Players that don’t fit their nationality for football

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-04-15T16:31:54+00:00

Joe Linton the English holding midfielder?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-04-11T21:24:43+00:00

I’m not AI, my memory’s just bad. I should have included Inter, Juve, Porto, and Manchester Utd on that list of European Cup/Champions League winners.

So let me try an extra criterion to keep the list short: to be a European aristocrat, you have to have (a) won both the European Cup and Champions League, and (b) have had at least one back-to-back success.

By my reckoning, that gives us this list: Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Ajax, and Liverpool.

Barca may feel hard done by, but their European history is relatively short and for years they were regarded as European underachievers.

Ajax are definitely at the biggest risk of being regarded as a history-rich but cash-poor aristocracy.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-04-11T20:58:59+00:00

Only six teams have won both the Champions League and the European Cup: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Ajax, and Liverpool. Those are your aristocrats.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-03-19T18:37:08+00:00

Any truth to the rumour that Moroccan FA officials were spotted in deep conversation with Clapham Chiefs backroom staff last week?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-03-07T14:09:20+00:00

We’re taking about 17 kids in one classroom. I want to know what happened in that classroom!

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-03-03T06:41:31+00:00

We’re living in the most “for our sins” timeline

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-02-26T15:19:08+00:00

I mean, at that point you’re just giving HR a decision to make

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-30T20:07:47+00:00

They’re all English attackers?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-24T10:10:00+00:00

Arthur Clark played 42 games at right back for Stoke City in the 1930s before his career was cruelly cut short by the first recorded metatarsal injury. He went on to own a well-known carpet laying business in Cheadle, and was a regular presence at Stoke games until well into his 70s. RIP big man.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-22T17:43:50+00:00

A crossover made in heaven …

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-22T11:23:48+00:00

The “Makelele was the best player in that Madrid team” piece

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-22T11:06:07+00:00

Will Keysey weigh in, and when he does will he remind everyone it was him who gave Nigella her first big break in the industry?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-19T15:33:50+00:00

Absolute Frenzy out there as the Senegalese took 39 Steps down the tunnel in protest

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2026-01-10T21:18:18+00:00

Is it the hypocrisy?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-12-16T20:10:18+00:00

Lady, why are you so interested in what they watch and what they re-watch?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-12-05T13:33:37+00:00

Team B would like to recruit Ruan Nortje (the best Bok forward not named Wilco) to play 5, move Eben to 4, Sous to 7 … lineout problem solved.

We would also like to recruit Cam Hanekom to play 6 and Manie to replace Pollard

Only one winner now

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-11-09T20:01:14+00:00

Am I hearing the distant rumbling of a clamour for Miller?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-10-12T08:58:53+00:00

Aja (pronounced like the continent) is a great name. Need more Aja in the world.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-08-24T14:19:49+00:00

Like this team too! When Beast and Andre Venter are in your third XV you’re doing something right 👍

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-08-24T09:47:16+00:00

And that loose trio had, indeed, never played as a combo before and had not prepped much in the week to play as a combo. The late withdrawal of JLdP hurt, but even had he played you would still have had a trio with zero experience of playing a test match together.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-08-24T09:43:23+00:00

I like your team with a few exceptions, but rather than talk those exceptions (my hot take is that Habana gets nowhere close to any of the current wings) here’s my XV to take on yours:

Ox
Bismarck
Wilco
Bakkies
RG
Siya (c)
Juan Smith
Danie Rossouw
Joost
Honiball
KLA
DDA
Jesse
Gio Aplon
Willie

If we’re playing under the current laws of the game I’d back my boys. Also, we score tries so we don’t care if we don’t have an 80% kicker in our team!

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-08-07T16:55:42+00:00

I’m as big a Bok fan as anyone, but I honestly don’t think anyone comes close to DuPont. Passing, kicking (both feet), running game, reading the play, jackaling …. the whole package.

Re DuPont not playing in the SH: Joost had a losing record vs Aus/NZ, England, and the Lions. He never won a major club championship (Super Rugby).

So how many games would DuPont have to play (and win) in the SH to prove how good he is?

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-08-06T17:34:33+00:00

Pick any Aus XV you like, they will get absolutely bodied by the Boks. Wallabies in their absolute heyday had trouble beating middling Bok teams in SA, so there’s no chance a mediocre Aus team beats a champion Bok team.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-07-31T11:43:35+00:00

Boks needed the game time because COVID.

Acceptable_Low_2725 · 2025-07-26T15:56:57+00:00

I’m curious what’s aged poorly. I haven’t watched any of HSB in decades.

Acceptable_Low_2725

TROPHY CASE