boovidge wrote:pity it was a fail post as i was listening to Invaders

"Why are you the way that you are? I hate so much about what you choose to be".

Not really babe, just had to get that brilliant US Office quote in.

I played last year for my halls team, but I just don't have the fitness these days.

The glory days were when I was averaging 20 minutes on a sub for my local team. Oh yeh. Boof.

I rep Carlisle. Come on you slags.

I used to play 5-a-side at work with the rest of the staff at Rickstones, was pretty physical stuff especially with Behemoth Barry barging in everywhere. I've also played a bit with James and a few other friends at the local sports centre - I was aching for days afterwards!

I'm generally pretty shit at out-field stuff - I'm so unfit it's actually not funny - so I'm more often than not in goal.

I'm in the sunday league, div 3 out of 5, we're topping the table, 3 points clear, I'm the best goalkeeper in the world!

I was a white Lucas Radebe. But smaller.

thrashduck wrote:I was a white Lucas Radebe. But smaller.

Wow, you were that bad?

Oh god. Here we go.

Born in Soweto, South Africa, in 1969, Radebe grew up in a small house as one of 11 brothers and sisters. His early years coincided with the most difficult period of the anti-apartheid struggle and he was frequently a witness to the escalating violence perpetrated by both local gangs and white South Africa's security forces. Radebe, who carried a knife and was street-smart, just about managed to stay on the right side of the law; although he was active in the student movement, which hijacked government vehicles and dispensed vigilante justice when necessary, Radebe himself never physically harmed anybody.

When Radebe was 15, his increasingly anxious parents sent him away to school in one of the so-called independent homelands, Bophuthatswana, in the north-west of the country. There he began to train as a teacher, but he was bored by his studies and by the strange rural surroundings. To pass the time in this 'Bantustan', as apartheid's 'black homelands' such as Bophuthatswana and Ciskei were known, he began to play football, initially preferring to play in goal, but soon switching to the outfield where he was a holding midfielder.

His skills brought him to the attention of the famous Johannesburg club Kaizer Chiefs and their scout Patrick 'Ace' Ntsoelengoe. He persuaded Radebe to move back to Johannesburg and sign professional forms. Soon after, in 1991, an incident occurred that made the young footballer realise just how precarious his situation was in South Africa. While on his way with one of his brothers to do some shopping for his mother, he heard gunfire. Used to the sound of shots, he and his brother looked around to see just who had been shot. It was then that Radebe felt the pain in his back and noticed that he was covered in blood.

Once Radebe reached hospital, the doctors determined that no vital organs had been hit, although he had lost a considerable amount of blood. The bullet had entered his back and passed out through his thigh, but he was reassured that he would be able to play football again. Although nobody was ever arrested and charged with his shooting, Radebe initially suspected that somebody had been hired to shoot him. There had, after all, been talk of his leaving Kaizer Chiefs for another club, and such 'punishments' were not uncommon in the prevailing climate of the country. When, three years later, Leeds came knocking on his door, Radebe was ready to start life anew elsewhere.

His first two seasons at Leeds were not promising, with Radebe making only a handful of appearances. To make matters worse, his friend and compatriot Phil Masinga was also finding it difficult to establish himself in the first team, even though he was supposed to be the 'key' acquisition of the pair. After two years, Masinga was sold to St Gallen in Switzerland.

Radebe's perseverance was repaid with the arrival as manager of George Graham in September 1996. Graham saw what Wilkinson had failed to see and his very first action as manager was to lobby the board to sign this 'fringe' player to a long-term contract. Finally, clear of niggling injuries and a doubting manager, Radebe quickly became a rock at the heart of the Leeds defence. In 1998 'the chief' was appointed club captain. Other English clubs noticed and in the late Nineties a steady flow of African players began to filter into the mainstream of English football.

Radebe's development as a South Africa international coincided with the emergence of his country from the apartheid era. He made his debut for Bafana Bafana, as South Africa are known, in 1991; in 1996 he was part of the team who, on home soil, defeated Tunisia 2-0 to win the African Cup of Nations. By the time France 98 came around, Radebe - by now a friend of Nelson Mandela, who called him 'Big Tree' - was captaining South Africa to a respectable campaign in their first appearance in the World Cup finals. Their only defeat was to the hosts, the eventual winners.

In September 1998, Graham left Leeds for Tottenham Hotspur and Radebe was devastated. His game had blossomed under the tutelage of the defensive-minded Scotsman and Radebe considered moving clubs with him. However, the new manager, David O'Leary, like his predecessor, made it clear to the Leeds board that the first, and most important, priority was the resigning of Radebe to a contract that would effectively keep him at Leeds for the rest of his career. It wasn't just Radebe's performances on the field that earned the respect of O'Leary and others, but his extraordinary dedication to anti-racism work, and his commitment to the evolution of football in his home country was attracting wide attention. In 2000, Fifa, the game's world governing body, honoured him with their fair-play award and the citation made special mention of his work with children in Soweto and all over South Africa.

