Motspur Park in The Rain
Some of the rain has been of biblical proportions. Anyone walking through Motspur Park on their way back from shopping or waking up for a short walk, might be greeted by this joy.
Arcticterntalk.org
The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world
Archive for the month “January, 2016”
Deaths of Two young Sportmen Cricket and Football. What do we know? Steve Gouhouri and Matthew Hobden
Hidden in the weekends sports news were two very sad as yet unfinished stories as the causes of the deaths of the young sportsmen remain either unknown or unreported.
Steve Gohouri was 34 years old and an ex-Wigan player 2010-2012 making 42 appearances and an Ivory Coast international. He was reported missing after the xmas party of his fourth tier German club TSV Steinbach. His body has been found in the River Rhine in Krefeld. Paris St Germain posted this on their website this morning:
“Paris Saint-Germain was saddened to hear of the passing of Steve Gouhouri, former academy graduate.
The Côte d’Ivoire international defender played for Les Rouge et Bleu in the 1998-99 season.
Paris Saint-Germain offers its sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.”
Further information comes from Dusseldorf police who confirm no evidence of violence. Dusseldorf Police also confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the events of Gohouri’s death.
A statement read: “On December 31 2015, the corpse of initially an unknown man was found in the Rhine near Krefeld. In the meantime, the dead could be identified as the 34-year-old who had been reported missing on December 12 2015. An autopsy showed no evidence of violence by third parties.”
Speculation will abound however early media reports are suggesting suicide as a possible cause of death allied to mental health problems.
http://www.football365.fr/deces-de-steve-gohouri-1297552.shtml
The second sad death widely reported this morning comes from the cricketing world. A 22 year old fast bowler from Sussex CCC. Matthew Hobden.
Less is currently known here. He made his first team debut in 2014 and was widely regarded as having potential. He was born and brought up in Eastbourne in Sussex and went to Cardiff University. His performances for Sussex were promising enough to have him as one of only six fast bowlers chosen for the Potential England Performance Programme (PEPP) this winter. Nothing has been reported on the cause of death.
There is no reason to suppose sportsmen are immune from all the stresses and issues of life, and we await further news on the precise causes of death before any speculation. Recent deaths amongst sportsmen have included undiagnosed cardiac causes, such as HOCM, which leads to fatal ventricular arrhythmias.
Data is published on the leading causes of deaths in the 20-34 age cohort.
http://visual.ons.gov.uk/what-are-the-top-causes-of-death-by-age-and-gender/
Suicide and accidental poisoning leading cause of death for 20-34 year olds
Suicide (including injury/poisoning of undetermined intent) was the leading cause of death for 20-34 year olds (24% of men and 12% of women). Factors that could lead to these deaths include: traumatic experiences, lifestyle choices such as drug or alcohol misuse, job insecurity and relationship problems. For both sexes, accidental poisoning is also a highly common cause of death, followed by land transport accidents.
Photographs from a visit to Birmingham City FC
These are almost in sequence from a visit to the Birmingham v Brentford game 2nd Jan 2016. Enjoy.
Reflections on Birmingham 2 V Brentford 1 Away Day. Jan 2nd 2016
Trips to Birmingham have never been without incident and this one is no exception. The nonsense of buying tickets began on tuesday night with the announcement that sales of tickets from Brentford, having reasonably been on sale for four weeks, would cease lunchtime wednesday, but Birmingham in their wisdom decreed no match day sales. Can anyone explain to me why? Why do clubs not want bigger crowds, especially in the holiday season when often plans are not cemented till the last minute. This ridiculous decision was then reversed maybe 48 hours later. Thankfully Twitter and Mark Devlin kept us updated. A number of tickets were sold at the last minute and these needed collection at the ground.
The nonsense continued on match day with no-one in the Birmingham ticket office seemingly aware that these tickets were somehow being escorted to the ground. A random vision of the sign ” Collections” on a gate at the away end gave at last a clue where tickets might be collected. Two unhappy looking souls distributed tickets after checking for names on an envelope. And giving the impression they were auditioning for a role in a prison behind bars.
A number of positives need to be stated. Firstly all the staff at the ground, the stewards and in fact the fans are super friendly, and it was a pleasure to listen in to a conversation on how awful a referee Keith Stroud is. Parking is also easy. Travelling through the suburbs of Birmingham is frankly non unlike the opening of a horror movie. But ground parking is easy and anyone prepared to walk 10-15 minutes can find free easy street parking. Lower Dartmouth street is my recommendation.
And there are a few sights in Birmingham, somewhat unexpected within yards of the ground. And a good few sights totally expected. The ground is in a sort of area that is an admixture of urban housing and small industrial estates. With a few curious bars and shops thrown in for good measure.
On the way to the ground one walks past canals that look pleasant although here there seemed either a small gravestone or a miniature ” angel of the north”. Street cleaning also seems an optional extra, though maybe a little cruel to say that on Jan 2nd.
The ground itself is a great ground now. Three sides have been re-built and this is one of the better Championship grounds. The whole area smells that gorgeous football smell of onions and cooking burgers.
Views are excellent all around the ground and access is quite uncomplicated. With one notable exception, the tannoy system is so quiet that I did not realise there was one. The game however was dire and will be covered in a different blog. Overall this was a good match day experience. And lastly I should mention that £20 for a ticket is really a very reasonable price in 2016.
What have Weekend Offenders and Foot Long Hot Dogs got to do with Birmingham 2 Brentford 1 . Jan 2nd 2016
Sadly an awful football game. The first half was maybe the worst football, if one can describe it as that, all season. Neither team able to pass to another player and nothing to note other than an awful looking tackle in the 45th minute by ex-bee John Toral on Jake Bidwell. Half time arrived with the Brentford crowd baying for a red card and possible execution.
The second half was better though not by much. Brentford leaked their usual two goals with the second resulting from another error from Harlee Dean. Brentford in between scored a goal, a tap in after a goalkeeping error. Frankly this was the sort of game that neither side deserved any points. The referee was also abysmal, Graham Scott. He was finicky to the extreme. Booking an excessive number of players and stoping the game on any any pretext at any time. He ran Keith Stroud a close second in the worst referee of the week awards.
A strange Brentford team performance after recent very strong ones. Raised questions about possible tiredness? Issues behind the scenes relating to transfers?
The team was also a little unusual in that Jota was neither in the side nor on the bench, for which there may be multiple reasons but is he being transferred was the one being discussed? Alan Judge had his quietest game for months. Maybe tired, maybe took a few heavy tackles , maybe again is a transfer allegedly to Middlesbrough for 12 million on his mind? James Tarkowski had his worst game I have seen him have, but still looked good! Again, transfer issues? Tiredness? Who knows.
On the positive side Gogia looked interested when he came on with 20 minutes to go. Neither Hoffmann nor Vibe are strikers we want playing upfront alone.
So, a strange game. St Andrews is a decent ground but we always seem to lose there every time i go……so maybe all my fault.
Weekend offenders was a great piece of graffiti on a wall and foot long hot dogs smelled great. They were maybe the highlights today.
A Great Place
The rants and warblings of an active and some would say disturbed mind. A Brentford Fc supporter and a psychiatrist and photographer. Welcome to my musings and rants.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 