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Post by lambethgull on Oct 1, 2012 22:24:16 GMT
RE the whistleblower: "Torquay United is full of stuffy old farts. Discuss" It's a point of view, but where will these "hilarious" pranks end? Balls thrown onto the field of play during a corner? Holes cut in the goal net at half time? Bomb threats made at half time? The man (for apparently he is a man, not a 12 year old boy) is an attention-seeking nuisance. Crime of the century? No. One of the most idiotic things done by a Torquay fan at a game in years? Yes. |
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JamesB
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Post by JamesB on Oct 1, 2012 22:47:24 GMT
It's not just about this. There seems to be the occasional bit of intolerance to anything light-hearted or different in some quarters. It's quite a conservative (small c) atittude at times
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2012 8:39:50 GMT
Good grief, James, conservative attitudes in Torquay. What on earth will you be claiming next?
Actually I think a lot of football watchers - anywhere - are of a conservative/mainstream/traditional/old-fashioned outlook (call it what you like). Now, whether their numbers are out of synch with the rest of society, I really don't know. But you wouldn't necessarily call watching football a wacky, radical, free-thinking, liberal-minded or alternative activity (although I've met the odd ground hopper who meets that description). Maybe that's another reason for calling football the "People's Game". And the "people" on the terraces - even when they were portrayed as (somewhat mythologically) cloth cap-wearing, Labour-voting, Daily Mirror-reading, manual workers - always took their hobby seriously and weren't given to undue flippancy.
Maybe, there's a threshold depending on how interested you are in the game or how often you attend. Watch football regularly, even a handful of games a year, and it becomes a pretty serious-minded affair. That probably affects us all in a way and you only need to look around - at games and on the web - to witness a fair degree of grim intensity. Maybe football attracts that type of personality. Perhaps too, when we discuss why people don't go to football, there are those who find this shared culture off-putting and regard it as just too damn serious.
Indeed, thinking about Saturday's incident, I suspect the casual football watcher - or somebody attending their first match - would have thought it hilarious. But there's a code amongst football supporters and there was something about "the whistle" that obviously breached it. The reaction from our supporters was something to behold for the amateur sociologist.
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Post by loyalgull on Oct 2, 2012 8:51:06 GMT
the fact that he has shown himself to be a total ignoramus coupled with allegedly being a scottish referee makes it even more remarkably astonishing that he should do such a stupid thing.But he hasnt murdered anyone or committed an evil crime.Just acted his shoe size not his age
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Rags
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Post by Rags on Oct 2, 2012 13:12:08 GMT
RE the whistleblower:
"Torquay United is full of stuffy old farts. Discuss" James, I don't understand the context of this post. Are you suggesting that the response to Dominic Falconer's behaviour by the Gulls fans present at the game was an over-reaction that belies an unprogressive, conventional mindset? Just 'askin... |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2012 14:38:09 GMT
Rags is correct to ask that question of James.
And, even though we're talking about conservatism with a "small c", I suspect a load of other -isms would have responded similarly to "The Whistle". Leninists, Stalinists, Trotskyists, the bloody lot of them would have reacted in the same fashion. Especially if they had been in possession at the time.
But I don't see "The Whistle" as an inherently political act. There was no real intention to disrupt, challenge or change the course of history. Instead it was an act of what I've heard described as "situationist performance art". Indeed it may only be the beginning.
Admittedly our man may have missed his golden opportunity over the last year or two. Blowing "The Whistle" on Wills' and Kate's nuptials would have been a scream; sounding "The Whistle" on Usain Bolt at the Olympics an artistic masterpiece.
But there's plenty of opportunity to blow "The Whistle" in a bid to make the short list for next year's Turner Prize. How about a shrill "full time" blast at Cameron and Clegg's next joint press conference?
It's worth a punt although, of course, performance art always has the possibility of totally and utterly misfiring.
