Grand Prix Rejects

I'm stealing This' post here, but there are some goings-on in Belgium that I just wanted to talk about in my very own Meanwhile in Belgium.

The main happening is relevant to me in particular, since it happened 3km away from where I live. Sprimont-Comblain, through a miracle of nature, are in the third division this season, and last week, they faced La Louvière, which was a previously very successful team with a rivalry against Standard de Liège. Of course, a few Standard "supporters" decided to come over to Sprimont before the match and break some stuff. Cars were damaged and three policemen went to the hospital. I'm ashamaed to be represented by these guys as a Standard supporter.

Oh, and by the way, Sprimont won 3-1

Also, Mons are continuing to make Derby County's 2007-08 season look like title-contending form, with now 3 points from 15 matches. Not a single victory so far at the halfway point of the season.

tommykl wrote:I'm stealing This' post here, but there are some goings-on in Belgium that I just wanted to talk about in my very own Meanwhile in Belgium.

The main happening is relevant to me in particular, since it happened 3km away from where I live. Sprimont-Comblain, through a miracle of nature, are in the third division this season, and last week, they faced La Louvière, which was a previously very successful team with a rivalry against Standard de Liège. Of course, a few Standard "supporters" decided to come over to Sprimont before the match and break some stuff. Cars were damaged and three policemen went to the hospital. I'm ashamaed to be represented by these guys as a Standard supporter.

Oh, and by the way, Sprimont won 3-1

Also, Mons are continuing to make Derby County's 2007-08 season look like title-contending form, with now 3 points from 15 matches. Not a single victory so far at the halfway point of the season.

Which La Louviere was it? The one that still exists or the famous La Louviere aka ''FC Charleroi''

tommykl wrote:I'm stealing This' post here, but there are some goings-on in Belgium that I just wanted to talk about in my very own Meanwhile in Belgium.

The main happening is relevant to me in particular, since it happened 3km away from where I live. Sprimont-Comblain, through a miracle of nature, are in the third division this season, and last week, they faced La Louvière, which was a previously very successful team with a rivalry against Standard de Liège. Of course, a few Standard "supporters" decided to come over to Sprimont before the match and break some stuff. Cars were damaged and three policemen went to the hospital. I'm ashamaed to be represented by these guys as a Standard supporter.

Oh, and by the way, Sprimont won 3-1

Also, Mons are continuing to make Derby County's 2007-08 season look like title-contending form, with now 3 points from 15 matches. Not a single victory so far at the halfway point of the season.

No need for Mons to worry, because as the Belgian system is crazy, they could go a whole season without winning and still survive through the relegation playoff system!

tommykl wrote:I'm stealing This' post here, but there are some goings-on in Belgium that I just wanted to talk about in my very own Meanwhile in Belgium.

The main happening is relevant to me in particular, since it happened 3km away from where I live. Sprimont-Comblain, through a miracle of nature, are in the third division this season, and last week, they faced La Louvière, which was a previously very successful team with a rivalry against Standard de Liège. Of course, a few Standard "supporters" decided to come over to Sprimont before the match and break some stuff. Cars were damaged and three policemen went to the hospital. I'm ashamaed to be represented by these guys as a Standard supporter.

Oh, and by the way, Sprimont won 3-1

Also, Mons are continuing to make Derby County's 2007-08 season look like title-contending form, with now 3 points from 15 matches. Not a single victory so far at the halfway point of the season.

