Israel vs Iran

English fans warned not to travel to either country for the match.

Looks like VAR has interupted the match
a.k.a-USA

Divent forget, all the murdered women and kids are just to keep Netanyahu out of prison.

It is acknowledged that the first and over-riding responsibility of each, any and every democratically elected government is the safety and protection of their citizens.
It’s a pity that democratically elected Hamas, aided and abetted by the war seeking Iranians chose to ignore that on October 7th.
Isn’t it?!

what have ye done with akabula??

1-1 HT.

You just know defenders of Israel have a best pal who is convicted nonce.

Stupid man.

ye are happy to defend children being starved to death/murdered.

I think the point might be that Hamas should have considered that their children might end up being starved to death/murdered before acting as they did on October 7th.

don't know why i bother with you retards.

Do you think they regret the attack and all the rejoicing on October 7th?

Don't start nothin, won't be nothin..

Easy win for lsrael. lran have virtually no defence.

Jun 15, 2025 -- 5:35PM, Emitdeb wrote:

Do you think they regret the attack and all the rejoicing on October 7th? Don't start nothin, won't be nothin..

lsrael allowed that attack to happen and maybe even planned it all out. Most deaths that day were due to the lDF attacking their own citizens. I have no dog in this race and I'm not a fan of either side.

Show me and the forum where I have defended Israel’s atrocious conduct of their actions in Gaza.
I insist.  Feel free to copy and paste anything.
You won’t be doing ANY copying and pasteing.

Show me and the forum loudmouth or crawl away into your posh.  Loudmouth.

We’re waiting.

It is impossible to know what is truth or lies nowadays.

The first casualty of war is the truth. Whose quote is that.?

Waiting,…….

Jun 15, 2025 -- 11:45PM, brians wrote:

The first casualty of war is the truth. Whose quote is that.?

Some Northerner with a wife called Ruth?

Waiting,……….as the halfwit Hamas fan scrolls through myriads of posts trying to find something which simply isn’t there.

We should keep this sheite off a football thread tbh. I hope sport brings people together and in the spirit of things I really hope Tottenham get planning permission to to turn a broom cupboard into a temporary trophy room.

We should keep this sheite off a football thread tbh.

Sometimes WD, youre not wrong!

Twice a day! Like a clock

Jun 16, 2025 -- 5:42PM, Whisperingdeath wrote:

We should keep this sheite off a football thread tbh. I hope sport brings people together and in the spirit of things I really hope Tottenham get planning permission to to turn a broom cupboard into a temporary trophy room.

You're obsessed with the Tottenham.

I agree Wd, no more from me.  No matter what.

But Totteringham are fair game!

Jun 17, 2025 -- 8:50PM, Whisperingdeath wrote:

But Totteringham are fair game!

Tottenham are European champions. Arsenal are perennial trophy dodgers, haven't won anything of significance in decades and have never won a European trophy.  You are projecting, WD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WboggjN_G-4&ab_channel=layniann

Arsenal won the Cup Winners Cup in 1994, which was a bona fide European trophy whatever sofa might say.


WD- do you know which trophy was the first one that the Arsenal senior team ever won ?

Spurs won that CWC too but I never even include it when I list Spurs' European trophy haul.

No I don’t Dixie,

I am not really a Gooner but one day I crossed the floor at my public house and announced to my friends that I no longer sopportrd Dirty Leeds and henceforth would be supporting Arsenal.

I don’t even hate Tottenham. I just enjoy winding up their fans.

I noticed that Arsenal had the most red cards last season. Go figure

Bit of history on your doorstep WD -

It was the Kent Cup (now Kent Senior Cup) in 1890 that Royal Arsenal won, beating Thanet Wanderers 3-0 at Chatham's London road ground.
They actually beat the Chats (who were the holders) in the semi final 5-0.

Chatham actually reached the FA Cup quarter finals in 1889 although there were only 32 teams in the first round proper in those days. They beat Notts Forest in the second round before losing 10-1 to WBA in the quarters.

Something rings a bell. The Wanderers. I thought they might have been from Chatham. Did the Wanderers win the FA Cup 5 times? So they were from Thanet?

Different Wanderers WD - they did indeed win the FA  Cup 5 times including 3 years in a row 1876 to 1878. They were from Leytonstone i believe but had no fixed home ground hence why they were called The Wanderers. They played mainly at Kennington Oval although used other grounds as well.

Thanet Wanderers on the other hand still exist but only as a Rugby Union club. Back in Victorian times they played both football and rugby under the same team name.

