Tag: football

“I hope that it’s not another 20 years before we do son!”

You might be surprised when I say that Sevilla didn’t disappoint. Yes, of course it would have been amazing for Real Mallorca to win the Copa Del Rey, but the whole experience was a joy from start to finish. 

On the Friday, I talked to Hawksbee and Jacob’s on Talksport radio in the UK about how well Real Mallorca had done to actually get to the final. My youngest son Jude and I also visited the club shop at the stadium. Which, as you can imagine, was doing a roaring trade. Credit to the club’s owners, who have built a much larger one when the stadium was being converted. I’m not sure the old one, which was like a broom cupboard, would have coped. I talked about Nike last week, and it’s no surprise that with American owners, Mallorca swapped their shirt sponsor from Umbro to Nike in July 2021. Now they don’t make football shirts like they used to, and the more fashionable tighter fit means a fat git like me struggles to get into one. So I bought a much more flattering and cheaper t-shirt. My son bought the goalkeeper jersey and even though we got a 10% discount as season ticket holders, it was still an eye-watering €76.50.

Saturday morning we set off for Sevilla. We flew to Valencia and after a short stop we boarded the same plane for the trip to Seville. We arrived at three in the afternoon and asked the taxi driver to take us to as close to the Cathedral he could. As we got out of the taxi, all we could see was red and white Athletic Club shirts. Stories say there were 20,000 with tickets (which we’ll talk about soon) and another 50,000 made the trip without tickets. We found our way to our favourite tapas bar called “Pelayo”. It was a bar recommended to us by a friend, which we visit every time we go to Seville. It is very noticeable that when you’re eating out on the mainland, you can see that Mallorca is much more expensive. On leaving the restaurant, we found the square that quite a few of the Real Mallorca fans were congregating in. There was a great fun atmosphere with lots of singing and drinking. We bumped into quite a few friends, and then we all made our way to the ground. Up to that point, our day had gone really well. The checking of bags by the police just to get into the fan zone outside the ground was to me a bit excessive. But the same bag search happened again as you made your way into the grounds of the stadium. 

La Cartuja Stadium was built in the mid-nineties, as Sevilla fancied itself as an Olympic host city and set about building a stadium to the exacting standards laid down by the International Olympic Committee. Three years and 120 million euros later, it had a 60,000 capacity stadium, but no Olympic Games as Sevilla didn’t even make the ballot process for the 2004 or the 2008 games. They offered it to both the cities football clubs, but neither Real Betis nor Sevilla wanted an athletics track and to be tenants. So, since then it has hosted some Spain games, the Copa Del Rey, UEFA finals and music concerts. 

Once inside, it was clear that we were going to be outnumbered by the Athletic fans. They seemed to be everywhere. Each club was supposed to receive 20,000 tickets and the other 20,000 was supposed to go to dignitaries, sponsors and families of the players. But it looked to me that most had been got by the Athletic fans. Some had even got into the Mallorca end, and I think that Mallorca and the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) should look into that. Nevertheless, we out sang their fans, creating an unbelievable atmosphere and most of our fans were in way before the start. Ironic that it’s called the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) and yet all the Athletic Club fans booed & whistled at the Spanish National Anthem and the King when put onto the big screen!  I’m sure most of you have heard the result by now, so I don’t need to go into any detail. Suffice to say that when we scored it was absolute bedlam, and unfortunately we couldn’t hang on. 

Grown men, women and children were crying around me, but in truth the best team won. If you could win on heart and passion, the cup would have been ours. Athletic Club’s annual budget is €261.60 compared to Mallorca’s €87.10 and in Nico Williams (man of the match) they have a player arguably worth more than the whole of the Mallorca squad. 

It is something I will look back on fondly, when 20,000 islanders went to Seville via plane or ferry to the mainland and then car, train, bus, coach, and we showed the World what a passionate football club we are. My Son said “do you think we’ll ever create that atmosphere again Dad?” 

My reply, “I hope that it’s not another 20 years before we do son!”

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

The Nike Controversy

Last week I received a text that said “I predict you writing something on the new Nike England kit and flag.” Which made me smile, and in truth it would be amiss of me not to talk about it, as it created such a furore. If you’ve not seen it, Nike have produced an England football shirt with a purple, blue, black and red cross on the back of the neck. Changing the colour of the flag of St George was seen by most people as something you shouldn’t touch, and the public outcry is still running today. 

