From a Different Point of View – 1st Week of February Edition

Some Things You May Have Missed From the Last Week

    The big story of the week was the incident at the Al Masri v Al Ahly in Port Said, Egypt.

    The football community was ablaze with stories, even though details remain sketchy, and finger-pointing is rampant. Brian Straus over at The Sporting News had one of the most complete accounts, while the BBC reached out to one of their correspondent for another look.

    James Montague – of When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone-fame – chips in with a piece in The Guardian. James M. Dorsey of the excellent blog The Turbulent World of Mideast Soccer has a few different looks at the tragedy, elsewhere at Just Football a rather prescient look at the state of the game one year after the revolution by Adam Moustafa.

    Michael Lewis, of the excellent Tropigol digs into the memory banks for the story of an American soccer riot.


    The European transfer window slammed shut midweek without much fanfare. Round ups of transactions from the English Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, the Eredivisie, and the Portuguese Super Liga. Another from the point of view of UEFA competitions.


    More from the sad news department - other than the English Captaincy debacle – a report on the death of South African Jeffrey Ntuka and information from the inquest into the death of Gary Speed.


    A couple of new sites stumbled across this week. Cartoon hilarity from The Sunshine Room and some retro sticker excellence from Old School Panini – en français.


    A few of my own for good measure, the introduction to February’s Book of the Month - Philippe Auclair mammoth and spectacular Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King, as well as a guttural reaction to the furour over the CSA’s announcement of the venue for the upcoming Men’s national team matches.