Musings from an armchair football fan

I've watched far too much, often not very good, football this week - it being both a Champions' League and a UEFA cup week. Bondbloke and I were both very amused last night by the ramifications of the ban, applicable in relation to matches played in France, of the ban on advertising alcoholic drinks on shirts. Rangers' normal shirt sponsor is Carling, although they are capable of dropping the sponsor's logo on shirts for Muslim fans. They also had to drop it last night when playing in Auxerre. So having just heard this little snippet about the Rangers' shirts on BBC2, towards the end of the half time chitter chatter, we howled with laughter, on turning over to BBC1, where the second half was to be broadcast. Welcoming the new viewers from BBC1, we heard the presenter saying "Welcome to Auxerre, in the Burgundy region of France, where tonight Rangers are playing...." Now he would hardly be likely to have said this if he hadn't been given this 'feed' in an introductory pack, supplied by the hosts. Obviously, getting a bit of alcohol advertising in, so long as it is associated with French regions which are also types of alcoholic drink (Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, Armagnac, Cognac, and the rest) is fine. It's just brands which are the problem, it would seem. By the by, we wondered whether or not the French team should not have required their player "Pieroni" to change his name by deed poll, because this might be dangerously close to advertising an Italian brand of beer.

Blogging service should soon resume

I hope to find a little more time for blogging in the near future. I've had a succession of things keeping me away from the blog, such as delivering a big lecture (thanks for the plug, BB), finishing a book manuscript, taking a trip to Croatia where I had suboptimal internet access, and various other bits and pieces. Today has been a funny old day. I feel as if I have cotton wool between the ears, but on the other hand I feel as if a series of weights have been lifted from my shoulders. Anyway, a good night's sleep should sort that out. So, I hope to "see" you all soon. Although it will probably be inconsequential posts about plumbers, rather than weighty stuff.