Firstly, for me, is it Nike (pronounced like the name Mike) or is it Nike (pronounced like the name Mikey). Well, it’s Nikey if you look it up. Founded in 1964, they have become the World’s leading apparel brand, worth $142.39 billion. The Nike tick and the slogan “Just do it” have become synonymous around the World.

Nike first signed a six-year deal with the English Football Association back in 2012, marking the end of Umbro’s sixty-year association with the National team. Umbro had been England’s official kit supplier since the 1950s, apart from an eight-year stretch from 1974-82 when Admiral took over. That was extended in 2018 to a twelve-year deal until 2030, said to be worth £400 million. 

I asked my two boys what they thought of the kit, and both were unimpressed and said why did they change the flag? Two boys who are 18 and 14 respectively and haven’t really been brought up with the flag of St George being part of our lives. In fact, both prefer the retro kits that England used to wear. 

High street retailer JD Sports has revealed that, for the first time ever, England’s away kit is selling better than the home kit. So, in my opinion, this is a great marketing ploy by Nike. Still sell the same amount of shirts but more away ones than home ones and next year produce a different one. And these shirts don’t come cheap, by the way, £124.99 in adult sizes and £119.99 for kids. With a deal lasting until 2030, what have they got to lose?

Remember that this is the same brand that didn’t want to produce a Mary Earps England goalkeeper jersey. They faced a widespread backlash and after mounting pressure, they relented and released Earp’s green long-sleeved Lionesses shirt for sale, with the product selling out twice in a matter of minutes. They’re not daft in the Nike marketing department, are they! 

Interestingly, England aren’t the only ones with kit problems. 

Germany has released a pink away kit, said to represent the diversity in Germany, but as you can imagine this has caused a bit of a rumpus. But the colour of the shirt was not the major talking point as far as the Germans were concerned. Last week, it was announced that the decades-long kit supply tie-up between German soccer’s DFB governing body and German sportswear giant Adidas, one of the most renowned technical deals in sport, will come to an end after the 2026 World Cup. And guess who’s taking over? Yes, you guessed it, our friends from Nike. Reports suggested that the Americans offered in the region of €100 million, almost double what their German counterparts at Adidas apparently offered. 

Even Spain has been caught up in a kit gate saga, although this dated back to 2017. German sportswear brand Adidas faced fury after critics claimed the colours of Spain’s national team’s shirt were too similar to the flag of Spain’s Second Republic – instead of its national flag.

Spain’s Second Republic spanned eight years from 1931 to 1939 and officially ended following the victory of nationalist leader Francisco Franco at the end of the devastating Spanish Civil War.

The republic’s flag featured a purple strip at the bottom of Spain’s red and yellow bands – and critics of the national team shirt drew comparisons due to the inclusion of a splash of purple down the shirt. 

Of the current top 10 in the FIFA football rankings, Nike produces the kits for France, England, Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal and Croatia. With Adidas producing the rest for Argentina, Spain, Belgium and Italy.

I find all this criticism of the shirt funny as we don’t really celebrate St George’s Day on April the 23rd, in fact English people celebrate St Patrick’s Day more. But you may have read earlier in the week that, due to a new initiative by the Calvia Town Hall, there are four days of St George’s celebrations this year in Palma Nova, which is great to see. Details can be found in the Majorca Daily Bulletin and at the Town Hall. We at Pirates are offering 50% off of our Main Deck seating that week on Wednesday 24th of April and Friday 26th of April. 

As for Nike, it seems to me they will keep on pushing the barriers and creating controversy, as it doesn’t seem to be affecting them. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Benjamin William White – Discuss

Benjamin William White might not be a name recognisable to all of you out there, but he hit the headlines this past week as he has refused to play for the England football team. Now, as someone who loved to play football and loves watching football, I would have given my right arm to have been given the chance to play for England. So why did White turn down the chance when there is a general assumption amongst most football fans that players must love the game as much as we do? I actually have some sympathy for him. Some of you might say, well you would being an Arsenal fan, but it has nothing to do with that. 

