Foreword: The phrase ‘Bread and Circus,’ is attributed to Juvenal, a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century and is used commonly in cultural, particularly political, contexts.
Definitions from Oxford Languages: Bread and Circuses:
Entertainment or Political Policies used to keep the mass of people happy and docile i.e. “with football and politics as the bread and circuses of our decadent empire, whither religion?”
Editor: It is my greatest pleasure to introduce world renowned football commentator, Tom Johnson, to the team. Tom is a household name and whilst he can push his trolley around his local supermarket without being recognised, the moment he speaks his silky tones give him away.
However, we hear Tom has become somewhat disillusioned with football, especially in the United Kingdom where what was once a weekend pastime for working men and their families, has become a mesmerising diversion to the world around them and so much so that in Tom’s opinion, it has overtaken the common sense that people were once born with. Isn’t that right, Tom.
Too right, Ed, even though I still like to keep an eye on the UK and European Football Leagues, you know, to see how one’s favourite
boyhood teams are performing, however, I gave up going to watch footy once I realised that football had become a distraction to keep the masses stupefied.
The above illustration is an example of the point I have been making on my UK ‘speaking tours,’ to show that people have become more interested in sport, generally, than in doing something, anything (lawful) to stop the madness of idiots as the UK is drawn further into the European Union and NATO’s mess re Russia and Ukraine.
https://news.sky.com/story/nato-head-warns-allies-must-return-to-war-mindset-but-is-europe-listening-13272506
It was British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Winston Churchill who referred to giving it some ‘jaw- jaw’ before ‘war-war,’ which does not seem to have been learned by the people in charge today, or they have completely chosen to ignore such wisdom in pursuit of their own agenda.
Nevertheless, we thank Harry and Winnie for their input, however, Red Brick will be sending them both their posthumous awards for ‘stating the bloody obvious,’ innit.
It is true though, because once all the shouting, prevarication, death and destruction is over, it will be the ones who hid in ‘their’ bunkers along with their families, draft dodging kids and relatives, who will be the ones
sitting around the table making the peace deal and why, because they will have ran out of useless eating idiots to do the fighting and now it’s their turn, it will be time for a pow-pow and smoking the peace pipes.
Pundits Stating the Bloody Obvious:
Oh how I would dearly love to be the Tom of old, Sleepy tom was me, a time when even I could listen to and enjoy the mind-numbing punditry, but not now, not since I disappeared down the rabbit hole and now that I’m here, many of the people whose company I’d missed are here with me now, having themselves taken a deep dive into the rabbit hole.
The world around us is changing rapidly, and the changes as I see them are not good, in fact, I would say that some represent a significant threat to Humanity, especially the ‘Food Chain,’ which will be further undermined if the European Union and NATO ‘Warhawks take us beyond the safety critical limit point that we are now at.
It is a pity that the feeling of injustice and not being listened to by those in charge, as is the case in the next skit below, is not felt by the UK citizens towards their own political representatives who appear to be overseeing the controlled demolition of the UK under the mindful eyes of the Globalists.
Crowding the Referee:
The truth is, it is not just the current events going on around the world today outside of the ‘football bubble’ that have me feeling the way I do right now, certainly not, because how I felt originally was not about the depressing events taking place right now as I write i.e. man’s lust for war, it was far more simple than that and it came down to how much football has changed.
The self-respect and gentlemanly conduct considered to be an integral part of and an example of the game, which provided positive role models for the youth has been replaced by far too many ‘namby pamby,’ kid gloved, wrapped up in cotton disrespectful players, whose self-projection both on and off the field has influenced a generation and not always in a positive way.
Time Wasting:
I have always said that when the match stops, for whatever reason, then the clock should stop also and if this ever happened, you watch all these on field ‘limpettes’ begin to man up and run off their bumps and bruises, instead of simulating that they had just stood on a landmine.
There are far more reasons why my interest waned and with each passing football season compounding my lack of interest on the previous
one, it was not just that football sucks, but more a case of football, or sport generally, was and still is, sucking the life out of the British people.
The stadium I once considered to be my ‘fan heaven,’ whilst standing proudly to cheer on my local team playing the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, has now been replaced by the more comfy and warm surroundings of my lounge, complete with a 40-inch TV, sports channels, man control and of course, a reclining seat, although none of this can replace the electric atmosphere of being in the stadium and being a part of the roaring crowd.
Although it was my choice to change the viewing venue, it was not something I wanted to happen, but more of something I needed to do, and even though football was my world and to be honest I would have been quite happy for it to have stayed that way, one significant event took place in my life that would change my world perspectives; I woke up.
I’m not sure if any one particular event involving football caused my view of the game to change, or even an event outside of football due to the changes going on in the UK, but at some point within my sub-conscious
there must have been a perfect storm resulting in an epiphany, my epiphany, and not just for football, but other sports too, because I suddenly realised that sport generally had become little more than Bread and Circus for the masses.
Celebrations:
I can remember when sport was ‘seasonal’ and it was a time when the world was in a better place, a happier and more contented place than the uncertain, chaotic and distrusting place it has become and not by accident, but by design.
Red Brick reporters have written many articles explaining the events that have contributed to and shaped the current state the world is in, as well as giving their opinions as to why this is the case, so forgive me if I do not go into detail here other than to say, if you were to read our other articles you would understand why sport, generally, has, and still is, probably more so now than ever before, being used to dumb down the masses, because whilst their line of sight is fixed in the direction of sport, sport, and more 24 hour on tap sport, they are not taking in the full 360 degrees of events around them.
