Scotland » Other News

SPL ref manages drilling debate

Ian Rose — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:04:12 +0000

(This post goes to prove to some of my peers and co-workers that I do, in fact, read the news outside of football pages. I just concentrate on the stories that still involve football.)

There’s a debate going on over what caused the eruption of a mud volcano in Indonesia a few years back, with one side claiming it was oil drilling, the other claiming natural causes. Enter SPL official John Underhill, who also happens to be a University of Edinburgh geologist, and therefore almost certainly the cleverest of the officials in Scotland. In a rare move, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists decided to host a debate on the cause of the eruption, with Underhill in charge of proceedings.

“The geologists voted overwhelmingly that drilling was the most likely cause.” said Underhill after the mock trial was over. Luckily the result was down to a vote, taking some of the pressure off of Underhill and lowering the chances of him awarding a soft penalty to a Glasgow side just before full time.

Vennegor and Niculae represent SPL with goals

Ian Rose — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:14:50 +0000

In today’s crazy international action, most Scottish eyes were on the 1-1 draw with Croatia. But SPL club fans could look to a few other matches to see their favorite players as well. Ghana once again capped Hearts midfielder Laryea Kingston, despite complaints from Tynecastle. But it was Inverness Caley Thistle’s Marius Niculae (for Romania) and Celtic’s Jan Vennegor of Hesselink (for Holland) that made the biggest individual splashes. Niculae, in his first Romanian appearance since May 2006, scored his 13th international goal on a nice glancing header. Vennegor, meanwhile, showed the same kind of late explosion that has frustrated so many SPL sides, scoring the equalizer on 83 minutes, part of an incredible Holland comeback win over Austria. Here are links to the goals.

Niculae vs. Russia
Vennegor vs. Austria
(Note: JVofH scores at about 1:11 in, but it’s really worth watching the whole clip to see the Dutch comeback)

Nice to see SPL players out there scoring in international matches. It’s good for the prestige of the league, which has taken quite a few hits this season despite our successes in Europe. For every Celtic and Rangers story, there are two about Gretna, so it’s good to see SPL strikers out there doing well. Let’s hope we see them doing it on a larger stage come Euro 2008.

Goal.com predicts Scottish glory, dooming Scotland forever

Ian Rose — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:27:02 +0000

I have to admit, as a prelude to this post, that I am not a fan of Goal.com. It seems to be one of the least reliable and most questionable sources of information about football on the internet, making it in the running for most questionable source of information anywhere ever.

So, when I read today’s article singing the praises of Scottish football and once again looking at how far we’ve come as a league, I had mixed emotions. On one hand, someone likes us. That’s always nice. On the other hand, it would be nice if it was coming from a slightly more likable and reliable source.

Then I got to the bottom of the article. And I quote:

“For the club sides, meanwhile, continued progression will be the aim and if achieved, another European trophy might just make its way north of the border within the next five years.”

Now, why’d you have to go and do that? No one wants this to be true more than I, but you have to understand a few things to know why this disturbs me so much. First off, Goal.com has never, to my knowledge, been right about anything. So, their prediction of success feels a bit like a curse. Second, and this is the more important point, Scotland does not do well with expectations. Both the national side and the clubs are at their best when they sort of sidle up on you, all quiet-like. Nobody expected us to beat France. We beat France. But, people assumed we’d beat Georgia. We lost 2-0. Same campaign, two radically different performances, and the biggest difference? Expectations.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to say it. I don’t see any European trophies (meaning the UEFA Cup and the European Cup now that the Intertoto is on its way out and the Cup Winners’ Cup is already dead) coming to Scotland in the next five years. If it happens, I will gladly buy the first round. Hell, I’ll buy the first three rounds. But I don’t expect it … which, knowing Scottish football, is the only way to give it a chance to happen.

3 SPL stars on Independent’s Best of the Rest list

Ian Rose — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:14:02 +0000

The Independent has put out its list of the top twenty footballers in Britain outside of the Premier League. As much as I stand by earlier statements about all lists of top footballers being pretty much subjective rubbish, I can’t argue too much with this. I would add Aiden McGeady to the list, but other than that, I have no real problems with it. Here is the list, with SPL and/or Scottish players in bold. Three from the SPL and three from the Scotland side isn’t bad, considering it’s an English paper. And of course, we do have the top name.

1. Alan Hutton (Rangers)
2. Michael Kightly (Wolves)
3. Joe Ledley (Cardiff City)
4. Jonathan Greening (West Brom)
5. Marlon King (Watford)
6. James Beattie (Sheffield United)
7. Zoltan Gera (West Brom)
8. Scott Brown (Celtic)
9. Jonathan Walters (Ipswitch Town)
10. Ricardo Fuller (Stoke City)
11. Brian Howard (Barnsley)
12. Marvin Elliot (Bristol City)
13. Ben Watson (Crystal Palace)
14. David Murphy (Hibernian)
15. Wayne Hennessey (Wolves)
16. Andy Reid (Charlton)
17. Gary Naysmith (Sheffield United)
18. Heinz Muller (Barnsley)
19. Akos Buzsaki (QPR)
20. Filipe Teixeira (West Brom)

Phil O’Donnell fund for heart research

Ian Rose — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:35:06 +0000

Andy Muirhead over at Scotzine.com has started a fund to try to raise money for heart research in the name of fallen Motherwell captain Phil O’Donnell. The Phil O’Donnell Fund hopes to donate at least £1,000.00 to the British Heart Foundation in Phil’s name. For those of us involved in the Scottish game, like myself, who were looking for a way to do something, even something very small, about this tragedy, this may be just the thing. Thanks to Andy for setting this up, and I’ll be by later today to drop off a couple of quid myself.

Online donations can be made at http://www.justgiving.com/phil-odonnell.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year / Hogmanay.

Celtic’s Caldwell calls for supplement investigation

Ian Rose — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:29:56 +0000

As Scotland and the footballing world continue to deal with the death of Phil O’Donnell, one prominent Scottish player is coming out in favor of further investigation. Today it was announced that O’Donnell indeed died of heart failure, similar to other recent cases like Antonio Puerta and Marc-Vivien Foe. Celtic and Scotland defender Gary Caldwell came out today in favor of investigations into the effects of food supplements and energy drinks on athletes.

Says Caldwell: “I have thought about it. You drink energy drinks, you take supplements and you do it to become a better player. But I think somebody has got to look into it and try to see if it does affect you.”

It’s an interesting thought. Personally, I think the solution lies with a more regular heart checkup for all players, regardless of their apparent health. But, there certainly are a lot more of these supplements going into footballers’ bodies than there used to be, and it might be worth a bit of investigation. Still, even if that is an aspect of the problem, clearly preventative care for footballers needs to improve. Kudos to Caldwell for turning the discussion in the direction of what to do next. Now that we’ve all paid our tributes (which will continue as each team has its first match since the incident), the time has come to let the family and friends mourn, and direct our pain into something useful, that might prevent this from happening again.