Tag: pitch

Playing Cricket in the Back Yards of UK Cities!

UK: British Council Film Archive ([1950] – Cricket Documentary! (25.9.2025)

At his peak, however, he was a very good all-rounder wielding the bat and ball. When a child, my father taught me all the rules of cricket and this is why I know a) how to play the game, and b) what is going on when watching it (we support Leicestershire County Cricket Club – and we watched them play once). I have tried to teach my partner and children – but the modern youth now have the internet to take their attention! I have played “in-door” cricket – as well as cricket on a proper pitch – and I never wore a helmet (I couldn’t afford one). When standing at the crease – the mind must be calm and expansive – clear and reflective. Peace and self-control must permeate reality – whilst the bat and ball must be properly utilised in a technically perfect manner. There is no hatred for the opposition – or unnecessary attachment to one’s team-mates – all are equal to the true gentleman. This is why I refer to cricket as a form of English Confucianism!

Continue reading

The Dangerous Myth of Football

For a small number of working class men to be privileged in this manner, the majority of the working class (and the oppressed) around the world, must be kept firmly in their place. The majority of the masses (in the world) actually finance this gigantic money making machine that only benefits the minority – that is the middle class – which reaps all the financial benefits. Even after paying the individual players millions of pounds, there is still a tremendous amount of money leftover, which flows only from the working class toward the middle class, through a relentless process of accumulation. This process is maintained not only by the selling of associated merchandise such as football shirts, boots, flags, DVD’s, CD’s, and other paraphernalia, but relies heavily upon slave-labour, whereby very small children spend 12 to 16 hours a day, working in appalling conditions, in factories situated in the poorer areas of the world. This highly exploited workforce sews the shirts, footballs, and flags together, which are then played with by the rich adults and children of developed countries as a matter of leisure.

Continue reading