End of an era
Earlier this week, the magazine Airport Technology asked me what will be the impact of Biden’s victory for the aviation industry (read the article here). My view is simple: it’s good news for aviation. Mr.Trump wasn’t exactly a big fan of open skies, as you might recall, for example, from his controversial “Muslim ban”.
As an organisation that knows no borders and takes proud in its inclusivity, the Football Dads are generally in favour for openness and friendship, and welcomes players from every country in the world, no questions asked. The only ban we can agree on is one against players that lack the right motivation to kick the ball on Saturday mornings and aren’t ready to give it all to win.
We all love the US, and over the years we were blessed to have many great players from across the Atlantic. The players that have been around longer will remember the day when the US Ambassador to the UK played with us while his bodyguards watched from outside the pitch (Oh yes, it did happen). And we have fond memories of the day when Obama gave us an impassioned speech before the match (No, that didn’t happen, I just made it up, but there are rumours of Barack becoming the new Ambassador to the UK, so … watch this space).
Perhaps Trump’s skepticism towards soccer started in 2018, in Helsinki, when he received a football as a gift from Vladimir Putin (see top photo) but after some routine checks it turned out the ball had a transmitter chip inside. I suspect the ball never made it to the White House.
On more local news, this week we saw Dominic Cummings leaving Nr.10. Is it good news or bad? I am not entirely sure, but I loved reading the headlines today: “End of an era” according to the Guardian. “Purge of Brexiteers” for the Times, while the Daily Mail summarised it all with a simple and effective “Sod off”.
Whoever is now taking decisions (or providing “advices”) in the Government, we can only hope that they do the right thing to manage the pandemic and avoid the need for further limitations. We are now half way through the November lockdown that is preventing us from enjoying our weekly football and we can’t wait to be back. Just two more weeks of abstention, and hopefully we will be playing on Saturday 5th December.
So, start cleaning your booths and remain in shape. When we restart, the first match is going to be a kick-ass affair. Call it the start of a new era if you want.