Archive for September, 2009

King Cantona: The Infamous King with a Kung-Fu Kick 0

September 11th, 2009

Level with me, what is the most memorable moment of Eric Cantona’s career? The answer would be the flying kung-fu kick incident at Crystal Palace, right? How Eric Cantona shocked the world of UK football by kicking Matthew Simmons who was watching the game at that time wasn’t the highlight of his career, yet a lot of people remember the incident perfectly — especially with the help of the famous photograph of the incident now being used as the cover of Ash’s single “Kung-Fu”. The incident which took place on January 25th 1995 resulted Simmons (the so-called victim) banned from English football ground for a year after they discovered series of felon acts previously committed. Cantona stated what appears to be his most famous quote, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.”, when a reporter asked him about the incident.

Aside from that particular incident, Eric Cantona enjoyed being titled as “King” in Old Trafford. Manchester United was not at their best when they recruited Cantona, and many thought this marvelous man to be the engine that brought the team to its prime state again. The Manchester United fans refer to him as King Eric after he won the 2001 the title of the game’s player of the century. He won 4 Premiere Leagues titles, 2 FA Cup trophies, and 3 Charity Shields, during his career in Manchester United. He played the total number of 432 games throughout his career, scoring not a goal less than 161 goals — 82 of them was scored for Manchester United.

Eric Cantona now lives as an actor, but he will always be known as British football legend. He deserves the title “King” and will be on his fans’ heart for years to come.

Posted by admin in History, Players

The Football Factory 0

September 5th, 2009

UK football has been part of British popular culture for years now. Along the way there are several football movies created by both UK and international filmmakers. Movies about teams as well as fans and hooligans have been made. One of the most interesting movies about UK football is “The Football Factory”, released in 2004. It tells the story of Tommy Johnson, an avid football hooligan, and his quest to make peace with himself and his morality. It is certainly not the best or most famous movie about football or hooligans, but it is interestingly plotted and deals with a lot of issues such as racism, sexism, class consciousness, football hooliganism and working class culture.

I’m not too keen on the fact that this movie uses too much bad language or overly-portrayed violence, but it sure can describe clearly how social interaction between football fans from different teams affect everyone’s daily life to a certain extent. It depicts how random, often seen as irrelevant, events can cause brawls and vandalism among hooligans from different teams. You can see how small mistakes such as ending at the wrong girl’s house or hitting the brother of a strong hooligan character that has influence over group of supporters lead to the Headhunters, who support Chelsea F.C., and the Bushwackers, who support Millwall F.C. fighting against each other in a big brawl.

It is interesting to see the main character ask himself if it is all worth it, and replied with confidence that it is. The love of die-hard fans of British football for their teams is amazingly big and the bond created among the two is very strong. There is no doubt that football has been a huge part of British lives to its very roots. It is the fuel of one massive sporting engine.

Posted by admin in Movies