Two thousand zero, zero party over out of time, but overdue - a Spanish win in tonight's Euro 2008 final. 44 years of hurt since their only win in a competition - the Euros of 1964 when the finals were in Spain and the Generalissimo, who had refused to let the team play in the inaugural competition four years earlier because of Soviet involvement, allowed the boys in red and yellow to play and beat the reds in the final. They don't make football tournaments like they did then - Luxembourg were in the quarter finals and Greece pulled out as they were still at war with Albania against whom they were drawn. And of course tonight's party is also Saint Peter's big night out in Puerto Alcúdia. Football and religion - it must say something about local culture, though I'm not sure what, other than football and religion.
Switching sports to tennis and to double back-handing, cut-off shirt and bicep-popping Manacor sex God and Wunderkind, Rafael Nadal. No, this is not a Wimbledon moment; one international sports event is quite enough even for this most eclectic of blogs. The Nadal story is rather closer to home, in fact more or less on Rafa's doorstep in Manacor where a tennis centre, that the government was supposed to have been building, has been left a couple of tram lines short of the full court (a remarkably symbiotic metaphor to link to the recent tram story, I am sure you will all agree). The Balearic Government, and bear in mind that the other day it was agreed to hand over some 1000 million folding notes from the governmental piggy-bank to apply some economic RSJ to the construction industry, finds itself somewhat financially embarrassed when it comes to the Manacor centre. So, hang on, let's get this right. The government, which is able to put its hands on a whole wedge of moolah for the building trade, is not able to divert a fraction of this to ... a building project. Hmm.
So what's another tennis centre that doesn't get built, you might be thinking. And you might be right if this were just a story of not facilitating some nouveaux Nadals and their forehand cross-court volleys with top spin. The point about the tennis centre was that the Manacor Muscle had entered into an agreement with the old government administration whereby, in return for the odd tennis court, he would do some PR for Mallorca. Sounds like a fair deal really, especially as, unlike the other "faces" of Mallorca or the Balearics who get dragged into the spotlight and then swiftly disappear, Nadal happens to actually be not only Mallorcan but the most famous Mallorcan in the world. What could be better? The government's tourism politburo, IBATUR, could do a bit more of their wonderfully strange advertising. "Mallorca, much more than tennis", in keeping with the other it has come up with. Except of course it would now have to be "much less than tennis" as Nadal has taken his racket and balls home with him and told the government where they can stick the PR. No tennis centre, no Rafa beaming out from posters at the next international tourism gig.
If the government can ever be said to be sure-footed, there seems little doubt that it has foot-faulted on this. For all the Paco de Lucias and Anna Kournikovas (whatever happened to her role as a "face" by the way?), none has been Mallorcan. Along comes someone as famous as Nadal, and the government says, "sorry, mate, but we've run out of cash for your tennis centre". Maybe they should ask Nadal if he can lend them a bob or two. Still, if Real Mallorca's Dani Guiza scores the goal that wins Euro 2008, then the government can find themselves a new face for Mallorca. But what would they offer in return? Buy the football club. Of course. Brilliant, as it happens to also be owned by the bloke behind the Drac Group whose financial woes have helped to put the local construction industry into penury. Two thousand million zero, zeros.
QUIZ
Chain - The pianist was Herbie Hancock. And what is his big-hit link to Godley and Creme? Yesterday's title - The Motors, "Airport" and see this here, replete with intro by Jimmy Savile, now then, now then (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baLilwDcjko). Today's title - easy, easy.
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