GRRRR: Enviro-guilt

IMG_4060, originally uploaded by 2wichita.

Last week on Radio 4 there was a programme that tasked itself with "counting the environmental cost of football fans traveling away to support their team". What sanctimonious rubbish, symptomatic of the media's deal with the status quo - that is to promote "what you can do to stop global warming" and shy away from "what the government can do" or "what legislation could force industry to do".

Recycle, don't fly off on holiday, use energy efficient lightbulbs, etc, etc. To pick on the 'unnecessary' travel of a tiny proportion of the (mainly) working class such as travel to watch football, is the work of an idiot. How many pointless miles are notched up by business (or even media) travel, to meetings where a phone call, email, or IM would of done?

Just to think about it - there are 48 (around) league football matches a weekend, an average away following might be 500 tops (Prem might get 3,000, division four - er League Two - bight be 50 if they're lucky), so we're talking 20,000 people traveling a minimum of 10 miles (Birmingham away at Wolves) , max maybe 500 (Southampton at Wigan -next season). It's a insignificant number, one which could be cut at a stroke if rail travel was back to it's British Rail best (now did you ever think that you'd hear that?), most people don't yearn to sit in a car when going away, they'd much rather cheap, convenient rail travel. You could solve this with a stoke of a pen Gordon Brown, instead of pissing our future away with Public Private Finance initiatives.

It's with this attitude that the bombardment of how much better for the environment it'd be if we "stopped using supermarkets and bought every thing at our local shops" comes. What absurd middle class nonsense, the free reign of capitalism has left most people without local shops to go to - even if their 'flexible working' (for which read - you work when we tell you, no matter what time it is) gave them time. Supermarkets are cheaper, and unless you have disposable income to chose elsewhere - eco-friendly as a leisure activity - there's not a lot you can do.

We've all got to do our bit, but 'we' isn't just individuals - aren't our leaders meant to lead?

GRRRR: Just how can the working class show its displeasure, then?

Weather f--king cold, team f--king crap, originally uploaded by bounder.

England fans booed Steve McClaren and his team's performance against Andorra in Barcelona the other night, I know, I was one of them. Despite what the media reported, we didn't start about 10 minutes in - we started almost immediately. There may even have been boo-ing before kick off, but I was still struggling with the inefficient stewarding and trying to get in.

We booed, we sang "you don't know what you're doing", we - in self mocking irony - sang for David Beckham, I even tried to get the crowd to call for the return of Graham Taylor (although I had more success with Walter Winterbottom).

This was a fairly big story, but for every journalist taking notice there was one dismissing the crowd as "ugly, fat, beery" (The Guardian) and suggesting that they "weren't true England supporters". Snobbery at it's worst, as was Alex Ferguson suggesting that "Dancing on Ice's had created a culture of mockery" that was responsible for the stick the England manager was getting. What has the physical attractiveness, or the TV viewing habits of the fans (though I seriously doubt that audiences of MOTD and Dancing on Ice overlap much) got to do with the worth of their opinion - or to use the dreadfully modern phrase "their right" to voice it.

What the journalists, players and ex-players really mean is "how dare they comment". "How dare you force your opinions on us".

The real problem with the media is the false hope they give people of their opinions being listened to, email, text, phone 606, "we want to hear what you think". But the media don't , they want more sales, and the people that "run" football certainly don't. I've heard recently about the press officer of a league club that sent a letter threatening to sue an internet forum for deformation (sic) over mentions of his poor spelling and grammar.

When you do phone 606 or (glory be!) your "texs" is read out, your the opinion will be dismissed because "you've not played the game", or you'll be patronised because "it's more difficult than it looks out there". After the England v Israel debacle the previous Saturday the 606 host Mark Bright used phrases very similar to that while also defending Steve McClaren's record "he won that [the UEFA cup]" (er no he didn't the caller corrected - his team were outclassed and stuffed 4-0 in the final).

So, we shouldn't boo - or be overweight - what should the average supporter do? Conduct a letter writing campaign to The Times? Get elected to his local FA, climb the greasy pole and arrange for the manger's dismissal over a nice Chateau Neuf de Pap (don't be beery)? Or maybe texting The Sun's rant line will make a difference.

The people that truly have the most invested in the England team are the fans, they cry, they're incandescent with rage in front of TVs in bars and homes, but heaven forbid they show anything but deference in person.

Hope lies in the proles. Wrong again Winston.