Back in Victorian times I guess football and rugby were played to the same rules!


Good info Dixie thank you! Will try and get some local knowledge!

The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an association football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the 'Sappers', of the British Army and based in Chatham, Kent. In the 1870s, it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup finalists in three of the first four seasons. The Engineers were pioneers of the combination game, where teammates passed the ball to each other rather than kicking ahead and charging after the ball. With the rise of professional teams, in 1888 the Engineers joined a newly formed Army Football Association.

Wiki.

I remember now. The Wanderers did win it 5 times but were not from Chatham or Thanet. The " quiz " question was when did Chatham win the FA Cup.

Who'da thought it but Chatham were the first tika taka's!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Engineers_A.F.C.

A fascinating read!

I love the history of the game WD, hence my nom de plume. I don't much care for the modern game although i still follow it, ruined by money i'm afraid.

Who knew that Kent would have had such a rich football heritage ?

Cricket is my thing and share your passion hence my nom de plume

[   This image is no longer available.   ]

I loved this guy and his nickname.

yup he was very very special and still is of course

if you have not read- how we kneel why we rise -- you should

Thanks dragon,

Will have a look

I saw MH at Mote Park playing for Lancs against Kent in 1981 in the John Player League. He was pretty quick even off a short run up. The match was tied at 221 each, MH actually got run out off the last ball going for the winning run !

The quickest i saw live was probably Malcolm Marshall who was seriously rapid, especially so given he was under 6ft tall.
I also saw Devon Malcolm at the start of his career playing at Mote Park for Derbys against Kent, he was spraying it everywhere but was really fast.

I used to love Mote cricket week WD - did you go there much ? Used to be the last week of June or first week of July, always well attended and some excellent cricket.
A real shame that Kent no longer play there (along with a few other grounds including the Garrison). Now its either Canterbury or Beckenham, nothing in mid-Kent.

Not for cricket sadly.  My highest score is at Mote Park ( public pitches ) 71 n.o.

Sadly did not watch much live cricket growing up. Parents not enthused to take me. Friends into football and I always played cricket Saturday and Sunday

Charlie Hall and Wes Griffith from the sixties tests spring to mind as having been a bit special.  But I agree about Marshall.  Amazing.

I never saw Hall and Griffith

But I strongly remember the Summer of '76

I played at the Mote when at school on the lower pitches but i was an opening bowler, sadly not as quick as those mentioned above !

The first Kent match i saw there was in 1969 v Glamorgan i was only 8 years old and my grandad took me - i was awe struck to see Deadly Derek Underwood and Alan Knott, Asif Iqbal etc in action, what a team Kent had then. Unfortunately, the biggest name of them all, Colin Cowdrey, snapped his achilles tendon while batting, i can still see the great man now hobbling off in awful pain - ruled him out for the almost the whole season. 

After that I started going  with my mates each year from the age of 10/11 years old - we just nipped on the train to Maidstone and walked to the ground. Parents trusted us and were quite happy for us to be out all day, different times to now sadly.

My wife is of jamacian heritage and we spent many  years gone by watching the anmazing bowlers and batsmen that the west indies produced.

personally i remember watching sobers play at old trafford in the 60s incredible movement batting anfd bowling.

i saw the fast bowlers of the 70s who coupled with the amazing batsmen they had were the best team i ever saw.

as i got older i watched walsh and ambrose demolish teams and took our children to see the amazing batsmen that was brian lara.

unfortunatley the hey days of west indian cricket have gone but we all have amazing memories of those wonderful cricketeres in their prime. A total priveledge.

I agree 100%.  Some of the greatest cricket I ever saw came from successive generations and sides of the West Indies.  And absolute class!  You just never gave a thought to it all ending some day?!
Isn’t it odd how suddenly established sporting, taken for granted, supremacy evaporates?
Look at Welsh rugby.  Absolutely joyful to watch late sixties through the seventies with brilliant, brilliant players who suddenly come together, mesh and beat all before them.  Then it all disappears. Scottish non-stop supply of great players to the English football scene suddenly dried up and gone forever.  And utterly undefinable why?
I keep saying to a mate of mine that these days will never return - and they never will.
And I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to why.

