Before
In 2011, three old friends got back together and did what they had been doing for years - in their homes, in the local pub and/or just about everywhere else that they socialised together - they talked football!
I can even remember one year in which the three of us were in the pub on new years eve. At around 10pm and with the pub beginning to fill, the three of us stood at the bar and a debate started up that went into far more detail than I had ever heard before. George and Gino - both being Italian picked this particular day to decide why the Italian national team had not won every single World Cup since it began in 1930.
They got through the 1930's pretty quickly (seeing as Italy did indeed win two of the first three tournaments) but when the World Cup returned after the 2nd World War, the debate really began to take-off. We had reached about the 1970 World Cup in Mexico when the pub bell rang, the TV volume was turned up and we heard the Big Ben chimes for the new year. The debate stopped as glasses were raised and a mixture of hugs, kisses or just shaking of hands were exchanged by everybody present that night.
It wasn't even a minute past the hour and George said "Right - onto 1974 and West Germany...." We were finally kicked out of the pub at around 2.30am by which time we still had not finished but at least had made it into the new millennium!
In 2011, three old friends got back together and did what they had been doing for years - in their homes, in the local pub and/or just about everywhere else that they socialised together - they talked football!
I can even remember one year in which the three of us were in the pub on new years eve. At around 10pm and with the pub beginning to fill, the three of us stood at the bar and a debate started up that went into far more detail than I had ever heard before. George and Gino - both being Italian picked this particular day to decide why the Italian national team had not won every single World Cup since it began in 1930.
They got through the 1930's pretty quickly (seeing as Italy did indeed win two of the first three tournaments) but when the World Cup returned after the 2nd World War, the debate really began to take-off. We had reached about the 1970 World Cup in Mexico when the pub bell rang, the TV volume was turned up and we heard the Big Ben chimes for the new year. The debate stopped as glasses were raised and a mixture of hugs, kisses or just shaking of hands were exchanged by everybody present that night.
It wasn't even a minute past the hour and George said "Right - onto 1974 and West Germany...." We were finally kicked out of the pub at around 2.30am by which time we still had not finished but at least had made it into the new millennium!
So when the three of us got back together in 2011, we soon realised that things had not changed at all although fortunately we did not debate all the World Cups all over again! Many of the debates were much more than just quiet chats - to say the least! These guys were probably the most strongly opinionated football fans that I have ever known or even seen on TV!
It was probably at around this point that I had a light bulb go off in my head and say that we need to do something with some of these chats so that they can be held for prosperity. That is when I managed to persuade them (although it took a while!) to allow me to start recording the conversations. The basis of those debates would become the concept for our early podcasts but I soon realised that you just cannot format these guys. We just do not work with an agenda - things just come out if and when and there is no set formula as to how, when and why. However, it did not matter what it was that we talked about when it came to sport and especially football - the views were always going to be strong.
It was probably at around this point that I had a light bulb go off in my head and say that we need to do something with some of these chats so that they can be held for prosperity. That is when I managed to persuade them (although it took a while!) to allow me to start recording the conversations. The basis of those debates would become the concept for our early podcasts but I soon realised that you just cannot format these guys. We just do not work with an agenda - things just come out if and when and there is no set formula as to how, when and why. However, it did not matter what it was that we talked about when it came to sport and especially football - the views were always going to be strong.
The Rise
In 2012, we started to meet pretty much weekly at George's house and usually when there was a live game on TV that we would sit down and watch at the same time. We would tend to record before and after the match and even sometimes in half time and depending how interesting the game was - through part of the second half (although I would have to convince George to keep the sound off on the TV).
George and Gino were also both highly competitive. Years earlier, they were amongst the instigators that had managed to get us thrown off of a pitch and putt golf course during the first hole! As tennis partners, they usually became more interested in fighting one another both audibly and physically during matches. This often meant that every game being played on the other courts simply stopped and we would draw quite the crowd as everybody was more interested in the continuing antics that were happening on our court! Apparently their double-act made John McEnroe seem extremely lame.
So by pitching them against one another in a football quiz with me as the quiz master was either genius or seriously asking for trouble! At least we would now hopefully catch all of the madness as it happened. Gino would regularly try and cheat, George would think that the quiz was rigged for him to lose - these were just a couple of the things that happened quite regularly on a week to week basis whenever we recorded. It was plain to see though that the podcast worked better when these guys were in competitive mode because not only would the gloves be off but they would also actually forget completely the fact that they were being recorded at the same time!
