Football (Soccer) Thread

[Duque de Bragança]

Good thing I guess I didn't mean O Fenómeno. 

[Sheilbh]

Do EPL games ever get cancelled due to fog?

Not that I'm aware of. There is a probably apocryphal story of a pre-war football game that was called off for fog (probably smog, actually) and one of the goalkeepers didn't realise for about 10 minutes

[The Larch]

Good thing I guess I didn't mean O Fenómeno. 

There's one and only one Ronaldo. All other have to qualify their names.

[Josquius]

I just saw him play a monk in Spanish Netflix show Casa del Papel (money heist).

Iirc wasn't his only speaking part one of...

Berlin: Hey brother Alberto (or whatever his name is) where are you from anyway?
Neymar: Brazil.
Berlin: ah Brazil! Excellent!  Land of football! Do you play?
Neymar: I don't care for football

[Agelastus]

Do EPL games ever get cancelled due to fog?

Not that I'm aware of. There is a probably apocryphal story of a pre-war football game that was called off for fog (probably smog, actually) and one of the goalkeepers didn't realise for about 10 minutes

While I've heard that story myself, and don't know its' status - this is more recent.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31847992

I doubt anything has been called off in the premier league though.

Edit: At least 2 FA cup games between prominent teams have been called off due to fog - Chelsea vs. Fulham in 1936, and Newcastle vs. Swansea in 1953.

[Sheilbh]

And Chelsea or Newcastle in the 30s or 50s must have been proper smog too.

Just thinking of the amount of coal dust and ash in the air plus fog in cities then for the players it must have been like trying to play a game in a smoking room

[Gups]

Do EPL games ever get cancelled due to fog?

Not that I'm aware of. There is a probably apocryphal story of a pre-war football game that was called off for fog (probably smog, actually) and one of the goalkeepers didn't realise for about 10 minutes

I happen to know about this as it was a legendary keeper from my team Charlton Athletic from the long ago days when we were good

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bartram

Bartram was involved in a well reported incident when thick fog closed in on a game he was playing against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge:

"Soon after the kick-off," he wrote in his autobiography, "[fog] began to thicken rapidly at the far end, travelling past Vic Woodley in the Chelsea goal and rolling steadily towards me. The referee stopped the game, and then, as visibility became clearer, restarted it. We were on top at this time, and I saw fewer and fewer figures as we attacked steadily."

The game went unusually silent but Sam remained at his post, peering into the thickening fog from the edge of the penalty area. And he wondered why the play was not coming his way. "After a long time," he wrote, 'a figure loomed out of the curtain of fog in front of me. It was a policeman, and he gaped at me incredulously. "What on earth are you doing here?" he gasped. "The game was stopped a quarter of an hour ago. The field's completely empty".

[Agelastus]

1937 according to the articles I have now found (thanks Gups.) And against Chelsea too.

Given the FA Cup match I found from 1936, was Stamford Bridge known as an exceptionally foggy ground?

[Or, more accurately perhaps, "smoggy" ground?]

[Josquius]

Do EPL games ever get cancelled due to fog?

Not that I'm aware of. There is a probably apocryphal story of a pre-war football game that was called off for fog (probably smog, actually) and one of the goalkeepers didn't realise for about 10 minutes

While I've heard that story myself, and don't know its' status - this is more recent.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31847992

I doubt anything has been called off in the premier league though.

Edit: At least 2 FA cup games between prominent teams have been called off due to fog - Chelsea vs. Fulham in 1936, and Newcastle vs. Swansea in 1953.

Pretty sure I remember a Sunderland game in the 90s being cancelled part way through due to fog. Not Premier League though, FA Cup maybe.
Coastal cities do get pretty heavy fog.

[Agelastus]

Pretty sure I remember a Sunderland game in the 90s being cancelled part way through due to fog. Not Premier League though, FA Cup maybe.
Coastal cities do get pretty heavy fog.

I did another quick search and found a Liverpool versus Arsenal League cup quarter final at Anfield that was abandoned due to fog in 2006; that almost counts as a Premiership match.

Benitez and Wenger, of course, thought the ref was wrong...

[The Larch]

Sorry cel, but here are some more bad news for Barça.

EU's top court rules Spanish fooball clubs received illegal state aid

The EU top court has ruled that Spanish tax laws unfairly benefit some of the country's top football clubs.

A verdict handed out by the European Court of Justice stated the government had given illegal state aid to four of its major clubs, including FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Spanish law allows the clubs to pay taxes as nonprofit sports clubs, rather than sports companies.

In 2016, Brussels penalised several La Liga teams over the preferential tax breaks and ordered them to repay millions of euros to the Spanish authorities.

The Commission said the four clubs were treated as non-profit organisations and had paid tax rate on profit that was a 5% lower that of their rivals for more than 20 years without an objective justification.

It added the money to be recovered would be limited to €5 million per club but that the precise amount to be paid back should be fixed by Spanish authorities.

[celedhring]

It's actually good news, it was feared that the damages would be much bigger.

[The Larch]

It's actually good news, it was feared that the damages would be much bigger.

You mean the 5 million limit?

[celedhring]

Well, that was already part of the original ruling. Since one of main issues was how the Commission had calculated those missing monies, it was thought the ECJ could have mandated a reassessment.

[The Larch]

Well, that was already part of the original ruling. Since one of main issues was how the Commission had calculated those missing monies, it was thought the ECJ could have mandated a reassessment.

If it covers the entire 30 years period it does seem like a bargain, yeah.