He is a player at the peak of his form, helping Arsenal to the top of the league and to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. But it might surprise you to know that he actually doesn’t enjoy watching football. Yes, he’s passionate and very good at what he does, but he sees it as a job and nothing else. He is, by his teammates’ admission, a complex character, and he doesn’t enjoy being away from his family. He always wants to be first choice, which is a good trait, but with England he obviously has greater competition. Added to that is an alleged row with England assistant coach Steve Holland over his attitude. All of that combined led to his decision. Now, he is not alone in being a player that doesn’t actually like watching football. Liverpool player Konstantinos Tsimikas is another example, and looking back in history there are more. Gareth Bale, Carlos Tevez, Gabriel Batistuta and Marc-Andre der Stegen to name just a few who saw football as a job and nothing else. 

Harry Redknapp was scathing in his reaction this week on Talksport. “I think Gareth Southgate said the door’s still open, didn’t he? The door should be slammed right in his mush,” Redknapp told talkSPORT.(charming!) “He doesn’t want to play for his country, he goes to the World Cup then comes home because he’s not getting in the team. I’m sorry, you’ve had your opportunity. You don’t want to play for England? You tell the Bobby Moores of this world who’s got 100-odd caps. The Shiltons, the Beckhams, the Rooneys those people, go and tell the Billy Bonds of this world who didn’t get a cap and should have done, and all those great players that you don’t want to play for your country. I think it’s disgusting, I can’t have it.” 

This is not military service, Harry, you have a choice. Maybe it’s the Spurs, Arsenal rivalry that wound Harry up, as he forgot to mention that he played with the great Jimmy Greaves at West Ham. He said, “He was a genius. He was on another level. His best days were behind him when he joined us at West Ham, but he was still a great player, and we couldn’t wait to be with him on his first day.” The part he failed to mention about Jimmy was that he retired from international football early after telling Sir Alf Ramsey that he had no intention of becoming a bit-part player in the England squad. 

So, in the world of football, White is not on his own. In the World of sport, he is not on his own either. Former world tennis number one Andre Agassi once said I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have. 

Ronnie O’Sullivan, probably the greatest snooker player ever to grace the green baize, has had his demons on and off of the table. He once famously refused to play in the World Championships.

Even in the world of Showbiz, he is not on his own. The actor Johnny Depp from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies said “ I don’t have much further need for Hollywood, myself,” It’s a strange, funny time when everybody would love to be able to be themselves, but they can’t. They must fall in line with the person in front of them. If you want to live that life, I wish you the best.”

We live in a different world now and with the advent of social media, we can all voice our own opinions. We all have choices that some will agree with and others won’t, but it is up to us to make our own decisions and if that makes you happy, then in my opinion, that’s fine.

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the island’s number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Mallorca Shines in Another Industry

I’m always banging on about football in Mallorca and how important it is to the youth of our island but also the success of Real Mallorca and its importance to the island’s tourism industry cannot be underestimated. As it works mainly in the low season from late August to early May it should be shouted from the rooftops how well they are doing. Mallorca’s average home attendance last season was 14,798 and this season it currently stands at 17;193. The club has a record 20,000 season ticket holders compared to 16,000 last season and there is no doubt that the stadium improvements with more still to come are a big factor in this. The league form hasn’t been amazing and there’s still work to do to avoid relegation but the run to the Copa del Rey final has caught the fans attention. I talked last week about the difficulty in getting to the final in Seville but you could see as many as 20,000 make the trip. 

Tourism is our number one industry and I hear about more and more people coming to the island to take in a game. Mallorca have five home games left and two of those are against Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid which I’m sure will draw sellout crowds. 

The success of Real Mallorca’s first team has helped its U-19 Division Honor team to make history by winning the Copa del Rey Juvenil for the first time in their history. The team won 4-2 on penalties against RCD Espanyol in Oviedo after 120 minutes of high quality football but with no one managing to score a goal. This is a competition with the majority of teams from La liga represented including Real Madrid and Barcelona. A friend of mine went to watch the game and was very impressed by the team. Some of those players will be integrated into the first team or the B team next season and some will move onto other professional teams but it’s great to see them doing so well. 

Probably one of the best players Real Mallorca has produced is Marco Asensio. He started at a local club Platges de Calvia, followed by Real Mallorca. He then moved to Real Madrid and is now plying his trade at Paris Saint Germain. This week it was announced by Calvia Council that the Platges de Calvia stadium in Magalluf will be renamed the Marco Asensio Stadium in tribute to its finest player. 