This came to a head even after just a few recordings when Gino mis-read an answer sheet whereby one of the possible answers was Leeds United play Eric Bakkè. Unable to pronounce the surname, he also failed miserably to get the first name right as well and said out loud "Edwin Blake".
George glanced over at the card as I corrected Gino on his mistake at the same time causing George to just completely lose it! He went into such a burst of cackling laughter that simply was uncontainable! He was sitting on a small stool and before we knew it we heard a crack and the stool had given way and George was now flat on his ass writhing around on the floor and still absolutely cracking up with laughter. Gino continued to react in a way that he did not know what he had done even though he had a tear in his eye. The whole thing between the two of them and George's insane laugh sent me over the edge too. I had to put my folder over my head to try and regain some composure because I feel myself wanting to laugh so much that it was not safe and I was going to literally be crying with laughter and I mean it too with any exaggeration.
In 2012, we started to meet pretty much weekly at George's house and usually when there was a live game on TV that we would sit down and watch at the same time. We would tend to record before and after the match and even sometimes in half time and depending how interesting the game was - through part of the second half (although I would have to convince George to keep the sound off on the TV).
George and Gino were also both highly competitive. Years earlier, they were amongst the instigators that had managed to get us thrown off of a pitch and putt golf course during the first hole! As tennis partners, they usually became more interested in fighting one another both audibly and physically during matches. This often meant that every game being played on the other courts simply stopped and we would draw quite the crowd as everybody was more interested in the continuing antics that were happening on our court! Apparently their double-act made John McEnroe seem extremely lame.
So by pitching them against one another in a football quiz with me as the quiz master was either genius or seriously asking for trouble! At least we would now hopefully catch all of the madness as it happened. Gino would regularly try and cheat, George would think that the quiz was rigged for him to lose - these were just a couple of the things that happened quite regularly on a week to week basis whenever we recorded. It was plain to see though that the podcast worked better when these guys were in competitive mode because not only would the gloves be off but they would also actually forget completely the fact that they were being recorded at the same time!
This came to a head even after just a few recordings when Gino mis-read an answer sheet whereby one of the possible answers was Leeds United play Eric Bakkè. Unable to pronounce the surname, he also failed miserably to get the first name right as well and said out loud "Edwin Blake".
George glanced over at the card as I corrected Gino on his mistake at the same time causing George to just completely lose it! He went into such a burst of cackling laughter that simply was uncontainable! He was sitting on a small stool and before we knew it we heard a crack and the stool had given way and George was now flat on his ass writhing around on the floor and still absolutely cracking up with laughter. Gino continued to react in a way that he did not know what he had done even though he had a tear in his eye. The whole thing between the two of them and George's insane laugh sent me over the edge too. I had to put my folder over my head to try and regain some composure because I feel myself wanting to laugh so much that it was not safe and I was going to literally be crying with laughter and I mean it too with any exaggeration.
With the podcasts and many articles that I was writing myself, the website was soon beginning to fill up with loads of content and although I could not get an appropriate website domain name in the area that I was looking at - www.talkingsoccer.org was available and that is what I plumped for.
What I had not figured though was that these guys were still adamant that they did not want to be seen in front of any cameras! I had ideas in which we could start going to matches in Saturday and do our own version of ground-hopping and film some of our experiences. Even much simpler requests were just as difficult in getting them to have a picture taken for the website or the Facebook page or anything else that we were going to do to promote the site. I also thought that they would be keen to tell their friends about the site and what they had been up to but it almost felt sadly that they were embarrassed by all of it and would hardly mention anything to anybody!
That made me a lot more tougher than I thought that it was going to be and at the end of the 2011-12 season (and were together when Aguero scored the last minute winner for Manchester City to win the league) I thought we would continue to meet through Euro 2012. We met once but for whatever reason it just was not working. George even said how much he had enjoyed it and I believe Gino was too because even if he was not saying as much - he was always ready and waiting to go the following week. By the time the next season came around, I thought that we would be able to pick it up from where we left off - but again, it just did not happen and it took until the new year before we finally got back together again.
