There was mock outrage in London today as female visitors to the capital were apparently instructed to remove their underwear by a railway information sign.
All posts by Kieran Casey
Embrace your inner-Portillo
This week saw the return of Britain’s favourite ex-Tory government minister as Michael Portillo takes his pastel jackets stateside for the second series of Great American Railroad Journeys.
Since publishing Help me, I’m becoming a Trainspotter I’ve been taken aback by the literally half a handful of people who have confided a shared love of trains to me.
Is Safe Standing on Hammers’ horizon?
WEST HAM co-Chairman David Gold has confirmed the club are exploring the introduction of safe standing at the London Stadium.
The Safe Standing movement gathered momentum this summer when Celtic devoted a section of Parkhead to rail seating having received the go-ahead from Glasgow City Council.
Now, with the Hammers seeking to establish an identity for the former Olympic Stadium after 112 years at the Boleyn Ground; Gold says he wants the London Stadium to be the first Premier League ground to embrace safe standing.
Confusion clouds Kosovo debut
KOSOVO head into their first competitive fixture on Monday evening, still waiting to hear whether players of Kosovar roots who have represented other countries will be eligible to play. Continue reading Confusion clouds Kosovo debut
Renaissance Man: Why Hart’s not broken by Torino move
JOE HART has completed his transfer deadline day move to Torino on a season long loan and becomes the first English goalkeeper to play in Serie A.
Rather than a humiliating come down, as portrayed by sections of the Premier League obsessed media; the deal will rejuvenate Hart’s career.
Continue reading Renaissance Man: Why Hart’s not broken by Torino move
The Oar-Inspiring O’Donovans
The Rio Olympic carnival has drawn to a close with one of the greatest memories from the games being the success of two brothers from Skibbereen.
Amidst the lies and scandal, amidst the fears of economic meltdown, crime and a deadly virus; Gary and Paul O’Donovan’s silver medal put Irish rowing on the map and a smile on the face of an Olympic movement in danger of taking itself all too seriously.
Six of the Best: Bald Goalkeepers
WILLY CABALLERO has started the season as Pep Guardiola’s first choice goalkeeper, replacing Head and Shoulders’ poster boy Joe Hart as Manchester City’s number 1.
After Zinedine Zidane, the original Ronaldo, Bobby Charlton and Ray Wilkins, we’ve become used to brilliantly bald outfield players, yet up until recently, the sight of follicly-challenged goalkeepers has been a relative rarity.
Following many years in the sporting wilderness, slap-headed stoppers are becoming increasingly common in the game, yet Caballero 34, is still one of a comparatively select band of bald goalkeepers.
Forever England: Remembering Evelyn Lintott
On a foreign field one hundred years ago, Evelyn Lintott heard the whistle blow and gallantly answered his country’s call for the final time.
On the 1st of July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, England international footballer Lintott led the West Yorkshire Regiment’s 15th Battalion, a so-called Footballers’ Battalion known as the Leeds Pals over the top and into the cauldron of war.
Evelyn Henry Lintott would be one of 19,241 British servicemen to be killed on that day. He was just 33 years of age.
Continue reading Forever England: Remembering Evelyn Lintott
Destiny calls for El Niño and Atleti
What do you get for the man who has everything?
For Fernando Torres, a man who has won the World Cup and European Championships (twice) with Spain, Champions League, Europa League and an FA Cup with Chelsea; the chance to deliver a first European Cup to his boyhood club Atletico Madrid may just eclipse all previous glories.
“Celebrating” the first two years of kieranrobinson.com
TWO YEARS AGO I found myself between jobs and in need of something to keep me out of the pub.
Occupying that period of time some men call “gardening leave” with actual horticultural pursuits was never going to be an option, so on May the 1st 2014, I accepted a challenge to write 500 words on the “positive aspects” of the Lance Armstrong affair, and so kieranrobinson.com was born.
Since then, my ramblings and half-baked observations have received some really positive feedback from many people with brains much bigger than my own and led to some quite interesting invitations. In fact, I’m proud to say that articles from this very website have been seen by people in no fewer than 118 countries across the globe from Zimbabwe to Albania (though strangely we still await our first visit from North Korea).
Continue reading “Celebrating” the first two years of kieranrobinson.com
Football needs no fanfare
There was a time not so long ago when going to a game of football was an altogether different experience to an evening at the theatre or the opera.
Foxes’ title tilt “result of hunt ban”
Leicester City’s unexpected Premier League title bid is a “natural consequence” of the ban on fox hunting according to a leading pro-hunt figure.
Claudio Ranieri’s men have upset the odds this season, coming from 5000-1 outsiders to Premier League favourites, in a title campaign which has forced pundits and fans alike to challenge everything they thought they knew about football.
But Mike Hunt, 69, of the Highbury & Islington Hunt, has a theory to explain the Foxes’ audacious title bid:
“Leicester City’s title bid is a natural consequence of the ban on fox hunting.”
“Since the Hunting Ban came into force in 2005, we have seen a proliferation of foxes in our towns and cities. They have become less fearful of humans and more confident in their environment.”
“Last season we began to see a more confident Leicester City, though at the time, their focus was on survival. Yes they hunted well but mainly in Leicestershire,” Hunt continued.
Embed from Getty Images“This season, the Foxes have become more confident in urban environments making successful raids into Manchester and London. It is the sheer audacity of these Foxes which has surprised most people.”
“It’s as if they do not know their place in the food chain.”
In a season of unprecedented unpredictability, the Foxes have so far out-foxed Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and with just 8 games to go, they are 5 points clear of the chasing pack.
The emergence of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kanté have been obvious factors in the Foxes’ rise to the top, but much credit must be given to Ranieri and predecessor Nigel Pearson for moulding a squad of players hungrier than their more fancied opponents.
In contrast to his “tinker-man” reputation, Ranieri has kept a settled team throughout the season allowing players to form instinctive partnerships and foster a team spirit which has translated itself to the stands where the King Power Stadium has become a fortress for the Foxes.
Leicester have played to their strengths, utilising the pace and power of Vardy and Mahrez in a counter attacking 4-4-2 formation, these days a rarity in Premier League football.
Whether Leicester City can win the title remains to be seen but this season will be remembered as the year the hunters became the hunted.
Embed from Getty Images
son-of-robin.com 