Q Is For Question

Q is for Question

I have a question...

What if all this bluster about the European Super League is actually just another of the big clubs smoke screens to get every one wound up so that when they announce it isn't happening we all pretend to like them and don't mind when they demand a bigger slice of the Prem's riches in return for binning the idea?

Project Restart

Project Restart couldn't have gone any better for Palace as they comfortably saw off Bournemouth at the Vitality courtesy of a sublime free kick and a beautiful team goal.

My Palace made me proud as they supported Black Lives Matters on their shirt sleeves and their backs in place of their name,s and I love that they all took the knee in solidarity.

Get A Life!

It's great to see Eli fully committed to his football. He's loving playing for De Beers AFC and has done incredibly well to become a mainstay of defence in the Under 12s team.

Being Brits, we're used to football being in foul weather, but we find it highly amusing (and a little pathetic) how so many cry off at the first hint of rain.  Eli wouldn't dream of missing his football practice, no matter what the weather was doing!  Some of those kids, or rather their 'soccer moms' need to get a life.

Golaccio!

Finally after a few weeks I managed to get hold of a big enough piece of netting to finish off Eli's football goal and he's really pleased with it.

The completion of the goal nicely coincided with him finally getting his new De Beers football shirt which has his name and favourite number on the back and if I'm honest, he's a little bit more excited by the kit than the goal.

Oh well, I tried!

Fires Still Raging

It's sad to see that the fires are still burning on the Hotties and the fire crews still battling so hard to contain them. The wind is really not helping things!

This was the backdrop to Eli's weekly football coaching in the local park.  Thankfully Radloff Park is unscathed by the fires and the estates bordering it seem to have got off quite lightly too. As Joel and I were walking Rosie we saw no signs of the devastation we had been warned about.

Go Now!

Much will be said in the coming days about Hodgson and the England team and most of it will be justified as once again we've watched a dismal team put in two dismal performances. Yes Rooney was poor but Gerrard was worse. However, my main beef is with a clueless manager. 

They say a picture speaks a thousand words and this picture doesn't disappoint. 

Let The Games Begin

We're all ready for the World Cup.

How about you?







Thanks to Andy for sending us the bunting and inflatable hand. Much appreciated mate!

New Year's Day

I've not blogged about Palace for a long time so you'll have to excuse this post.  Though in reality it's not entirely about Palace.

It's exactly six years since I've been to a Palace game (see Palace Result - With A Difference) but what an occasion it was. I got to take Joel to his first ever match and he absolutely loved it! As a dad and a Palace fan it made for a very special afternoon for me and one I'll never forget

Blogging From A To Z Challenge - C

C has to be for Crystal Palace!

My beloved football team.

One of the things I love when the England football team play is that for a while every English football fan gets to understand something of what it's like to be a Palace fan. The England team is full of potential and is not short on talent, they are capable of winning every game they play and yet they so often fail leaving the fans disappointed yet again.

Spain v Portugal

I had the pleasure of enjoying my last World Cup game last night and have to say it was a joy to watch the game as a neutral. Whilst I started off hoping Portugal might win it after their demolition of N.Korea, it quickly became apparent that a different Portugal team had rocked up for this game. I reckon the best I can say about them is that Spain were brilliant! Apart from Torres who's been ineffectual through most of the tournament the rest of them were great and what a pleasure to watch the likes of David Villa in the flesh. He really has been impressive in this World Cup.

Portugal v N.Korea

No doubt the TV and newspaper pundits have said just about all there is to say on Portugal's fantastic win over N.Korea so I'll not add to them. All I will say is that N.Korea had a reasonable first half and were somewhat unlucky not to be level at half time but that is probably academic in the face of what happened in the 2nd half.

For fear of repeating the post below I'll not say too much here, rather I'll let the pics do the talking, click the link under the last pic for the full album. Suffice to say that we had a great day which was rounded off nicely by Ronaldo et al.

Goal Fest!

Having left the house just before 9.30 and getting home at about 6.30 has made for a long day but man it was so worth it! Despite the best efforts of the rain in the morning and the fact that we got soaked we had a lot of fun and were rewarded with a stunning goal fest by the Portuguese! What a pleasure to see Ronaldo and co at the top of the game and playing for the sheer fun of it. Definitely a memory to treasure.