I always thought it would be one of the following image examples that would make me fall out of love with football, because although most of the following skits below had their little spattering’s going on way back when I first started watching football at a younger age, at some point in time the spattering’s became curdled lumps infesting the on field play through tactically going down and staying down,
How do I know this, or at least why do I believe this to be true, well, next time you see a footballer collapse to the ground in a twisted mangle wreck looking more like he needs a priest to give him his ‘last rites, pay attention to the interaction between the footballer and his treatment.
The agonising and contorted expression of their face whilst gritting their teeth and crying for ‘mommy’ to kiss things better, slowly disappears from on their face following a rub-down with a wet-wipe and having been given a hug, and possibly a change of tactics to pass onto the rest of team; hey, am just saying!
Then watch how they get to their feet and re-enter the field of play Billy Elliot style, ready to leap into action, without the deathly facial contortions witnessed by the crowd, who along with the trillions of multi-media viewers who only minutes ago were asking themselves, will he or wont he, make it.
The crowd cheers as the player returns to the peak of fitness ready to do battle leaving a handful of fans wondering, have they just been robbed of two to three minutes of watching footballing action or had they witnessed the cynical side of football, which is killing the once ‘beautiful game,’ well, for me at least.
And why shouldn’t fans who have paid their ‘hard earned’ to watch football ask themselves the question, after all, when the player went down he looked like he was being waterboarded as part of an ‘extra-ordinary rendition,’ where his life was about to expire only to be brought back from the brink at the last moment.
What was once, in my opinion, a 90-minute game bursting with action, had evolved into a constant stopping and starting at every bodily contact resulting in the claim for a foul and a demand for the alleged offender to receive immediate punishment, along with the partisan crowd whose own demand for ‘instant justice’ falls just shy of the death penalty, such are the demands of modern-day football. So, with this in mind here are one, two, three and more reasons why I think ‘Football Sucks.’
Name Calling and Hurty Words:
Simulations:
Actually, this may or may not have been a foul on the Argentinian legend, Maradona, but it did not stop him getting into role, I mean, it looks pure Hollywood, and it reminds me of Johnny Weissmuller the ex-USA Olympic swimmer who played Tarzan. Now, there’s a thought, I wonder if Maradona was a fan….m’mm? I’ll let you decide….heeeeere’s Johnnny!
No! Not that Johnny, this Johnny.
Looking at Weissmuller’s technique. I would say well done, Maradona, you certainly pulled it off,’ because it was the USA that gave you a perfect ten.
Simulation, sounds lovely and all nicey-nicey, just a bit of harmless wordplay to, in my opinion, make cheating sound like harmless fun, because that is what it was called back in the day, in fact, when someone took a dive pretending to have been fouled by the player standing six feet away from them, the cries of, “You cheating bar-steward,” would ring out and not only from the opposition, but also their own team mates.
What is the FIFA rule for simulation?
‘There are different circumstances when a player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour including if a player: attempts to deceive the referee e.g. by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled.’
Hold on a moment there FIFA, let us see what Mr Google’s search engine has to say about the definition of ‘cheating.’
Yep, just as I thought, it’s cheating.
Shirt Pulling:
In-Play Violence:
Ahhh yes, time to meet the man himself, sometimes known as the ‘Biter,’ sometimes the ‘Chomper,’ but to us at Red Brick he will always be known as the ‘Nibbler;’ it’s time to meet the man himself, Luis Suarez, Uruguayan International Footballing fans man munching ‘poster boy.’
1. While playing for Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup, he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. He was not punished during the game.
2. While playing for Liverpool in 2013, he was suspended for ten games for biting Chelsea’s Branislov Ivanovic on the arm.
3. While playing at Ajax in Holland in 2010, he was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder.
Pitch Invasions & Streakers:
I know, not quite the pitch invasion you had in mind, I’m sure, but a ‘Classic Intrusion’ nevertheless and worthy of a mention. Actually, it has got nothing to do with the point I am making, however, pitch invasions and violence is still a problem and does not look like it is going to go away soon.
Here are the subjects which did not make the ‘final cut’ when it came to the final edit for this article, so I guess there will have to be another one.
· Foul Mouthed Coaches and Managers
· Managers being Interviewed
· Player Interviews
· Club Executives
· Executives Vote of Confidence for the Manager
· Holding & VAR
· Prices
· Wags to Wages
· Organised Violence
· Walking Off the Pitch Slowly
· The Footballing ‘Dark Arts’
And finally, I could not end this article without mentioning the MENSA Men, the footballers themselves, the footballing geniuses who make more money in a week than the UK Prime Minister makes in a year, which is his salary I am referring to and not his ‘inciteful’ personal investment portfolio, because it would be a poor PM who left public office without a few extra quid in the bank.
Here, let’s listen in on a footballer having a conversation whilst receiving treatment for a snapped shoelace and making a meal of it.
Many of the actual quotes we have used in our captions were actually said by footballers according to the internet, although we have used a bit of artistic licence to ensure palatability and spare the blushes and or any embarrassment of those who are reported to have made the quotes. https://www.bubbleactive.com/blog-news/football-cliches
Enough said.
Tom Johnson, Sporting Journo for the Red Brick International Media News Group.
PS. Perhaps I did not make it clear why, in my opinion, I believe the UK is being deliberately and systematically dismantled by having its knees taken away, and if you think there is someone going to appear anytime soon with the proverbial magic sponge to get the UK back on its feet, think again.
Here a few snippets from GB News who for whatever reason, have certainly raised a number of issues regarding the state of the UK, and the path is it is being led down.