US Boulogne Côte d'Opale will be the new kids on the block in Ligue 1 next season. I mean that literally. Founded in 1898, the club earned promotion to France's top level for the first time after edging out Strasbourg for the third and final promotion spot out of Ligue 2.
So, why are they here? Because they are bringing some of the worst shirts imaginable up with them, that's why.
The first thing that strikes me about Boulogne is the rather odd sight of not one, but two Madagascar flags on their roster. Of the 50 or so players listed on Wikipedia as recent call ups for Madagascar, Boulogne's players--Faneva Andriastima and Paulin Voavy--are two of the three players cited who play for any European club. Let's just say they are a novelty.
Not a novelty--the shirt below. Unfortunately, it was seen way too much.
Best I can figure, since I am not a Francophone (nor did I actually look too hard), this was the away shirt during last season's highly successful Ligue 2 campaign. Considering that the home shirt was a much more palatable red and black striped shirt, I can guess that pulling out this week's effort was met with a certain amount of disdain by the fashion conscious French. The Malagasy contingent probably did not care as much.
I guess, though, that we as footie fans should consider ourselves lucky. For there is a Rugby squad in France that has a history of odd shirt choices. And when they go pink, whether it's with flowers, lightning bolts, a Warhol print or tie-dye, it is always worse than the Boulogne shirt.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Good, The Bad, The WTF
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Ups and Downs.
Andy Keogh is mobbed by Wolves fans at Molineux yesterday.
Many relegation battles and promotion fights will go to the wire this year but yesterday a few were decided. Lets have a look.
Wolves gained promotion to the Premier League after an excellent season and a 1-0 victory over Q.P.R yesterday. There were a few rocky moments for McCarthy's men but they have been at the top all season and not even a bad spell at Christmas stopped them from winning the Colaship. They could have been caught on several occasions but Birmingham and Reading hit the skids and failed to take advantage of Wolves slips ups.
Charlton were relegated after a 2-2 draw with Blackpool. The Addicks go down to the third tier of English football for the first time since 81. Charlton's problems started after long time boss Alan Curbishley left in 2006. Since then, Charlton have had 4 managers. Ian Dowie, Les Reed, Alan Pardew and Phil Parkinson all failed to return Charlton to the form that saw them established as a Premier league side under Curbishley.
Leicester City are back in the Colaship as League One Champions after a dominant League One campaign. They secured promotion away at Southend. Former Portsmouth owner Milam Mandaric has vowed to bring the good times back to Leicester and I wouldn't be surprised if they spent big next season. In Matty Fryatt they have a forward who has scored 31 goals this season. Can he do it in the Colaship? He couldn't last time he was there, but he is another year more experienced and certainly confident.
Elsewhere in League One, Hereford were relegated after losing to Colchsester.
-Bigus
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