England v Algeria - Oh The Shame!

I love it when England play because it allows the rest of the English footballing fraternity know what it's like being a Palace fan. You have a great team with brilliant potential, you should win every game and play your opponents off the field and yet somehow you manage to make it all look like really hard work and have very little to show for your endeavours. That's what it's like being a Palace fan, but as Palace fan I got used to that a long time ago. Sadly for the rest of the England fans the reality may just be dawning.

Despite Rooney et al's best efforts to ruin our amazing evening they thankfully failed in their quest. Yes the game was a turgid affair and we made the Algerians look good but it was still an amazing vibe and the Cape Town stadium still impresses and it was great to share the evening with our mates Jo and Mark!

Italy vs Paraguay

Just had another fantastic evening in Cape Town enjoying the World Cup spectacle. This evening I went with my mate Gary to watch the Italy v Paraguay match and we had a lot of fun. Sadly the game wasn't the best, though it was a dramatic improvement on Friday's! The best bit about the game was that both goals went in right in front of us so we were well pleased with that. Despite the game, the vibe in Cape Town and the stadium was just brilliant once again! It's a real privilege to be able to see so many games live and to soak an amazing carnival atmosphere on the streets of Cape Town.

World Cup Vibe ========<() !!!!

I'm not really sure how to begin to describe the feelings from my first ever World Cup experience, it really was a stunning event and for me, only the first of six and maybe even seven of the Cape Town games.

From having stressed about the best way to get to the game and what time to set off Michael & I decided to go with Daniel and Zelda (Daniel leads Grace Community Church) to Grand West and get the park n ride shuttle from there and it all went perfectly though a bit of a hiccup on the way home as the promised bus never materialised and we had to take the train which was interesting!
30 Jun 202012 Jun 2010

World Cup Fever

We've got a serious bout of world Cup fever in our house and the boys are really into it.

So today they had their faces painted and my English son chose the South African flag whilst my South African son chose the English flag. So which one is the traitor?

I'm now really excited as Michael will be here for 4pm and then we're off into Cape Town for the Uruguay v France match. My first ever World Cup match. Can't wait!

World Cup Tickets

I picked up our World Cup tickets this morning and it feels really good to be going to so many games in such a short space of time.

Joel's particularly excited as we're taking him and Eli to the Portugal v N.Korea game as his teacher has Portuguese roots and he loves his teacher!

We're just thrilled to have this amazing once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of the world's greatest football players right here in our own back yard. What a privilege!

World Cup Kick Off 2010

On Saturday Grace Community Church joined with Ukuthasa Peer Education to support their World Cup Kick Off 2010. This was an event to raise money for fixing the many broken windows in the schools in Macassar.

As a church we decided to serve coffee & donuts from a tent on the edge of the playing fields and it has to be said that our tent was brilliant! We were by far the best stall there and as a church we were well represented throughout the event and with two teams in the competition we certainly achieved our aim of raising awareness of Grace Community Church.

Palace R.I.P.

Palace went into administration last night less than 24 hours before their date with the tax man at the High Court to settle a winding up order over a 1.2M unpaid tax bill. We already had a transfer embargo slapped on us over unpaid fees to other clubs. Not that that really had much impact as we couldn't afford to bring any new players in anyway.

Palace Decade Review

The Croydon Guardian is running a Decade Review of Palace and their goings on. Some of it is quite amusing some of it quite depressing, but that's part and parcel of life as a Palace fan.

The highs include Shipperley's goal against West Ham in the play-off final securing promotion to the Premiership. Our Five-nil drubbing of Brighton at Selhurst. Being rescued from administration by Simon Jordan (you know when you've been tangoed!) and most definitely signing AJ (Andy Johnson) from Birmingham as part of the deal selling Clinton Morrison to them. They must have regretted every second of selling AJ!

The lows include our immediate relegation from the Premiership the following season, being sent down by a goal from Charlton Pathetic. However the lowest point by far was spending two long and miserable years in administration contemplating life with non-league status. Fraught times indeed!