Mons are really looking troublesome, they're the only JPL team that got eliminated in the cup. (altough it was against Westerlo, who are currently leading second division, but still it tells some things)
But like Watka said... Thing with Mons is that they can't manage to get consistent results over the years, usually lasting a period of 3 years before getting relegated again. This team gives me the feeling that whenever they have a good season, it's more a case of being a bit lucky with their transfers, rather than really doing a good job.
Well these things happen a lot in Liege, i know from some friend who's supporting Eendracht Aalst, that a few years back RFCL-fans were supporting Aalst in their game against Visé, so i suppose these 'hardcore' fans are also at the other side of Liège, and each of them have their own little rivals. It's a shame these things are happening, but it's always been like that that the 'hooligans' have their own rivalries that don't have much to do with the actual fans.
A little bit of meanwhile, also involving Standard, is that now Racing Genk has publicly declared war against Roland Duchatelet. Now despite disliking Genk, i kind of understand their frustrations, as Duchatelet has gained himself the reputation as a man who thinks everything in football is for sale.
I wish you good luck with Sprimont-Comblain. Promotion will probably be a curse for such a small team, but i hope they remain long in third, which is a good place for them. My local team, Hades (also 3 km from me), isn't doing bad either, being in the top 5 in Division 4C, i do hope they get promoted, because a derby within the city of Hasselt (against Sporting) would be a good excuse to go and actually see a game of them. And it might be the pressure that Sporting needs to actually get their act together, and start to become a more professional team. And if they don't, then Hades will gladly take over the role of being Hasselts best performing team. (altough i can't see them ever doing better than 3rd division) Also they're named after the Greek god of the underworld, how cool is that, really? The only more epic name i can think of would be something like 'FC Satan La Roche'n Roll' with matricule 666, their stadium being called 'Hell' but sadly that team does only exist in my fantasy, and i wouldn't really descibe La Roche as hell...

TheBigJ wrote:

tommykl wrote:I'm stealing This' post here, but there are some goings-on in Belgium that I just wanted to talk about in my very own Meanwhile in Belgium.

The main happening is relevant to me in particular, since it happened 3km away from where I live. Sprimont-Comblain, through a miracle of nature, are in the third division this season, and last week, they faced La Louvière, which was a previously very successful team with a rivalry against Standard de Liège. Of course, a few Standard "supporters" decided to come over to Sprimont before the match and break some stuff. Cars were damaged and three policemen went to the hospital. I'm ashamaed to be represented by these guys as a Standard supporter.

Oh, and by the way, Sprimont won 3-1

Also, Mons are continuing to make Derby County's 2007-08 season look like title-contending form, with now 3 points from 15 matches. Not a single victory so far at the halfway point of the season.

Which La Louviere was it? The one that still exists or the famous La Louviere aka ''FC Charleroi''

The one that still exists (UR La Louvière Centre), but I don't think that kind of fan really cares

roblomas52 wrote:Your team can have Adebayor from Spurs if you want since he is doing sod all

No ta! We have one lazy, unfit player stinking up the team already - his name is Kevin Nolan. I'd take Defoe on loan though - by the sounds of it, he's now realised what an idiot he was when he left us.

The best Belgian team name there has been, and will ever be, is Koninklijke Waterschei Sportvereniging Thor Genk.

Some reality check for Belgiumwinslol, but it must be said Colombia has a very very good team. Big surprise that Meunier played the whole 90 minutes, i'm even surprised he got selected in the first place. But he didn't put himself to shame.

This wrote:Some reality check for Belgiumwinslol, but it must be said Colombia has a very very good team. Big surprise that Meunier played the whole 90 minutes, i'm even surprised he got selected in the first place. But he didn't put himself to shame.

Juan Cuadrado was always going to terrorise the Belgians down the wing. Fantastic player, a key part of the new Fiorentina team.

Could be worse for Belgium, at least they lost to a decent South American side.

watka wrote:Could be worse for Belgium, at least they lost to a decent South American side.

We were shite. Period.

watka wrote:Could be worse for Belgium, at least they lost to a decent South American side.

Are you trying to imply Chile are shite?

I wouldn't brand them as such. While they were missing a key player in Arturo Vidal, who was out injured, they still have several good players in their ranks. Matías Fernández, Mauricio Isla, Jorge Valdívia, Alexis Sánchez and Eduardo Vargas are all quality players.

Also, let's not forget Chile is home to the legendary player that is Iván Zamorano

I wouldn't call any of the 10 south-american teams shite, really. Not all of them are world class, but not reject material either.

Thumbs up for Iceland, they're one step closer to be in the world cup (draw, and Croatia looks like a team in panic, so they stand a chance) Remember: Iceland got slightly more than half of the population than Luxembourg, that puts things in perspective. If they qualify, they would be the smallest country to have done so (currently the record stands for Trinidad&Tobago, who are still over a million)
They are the ultimate underdog, and so need to be there, also because Brazil is rather tropical and iceland is, well, icy. And it would be cool to see the Brazil got invaded by a bunch of vikings and elves.