The most serious attempt to lure Radebe away from Elland Road was in 2000, when Leeds turned down an offer of £6 million from Roma. Thereafter, nearly two years of recurring knee and ankle injuries led to his retirement from international football as the most capped South Africa player of all time, but these problems also severely restricted his playing time at Leeds.

I don't care, he's rubbish.

thrashduck wrote:Oh god. Here we go.

Born in Soweto, South Africa, in 1969, Radebe grew up in a small house as one of 11 brothers and sisters. His early years coincided with the most difficult period of the anti-apartheid struggle and he was frequently a witness to the escalating violence perpetrated by both local gangs and white South Africa's security forces. Radebe, who carried a knife and was street-smart, just about managed to stay on the right side of the law; although he was active in the student movement, which hijacked government vehicles and dispensed vigilante justice when necessary, Radebe himself never physically harmed anybody.

When Radebe was 15, his increasingly anxious parents sent him away to school in one of the so-called independent homelands, Bophuthatswana, in the north-west of the country. There he began to train as a teacher, but he was bored by his studies and by the strange rural surroundings. To pass the time in this 'Bantustan', as apartheid's 'black homelands' such as Bophuthatswana and Ciskei were known, he began to play football, initially preferring to play in goal, but soon switching to the outfield where he was a holding midfielder.

His skills brought him to the attention of the famous Johannesburg club Kaizer Chiefs and their scout Patrick 'Ace' Ntsoelengoe. He persuaded Radebe to move back to Johannesburg and sign professional forms. Soon after, in 1991, an incident occurred that made the young footballer realise just how precarious his situation was in South Africa. While on his way with one of his brothers to do some shopping for his mother, he heard gunfire. Used to the sound of shots, he and his brother looked around to see just who had been shot. It was then that Radebe felt the pain in his back and noticed that he was covered in blood.

Once Radebe reached hospital, the doctors determined that no vital organs had been hit, although he had lost a considerable amount of blood. The bullet had entered his back and passed out through his thigh, but he was reassured that he would be able to play football again. Although nobody was ever arrested and charged with his shooting, Radebe initially suspected that somebody had been hired to shoot him. There had, after all, been talk of his leaving Kaizer Chiefs for another club, and such 'punishments' were not uncommon in the prevailing climate of the country. When, three years later, Leeds came knocking on his door, Radebe was ready to start life anew elsewhere.

His first two seasons at Leeds were not promising, with Radebe making only a handful of appearances. To make matters worse, his friend and compatriot Phil Masinga was also finding it difficult to establish himself in the first team, even though he was supposed to be the 'key' acquisition of the pair. After two years, Masinga was sold to St Gallen in Switzerland.

Radebe's perseverance was repaid with the arrival as manager of George Graham in September 1996. Graham saw what Wilkinson had failed to see and his very first action as manager was to lobby the board to sign this 'fringe' player to a long-term contract. Finally, clear of niggling injuries and a doubting manager, Radebe quickly became a rock at the heart of the Leeds defence. In 1998 'the chief' was appointed club captain. Other English clubs noticed and in the late Nineties a steady flow of African players began to filter into the mainstream of English football.

Radebe's development as a South Africa international coincided with the emergence of his country from the apartheid era. He made his debut for Bafana Bafana, as South Africa are known, in 1991; in 1996 he was part of the team who, on home soil, defeated Tunisia 2-0 to win the African Cup of Nations. By the time France 98 came around, Radebe - by now a friend of Nelson Mandela, who called him 'Big Tree' - was captaining South Africa to a respectable campaign in their first appearance in the World Cup finals. Their only defeat was to the hosts, the eventual winners.

In September 1998, Graham left Leeds for Tottenham Hotspur and Radebe was devastated. His game had blossomed under the tutelage of the defensive-minded Scotsman and Radebe considered moving clubs with him. However, the new manager, David O'Leary, like his predecessor, made it clear to the Leeds board that the first, and most important, priority was the resigning of Radebe to a contract that would effectively keep him at Leeds for the rest of his career. It wasn't just Radebe's performances on the field that earned the respect of O'Leary and others, but his extraordinary dedication to anti-racism work, and his commitment to the evolution of football in his home country was attracting wide attention. In 2000, Fifa, the game's world governing body, honoured him with their fair-play award and the citation made special mention of his work with children in Soweto and all over South Africa.

The most serious attempt to lure Radebe away from Elland Road was in 2000, when Leeds turned down an offer of £6 million from Roma. Thereafter, nearly two years of recurring knee and ankle injuries led to his retirement from international football as the most capped South Africa player of all time, but these problems also severely restricted his playing time at Leeds.

This kind of bullshit is why i hate football, i don't want to hear the life story of every player. If they just went "Person" is from Africa and kicks the ball good then that would be fine.

As if anyone is going to read through that biography.

It just seems to me that every football fan i meet are obsessed with stats.

Basically we should have a north Vs south full team and just meet up one time for a laugh.

yeah good idea dian.

is it based on birthplace or current home. Or ancestry. i have some ancestory in lancashire somewhere down the line

If it is by ancestry then i represent Norway.

And I Zimbabwe.