Pull the other one

PREVIEW:

Delving deep into a list of footballing talking points, we uncover that a number of un-truths have unfortunately crept in.

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Ryan Giggs should have been selected for England.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and if we all had this at our disposal, I’m sure Premier League star, Ryan Giggs, would have donned the white of England.

A glittering senior career that has seen Giggs amass over 600 appearances for English giants, Manchester United since 1990; the winger would have been a fairly welcomed asset to have at the disposal for the England national side.

However, Giggs was born and raised in Cardiff, contrary to popular belief, so really there was no choice in his decision to choose his native Wales over neighbouring England. When he was just five years of age, he moved to Manchester to attend English schools, and this earned him the captaincy and inclusion in the England schoolboys’ team. A move that has misled football fans to identify his true nationality for many years.

One day we will hope to find out whether Giggs would have sided with competing for England having looked back on Wales’ fairly dismal international showings, yet representing your birth country is always a desire yearned for by many a professional athlete.

Many will also be unaware that Giggs, in fact, started his youth career at fierce neighbours, Manchester City. Between 1985-1987 he gained experience with the Blues before spending the rest of his days at Old Trafford.

You can’t win the league and be relegated in the same season.

With many teams competing in each division, it would seem impossible for a player to pick up both a championship winners medal and the shame of a relegation to his name. However, it seems that this is in fact the case.

Liverpool’s Mark Lawrenson was injured at Liverpool in January 1988 and subsequently moved to become manager of Oxford United in the same season. Finishing 59 points worse off than the Reds, Lawrenson had not managed to steer United clear of relegation and his side went down.

Miraculously, though, he had collected enough appearances for the Merseyside club in that season meaning he also qualified for a Division One winners’ medal.

Bizarre as it may sound, it would seem football continues to amaze us.

Scoring against your own team is a disadvantage.

The Shell Caribbean Cup in 1994 was hosted in Trinidad and Tobago, with one group-stage game involving Barbados and Grenada.

This competition housed a daft rule in which goals in extra time counted for double. With the game in question, Barbados would only progress into the final group-stages if they came out on top with a two goal advantage.

With time running out and the Barbadians leading 2-1, they realised that they had little chance to penetrate the sound Grenada backline. This in mind, they ‘equalised’ in their own net to draw the score level at two apiece.

Grenada managed to see what Barbados were trying to pull off and went to emulate their opposition by scoring in their goal to lose 3-2, therefore making it into the next stage.

However, in a peculiar turn of events, Barbados were defending the Grenada goal so they wouldn’t win the game and they had the chance to win in extra time.

The Barbadians’ plan came off when they scored in extra time making it 3-2 (4-2) and in doing so, went on to reach the final round of the group-stage. Barbados, sadly, went out at the next hurdle.

The Christmas truce 1914.

The 1914 Christmas period in the First World War was credited for a symbolic showing of peace and humanity as a ceasefire between English and German troops took place. There are many stories of this ceasefire, mainly that troops could venture into ‘no man’s land’ and mingle with opposing forces. The two sides would even sing carols and hymns together as well as gradual communication.

Both armies astonishingly participated in a football match on the front-line, conforming to the general belief that football can act as a language (just not a verbal one). This show of human solidarity was an amazing act of kindness in times of one of the most violent conflicts in history. Let’s hope for England’s sake that the game didn’t go to penalties.

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Harry Hunt