7
Fresh Start Edition
APRÈS SPORTS
Name Of The Game
DON’T
WHISTLE
INDOORS
According to one small country in Northern Europe,
if one whistles indoors it
brings bad luck. Just what
Roy Hodgson doesn’t need.
By Richard Williams
On 27th March 2015 Anglija
will host Lietuvos Respublika
(England vs Lithuania for
those of you reading this in
the very early or late hours,
or whose zoom function is
working about as smoothly
as FIFA’s AGM).
So what do we know about
a country sandwiched between Latvia and Poland and
hugged by Belarus?
Officially known as the Republic of Lithuania, it once
again became an independent country in 1990 having
been occupied by the Soviet
Union in 1940. Their head
of state is President Dalia
Grybauskaitė (any of you
not versed in Baltic languages who can pronounce that
perfectly first time might
well deserve the tickets we
are giving away this month
without entering our competition).
We’ve picked a team of 11 sports stars who just
happen to bear some of the most unfortunate
names in history. Can you find them all?
Note: All names are genuine. Not for the squeamish or easily offended. See page 3 for the
city in a
country
of just
under 3 million. More importantly, it is the only capital city in the world that you
can fly a hot air balloon over.
Midus is said to be the most
ancient alcoholic beverage in
the land, although not many
people seem to touch it any
more as its popularity has
apparently waned. Perhaps
with a name like that, the 11
men whose studs grace the
hallowed turf of Wembley
this year might consider a
pint of it the night before the
big game...
Furthermore,
Lithuanian
footballers are red hot right
now. At least, that’s according to @LTUFootball who
recently tweeted about one
of the national team’s midfielder’s: “Arthus Zulpa has
singed a contract with FC
Aktobe.” Or maybe he just
changed his mind and wanted to make sure there was
nothing left of the paperwork.
So have England, with an estimated population nearly
The capital, Vilinius, has a 20 times that of our Northpopulation of just over half ern European friends, got
a million, and is the largest any reason to fear becoming
answers.
famous fools around a week
shy of April 1st ?
Well, you might be surprised. They beat Estonia by
the same scoreline England
managed, 1-0, last October,
and are joint second in Group
E. A win, however unlikely,
would see them rise to just
one win away from Wayne
Rooney’s men, whilst defeat
would more or less end Lithuania’s dreams. So they have
all to play for in what will be
one of the biggest matches in
their history.
The Easter Granny (yes,
that’s right) is part of Lithuanian tradition; she apparently uses a sunbeam whip to
urge her small pony forward.
Let’s be grateful then, that
this fixture falls just prior
to the next festive weekend
in the calendar; a visit from
a fairytale grandmother
might just have been all the
help the boys from the Baltic would need to crack the
English and give St George a
mare just weeks before what
should, we would all argue,
be a national holiday.
APRÈS BALL SEARCH: WIN 2 TICKETS TO WEMBLEY!
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Win 2 box tickets to
England vs Lithuania
at Wembley stadium
To enter, work out in which block the ball is (e.g. A1)
and email your answer to [email protected]
Entries close at noon on 10 March 2015.