Whilst this is all good news for Mallorca I’m still surprised that they still haven’t got a Women’s team, despite the island providing two of Spains World Cup winners in Cata Coll and Mariana Caldentey. It’s a subject I’m trying to get more information on. However our other professional team here in Mallorca, Atlético Baleares does have a very successful women’s team which to be honest is currently doing better than their Men’s team. Despite only being formed in 2018 they have made their way from local leagues to the Segunda RFEF which in women’s football is equivalent to the third division. They are currently in third place with an opportunity to get promoted to the Primera RFEF and then they will be one promotion from the highest women’s league in Spain. A great achievement.

Success on the pitch comes from good coaching and two of the biggest clubs in the English Premier League have coaches that were born here in Mallorca. 

Carlos Vicens of Manchester City was born in Colonia de San Jordi here on the island and started his career as the academy director and assistant manager at CD Llosetense. He joined City’s academy in 2017 and after a successful season in 20-21 as a Head Coach of the U18s, winning the FA Youth Cup and being crowned U18 Premier League National Champions, he was promoted to the first team as Assistant Coach under Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2021. As assistant coach he was credited on Match of the Day last Sunday as the architect for Jon Stones goal against Liverpool last weekend. 

Carlos Cuesta at just 28 years old has already got a very impressive coaching CV. He was born here in Palma and was an accomplished footballer playing at Santa Catalina Atlético and representing a Balearic representative side alongside fellow Mallorquín and Real Madrid player Marco Asensio. But playing wasn’t his thing, he enjoyed coaching so started with his clubs Benjamin(U-9 to U-10’s) team. After training the kids for four years, at 18 years old, Carlos moved to Madrid to study at INEF (Faculty of Sciences for Physical Activity and Sport) and also helped out at Atletico Madrid. Where, as he did here in Mallorca, he took control of a number of the youth teams and all the while he watched Diego Simeone coach the first team. Since then he has worked at Manchester City with Pep Guardiola and at Juventus with Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri. He is now part of the new set up at Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, who was part of Pep’s coaching team where he first met Carlos. 

He speaks a remarkable six languages; English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and Catalan and works on a one-on-one basis with the players.

His focus is heavy on technical skills and tactical ideas, while physical loading is kept to the minimum. The training sessions are filmed and Cuesta does a lot of video analysis with Arsenal’s stars individually. For him it’s about holistically working out a player’s identity to find out what they need to thrive, leaning on their physical, mental, technical and tactical capabilities and requirements. That without doubt would have helped the players in the penalty shootout win against Porto last Tuesday. Even though he is only 28, he is already being talked about as a future manager. 

Once again Mallorca shines through in another industry and it’s remarkable when you think the population is just under one million people. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Call Off Youth Football!(only for one weekend)

Mallorca’s finest L-R Javi Llabres, Antonio Sánchez, Abdon Prats & Sergi Darder

I wanted to follow up on something I wrote in February about the great strides Real Mallorca had made with their stadium and particularly in the their corporate offerings. I was positively critical if that’s grammatically correct as I didn’t want them to forget the true supporters who’d been with them through thick and thin. I am pleased to say I got a reply from the club the other day from Joan Serra who is the Commercial Director.

“I appreciate the points that you raise in your piece. It is evident that there are still some things missing to finish the project and among those that are missing are those that you mention in your email. We do not stop working on improving all aspects that make up a match day. Rest assured that we are working on it and in the near future you will notice these new features and improvements.”

I’ve done a bit of digging and found out that there will be in the North end of the stadium a high-performance sports clinic, a fitness center with spa, a coworking space and a two-story Sports Bar.

Without doubt when it is finished Real Mallorca will have one of the most impressive stadiums in La Liga. Saying that it is important that they remain in the league. There are 11 games to go and with Mallorca on 27 points, the target has to be 40 points to survive. If only they could replicate their Copa Del Rey form into La Liga as last week they won an incredible semi-final second leg against Real Sociedad on penalties to reach the Copa Del Rey final. No one gave them a hope after drawing the first leg 0-0 but a 1-1 draw in Sociedad meant they went to penalties. Dominic Grief their reserve keeper was the hero saving a first half penalty and one in the shootout giving them a 5-4 win. Every player who took a penalty buried it, meaning they go to their first final in 21 years. It’s an amazing achievement for a club that got relegated to the Segunda B(3rd division) in the 2016/17 season. 

