With Major League Baseball having just started its latest season on April 7th, following the apparent resolution of a stalemate between the league and its players, what better time for a chorus of Take Me Out To The Ball Game as we look back at an early attempt to drum up enthusiasm for what has been termed America's game on our own shores, with help from more than a few Football League clubs!
With the removal of pandemic-related restrictions and the emergence of the sun, the everyday mood has lifted for a lot of people in the UK. Bearing this in mind, the setting was perfect for our 2nd football away day of the 2021/22 season, as a smaller than usual group made the journey south to visit Exeter City. A team flying near the top of League Two and looking to secure automatic promotion in the slipstream of runaway leaders, and the scene of one of our previous journeys, Forest Green Rovers.
Everton seemingly contrive to continue a post- Carlo Ancelotti, and even David Moyes, fall ever closer to the Championship trap door following the axing of Rafa Benítez (who was seemingly too close to the other side of Stanley Park for comfort). With Frank Lampard parachuted in to salvage their season, could there yet be hope for the Toffees?
With Ukraine dominating world news for all the wrong reasons, perhaps now is the time to remind ourselves that despite their often over- inflated status, footballers are people too. Including those who hail from the hotbed of it that is Brazil- with Shakhtar Donetsk responsible for bringing several of them to Eastern Europe since 2004, when the legendary Mircea Lucescu was appointed manager.
When football fans think of Brussels from a footballing point of view, most think of Anderlecht which is only natural considering their success. This season that trend has been bucked by newly promoted Royale Union Saint-GIlloise, who top the table with a relatively comfortable seven-point lead over second place Antwerp at the time of writing.