Just watching Sepp Blatter holding court this afternoon with the world’s press.

Having first publicly humiliated the FAI by openingly laughing as he announced their (rather naive and privately laughable it has to be admitted) request to be included in the World Cup as team 33, he then had a little chuckle at the expense of Costa Rica before going on to utter the immortal line:

“The rules of the game have been the same for 124 years….” with a smugness that made me feel decidedly uneasy.

Wonderful. Nothing like a little progress in keeping up with the increased speed, technical proficiency, televised analysis and commercialisation of the sport…..

Video technology in football is an inevitability. Great to see the FAI press on with the campaign for that in their submission today. It’s a shame old Sepp and his cronies are oblivious to the fact that by allowing events like this to play on and on as they have over the last few years and refusing calls to assst referees with appropriate technologies they are in fact compromising the proud legacy of the great game rather than protecting it.

Oh – trout rather than salmon if you can please.