A Westport United supporter, at their club's Connaught Junior Cup quarterfinal match with Oranmore on Sunday, reckoned that if the game had been played under the jurisdiction of the Mayo FA, Oranmore would have folded after the game due to the fines they would have had imposed upon them.
He was joking, of course, but there was an element of truth in what he said.
Oranmore were not breaking any rules by the way. Matches in Galway apparently don't have to be played in enclosed grounds with a boundary between the pitch and supporters. Dugouts don't have to be provided for the substitutes.

Technical areas don't have to be marked out for the management teams. There is apparently nothing wrong with matches being played simultaneously on pitches separated by a mere few yards and with the footballs regularly leaving one pitch for the other.
I'm not complaining by the way. That's the way it is and there's a part of me that actually admires the more laid back approach of the Galway FA.

It's a bit frustrating, though, when you know that a few miles down the road a ruling body exists that has been known to penalise a club financially for not having sufficient hot water for a referee to have a shower or for a myriad of offences that would be deemed so trivial as to not even worry about.
But that's the world we live in, and as long as the governing body of the game allows its affiliates make their own rules then that's the rules we're going to have to play by.

A tasty football treat
A Saturday morning poster on a chat page had his perfect weekend marked out; he was hoping for wins for West Ham, Chelsea, Wigan, Blackburn and Sunderland.
An unlikely quintet, but most football supporters occupy a world where normality is suspended for at least 90 minutes each week, and they live for the unlikely.
Anyway, fair play to West Ham, they looked like they were going to play their part after going two up but normality returned to Upton Park in the second half (what a classy guy that Rooney fellow is by the way, Drogba got four games for something similar but don't hold your breath) and United ran out straightforward winners in the end.

Something awfully depressingly predictable about the way West Ham just capitulated once United pulled one back though. Avram has his work cut out there if he wants to avoid being relegated for two years on the trot.
After that turn around, it was always going to be the case that the remaining games would all go the way of the leaders. And they did.
Chelsea was lucky to leave Stoke with a point, Spurs likewise at Wigan, while Arsenal did one of their best feeling sorry for themselves impressions, drawing at home to Blackburn. Not many teams have failed to score against Blackburn but the Gooners managed it.
Man City did win but that result was never going to have any impact on the title, but it could yet have a bearing on the fight for Champions League placings.
Speaking of which, there are a couple of very tasty games this week in that competition. Spurs go to Madrid tonight (Tuesday) while tomorrow night there is a repeat of the 2008 final between Chelsea and Man United.

Madrid look anything but invincible. They lost at home on Saturday night and they do look vulnerable to the type of attack that Spurs possess, that is, pacey and direct. It wouldn't be a surprise if Spurs score in Spain or if they go through after the two legs.
Madrid are a long way from the finished article and Mourinho has a distance to go yet before he has them playing the way that he wants.
The game in West London should be tasty on Wednesday evening. The Blues got the better of United in the league a few weeks ago but this will be a different affair altogether. This one is impossible to predict and the only certainty is that it will go down to the wire in the second leg at Old Trafford.

Damned United

Finally, after some missed opportunities, this column finally got around to watching The Damned United on Sunday.
The film, based on David Peace's book on Brian Clough's 44 days at Leeds United, was compulsive viewing, though that had more to do with the intrigue of Clough than the actual film.
Michael Sheen was excellent as Clough but the rest of the character acting wasn't great. It disappointed this viewer but isn't that often the case when a superb book is turned into a film.

Well done Mayo

Good to see Mayo ensured at least another season in the upper echelons of Gaelic football after their win over Cork on Sunday.
That will have worked wonders for their confidence and it's always good to have the future sorted out before the last game of the season.
The new management team should take a lot from the league campaign. It was always going to be a really stiff test with games against the very best teams and two wins and a draw is not a bad return with one game still to play. Well done to all concerned.

 

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