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Post by Ditmar van Nostrilboy on Oct 2, 2012 14:49:51 GMT
I've just been looking at Bob's Board, a Chesterfield forum, where there seems to be a degree of sympathy towards our whistle blower. One or two home supporters found the incident amusing it appears. I dare say they wouldnt have found it quite so amusing had they been in possession and attacking us with the clock ticking down  |
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JamesB
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Post by JamesB on Oct 2, 2012 15:36:05 GMT
RE the whistleblower:
"Torquay United is full of stuffy old farts. Discuss" James, I don't understand the context of this post. Are you suggesting that the response to Dominic Falconer's behaviour by the Gulls fans present at the game was an over-reaction that belies an unprogressive, conventional mindset? Just 'askin... A bit, yes. I put it in quotation marks because I don't necessarily agree that in this case what this tosser did was right - obviously blowing a whistle at a football match is a stupid thing to do. However, you'd think he'd have incited a riot or something judging by some of the comments that have been made here and elsewhere. At the end of the day, it's just a man blowing a whistle at a stupid time. He hasn't killed or hurt anyone. It's just football The fact that we're talking about this 3 days after it happened gives this club the feel of a country village with a population of about 10 where nothing ever happens and no one ever visits from outside (and even if they did, they'd be glared at until they left) |
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Rags
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Post by Rags on Oct 2, 2012 16:18:41 GMT
The fact that we're talking about this 3 days after it happened gives this club the feel of a country village with a population of about 10 where nothing ever happens and no one ever visits from outside (and even if they did, they'd be glared at until they left) Pure speculation on my part: but I reckon had that happened at Arsenal v Chelsea in the last few mins on Saturday, the papers/chat show/talk-radio would still be full of it now, with door-stepping paparazzi tracking down guilty party until his employer sacked him for the publicity. |
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Rags
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Post by Rags on Oct 2, 2012 16:28:59 GMT
My advice is to arrive early and sample the delights of the cobbled open market and the coffee shops which make Chesterfield so reminiscent of Paris, before donning wellies and strolling along the canal, keeping an eye out for kingfishers and water voles.
Just before the station, I turned left down the Brimington Road and then left again down a small close that appeared to lead to nothing more than a scaffolding yard. But at the end of the close, on the right hand side, was a narrow path and a worn sign alerting the walker to the start of the Chesterfield Canal:
Just past that was a more modern signpost pointing alongside the canal the route of the Cuckoo Way:
I didn't realise it at the time, but I'd stumbled onto the Trans-Pennine Trail. This path ("an exciting route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders"), runs from Hornsea on the East Coast to Southport on the West Coast, with a couple of interesting diversions: one to York and another from Leeds south to Chesterfield, which is where I had just joined it.
www.transpenninetrail.org.uk/
To be honest, the early stages weren't exactly what I had in mind. It was rather uncared for, more of a muddy track with occasional puddles, and ran alongside what appeared to be deserted industrial units and bridges. Brambles abounded and I was slightly concerned about what I might step in or over.
The locals will know that a cycle path runs along Brimington Road and, at a certain point, there is a gap in the fence where the cycle route drops down to join the Cuckoo Way. It joins to the towpath at a small lock where you can see that the path is much-improved:
This forms part of the Sustrans national Cycle Route 67, which actually runs the 101 miles from Leeds to Loughborough and will, in time, continue north to Northallerton
www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/national-cycle-network/route-numbering-system/route-67
By now, the grey cloud had gone and the sunshine was out, and I found a scene for which the verb to dapple was invented as the sun reflected off the water and patterned the foliage on the bank. No sign of the promised kingfishers and water voles but I hadn't been looking particularly hard for them.
I found more evidence of larger canal-side creatures; modern regeneration just loves a water-side apartment block although none of them appear to have balconies you can actually sit on, just these "Juliet" balconies to stop you falling out of the window..
It wasn't too long until I got to Tapton Lock and the visitor's centre, which is where I discovered the Trans Pennine Trail map. My walk was about 1 mile long and the gentle stroll had taken about 25 mins.
Luckily, if you fancy going as far as Leeds but can't face the effort, there are alternative arrangement that you can make at the Lock, for not much more than the average Premier League footballer's weekly wage...
From the Tapton Lock, it was a short walk to the ground, not that Google Maps had helped me prepare this part of the route particularly well as there weren't any buildings on the site when the last Google plane flew over this particular part of Derbyshire...
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Oct 2, 2012 17:59:51 GMT
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Post by gullone on Oct 3, 2012 15:29:42 GMT
Talking about our phantom whistler and getting attention at football matches jogged a memory for me. Does anyone remember approx 5 or 6 years ago when that Tranmere fan climbed up the floodlight pylon and wouldnt come down at a Tranmere home game. The game was certainly stopped at the time but does anyone remember what happened ? Now thats the way to get some attention at a game !
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2012 17:06:09 GMT
Smashing photos by Rags, there. The path eventually leads to Rother Valley Country Park in the North and, reputedly, Istanbul in the South although that might just be a myth.
The Country Park, like Old Moor, near Barnsley and Fairburn Ings, close to Castleford, is an old mining area where the subsided ground has dipped and been left to flood. It's a fine place to ride a bike to on a sunny day, if we ever get one, and the cafe does a damn good chip cob too.
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