Stramala wrote:

watka wrote:Could be worse for Belgium, at least they lost to a decent South American side.

Are you trying to imply Chile are shite?

I wouldn't brand them as such. While they were missing a key player in Arturo Vidal, who was out injured, they still have several good players in their ranks. Matías Fernández, Mauricio Isla, Jorge Valdívia, Alexis Sánchez and Eduardo Vargas are all quality players.

Also, let's not forget Chile is home to the legendary player that is Iván Zamorano

No, they are not s**** but they are the sort of team that you would expect to finish 2nd in their group and get knocked out in the last 16 at best. They've got players in their squad from Nottingham Forest and Wigan Athletic, so that says something. If England are half as good as they are supposed to be, they'd have no trouble beating them at home in any circumstance.

Sadly, no suprising teams qualified. The only ones that are making their debut are Bosnia-Herzegovina, but that's not a huge surprise.

This wrote:Sadly, no suprising teams qualified. The only ones that are making their debut are Bosnia-Herzegovina, but that's not a huge surprise.

Big thing for them though considering how broken their country is. Kind of like Belgium's story.

This news is a few days old, but Gibraltar held their first official game (altough obviously a friendly one) against Slovakia, not losing! (0-0)

I've been meaning to look this stuff up! When did Gibraltar get themselves a national team? Are they allowed to play competitive games (WC quali, Euro quali) or just friendly matches?

Edit: Found out myself.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibralta ... tball_team

Basically, for those who can't be bothered to read it all, they can start competing competitively from the EURO 2016 qualifiers, which start late next year. They've competed in tournaments such as the Island Tournament for teams like Faroese, Isle of Man, Anglesey ect.

Oh, and Danny Higginbotham plays for them through an Uncle!

This wrote:This news is a few days old, but Gibraltar held their first official game (altough obviously a friendly one) against Slovakia, not losing! (0-0)

They can already say, albeit for a small period of time I presume, that they are the only unbeaten team in the world!

DanielPT wrote:

This wrote:This news is a few days old, but Gibraltar held their first official game (altough obviously a friendly one) against Slovakia, not losing! (0-0)

They can already say, albeit for a small period of time I presume, that they are the only unbeaten team in the world!

Now we just need The Isle of Man, Jersey and Greenland to get recognised!

In fact, there's a few independent countries that have no official national team: Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Vatican City and, well, the United Kingdom.
Of course, there's also the Island Games, with legendary teams like Shetland Island and Anglesey. (This year, the tournament is in Bermuda)

Then, we don't forget the very famous national football team of Sealand, who actually have recently won a game against Alderney!

This wrote:

DanielPT wrote:

This wrote:This news is a few days old, but Gibraltar held their first official game (altough obviously a friendly one) against Slovakia, not losing! (0-0)

They can already say, albeit for a small period of time I presume, that they are the only unbeaten team in the world!

Now we just need The Isle of Man, Jersey and Greenland to get recognised!

In fact, there's a few independent countries that have no official national team: Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Vatican City and, well, the United Kingdom.
Of course, there's also the Island Games, with legendary teams like Shetland Island and Anglesey. (This year, the tournament is in Bermuda)

Then, we don't forget the very famous national football team of Sealand, who actually have recently won a game against Alderney!

What about Kosovo, do they have their own national team?

Sunderland lost again today. Oh well.

Thrilling Merseyside Derby today 3-3. Sorry to the Evertonians who thought they had us beaten. Even when LFC don't win we emerge unscathed

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Thrilling Merseyside Derby today 3-3. Sorry to the Evertonians who thought they had us beaten. Even when LFC don't win we emerge unscathed

I watched the match on TV earlier today. It had just about everything I wanted from it, really. I don't have a personal favorite team for the Premier League yet, as I haven't been able to follow it enough, but the match was very good, great playing from both Liverpool and Everton.

go_Rubens wrote:

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Thrilling Merseyside Derby today 3-3. Sorry to the Evertonians who thought they had us beaten. Even when LFC don't win we emerge unscathed

I watched the match on TV earlier today. It had just about everything I wanted from it, really. I don't have a personal favorite team for the Premier League yet, as I haven't been able to follow it enough, but the match was very good, great playing from both Liverpool and Everton.

