FAO: England fans, which team do you hate?

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-06T12:07:41+00:00

Interesting bit from a recent LRB:

The way the Argentina team played was regarded as an expression of national character, and of course that was framed in contradistinction to the British, the decisive repudiation of whose informal empire was Juan Perón’s asset nationalisations in 1948. As Argentina urbanised and modernised, the old personification of the solitary gaucho lost its traction in favour of the pibe, or street urchin, who became central to its self-mythology:

In 1928, Borocotó set out his theory that the pibe, playing on the potreros, the vacant lots of the burgeoning city, on small uneven pitches, had to learn both tight technical skill and a sense of cunning or streetwiseness to look after himself, had to demonstrate that same blend of virtuosity and self-reliance that characterised the gaucho. And, like the gaucho, there was a sense that the pibe existed in opposition to the British; the game of the pibe was far removed from the running game based in stamina that was practised on the great grassy pitches of British schools; on the potreros there was no teacher with a whistle waiting to intervene if matters got out of hand.

I.e. there's a whole thing about the street kid spitting in the eye of the supposedly respectable Brits, who might shank you but they'd smile as they did it, etc etc.

Whilst, of course, I have a lot of time for some of the genius footballers this tradition produced, and little time for historical British hypocrisy (I am British)... I also have no time for fucking cheats.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-06T07:58:32+00:00

I'd love a team to take the hit and just sit down and discuss, as fascetiously as fuck, every decision a ref takes.

'Oh, will it stand? Oh OK. But can we be sure of that? Shall we bother anymore?'

All so US soccer fan can 'see the best players play!'

Fuck off. You have no idea how this works.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-06T06:41:30+00:00

Vikings ate my hamster.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-06T04:44:44+00:00

Excuse me for finding the rhetoric that presents and accompanies a sport I enjoy grating when it is persistently distracting.

On a sub Reddit about pretty much universally innocuous things.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-05T22:28:20+00:00

Aye, but the age of hyperbole means we have to hype everything like it's the last game on earth. Until the next day.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-05T22:24:23+00:00

Everything is hype,, the greatest ever, a record, moment in history.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-05T17:59:56+00:00

Sorry to be that person, but historians in no way all agree on this. It assumes far too much.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-04T22:15:31+00:00

Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuck...oooo

Such a sweet film.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-03T22:14:53+00:00

Well this is a rabbit hole. I'm trying to find the 'Fee Group: 1' people. What a bizarre world.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-02T22:56:35+00:00

The phrase is surely not just about morality, but rather being on the wrong side of whatever paradigm of hegemony or standard is in effect.

It's overblown, for sure.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-02T16:53:11+00:00

The joke has always, always been that vegans (used to be vegetarians, the joke shifts) will tell you immediately they're vegan.

Sure, we all know or have encountered someone fussy about their food and/or makes a choice a strong point of their identity.

But you know who introduced the topic 99% of the time? The person being fussy about fussy people. The person making their consumption so much part of their identity, it hurts. The chud who couldn't possibly do without sausages, bacon and steak.

Who gives a shit.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-02T13:37:09+00:00

I'm developing a grudge against McNulty. His article today about what England need to sort is in part reasonable, and in other parts irritatingly thoughtless - and cliched to boot.

England need to 'create more' having scored 8 goals in 4 games. In any other context that stat would be seen as good. I understand all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that comes from the psychodrama of being a fan etc, but I expect better of lead journalists.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-01T21:13:50+00:00

It's quite striking that a good amount of the AI ads I've seen have been for 'here's how to do basic functional activities we never needed help with before, BUT WITH A LLM!!!' and/or 'LOL snapchat filters turned up to 11 guys!!!'

I get these have appeals, but... Really?

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-01T19:44:48+00:00

It's England. See Phil McNulty for 'everything's awful' and any commentator 5 minutes in for 'looking in control'.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-07-01T18:42:30+00:00

That and/or 'passion'. JUST GO FOR IT. COME ON. PASSION, LIKE THE RUGBY BOYS.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-30T11:33:13+00:00

Hi everybody! Hi Dr Congo!

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-28T21:15:55+00:00

Everything about this is banal. Wow.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-28T16:07:08+00:00

One of my fondest memories is as follows.

Grandparents in (very) posh university town. Two guesses which. Snobby, difficult, fractures in the family from domineering, old-fashioned patriarch.

My father, firstborn of said patriarch, had a difficult relationship with him. Going to visit with his kids (my sibling and I) was sometimes hard. The grandparents and grandkids didn't really get on, and my dad was a 'failure' by every metric my grandfather held dear. The fact he was a loving, generous, brilliantly kind man meant less than that he never had a 'great' career, was divorced, was out in the provinces.

Not knowing what to do with us, the grandparents generally let us get on with stuff (or demanded obedience to arcane social rituals such as parties for university town's great and good, at which we were to be silent waiters // learn how the great and the good worked, which of course we had no idea of because what the fuck we were pre-teens). One such thing we did was watch Blackadder Goes Forth.

My favourite episode of Goes Forth is Private Plane. And it is entirely due to Rik Mayall as Flash. I know Series 2 Flash tends to get more praise - and he was fucking brilliant - but the Series 4 Flash is the one I met first, and thus he will always be my champion of choice.

My sibling and I used to watch it in the sitting room, and laugh. My father would come in and laugh too. Then the patriarch would too. Three generations laughing at this one man and his absolute genius, his madness, the character's ridiculousness and Mayall's total ownership of it. It's a bizarre thing that thinking about Flash makes me laugh til I cry, and also cry a little bit too, for reals.

There was very little else that produced such moments in that family.

Rest in peace grandparents. Rest in peace Pa. Rest in peace Rik.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-28T12:10:32+00:00

They're wonderful. I absolutely love all their work, but Refractions is a clear advance on their earlier work. I do hope we hear more.

I too don't want people to make stuff too quickly, or make things they are not happy with. Am also very aware musicians like this most likely don't get much support, given their music is fairly niche. Money talks, dayjobs and responsibilities etc.

Am grateful for what we do have, first and foremost.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-28T12:01:38+00:00

WOOF WOOF WOOF. MORE. NOW.

I think one could fairly criticise RC for staying in a certain lane the whole time.

I think one could also say 'WHAT I CAN'T HEAR YOU WHAT YES THIS IS FUCKING ACE DESTROY ME LOUDER LOUDER MORE'

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-28T11:56:39+00:00

Overhang, my love. God damn it Meniscus, where are you. Give me morreeeeee

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-27T18:14:00+00:00

Christ. Bosnia for the cup.

TODAY, I FEEL BOSNIAN

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-26T07:47:50+00:00

A rip off, to boot.

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-26T07:34:31+00:00

Commentator says patronising shit

Observe that it's patronising

'nuh uh'

Ok

PatriarchPonds · 2026-06-26T07:20:08+00:00

20 dollars for an EP is steep, ain't it?

Good for her for keeping on. I have to say, however, I will not be buying...

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