One of the highlights at this year's Hay Festival, which starts next Thursday, is a 'Telegraph Question Time' which will be all about football and in particular the World Cup.
HUST, the Hereford United Supporters Trust, have been kindly given 100 tickets to sell for this event, which tales place on Thursday May 29th at 2.30pm, by Hay Festival. Full details of how to purchase tickets will appear on the HUST site and also here on Bulls News. The proceeds will all go to HUST.
Sarah Crompton from the Telegraph looks forward to the event.
The odd thing about the World
Cup is that it turns people who don’t really care about football
into overnight experts on the subject. Mark on the arts desk is a case in
point: the excitements of the Premier League season have entirely passed him
by. He didn’t even bat an eyelid when Roy Hodgson announced his squad. If I
said Ross Barkley to him, he’d ask if he was related to the composer
(although he would know their surnames are spelt differently.)
But come June 12, Mark will suddenly be absorbed in games, goal differences
and the minutiae of South American football. Because the World Cup will have
worked its magic. There’s something about the tournament that exudes hope
and happiness – and that’s before a ball has been kicked in the carnival
atmosphere of the Brazilian sun.
The excitement starts for me with the Panini sticker album, symbol of a more
innocent age, but still going strong in the internet one, with sales of the
packets of players already having reached 40 million this year.
According to some reports the old-fashioned desire to collect small cards and
fill a book with the complete teams of each country has generated enough
interest not only to get them banned in school playgrounds (they cause
squabbles apparently) but to become the target for thieves who nicked a
lorryn-load in Brazil.
Part of the pleasure of those books – and the subsequent swapping of cards –
is that, even in a game that is increasingly international and data driven,
it introduces you to players with whom you are not familiar, but who – if
they shine – become household names by the end of the tournament.
Part too is the signalling of aspiration, the idea that all these teams could win it – even if some are more likely than others. The World Cup always throws up some surprises: remember the Brazil v Italy second-round group match in 1982 anyone?
It is those charmed moments of suspense and sometimes controversy that make every World Cup unmissable. And for me, this year, those moments are going to be more vivid than they have ever been, because I’m chairing an event at the Hay Festival on Thursday May 29 which brings together Geoff Hurst (Sir Geoff, legend), Osvaldo Ardiles (better known as Ossie), Ricky (Wembley goal of the century) Villa and Alan Smith (Arsenal god).
Between them these men have conjured some of football’s most glorious moments. Hurst’s hat-trick which won England the 1966 trophy remains the only hat trick in a final in the competition’s history; Ardiles and Villa were both part of the squad from Argentina who bagged the cup on home ground in 1978.
Villa’s goal to win Tottenham the FA Cup against Man City in 1981 remains one of the most majestic of all time, as he found space where there was none, twisting and turning with poised skill until he placed the ball in the back of the net. Smith, capped for England 13 times, also played a vital part in one of the most memorable games in Arsenal’s history - the day they won the league at Anfield by beating Liverpool 2-0 in 1989. Smith, who scored the first and had a key role in Michael Thomas’s second, was thus immortalised in Nick Hornby’s Arsenal tribute Fever Pitch.
All these men cared about the game and made it lovely. Hurst was part of a philosophy of football that believed in attack and sportsmanship; Ardiles was, as Garth Crooks once noted, important not just for what he did but for how he made others play; Villa’s style was so subtle that it did not always adapt to the English league but illuminated it; Smith was a centre-forward who received only one yellow card in his entire career.
All have gone on to contribute massively after their retirement from the pitch, involving themselves in the grass roots game, in commentating and in trying to preserve the spirit they exemplified. I can hardly wait to talk to them about the World Cup, about football in general, about its role in shaping a changing world. I am sure they will have some great memories and insights to share. I hope some of you will be able to join me – either by coming to Hay for the event, or watching the highlights on Telegraph Sport. It is going to make my World Cup even more special than usual.
Part too is the signalling of aspiration, the idea that all these teams could win it – even if some are more likely than others. The World Cup always throws up some surprises: remember the Brazil v Italy second-round group match in 1982 anyone?
It is those charmed moments of suspense and sometimes controversy that make every World Cup unmissable. And for me, this year, those moments are going to be more vivid than they have ever been, because I’m chairing an event at the Hay Festival on Thursday May 29 which brings together Geoff Hurst (Sir Geoff, legend), Osvaldo Ardiles (better known as Ossie), Ricky (Wembley goal of the century) Villa and Alan Smith (Arsenal god).
Between them these men have conjured some of football’s most glorious moments. Hurst’s hat-trick which won England the 1966 trophy remains the only hat trick in a final in the competition’s history; Ardiles and Villa were both part of the squad from Argentina who bagged the cup on home ground in 1978.
Villa’s goal to win Tottenham the FA Cup against Man City in 1981 remains one of the most majestic of all time, as he found space where there was none, twisting and turning with poised skill until he placed the ball in the back of the net. Smith, capped for England 13 times, also played a vital part in one of the most memorable games in Arsenal’s history - the day they won the league at Anfield by beating Liverpool 2-0 in 1989. Smith, who scored the first and had a key role in Michael Thomas’s second, was thus immortalised in Nick Hornby’s Arsenal tribute Fever Pitch.
All these men cared about the game and made it lovely. Hurst was part of a philosophy of football that believed in attack and sportsmanship; Ardiles was, as Garth Crooks once noted, important not just for what he did but for how he made others play; Villa’s style was so subtle that it did not always adapt to the English league but illuminated it; Smith was a centre-forward who received only one yellow card in his entire career.
All have gone on to contribute massively after their retirement from the pitch, involving themselves in the grass roots game, in commentating and in trying to preserve the spirit they exemplified. I can hardly wait to talk to them about the World Cup, about football in general, about its role in shaping a changing world. I am sure they will have some great memories and insights to share. I hope some of you will be able to join me – either by coming to Hay for the event, or watching the highlights on Telegraph Sport. It is going to make my World Cup even more special than usual.