They have reached the final three times in their history. Runners up in 1990/91 and 1997/98 and they won it in 2002/03 beating Recreativo Huelva 3-0 with 2 goals from Samuel Eto’o. That was 21 years ago, meaning that neither of my sons have seen Mallorca win a trophy. It’s just like being a fan of the other team from North London(Tottenham to the rest of you.) We were at Son Moix the night they beat Deportivo La Coruña 3-2 in the play-off final to get back into La Liga. If they could win the final against Athletic Club de Bilbao it would be probably their finest achievement. 

The problem for us fans here in Mallorca is how to get there. As soon as the winning penalty went in at 12.30 in the morning, I started to look at flights but stupidly went to bed without reserving any. The next morning they had all gone. I frantically looked and managed to find a flight with Iberia which wasn’t direct to Sevilla but with our island discount the price wasn’t too bad. The price of hotels was ridiculous and that was before Bilbao had got to the final. Since then I know many fans who are struggling to find either a flight or a ferry to get there, never mind a hotel. Surely the airlines should be putting on more flights and at regulated prices? Now none of us have actually got a ticket yet as the details haven’t been released. But I’ve been told that each club should get an allocation of 20,000 seats and as we have that number of season ticket holders that should be enough as not everyone will want to or be able to go. 

With that in mind I’m calling on the FFIB (Federation of football in the Balearics) to call off all of the youth football games that weekend of the 5th, 6th and 7th of April. To give all parents and their children a chance to go to Seville. This has been a wait of 21 years and the island and its football team needs all the support it can get.

As you probably know I have two boys playing in the youth football system and there’s nothing better than seeing our professional team doing well. As it gives all our youngsters something to aim for. In fact the club pictured this week four players from its first team squad that were born here in Mallorca. Abdon Prats and Sergi Darder both born in Arta, Antonio Sánchez born in Palma, Javi Llabres born in Binnisalem. It’s great to see locally born players doing so well and long may that continue. I do hope they do the island proud on April 6th. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos. Subscribe to receive his blogs at http://www.dadtaximallorca.com

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

Don’t Forget Your Core Supporters!

This weeks thoughts are a bit of a double edged sword. I want to give out praise where praise is due but  there are a couple of negatives coming too. The negatives are in my opinion constructive and believe me when I say I only want the best outcome.

I’ve been a Real Mallorca fan since I came to the island. I started going regularly in the early 2,000’s, so I’ve seen the good times and the really bad times. In the 2016/17 season they were relegated to Segunda B meaning they couldn’t go much lower. In that league average attendances were around 3 or 4,000, you could sit in your allotted season ticket seat and not have anyone near you. Believe me at times it was awful to watch but we still went every week. At that time Mallorca were bought by a group of Americans investors who without doubt at that time would have been wondering what they had got themselves into. Remember that relegation doesn’t happen in American sport. However back to back promotions meant they returned to La Liga in record time. Another relegation during COVID was quickly turned around the following season and last season they finished a very successful ninth in the league.

During all this time the owners have invested a lot of time and money into the Club and away from the pitch their marketing and in particular their social media ranked them third in La Liga behind the giants of Real Madrid and Barcelona. One thing that had held the club back was the stadium. Built in 1999 for the World Student Games and leased to the club by the Palma City Council for 50 years, there had been many arguements over its renovation and in particular the running track. Thankfully those arguements subsided and work began on moving the stands closer to the pitch. When you visit the stadium now it is something to be proud of and this week a season record crowd of 22,051 saw the first leg of the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey. 

One of the major changes to the stadium has been on the corporate side. New offerings include the ‘Tunnel Experience’, the ‘Premium Club’ and the new VIP boxes above the North stand. One of those boxes for a season for 12 people will cost you an eye watering 44,000€. If all these offerings are sold and the money can be reinvested into the team that can only be good for the club. 