If anyone hasn't already seen it, Fire In Babylon is a cracking documentary about the West Indies side of the 70s and 80s.
Its on Dailymotion in 2 parts. also on you tube i believe, well worth a watch.

unfortunatley the hey days of west indian cricket have gone

I suspect it's the American influence The Dragon. We used to go to go to Barbados regularly when my wife's parents were alive and I remember in the early days seeing kids in the street of an evening playing cricket. That's long gone and kids are shooting hoops in their yard.

loyal and foin are both absolutley correct of course, and i feel so priveledge to have lived in an era where both i and my family had the joy of watching them. i still love my cricket but somehow those halyson days appear to have gone for ever.

lillie and thompson were also amazing to watch such unbridled speed and aggression.

my Dad who was passionate about cricket always said that Don Bradman was the best batsmen he had ever seen

fire in babylon is excellent dixie

Thanks Dixie, I'll make a point of watching too.
Lillee,s figures speak for themselves but apart from them I don't think there has ever been a better balanced fast bowler than him, and I accept the Thommo tribute too.  What a duo to attack any side.

yes they were something else for sure LH

Lillee and Thomson were one of the most fearsome double acts ever. I remember good old Colin Cowdrey getting the emergency call at the age of 41 to join up with the Ashes squad in 1974, took him two days to make the journey then pretty much straight off the plane to face those two. As he went in to bat he said "Good Morning, the names Cowdrey i don't believe we've met !". Tommo's reply was unrepeatable followed by some of the most hostile bowling imaginable. No quarter asked or given. Great times.

As a youngster learning how to bowl seamers i would always try to watch Richard Hadlee when i could, he was an exceptionally talented all rounder but it was his ability to make the most of the new ball which really stood out. He shortened his run up in the second half of his career in order to lessen the toll on his body and was generally criticised for doing so at the time, however he was vindicated for his decision as his stats actually improved, his ability to swing the ball was second to none imo.

Was Hadlee the guy featured on Sportsview for his fantastic field skill of catching/picking up a rolling ball and knocking outhitting just one stump with his throw.  Whoever it was did it 8 times out of 10.

Not sure about that Honcho - sounds more like Jonty Rhodes as he was a brilliant fielder with a knack of direct hits.

Richard Hadlee was the first bowler to take 400 test wickets (final total 431) he also scored over 3,000 test runs so was a genuine world class all rounder.

Thanks.  I remember the name but not him, if you know what I mean.
So real big name in cricketing annals.

Cricket thread here, lads. : https://community.betfair.com/cricket

Jonty Rhodes?

I don't like cricket

I love it

I don’t like reggae

Fast bowlers

Matty potts bowling in 20 over slog v yorkshire, whilst Carse
opens bowling for England at headingley

Funny old world.

Wd.

I watched YouTube of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith.  Early 60’s v England.
Not a helmet or other visible protection in sight and Hall warned by umpires for “hostile” bowling.
These batsmen had some bottle.

Hey  LG

you shd watch Brain Close getting continually hit by the WI fast bowlers.

Incerdible

1976 -prob on u tube

We never had helmets, and 2 pads between us so batsmen
got one each, no gloves so stacks of broken fingers, hey
ho, probably lucky it rained a lot back then in summer.

I used to bowl leg spin, was told it was irrelevant with
one day cricket coming in, so learnt how to bowl
quick, like Holding and Roberts and Daniel, happy days.

I’ve seen it mate.  Utterly astonishing how he takes it and hides the pain.  He took it from Hall and Griff. too.

Close was potentially a decent footballer but suffered
a nasty injury v Newcastle. Put him in hospital but
he finished the match. Was England schoolboy in footy.

Dunno if that stopped his footy career or going on tours did.

i did not know that YHTL. He was the epitomy of yorkshire grit for sure.

This is the WW3 thread, lads. Stock up on your bags of rice and your cans of beans. This is it.

Tbh it’s makes me cry when I watch video’s Brian Close being battered by my non de plume the Whispering Death.

I watch the ball flying past his ear, his head see him get hit in the ribs and my laughing becomes uncontrolled so much so that my ribs go into spasm and the tears runs down my cheeks. What was really funny about this physical assault on an old man was that it lasted fully for 45 minutes and there was a little fellow down the other end called Jon Edrich. Close was so tough and resolute he did not try and take a single.

Brian Close literally heard death whispering through his ear - Michael Holding

https://www.facebook.com/61566184791658/videos/brian-close-literally-heard-death-whispering-through-his-ear-micheal-holding-at-/1379679936640487/


There is a better clip on YouTube that I watch from time to time.

