The football factoids

I've been catching up on "(Australian) FourFourTwo" magazines while watching the Dragons/Sharks league derby and Poms/Windies cricket near-thriller.

The May issue mentioned a smile-raising method used by Dutch authorities to control Feyenoord hooligans attending away matches against enemies Ajax:

"The 43-mile journey should take an hour, but football trains deliberately travel more slowly with the heat turned on full and the windows closed to make occupants drowsy." ("Fight Clubs" by Andy Mitten)

In the June edition, I was struck by the poetry of Cameroon/Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, African Footballer Of The Year 2003-05:

[On scoring goals]
"Out of every 100 stones you throw, you never know which one will kill the bird."
[On switching from midfielder]
"He who fights for every every ball is he who doesn't have a number on his back."
[On being away from home]
"The continent is a mental state. I live in Europe, but I sleep in Africa. Every goal of mine is a celebration of there."
[On Liverpool]
"They have a big red heart."
("Pssst...Wanna Know A Secret?" by that man again, Andy Mitten)

OK, so the fourth example was a biased inclusion :-)

On the topic of the round-ball code, CM pointed out to me that the A-League 2007 Pre-season Cup draw is available (www.a-league.com.au).

My Newcastle Jets are in Group A with Perth and - grumble, grumble - last season's grand finalists, Melbourne and Adelaide. Unless we make the play-offs, I won't get to see any of it live as our "home" fixture is in Port Macquarie and the other two are in Geelong and the Croweaters' capital.

The P/C kicks off on July 14, while the A-League proper begins on August 24.