Now I did say at the beginning of this there would be a couple of negatives. As I said I hope the club is looking into the issues I’m highlighting as it seems that the average season ticket holder like me has been left behind. I am more than happy with the stadium on the inside, my beef lays on the outside. Part of the renovation was to convert the old Mallorca Cafe into a state of the art club shop. Which I’m not criticising as it looks amazing but the Mallorca Cafe was a meeting point for fans before the game. Last Tuesday there was a temporary constructed outside bar that was nowhere near big enough to service the thousands of people outside. Remember that you can only buy an alcoholic drink outside a La Liga ground as it is banned inside the stadium. So you can imagine what it was like. Are their any plans to replace the Mallorca Cafe, that would not only be used on match days but as before for people to enjoy it for a morning coffee or to watch away matches on a big screen? Surely this is an opportunity for the club to make extra income? On top of the lack of being able to get a drink, there were two mobile caravans selling burgers at 8€ a pop. Neither despite their best intentions could cope with the amount of people. If the outside experience of us fans not wanting the corporate experience is being looked into then that is something to look forward to. The other problem is trying to get out of the stadium at the end of the game from the club car park. It took me an hour to get out on Tuesday night. I’m not sure what the answer is as it seems the majority of the crowd drive to the stadium. When a game is on there are cars parked everywhere, even on the motorway hard shoulder! Would the club and Palma City Council look at extending the metro service? Or maybe offer a rolling free bus service back into the city? There was talk by the previous government of building a tram service from the centre of Palma to the airport and also to Son Espases hospital. Could this be extended to the stadium? These projects were to paid for in part by European or Spanish Government subsidies. Alfonso Diaz, Mallorca’s Chief Executive has said “Basically, we want this stadium, which is a major building in the city, to be a venue for the city and its people. Little by little, this is being achieved and this space is being opened up so that it could be used 365 days per year and not just 19 or 20 times when there is a football match. The city and its people should be able to enjoy this venue with facilities that can be used for social, sporting, and entrepreneurial activities.” That’s great but that outside experience and the transport problem needs looking into. 

I will of course carry on being a season ticket holder as there’s nothing I want more to see the club be successful. I believe having a club in La Liga is positive for the island and is another arm to our tourist offering particularly in the low season. Not only that, it is an avenue for all youth footballers here to go into the professional game. 

As the song sung at the stadium goes “Rojo, negro hasta que me muera” (meaning red and black until I die).

But please remember and look after your non-corporate supporters. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

New Year, New You?

New Year, new you. How’s that going for everybody? I’m not really one for New Years Resolutions. If you want to change something then for me do it in the moment, why wait? Last year after a health scare and doing a full MOT it became obvious to me that I needed to change. 

Remember that old saying, ‘Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game.’ So the game I was playing needed to change. You’re not getting any younger gets levelled at me, which is fair enough. But can I just check something, am I the only one who gets new knee or hip adverts come up on social media? The infinite amount of walking apps I receive too and also  the old fella doing his exercises sat on a chair, cheek! I’ve had a gym membership at Viva gym in Son Fusteret Palma for quite a while now. I use it when the boys are at football training in the evenings. I say ‘use it’ as that’s not entirely true. It’s a winter thing as in the summer we’re too busy at Pirates. I had been going regularly before Christmas and made a point of going as soon as I got back from holiday. Having Christmas and then a holiday isn’t a great combination if losing weight is on your agenda. I walked in last Monday evening to a gym that was packed with people of all shapes and sizes. Yes it was obviously the new year resolution brigade out in force. Some of them obviously had got new gym wear or new trainers as a present and were there to show them off. I wonder how long they will last? It’s all down to how much you want it. For me, I’m going to go as often as I can for as long as I can and hopefully see a difference. 

Splitting my work and family time for me now is more important than ever. I love watching my boys grow up and change. Regular readers will know I have two boys, Jacob and Jude. Jacob is 18 and in his last year of school and Junior football and Jude who is 14. They are like chalk and cheese. Jacob has been working with me at Pirates for a couple of years and is a grafter. Try telling his Mum that, because at home he’s completely the opposite. It will be interesting to see what career path he will take after this summer season. We still have to push him into the shower after football training or a match and he has no interest in fashion, as a football shirt will do. Whereas Jude will shower before and after a game and will dress immaculately even if we’re just going to Lidl. The difference in them though does make it interesting to watch them grow and change. Jude in particular should be my motivation as over the past year he has lost 25kgs. He did it with the help of a professional nutritionist and his own will power. Without doubt it’s helped him from a confidence point of view both in his football and his own personality. I’m very proud of my two boys and look forward to seeing then grow further. 

