I’m always on the lookout for fun, inexpensive presents for the single-figure members of the family. No, not the golfers – don’t think any of us are that low anyway – but the under-10s, of whom there are several. Whisper it quietly but the charity shops are a regular haunt and a rich source of gifts and the aisles of Lidl and Aldi are always worth a sweep.
The wee football above came from Lidl – there’s no disguising it, it’s written on the ball – and in the end I decided to keep it for myself. After all, how could I explain to a football mad 7-year old that blasting a too-big ball as hard as he could with his dominant foot wasn’t going to get him to the premier league. Fingers crossed he’s learning that elsewhere.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to dedicate myself (sort of) to becoming better at keepy-uppy. It shouldn’t be too difficult since even one or two will be an improvement; the bar is set very low. For those of you who haven’t a clue what keepy-uppy is, it’s “the feat of keeping a football from touching the ground by repeatedly flicking it upwards using the foot, knee or head”. You’ll see new signings at big clubs doing showy versions for the cameras. It’s like golfers bouncing the ball endlessly on a club face. It takes time and patience to perfect.
I can hear you asking, “Why bother?” but why not? There must be a knack to it that’ll click eventually if you persevere…
The blue and yellow colours won’t be on show at the final of the Women’s World Cup in Sydney this Sunday because Spain beat Sweden in the semis and will now play England for the biggest prize of all. The Lionesses, the European champions, beat Australia 3-1 in an impressive display and the blog will be cheering them on in the final.
And on Saturday this half of the blog will be making her first trek of the season down to N17 to watch Spurs v Manchester United, secure in the knowledge that it won’t be a nil-all draw – it’s one of the rules of the fixture that there should be goals, usually lots of them. We’ll miss the sainted Harry and his goals and wish him all the best at Bayern Munich, where I hope he’ll be successful and happy. COYS.
We Spurs fan knew it was coming – Harry was off to pitches new. [Snapped off the telly]
A small, tight-knit group.
Danny Blanchflower, the captain, who’s standing in the middle, looking over his shoulder, played for Aston Villa before joining Spurs and was a good friend of Dai’s father, who wrote for the Evening Mail. Danny, a Northern Irishman, was never short of a word or three and became a football writer himself when he retired.
One of his most famous sayings was: “The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
Well, winning in style, that’ll do nicely.
A contented man with a couple of awestruck fans and two trophies, one of which we Spurs fans haven’t seen since.
There hasn’t been much golf in this bit of the blog, so this is as good a place as any to congratulate Charlotte Heath on winning the Smyth Salver as the low amateur at the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath. A student at Florida State University, the Yorkshirewoman finished ahead of Julia Lopez Ramirez, the European Amateur champion, the only other amateur to complete all four rounds.
Charlotte with the Smyth Salver.
“I heard my name being shouted, which is not something I’m used to,” Heath said. “It’s a really nice feeling, having the home crowd. I felt a lot of support out there.”
She hopes to turn professional in due course and follow in the distinguished footsteps of some of the previous winners, who include Rose Zhang, Michelle Wie West, Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall and Leona Maguire, to name just a few.
Congrats also to Ingrid Lindblad, of Sweden, on winning the Mark H McCormack Medal, awarded to the leading woman in the 2023 World Amateur Golf Rankings. The graduate of Louisiana State University will be exempt into next year’s US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club and the AIG Women’s Open at the Old Course, St Andrews – providing she remains an amateur, one assumes.
Ingrid in action in the Vagliano Trophy at Royal Dornoch. Don’t think she sank this one but she’s holed more than her fair share over the last year or two.
With a bit of luck, when she does turn professional, Ingrid will become another in the long line of Swedish stalwarts of Europe’s Solheim Cup team.
Alongside Heath and Lopez Ramirez – who’ll be on opposing sides this Sunday…
In answer to your question “Why bother?” doing such trivial tricks as “keepy uppies” , it’s because you can! Back in the late 1960s a group of American pros called ‘The Kings Men’ from The King’s Inn Country Club in the Bahamas came to Bispham Driving Range (part owned by John Jacobs at the time) and gave an exhibition of trick shots ranging from keepy yuppies and hitting the ball on the half volley to hitting drives whilst sitting on a chair and. BOAC jet shots (their sponsor) where the ball travelled low fo approximately 50 yards and then ‘took off’ But the ones that captured our imagination as a group of golf mad teenagers watching in awe were the keepy uppies and a trick where a ball was placed on top of another secured by a piece of chewing gum or blue tack and the object was to hit the bottom ball and catch the top one when it ‘popped up’ in the air. My friends and I went back to our practice ground and spent hours perfecting these useless skills and had a lot of fun competing with each other. Most of us managed to master over 100 keepy uppies on a wedge and loved showing off our chewing gum pop up shots whenever the opportunity arose. I’m not sure it improved our golf at all but it was fun at the time!
I should have added that as a very young boy I actually saw Danny Blanchflower play when Spurs came to Old Trafford. His younger brother Jackie played for United over 100 times but his career was cut short due to injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster. Loyalty prevents me from wishing your team ‘Good luck!’ tomorrow but I think they might need it!
Great stuff, Simon. I never had the patience to perfect such skills.
Munich is why Mum was a Man Utd supporter. And Harry Gregg owned a hotel in Portstewart, where we grew up.
Your Mum was a good judge. My Dad took me to my first game on Christmas Day 1957 (yes, they played on Christmas Day back then!) and the Munich Disaster followed just 6 weeks later. I was heartbroken and vowed I would never support another team as long as I live, a promise I’ve kept to this day. I’ve been fortunate to attend home games throughout all the glory days since from my initial heroes of Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards through Law, Charlton and Best, Cantona and the Class of ’92. I went to the European Cup Final in Moscow in 2008 but haven’t had much chance in recent years due to ill health and moving ‘down south’. My pals and I used to stand just a few feet behind Harry Gregg’s goal at the scoreboard end at OT and I finally met him at the 50 year remembrance of Munich at Old Trafford in 2008. When someone asked him how it felt to have been the hero of Munich he replied “I wasn’t a hero, I was just the best goalkeeper in the world at the time” You can’t argue with that but he was my hero!
Sorry I missed this earlier, Simon. Wonderful memories despite the sadness. Was Duncan Edwards really as good as they say? I was at a do at Old Trafford once – a lovely Harold Riley gig – and asked Denis Law if he’d practised leaping up to head the ball because I’d seen a video of somebody doing just such a thing with a ball suspended on a rope. Denis, who isn’t that tall, looked at me blankly – he was obviously born with those spring heels xo
That’s a gig I would have loved to attend Patricia. Harold Riley was a wonderful artist. His drawings and paintings that adorned the walls in Salford Royal Hospital where our daughter spent many months a few years ago are not just magnificent works of art, they portray the character and humour of northerners and are also a lasting tribute to the wonderful NHS staff at the hospital. ……And yes Duncan Edwards was as good as people said. He was the complete footballer who could shot and pass with both feet. He could tackle and head as well as any player you could name. For Bobby Charlton to say he was the greatest player he’d ever seen says more than I could ever describe. Denis law could spring above much taller players and ‘hang in the air’ to perfectly time his headers. He was like quicksilver in the box. I remember one occasion when Peter Bonetti thé Chelsea and England goalkeeper attempted to cut out a corner kick and dropped the ball. Before it touched the ground Denis reacted and it was in the back of the net before Bonetti realised what had happened !
Have you written your book yet, Simon? Great tales.
I haven’t really given it a thought but maybe one day I will Who knows? If ever I do I’ll be sure to send you a copy.