cause is friendships that transcend rationality (r not n); the resultant is the tacit approval of thuggish behaviour. My theory can be compared with any thinking man's inevitable disgust with the history of Roy Keane (ManUtd and Ireland), who has been charged by the FA with bringing the game into disrepute (09/04/2002). Too many Jack the Lads about, (maybe not quite the lager louts of Bill Buford's "Among the Thugs", see below).
I have not finished with this saga. Some of you should remember one cannot sue anyone who reveals verifiable facts.
There is an undeniable background of sympathy for my opinion, accompanied by both the constant refrain that this has needed saying for a long time and with do you remember when, tra la.
Be on notice, dear lads and lasses, that violence to the person, by threat or action, is a crime. Allowing, or assisting such behaviour when such threats have been uttered is also actionable. Some of you are colluding even if not directly associating, sadly.
Also, a recognised body, in this case the Ottawa Royals SC, that has knowingly permitted players of a violent disposition to remain as members, can easily be regarded as being in a precarious legal position.
4theGame Barclaycard Premiership: Where one can determine the disciplinary records of players, unlike the OCSL, where the Disciplinary Administrator was unaware what the FA is, let alone her written job description. And then there is the NCISL, where all data is available. Freedom of information is important in increasing safety for the players, officials and spectators.
From
Kirkus Reviews re
Bill Buford's "Among
the Thugs"
A horrific and almost unbearably up-close look at British
football (soccer) fan violence; by the editor of Granta. There's very little
football here as Buford follows the ``supporters'' on their Saturday jaunts from
1982-90. During these years, British football fans and their loosely organized
``firms''- -with their bizarre ties to white-power groups, skinheads, and the
National Front--were involved in scores of deaths, countless riots and
skirmishes with police and rival supporters, and untold damage to property in
England and across the continent. The violence is merely highlighted by the
dozens dead at Heysel Stadium in Brussels in 1985, and by the 1989 FA Cup
semifinals, in which 95 fans were crushed to death in a misguided attempt at
crowd control. It is that ``precise moment in its complete sensual intensity''
when the crowd goes over the edge and erupts into heedless violence that
captures Buford's attention as he attempts to understand such ferocious
behavior. He witnesses--and gets swept up in--crowd scenes so ugly and alien
that the individuals he comes to know-- Daft Donald, DJ, Mick, Berlin Red--seem
utterly beside the point. (Buford observed one supporter head-butt a policeman,
then suck out and bite off the cop's eyeball). He finds that ``violence is their
antisocial kick, their mind-altering experience,'' and notes that ``this...is
the way animals behave....'' Following his own brutal beating at the hands of
Sardinian riot police, a despairing Buford concludes that, in a society that
offers little to look forward to or to believe in except ``a bloated code of
maleness, an exaggerated, embarrassing patriotism, a violent nationalism, an
array of bankrupt social habits,'' youth, out of boredom, frustration, and
anger, will use violence ``to wake itself up.'' An extraordinary and powerful
cautionary cry. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights
reserved. --This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition
OldTimers+Rec
2002
Schedules:
OT1;
OT2;
OT3;
OT4;
OT6;
Rec
Scores:OT1;
OT2;
OT3;
OT4;
OT6;
Rec
Standings
for all above
+++++++++
OT4 2000:
Oh, the smacks on the head!
OT2 2002: it's still here! But sadly will remain incomplete.