During the pandemic we decided to get ourselves a dog. It’s a big undertaking as to be honest it’s like having another child. Beau our Labrador has become part of the family now and for my Wife and I gives us an opportunity to get out walking. Thanks to Montaire Labradors where we got Beau from who’ve been a great help. 

Lastly and not on any purpose, is my long suffering Wife, Rachael. Who else would put up with us three or four now for all these years? She has done an amazing job with her theatre school over the last 15 years even managing to get through the pandemic. So well that the school that she does her classes in on a Saturday asked her to become their drama teacher a couple of years ago. She also gets a special mention this week because it’s her 50th birthday. Guess what? Work and football have got in the way of us celebrating this week but hopefully there’s a gap between games that we can celebrate this weekend. 

Happy Birthday Rachael, we all love you and thank you for all you do for us. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

It’s a Public Vote

I grew up watching Sports Personality of the Year. It was one of the programmes I always looked forward to at the end of the year. Now I’m showing my age here as this was before satellite tv was invented. So you could watch most sporting events on terrestrial tv. My earliest memory of a winner was probably John Curry the ice skater who won in 1976. By the way I was 10 years old for those asking. 

Since the invention of Sky it became harder for the BBC to show highlights of sport that they didn’t televise. This meant the programme wasn’t as good as it used to be and as I’ve got older I’ve tended not to watch it so much.

I have to be honest and look up who won last year’s event and it was England women’s footballer Beth Mead. She was the player of the tournament and top scorer at Euro 2022, where the Lionesses defeated Germany in the final at Wembley to win England’s first major women’s football trophy.

The 27-year-old also became the first women’s footballer to win the award.

This year another England women’s footballer won, their goalkeeper Mary Earps. Leading to a few people criticising why she won if she and England didn’t actually win the World Cup after losing to Spain in the final. 

Before we look at whether she was deserving or not let’s look at the criteria and the panel who drew up the shortlist as it’s something I had to look up.

The criteria of the shortlist should be that they,

• Reflect UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage;
• Represent the breadth and depth of UK sports; 
• Take into account the ‘impact’ of the person’s sporting achievement beyond the sport in question.

The industry panel for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year included former Lioness and Euro 2022 winner Ellen White, ex-Olympian Colin Jackson, Paralympian Ellie Simmonds and former Scotland rugby union international Chris Paterson.

Sports journalists David Coverdale (Daily Mail), Rob Maul (The Sun) and Charlotte Harpur (The Athletic) were on the panel alongside Olympian Katherine Grainger, now Chair of UK Sport.

Representing the BBC were director of sport Barbara Slater, head of sport content Philip Bernie and Sports Personality of the Year executive producer Gabby Cook.

The Panel were given an extensive list of the top sportspeople from 2023 Including information on their achievements, provided by the production team of Sports Personality of the Year. The Panel were also able to consider other potential candidates who were not on the list. 

They chose, Stuart Broad (cricket), Frankie Dettori (horse racing), Alfie Hewett (wheelchair tennis), Katarina Johnson-Thompson (athletics) Rory Mcllroy (golf) and Mary Earps (Football)

On the night itself the award goes to the sportsperson whose sporting actions have most captured the UK public’s imagination during 2023. There’s an important word in that last sentence “public”. Let’s not forget it’s a public vote and they decide who wins. It’s a bit like a general election if you feel so passionately about something then use your vote. Two of the people who’ve been so critical of the winner have been Journalist Piers Morgan and former footballer Joey Barton. I wasn’t surprised about Barton as his views on pretty much everything are left field but I was surprised about Piers. Everyone as always is entitled to their opinion as long as you don’t get personal, which Barton in particular did. Interestingly though when asked, neither did vote so that sums it up for me. 

Back to the winner Mary, she also won the World Cup tournament’s Golden Glove, the Best Women’s Goalkeeper at FIFA’s The Best awards and was named England Women’s Player of the Year. She stood up against Nike who wouldn’t release a replica shirt with her name on and when they eventually bowed to pressure she sold out twice in both October and December.

A thoroughly deserving winner in my eyes. 

Take care everybody and can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. 

Richie is the MD at Pirates, the islands number one night out featuring Adventure, Reloaded and Gringos.

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com