Incidentally Dixie,


I do remember going to one particular match as a kid with my friends at Mote Park. We ran onto the pitch at the end as Jon Edrich was walking off. My friend said oi Edrich, when are you going to get your hundredth? I was a little shocked you could talk to a revered sportsman like that let alone call him by his surname.

I was surprised how small Derek Underwood was. I was in touching distance of all my heroes… A.P.E. Knott, Underwood, Shep, Bernard Julian, Asif Iqbal etc.

Sofa,

This is Switzerland, Totteringham assaults excepted…. and……. You don’t have to tell me who Arsenals new centre forward will be….. I know already that we will be signing Eddie Nketiah on loan to lead the line so you can’t hurt me with that.

Following on from Fire  in Babylon a great film / documentary is When we were Kings about the Rumble in the Jungle.

Unbelievable footage and access to the pugilists and their entourage.

Together with a book called The Fight by Norman Mailer gives a great insight to the time.

new opponent now

No rice or beer. I much prefer falafel.

I was on the Lebanese last night after Bob Weir concert.

New kebab shop in Notting Hill. My ancestors would have been ashamed. Big box tray, kebab wrap sliced, fries, pickles, mayo, ketchup and something else in tubs. Not the remotest chance of spilling it all over the bus stop or your shirt. Truly embarrassing but strangely civilised way to eat kebab.

how did the bob weir concert go WD

Long story.

A friend of Mrs ‘Death wanted to go and she made him get me a ticket. Like her he is a septic and grew up on them, drugs acid, tattoos of Bear etc.

It was an experience because I am not a muso and he played with the London Royal Philharmonic. I think he is about 77 and I got form for this because somebody gave me a ticket for Hawkwind at the Albert Hall last year. We met the band outside the venue. Old little geezers. I thought I was on the set of Cocoon with all the old people.

My pal enjoyed the show. Loads of ‘Dead fans and tie and dye shirts, head bands, long grey hair and baldies. Quite inspiring but not my thing. I am going to play some of their songs in the gym later.

fair enough

The amazing Arthur Brown opened for Hawkwind and I have to say watching him scream I am the God of Hellfire was a moment for me!

blast from the past thats for sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk_xNGkFHO0

It is kind of cool to see these old guys go to concerts. They refuse to die.

i watche ian hunter a year back when he was 81 and just back from a USA tour -he was amazing u wd never ever think he was in his 80s incredible

The musicianship can continue, the voice is another thing usually

true

The old timers refuse to give up performing and why should they ? Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan are on tour at the moment at the ages of 92 and 84 respectively !

WD - can you remember which year that was ref John Edrich at The Mote ? Kent played Surrey several times in the championship in the 70s. I well remember the 1971 match as he scored 168 in typical gritty fashion while the greatest ever wicket keeper Alan Knott scored a ton in each innings for Kent. They played there in 1977 as well.
Deadly Derek was a really nice bloke, still have my autograph book with his signature and all the others in it, as well as other county players of the day. He was only 5ft 7 tall i believe, but a positive giant compared to Kent's other great spinner of yesteryear, Tich Freeman. He was only 5ft 2 but his stats were gobsmacking, he is the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English season (yes one season !) and is second on the all time list of first class wicket takers with  3,776. And he missed several seasons due to the first world war !

n the mid 70s Kent were due to play Essex at The Mote and i went with my brother for the first day which was washed out (no internet to check the weather in those days) - the players were sitting playing cards in the pavilion and Keith Boyce the West Indies international waved us in to have a quick word and sign our books for us, what a nice guy. But the players had no airs and graces in those days, they just loved playing the game and being paid for it, although not very well it must be said. Sadly Keith suffered health issues after retiring and died on his 53rd birthday.

I can’t Dixie

I think it might have been 1974

WD -I see that you made reference to Edrich's "hundredth" earlier so logic leads me to it being 1977 as he scored his hundredth hundred at The Oval on 12th July 1977 against Derbyshire. The week before was the Kent v Surrey game at the Mote on 6/7/8 July which fizzled out to a draw. However Deadly Derek and APE Knott were not playing in that match as they were playing for England at Old Trafford in a 9 wicket win over the Aussies ( Deadly took 6 wickets in the second innings, Bob Woolmer scored a ton).
Julien, Shep and Asif were on show as was Chris Tavare. Paul Downton was behind the stumps.

That would make more sense Dixie

Probably saw Underwood and Knott at other times. Small man, large head, likes a cigarette!

The reference to Edrich being the key to timing

That I remember Oi Edrich I thought was rather rude by my friend, different times then