Author Archives: Jimmy Burns

The Joy of Messi

The joy of Messi Writing in El Pais today the journalist Jordi Quixano notes that the health of FC Barcelona depends on Leo Messi’s smile and the excellence of his football. Watching Messi play in the pre-season warm-up game against Leicester City last night , I was not alone in feeling elated. The crowd in Stockholm’s aptly named Friends Arena evidently relished, as did TV viewers around the world, his ability to raise the occasion to something worthwhile. It was indeed a necessary tonic after a summer marred by an …

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Brexit: Between the disaster and Hope

A few days ago, I said in a public debate during the campaign that my worst nightmare would be to wake up on June 24 and see Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, a party that thrives on insularity, intolerance and racism, smiling , surrounded by British flags our screens, and proclaiming independence with a ‘we have won’ Brexit. Not surprising then that today I am  struggling with a deep sense of what  Winston Churchill in his worst moments of depression called  his ‘black dog’ , along with the 16 other …

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When Ali became my boxing idol

I had  just turned twelve when in 1965 I drew the short straw at my Catholic primary school in London St Philip’s and became captain  of boxing. I was pretty skinny and of average height for my age, and I was no great boxer. Indeed with the evidence of hindsight I now see  I got the appointment  by default rather than on  merit. I was an improvised choice after several more physically prepared front runners showed no interest, knowing that their reputation lay elsewhere. Boxing was not considered a key …

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Champion’s League Final: Milan

Championship Final : The Beauty & The Beast Two images endured for me in the aftermath of last saturday’s champions league final in Milan, both taken in the final minutes of a less than memorable encounter .The first that of Atletico de Madrid’s Juan Fran, the other of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, just after the two had taken their respective shots at goals during the death by penalty. Juan Fran’s shot hit the bar and his subsequent drowned dog look and pose was that of a man who for ever …

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A game of football not politics

A game of football not politics In the end it came down to who played the best football undeterred by political intolerance and complicity. For ninety-minutes and extra time FC Barcelona were jostled and hacked when not exposed to the occasional attacking forays of their Sevilla opponents. The Barca players held their ground, rose defiantly from their batterings, controlled the ball, played it with all the skill and passion they could muster. A lesser team would have had the soul knocked out of them by Mascherano’s half-time expulsion but they …

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Football without Flags

Football without Flags I’ve lived the most memorable moments of my life just watching my team-FC Bacelona-  playing great football-the kind that is so magical that it has even fans of its historic rivals  rise to their feet and applaud. This is football experienced not just as an act of sublime creativity, but as a moment of solidarity, that transcends the terrible prejudices and misunderstandings and shortsightedeness that plague our daily lives, with only a few genuinely good men and women occasionally showing us the light of what it truly …

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Del Bosque’s hard drive

Pity the housekeeper of  world football’s galaxy. With just over a  month to go  to go before  his team kicks-off in this summer’s European Championships, the Marques del Bosque otherwise known as Vicente may have a clear ambition to once again defend Spain’s crown , but he is faced  with  limited time to mould a team capable of helping him do so.. A heavy schedule of Champion’s League and national  club Cup finals fixtures towards the end of May  affect a range of clubs from which Del Bosque would like …

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Celebrating Sadiq Khan

  As a Londoner this past weekend, I hot foot it  to my nearest human cooperative and patch of nature to enjoy a  rare outburst of  sunny and warm weather. It is a particular joy to have within walking distance of where I live in south London  , one of the most  inspiring and uplifting of London’s  green spaces –Battersea  Park. With late blossom flowering, plains and chestnuts loaded with young leaf, flower beds in full bloom, swans and moorhens nesting on the lake, and excited birdsong hung on every …

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Barca needs gladiators

First let me make one thing clear, before the usual fanatics and bigots launch their latest  tirade on me, I have always been open that I am a Barca fan. I have also tried to be clear about why I am a Barca fan. I love great  football and this I define as something played with  creative originality, skill, and passion, reinforced by an ethos of solidarity, not just as team spirit but in deference to  those who have sacrificed time  and money to watch the game . As Guardiola …

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Cruyff- Dream Maker

When people ask me , an anglo-spaniard- born in 1953 in Madrid a few hundred yards  from the Bernabeu,the year of Di Stefano’s arrival,  why I am a Barca fan, I mention Johan Cruyff. Hearing the news of his death brings back those heady days of the mid 1970’s when I first fell in love with FC Barcelona thanks to the flying Dutchman who later created Barca’s a  ‘dream team’-one of several as it would turn out- thereby leaving an enduring legacy. For if in  its political and cultural dimension …

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