View From The Barclay

*Listening to a buzz*

What was going to be a simple sleight on the vuvuzelas undercut by a sleight on the people calling for them banned has ran into something of a Matt Banahan dump tackle in the form of Patrick Barclay in Thursday’s The Game supplement from the Times.

I’d even got an intro written before I’d encountered his piece -

“So far this World Cup will be remembered for one thing. Not the Jabulani football, nor the obsession with shooting from 60-yards or so, nor managing to get it equally as far from goal, nor the shoddy goalkeeping, nor the mind-numbing co-commentary and Tyldesley. Not even North Korea.

Nope.

The vuvuzelas, obviously.”

See.

Barclay’s article, much more impressive and well-written than mine has thrown a spanner not just into this, but into my whole perspective on those cylindrical wastes of space (the keener eyed, more observant of you may have noticed my current standpoint on them). His points that the vuvuzelas are in fact ruining football, are pretty difficult to argue with.

Eurosport 1-0 Le Mans

*Listening To Laura Marling – Rambling Man*

This is a pretty big weekend.

Obviously we open our World Cup campaign. I say we because we will be kicking every ball and every player with them, well trying when it comes to Little Leo. But we also have the home nations getting taught a lesson in how to play rugby in The Other Hemisphere, a Canadian Grand Prix and the there’s Queens. Although interest is no doubt waning due to the lack of names left. Isn’t Wimbledon going to be fun? Rafa and Muzza struggling to get back into the lawn side of things.

But most importantly the biggest and most challenging event on man and machine is taking place in the middle of France for the next day or so. Yet nobody seems to care anymore. Despite, at the time of writing a Brit being at the helm of the second-place Peugeot and another Le Mans-winning Brit in the chasing pack.

Not that the biggest sport website in the world know though, it’s nowhere to be found on the BBC Sport site. They even have a vested interest in it since Anthony Davidson, their Radio 5L Sports Extra analyst is said Peugeot driver.

Sure the cars aren’t as beautiful as the stunning Gulf Ford GT, but as a feat of engineering they are nearing perfection. They’re not exactly ugly either. And sure, it’s becoming something of a last stop for former F1 drivers but they‘re the best in the world, driving for eight hours or so each. Mansell was a step too far maybe/At least Mansell’s back for goodness sake! (Delete as applicable, whichever you prefer.)

Yet this 24-hour endurance race, testing the limits of racing drivers, the car and even the fans has so very little coverage in the UK. You have to have Eurosport, and then even if you do you will have to pay an extra £4 to watch it uninterrupted except for those pesky adverts. Well, we need to earn some money. On top of TV subscriptions and then our online subscriptions.

Who cares about those of us who don’t have Eurosport. We’ve got the World Cup.

Canada has one gap sorted, thankfully, but what are we expected to do in the two hour slots between the other games?