I found this text next to a photo on Flickr of some Ultras graffiti on a wall.

“I’m old enough to remember when football was great in my home country (England). Although I will forever support the team I was born with I find myself travelling Europe looking for the atmosphere and passion to match that I remember from the past.”

This is me! I’m sure I’ve seen something similar on the Legia Warsaw stickers which get left lying all around Southampton. I wanna meet the guy that does that. I’d buy him a drink and listen to him say hhhh. And a friend of mine who I do political stuff with was saying he identified with European ultras. We arrived at the same conclusion through different routes: he got sick of the racism at his club, Millwall, and decided he’d rather be a leftie Livorno or St. Pauli fan: I just got sick of the silence at the library! It’s been a bit better in the last few games, but that’s cos we’ve been winning and it shouldn’t be like that. I can’t imagine the Maksimir being silent in the event of Dinamo losing.

Anyone having similar feelings about the boringness of the Premiership? It says a lot that when I googled “no to modern football” and found this page, it was actually “no al calcio moderno” that I’d read, and the guy who wrote the words quoted previously was summarising a piece of Italian graffiti, though he was English and identified with the problem. But I haven’t had anyone invite me to a Facebook group called “no to modern football” and I got the phrase from Livorno fans. We Brits need to start taking some responsibility if we want to win football back from the upper middle classes and give ordinary people a chance to feel a part of it again.

Right, I gtg, gotta cook some dinner.

God bless, Jenni xx

I knew a bit about the Un-american Activities Commission from A level Politics, but they just referred to the Hollywood Ten on The Book Quiz and I didn’t know what they were talking about, so I Googled it. Apparently, ten Hollywood entertainers went to prison in 1950 for refusing to answer questions about whether or not they were members of the Communist Party. This was never illegal. The Wikipedia page contained a transcript of the interview of screenwriter John Howard Lawson:

Interrogator: Are you a member of the Communist Party or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
Lawson: It’s unfortunate and tragic that I have to teach this committee the basic principles of Americanism.
Interrogator: That’s not the question. That’s not the question. The question is—have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
Lawson: I am framing my answer in the only way in which any American citizen can frame…absolutely invades his privacy…
Interrogator: Then you deny it? You refuse to answer that question, is that correct?
Lawson: I have told you that I will offer my beliefs, my affiliations and everything else to the American public and they will know where I stand as they do from what I have written.
Interrogator: Stand away from the stand. Stand away from the stand. Officer, take this man away from the stand.

Fascinating stuff. Read the whole page if you have time. I must admit I don’t and have only skimmed it. I don’t really need to pass comment on how wrong it is to be put into prison for refusing to disclose your membership of a legal political party in a liberal democracy, but I just did;)

I just had to check that I did, in fact, blog the Topless Gallas recipe. It is kind of topical:) I didn’t leave the stadium as quickly as I usually do yesterday due to the lack of vested, shirt-swapping action of the player with the best body in the Arsenal squad:) Bad Jenni.

Good game yesterday btw - 3 excellent goals and Eboue played out of his skin, and what about Eduardo’s finish? Shame we only seem to be demolishing teams when they’re either headed for the Championship or actually in the Championship.

I went to church yesterday and came away determined to fully surrender my life to God. I have failed completely. I know it’s not meant to be easy, but do you have to be constantly keeping yourself down to have a relationship with God? I think I can feel when God is around, but does He disappear when I don’t feel that way? I am avoiding praying today. I want to pray before I go to bed, but keep finding things to do (like this…) I must try harder!

Anyways, I’m going to go now to give myself a chance.

God bless, Jenni xx

I asked both my parents who or what they thought the Torcida were.

Mum: “Tortillas with a ‘tsee’”.

Dad: “Manufacturers of evening suits.” (Tuxedo!)

The Torcida are, of course, not as good as the Bad Blue Boys… I mean they are the dedicated supporters of Hajduk Split. To my shame, I used to walk around with Torcida on my back:( I had a Hajduk T-shirt from about 2000 until last autumn when I got rid of it to Ivo. Zvone saved me from my terrible mistake! It was bought for me anyway, but I always erred on the side of Hajduk until I actually got to see Dinamo play, live, not playing Arsenal.

I am back from my holiday in Croatia. I didn’t get to go to Dinamo v Hajduk. I watched the Torcida throw paper on the pitch until the kickoff got delayed from the “safety” (I’m being sarcastic, we’d have been perfectly safe in Split but nobody agrees with me except Vedran so who cares?) of a bar in Pula. But did I have a fantastic time in Croatia anyway? Of course I did:D My friend Darren at work has a nice take on Hajduk’s 200,000 kuna fine for throwing paper on the pitch:

“It’s a bit harsh. I mean, if Southampton got fined every time there was rubbish on the pitch, they’d be broke!”

A bit harsh on Southampton who have won their last 3 games but a good shout nonetheless. I am wondering what has happened to the Jenni who would have agreed with Darren, the “Chairman of GRODD - Fighting for the Future of Football” Jenni. GRODD is the name of a supervillain according to Google - Gorilla Grodd - and also there’s a composer called Uwe Grodd, but it’s also the name of a football action group I formed and ran while at secondary school and the beginning of college. We started off complaining about referees and the FA cracking down on anything exciting that might happen at a football match, before moving on to become more of a supporters’ advocacy group, campaigning against pay per view football and stuff like that. I think deep down I do agree that you should be able to get away with stuff like that, because it was exciting and I don’t want to be conservative in any way (even if I might accept these days that you have to be sometimes). I still rail against any kind of stuffy Daily Mail reader attitudes from deep down. I need to watch myself for signs of becoming old and middle class, and equally, for signs of becoming so rebellious that I ignore God, other important stuff, right and wrong, etc.

Speaking of God, I went to church on Sunday and came away feeling that I had never been saved before, for the hundredth time. I realised tday that I need to reconcile how I respond to God on Sundays with how it works during the week. I don’t know if this means being more humble (and a bit more scared and, apparently, odd) during the week, or more relaxed on Sundays. Bit of both, maybe? I need to sort it out inside. I don’t really get the personal relationship with God stuff. Usually, at least once a week, I think God is telling me to do something, and it usually leasds to me feling negative about myself. I’d appreciate prayer and support on this, if anyone is available, and I’m more than happy to pray for people in return. I don’t know if I can offer any advice in return, but I will pray first and see where the Holy Spirit leads me. After all, the Bible says not to worry what you will say, for God’s Spirit will speak into your heart. I hope that’s true in my case.

Here is an article which will make you laugh. And I have taken that picture for personal use (otherwise known as Facebook profile picture!). And here is an absolutely hysterically funny question. I’m glad I didn’t ask my parents this. Who knows what might have happened?

Right, I’m going to go now before I get square flatscreen eyes:)

God bless, Jenni xx