A Bill Shankly Quote - No, not that one, another one.

That small corner of the British blogsphere that consists of the various political malcontents, trustafarians and social workers that make up the Far Left - I'm in there myself somewhere, if only in an Overseas Branch member capacity - is currently getting overheated at that great non-debate: 'What team can a lefty support in the forthcoming World Cup in all good conscience without first having to turn over all their back copies of the New Internationalist?'

In truth, I've yet to read all the contributions to the debate. What with there being so many of them out there, it's like being in that unenviable position of being confronted with the members of both Green Day and Bon Jovi and not knowing who to shoot down first, but a pointer to those blog posts on the World Cup that I've read that are currently in the mix:

Debsian Ed is on the grass as he takes a trip down memory lane of World Cups past, and tells us why he can't bring himself to support England. I think it less a case of Revolutionary Defeatism, and more a case of the self-loathing Englishman on Ed's part. I might be being a little harsh on him; I think he just loathes the oiks in the replica England shirts. It appears that his main reason for supporting Japan at the World Cup is connected with him thinking that: ". . . it would be nice to see an East Asian team do well in world football . . ." No one in his comments box has the heart to mention to him that an East Asian team, South Korea, reached the semi final of the last World Cup. Something that has never been achieved by a team from Africa, Oceania or Central America.

The punch drunk libertarian Paul Gauche takes that classic Scottish position when it comes to such footballing matters: 'Anyone but Trevorland'.* It's a longstanding postion that dates back to David II, King of Scotland, backing the French in the Hundred Years War. (This war was of course before the introduction of penalty shoot-outs.) Honorable mention of this classic position in more recent times include Denis Law spending the afternoon of July 30th, 1966 on the golf course, rather than watching ten englishmen, a squeaky voiced irritant and an Azeirbeijan official steal the Jules Rimet Trophy; that evening of June 30th 1998, the scene, a warehouse in Hemel Hempstead, when a supervisor called Duncan and a student called Darren secretly crowed with delight when Batty missed that penalty, and, to bring it up to the present day, Kevin W. showing his sweet side by giving the wrap on what position he will be taking.

Stroppyblog claims that their blog will be a "World Cup Free Zone" but the latest odds from Ladbrokes indicate that they will crack under peer pressure and pen a World Cup related blog sometime around half time of the opening match of the tournament.

Will Rubbish would write a post on blogging and the World Cup but he's too busy telling someone to f*ck off.

And I'm sure Harry of HP fame has penned an interesting piece on the World Cup, as he usually writes excellent posts on football, but I can't be arsed to wade through the current batch of muscular liberalism perched behind a keyboard, that currently makes up the second eleven recently picked for inclusion on the HP blog.

Thanks to Jools from the Spaces of Hope blog for the tip in the comment box about the Socialist Unity Network blogspot piece. Who would have thought that a QPR fan would be interested in international football? More's to the point, who would have thought a QPR fan would have heard of international football? I will get round to reading that and other blog posts and articles on this pressing matter. Maybe even doing a head count on how many quote or mention Orwell's Sporting Spirit essay as I'm doing it, but any other suggested links or sporting blogs will be gratefully received in the interim.

I'm not denying the fact that there is something obscene about the salaries and bonuses that footballers receive, and the double standards employed whereby we all froth at the mouth at the various fat cat bastards living it large when we don't ever think twice of the wheelbarrows of cash thrown at today's footballers. Neither would I deny the charge of the xenophobic stereotyping of those nations that are not 'us' that will make up the lazy journalism of the tabloid and broadcast press in the coming weeks, and the thought of the boneheaded nationalism and/or patriotism that will be effortlessly blended in with commercialisation to make a mint for those selling cheap St George flags and other red, white and blue bullshit tat made by low paid workers overseas enrages me as much as the next Coldplay fan, but I also don't want to lose sight of the fact that despite all this clutter, bullshit and naked self-interest that consumes football off the pitch and on, there are times when football at its best also embodies those values of co-operation, teamwork and mutual self-interest that is as close to socialism without the politics** this side of a business meeting of the Lancaster Branch of the Socialist Party .

I better stop this post now, or I'll be obliged to insert a quote from Bill Shankly to back me up. Christ, it's too late:

"Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple."

If that isn't a cute reworking of the old Marxian Socialist quote, "From each according to their ability . . .", I'll eat my goal.

*Kudos to Mr. Legge for the literary reference to England as 'Trevorland'.

"Socialism without the politics" was what Bill Shankly once famously described the great Glasgow Celtic team managed by Jock Stein in the late sixties as.