Photo of the Week: An Autograph? Feh!

Thanks to the kindness of an old friend who invited me to his book launch, I ended up sitting in the VIP section with him and behind this hero of my youth.

I've always been a bit proud of having noticed this chap at the beginning of his career with his hometown club of Leicester City.

Nevertheless, I've no idea whence came the chutzpah or the speed that fuelled my move to block his exit so I could ask for a quick selfie.

As my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and now Blogger friends can see, I am delighted to share this moment with Mr Gary Lineker. It's a crap photo, and posterity may prefer an autograph, but this is not for my heirs. This reminds me of a happy moment during a great night.

Thank you DW (check out his book here).

My Heart Belongs to Daddy

Rabbi Albert H Friedlander z"l

85 isn't so old these days. If my father were alive, he would be 85 today. So would his brother Charles. Sadly neither of them are with us any more. There is some comfort in knowing that he was loved and is remembered by many people across the world. Would rather be able to give him a birthday kiss.

So I looked online to see who else shares this day as a birthday and found the following:

Rabbis Kaufmann Kohler and Joachim Prinz

Athletes Dennis Bergkamp (interviewed by the lovely David Winner), Jonathan Edwards and Merlene Ottey.

Bad guys John Wilkes Booth and Mark David Chapman (Rick Santorum is not as bad as them but does share the birthday)

Music heroes Sid Vicious, Donovan, Max Steiner and Bono

not to forget Thomas Lipton, Karl Barth, Fred Astaire, Milton Babbitt and Maureen Lipman.

There are loads more, but I'm supposed to be working ;-)

ajax of amsterdam fc & its jewish connections

the times' football page has a new series of articles called 'the rivals' about explosive football matches. this week they discuss ajax vs feyenoord of rotterdam. early in the article, the author cites the well-known (in the football world) chants of the rival supporters:

"“Hamas, Hamas — Jews to the gas,” the Rotterdam contingent chant at their counterparts. “We are Super Jews,” comes the reply. Stars of David bedeck the Amsterdam ArenA."

nu - is ajax a jewish club? as in all matters of dutch football, i turn immediately to my old friend david winner, and his 2000 opus 'brilliant orange'. in chapter 15, he discusses the connections between the club and jews. he explains that while for hundreds of years amsterdam was as jewish a city as new york, and there was a strong jewish influence on amsterdam football, this was all destroyed during the nazi occupation. For a book-long examination of dutch football and the nazi occupation, do read 'ajax, the dutch, the war' by simon kuper. as far as i can see, while there is no longer any tangible connection between the amsterdam jewish community and the fans of ajax, these supporters have adopted jewish symbols as a way to celebrate their team.

my favourite quote from chapter 15 of david's book:

"... when Israeli transsexual Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Viva La Diva', the occasion was celebrated by Ajax fans with a song of their own: 'We are the champions! Jews win everything!'"