Even though we recorded again until of the 2012-13 season, it was not as frequent as the first year although I personally felt that the podcasts were getting better and better with experience. I even had to use my iPhone to record them with because they felt very uncomfortable with a microphone in front of them. At times I heard all kinds of weird noises during recordings on the playback and it took a while to realise that in most cases it was George scratching the table or something else weird because he just could not keep his hands still unless he had a roll-up going.
What I had not figured though was that these guys were still adamant that they did not want to be seen in front of any cameras! I had ideas in which we could start going to matches in Saturday and do our own version of ground-hopping and film some of our experiences. Even much simpler requests were just as difficult in getting them to have a picture taken for the website or the Facebook page or anything else that we were going to do to promote the site. I also thought that they would be keen to tell their friends about the site and what they had been up to but it almost felt sadly that they were embarrassed by all of it and would hardly mention anything to anybody!
That made me a lot more tougher than I thought that it was going to be and at the end of the 2011-12 season (and were together when Aguero scored the last minute winner for Manchester City to win the league) I thought we would continue to meet through Euro 2012. We met once but for whatever reason it just was not working. George even said how much he had enjoyed it and I believe Gino was too because even if he was not saying as much - he was always ready and waiting to go the following week. By the time the next season came around, I thought that we would be able to pick it up from where we left off - but again, it just did not happen and it took until the new year before we finally got back together again.
Even though we recorded again until of the 2012-13 season, it was not as frequent as the first year although I personally felt that the podcasts were getting better and better with experience. I even had to use my iPhone to record them with because they felt very uncomfortable with a microphone in front of them. At times I heard all kinds of weird noises during recordings on the playback and it took a while to realise that in most cases it was George scratching the table or something else weird because he just could not keep his hands still unless he had a roll-up going.
The Fall
During that second season, one week George told us both that he had some news and that he was going to become a father for a second time. At the beginning of the 2013-14 season, we had finally managed to arrange to meet at the start of a season and not half way through it! Not only that, because our quiz was being scored like a tennis match, at the end of the previous season, our final quiz had gone to a tie-break and with George already leading by two sets to love, victory here would see him in effect win the match.
But it did not pan out like that and Gino in fact won that tie-break so even more reason for the quiz to go into the following season. The questions were all prepared, I had picked up Gino and we were on our way to George's and we stopped at McDonald's for a quick burger. It was at this point that George rang and told us that he had been delayed at work and was still on his way home from London. We were going to watch Manchester United and Chelsea on that night at the end of August and instead Gino and I ended up watching it on my iPad in McDonald's car park! By the time the game ended we still had heard no further word from George but with the time now fast approaching 10pm, it was already far too late to go around there.
The very next day George rang me to tell me what a day he had had! He became a father to a second daughter during the night and was calling me from the hospital with the news. This also signaled the immediate end of the boys getting together for good as it worked out looking back. Little did I know, but it also meant that Gino would also now do one of his own locally well-known disappearing acts one more time and in fact this was pretty much the last time that I set eyes on him or have heard from him since!
I spoke to George from time to time on the phone - he too had lost contact with Gino. George and I would often look to arrange to meet - or at least talk on the phone again in another week or so - but that normally meant months rather than weeks. Even during the World Cup in 2014 George rang me and said we would speak again after the quarter-finals. I replied "of which tournament?"
It turned out that I was right because since then I have seen him once and that was ironically a football match - an FA Cup extra-preliminary qualifying round match at the beginning of the 2014-15 season. He was enthralled in the game as his local team were involved and he had become a die-hard fan and was one of about 10! I thought perhaps we would go for a drink or something after the game but that never happened. The final whistle sounded and with that we were both off in different directions almost immediately - I have not seen or heard from him since. All I can assume is that his little bambino is keeping him really busy - I have never met her.
During that second season, one week George told us both that he had some news and that he was going to become a father for a second time. At the beginning of the 2013-14 season, we had finally managed to arrange to meet at the start of a season and not half way through it! Not only that, because our quiz was being scored like a tennis match, at the end of the previous season, our final quiz had gone to a tie-break and with George already leading by two sets to love, victory here would see him in effect win the match.
