3 Quotes About Association Football

Association football, also known simply as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is the world’s most popular sport, played by over 250 million players worldwide. The game is played by professional players and more than 1.2 million people in more than 200 countries and dependencies. The governing body is the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which was formed in 1904 and has 61 member associations.

1
I thought I was getting away from politics for a while. But I now realise that the vuvuzela is to these World Cup blogs what Julius Malema is to my politics columns: a noisy, but sadly unavoidable irritant. With both Malema and the vuvuzela, their importance is far overstated. Malema: South Africa's Robert Mugabe? I think not. The vuvuzela: an archetypal symbol of 'African culture?' For African civilisation's sake, I seriously hope not. Both are getting far too much airtime than they deserve. Both have thrust themselves on to the world stage through a combination of hot air and raucous bluster. Both amuse and enervate in roughly equal measure. And both are equally harmless in and of themselves – though in Malema's case, it is the political tendency that he represents, and the right-wing interests that lie behind his diatribes that is dangerous. With the vuvu I doubt if there are such nefarious interests behind the scenes; it may upset the delicate ears of the middle classes, both here and at the BBC, but I suspect that South Africa's democracy will not be imperilled by a mass-produced plastic horn. . Richard Calland
2
OK, publishing a book and releasing a movie is all very well, but Tottenham beating Man. U. 3-2... priceless. Salman Rushdie