The highlight of my day was watching the football World Cup qualifier between Israel and Scotland from Tel Aviv. It was fascinating not for the football itself but for the fact there were spectators. After a year of watching football games in empty stadiums it was a joy to see and hear fans. 5000 in total were allowed in but it felt like more. The commentator even mentioned that despite his dislike of someone beating a drum for 90 minutes it was a welcome change this time around.
In a few months time London will be hosting some of the Euro 20 games with Glasgow and Dublin pencilled in to host games too. Its hoped by then that these grounds will be at least a third full. That is the plan. I do have to say though that UEFA leave as bad a taste in thd mouth as FIFA. the European body are threatening to take away hosting if a nation cannot accommodate the 33% of fans it needs to turn a profit. Its up there with the world body's decision to give Qatar the Premier competition next year with rumoured slave labour being on a par with Rio 3 years ago. Its enough to put even someone like me off the game. These past few years I have felt very conflicted. A cade in point is a 17 year old in Germany wanting £100k a week while NHS staff here are offered a 1% pay rise. Surely the balance is wrong there.
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