But it did not pan out like that and Gino in fact won that tie-break so even more reason for the quiz to go into the following season. The questions were all prepared, I had picked up Gino and we were on our way to George's and we stopped at McDonald's for a quick burger. It was at this point that George rang and told us that he had been delayed at work and was still on his way home from London. We were going to watch Manchester United and Chelsea on that night at the end of August and instead Gino and I ended up watching it on my iPad in McDonald's car park! By the time the game ended we still had heard no further word from George but with the time now fast approaching 10pm, it was already far too late to go around there.
The very next day George rang me to tell me what a day he had had! He became a father to a second daughter during the night and was calling me from the hospital with the news. This also signaled the immediate end of the boys getting together for good as it worked out looking back. Little did I know, but it also meant that Gino would also now do one of his own locally well-known disappearing acts one more time and in fact this was pretty much the last time that I set eyes on him or have heard from him since!
I spoke to George from time to time on the phone - he too had lost contact with Gino. George and I would often look to arrange to meet - or at least talk on the phone again in another week or so - but that normally meant months rather than weeks. Even during the World Cup in 2014 George rang me and said we would speak again after the quarter-finals. I replied "of which tournament?"
It turned out that I was right because since then I have seen him once and that was ironically a football match - an FA Cup extra-preliminary qualifying round match at the beginning of the 2014-15 season. He was enthralled in the game as his local team were involved and he had become a die-hard fan and was one of about 10! I thought perhaps we would go for a drink or something after the game but that never happened. The final whistle sounded and with that we were both off in different directions almost immediately - I have not seen or heard from him since. All I can assume is that his little bambino is keeping him really busy - I have never met her.
COMPLICATIONS
As time has passed and even though I still personally love the game of football and the circus that carries on all around it, because of what has happened I have felt less inclined to spend as much time actually working on the Talking Soccer website. That is probably because I do miss my friends and feel a bit powerless to be able to bring us back together again. It only happened the first time really because my father was diagnosed with cancer in late 2009 and passed away in May 2010 and that brought us back together again at the funeral.
I also tried to develop other interests online away from football and with some of the skills that I had learned in developing the website, I felt that I could put them into good use elsewhere and those other interests are what I concentrate more on even to this very day.
In June 2015, I was reading a blog article just by chance and what I read hit me like a sack of potatoes! I spent the next several hours researching it just to find out how accurate it was and everything that I found verified the original article as being 100% correct in everything that it said.
This really shook me to the bones because I knew that I had been guilty of it. I apologise right now for not stating exactly what it is that I am talking about but if I did do that, it would be an admission of guilt and could get me into some really hot water. All I will say is, it was the fundamental reason why I pulled the Talking Soccer website straight down leaving only a few notes on the home page for visitors to still read.
I contacted my web site hosting company (Weebly) regarding the issue and was quite shocked by the response that I received. The analogy that they used in response was - if you put chocolate in front of children, no matter how many times you tell the children not to eat it - they still will!
If I put this another way and moved it up a point in law - if something such as using a mobile phone whilst driving became unlawful (as it did do a few years ago), and instead of really hammering this message home, the authorities all decided to take a different approach and not bother letting anybody really know by enforcing this message home. Then motorists ended up getting caught and fined for doing so - yes, part of the responsibility is on the motorist to be aware of the laws of the land including new ones or ones that have been changed. But isn't it also the authorities responsibility to do everything that they can to enforce the message and not take the attitude of - if something is so simple to do, no matter how many times we tell people not to do it - they are still going to do it?
I kind of put this to the test with another friend of mine who also has a website - and without telling them specifically what it was that I was looking for, I let them run through with me what they were doing with their site. The burning question very quickly came up and it worked out this friend of mine was mistaking exactly the same mistake that I had been doing and had absolutely no idea that he was doing anything wrong at all!
I apologise again for having to write this without actually stating what it is that I am talking about but hopefully there will be at least some of you that will have worked it out for yourselves already. It became the final nail in the coffin for Talking Soccer and is why I am now back on a free web domain and why the name Weebly now appears back in the title.
Because of this, there are certain restrictions in what I am able to do with this site but there are also potentially some workarounds. But hopefully I will be able to bring this site many of the pages that originally appeared at Talking Soccer over to this site so I continue the journey in some or form rather than just kill the whole project stone dead because if I do that it really will feel as if I have killed something including some great memories of lost friends.