As you can tell I'm from the Red half and almost had to face the embarrassment of getting laughed at at School on Monday. Joe Allen for ROTM? he wasted a perfect opportunity for us to win it

After the apparently abysmal showing (I had better things to watch - at least Doctor Who makes me happy...) tonight it really is about time that our wonderful board got the message that fatty will take us down if he isn't removed pronto.

Barbazza wrote:After the apparently abysmal showing (I had better things to watch - at least Doctor Who makes me happy...) tonight it really is about time that our wonderful board got the message that fatty will take us down if he isn't removed pronto.

Big Sam?

I may be a Spurs fan but I do feel sorry for Southampton because they did not deserve to have conceded the first goal
The only reason why I feel sorry for them is because they are my "local" team. Even though I live 30 miles away!

apple2009 wrote:Sunderland lost again today. Oh well.

You know you're in massive trouble when you get beaten by 2 goals by Stoke. Ah well, first win in 9 matches, can't complain.

roblomas52 wrote:I may be a Spurs fan but I do feel sorry for Southampton because they did not deserve to have conceded the first goal
The only reason why I feel sorry for them is because they are my "local" team. Even though I live 30 miles away!

I was feeling sorry about that as well, maybe that event knocked some of their confidence level down. Arsenal had them shown up the whole match from what I saw (multitasking between watching the match, Mibbit chat on #F1Rejects, and Autosport's live commentary with qualifying).

FullMetalJack wrote:

This wrote:Now we just need The Isle of Man, Jersey and Greenland to get recognised!

In fact, there's a few independent countries that have no official national team: Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Vatican City and, well, the United Kingdom.
Of course, there's also the Island Games, with legendary teams like Shetland Island and Anglesey. (This year, the tournament is in Bermuda)

Then, we don't forget the very famous national football team of Sealand, who actually have recently won a game against Alderney!

What about Kosovo, do they have their own national team?

Yes. They even have their own competition.

Spurs getting absolutely demolished by Man City at the moment. I would be laughing at this result, but I cannot stand Man City. One of two clubs I really dislike (the other being MK Dons...).

I'd still take them over the other lot. You know, them in red. 20 years of (mostly) doing a Red Bull style hatchet job on the opposition has that effect.

dinizintheoven wrote:I'd still take them over the other lot. You know, them in red. 20 years of (mostly) doing a Red Bull style hatchet job on the opposition has that effect.

Pretty much this. I may really dislike Manchester City now, but they're still my preferred Manchester club, as I can't stand United. To me, City are essentially the lesser of two evils.

Well that's the Timbers' season over then.

FullMetalJack wrote:Pretty much this. I may really dislike Manchester City now, but they're still my preferred Manchester club, as I can't stand United. To me, City are essentially the lesser of two evils.

Of course, you could instead go for Oldham, Bury or any of those other Manchester-area clubs - it's a huge conurbation after all.

For real reject gold, there's always Stockport County, who are on course for a league match against FC United of Manchester if they're not careful...

dinizintheoven wrote:

FullMetalJack wrote:Pretty much this. I may really dislike Manchester City now, but they're still my preferred Manchester club, as I can't stand United. To me, City are essentially the lesser of two evils.

Of course, you could instead go for Oldham, Bury or any of those other Manchester-area clubs - it's a huge conurbation after all.

For real reject gold, there's always Stockport County, who are on course for a league match against FC United of Manchester if they're not careful...

It's hard to believe that Stockport County were a steady Division 1 side in 1997/98, and Manchester City were relegated from Division 1.

How times have changed.

FullMetalJack wrote:

dinizintheoven wrote:

FullMetalJack wrote:Pretty much this. I may really dislike Manchester City now, but they're still my preferred Manchester club, as I can't stand United. To me, City are essentially the lesser of two evils.

Of course, you could instead go for Oldham, Bury or any of those other Manchester-area clubs - it's a huge conurbation after all.

For real reject gold, there's always Stockport County, who are on course for a league match against FC United of Manchester if they're not careful...

It's hard to believe that Stockport County were a steady Division 1 side in 1997/98, and Manchester City were relegated from Division 1.

How times have changed.

Take the sad fortunes of Coventry who aren't even able to play at their home ground now

FullMetalJack wrote:

This wrote:

This wrote:This news is a few days old, but Gibraltar held their first official game (altough obviously a friendly one) against Slovakia, not losing! (0-0)

They can already say, albeit for a small period of time I presume, that they are the only unbeaten team in the world!
Now we just need The Isle of Man, Jersey and Greenland to get recognised!

In fact, there's a few independent countries that have no official national team: Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Vatican City and, well, the United Kingdom.
Of course, there's also the Island Games, with legendary teams like Shetland Island and Anglesey. (This year, the tournament is in Bermuda)

Then, we don't forget the very famous national football team of Sealand, who actually have recently won a game against Alderney!

What about Kosovo, do they have their own national team?

Kosovo do have a national team, but they are not recognised by UEFA on the basis that they are not recognised as a country by the entirety of the UN (some pretty big hitters like Russia and China don't recognise them). Gibraltar is not recognised by the UN either, however there application was forced through as at the time the UEFA rules did not stipulate the condition of being recognised by the UN and the Gibraltarian FA successful appealed against the rejection in a court of law. Not quite sure how it worked with the Faroe Islands though, considering that they aren't a country either.

I saw Sealand play their first ever football match against Chagos Islands, as evidenced here (I'm the guy with glasses)!

If you're interesting in footballing micronations, I can recommend a couple of fantastic books. Outcasts!: The Lands that FIFA Forgot follows various nations struggles to be recognised as international teams and also looks at the role of the NF-Board as "FIFA's waiting room". Up Pohnpei follows Paul Watson's (comedian Mark Watson's brother) time as manager of the Pohnpei national team, an island within Micronesia.

East Londoner wrote:Spurs getting absolutely demolished by Man City at the moment. I would be laughing at this result, but I cannot stand Man City. One of two clubs I really dislike (the other being MK Dons...).

As an AFC Wimbledon fan, I thank you.

watka wrote:

FullMetalJack wrote:
What about Kosovo, do they have their own national team?

Kosovo do have a national team, but they are not recognised by UEFA on the basis that they are not recognised as a country by the entirety of the UN (some pretty big hitters like Russia and China don't recognise them). Gibraltar is not recognised by the UN either, however there application was forced through as at the time the UEFA rules did not stipulate the condition of being recognised by the UN and the Gibraltarian FA successful appealed against the rejection in a court of law. Not quite sure how it worked with the Faroe Islands though, considering that they aren't a country either.

I saw Sealand play their first ever football match against Chagos Islands, as evidenced here (I'm the guy with glasses)!

If you're interesting in footballing micronations, I can recommend a couple of fantastic books. Outcasts!: The Lands that FIFA Forgot follows various nations struggles to be recognised as international teams and also looks at the role of the NF-Board as "FIFA's waiting room". Up Pohnpei follows Paul Watson's (comedian Mark Watson's brother) time as manager of the Pohnpei national team, an island within Micronesia.

It's not necessairy to be recognised as an independent state, examples are Palestina, Israel (there's quite a lot of countries that don't recognise them, you'd be surprised), East-Timor, Hong Kong, Macau, Puerto Rico, etc.. A notable national team that is accepted by Fifa is Chinese Taipei, who are actually The Republic of China, claiming the whole part of China that is currently ruled by the People's Republic of China (but only actually ruling over Taiwan, still not generally considered as a full independent state) Gibraltar had sort of a case, as Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England aren't independant states either, but that is the slightly weird structure of the United Kingdom (and also history, as Gibraltar is one of the oldest football nations, actually) Faroër sort of confuses me, because why can Faroër be accepted and Greenland not? They both have their own competitions, and both are part of Denmark.