The Charity Shield Was Shared By The Demons
One of the more interesting features of English soccer and its history is the extent to which the Shield is despised as a trophy. Essentially it`s a knockout competition, won by Manchester United at its inauguration in 1908, in which the winners of the F.A. Cup compete against the winners of the Premier League for the winning of it, which is the format for all of the world`s greatest soccer competitions. The UCL Champions League is competed for by the winners of each nation`s respective leagues, or it was until recent years when the league format of the European Cup was introduced. Then it became possible for teams to qualify for the European Champions` League without winning their respective leagues, which helped to heap further derision on the English Shield as a remaining anachronism of the days when trophies were competed for by winners. The nature of the Champions` League is that a team that doesn`t win its national title can win the European Cup, which was a sign of egalitarianism for many, but to others it represented a corruption of the original intention that champions compete to determine which of them was the greatest. Consequently, the English Shield remains a competition of some great note because it is still a contest of champions, even though there was a move by socializers to make it a symbol of sharing by renaming it the Community Shield when it was originally named the Charity Shield. Although it`s unfashionble to say so, shields are Arthurian, that is, the name of the English Shield harks back to a bygone age in which the knights written of by Sir Thomas Mallory in his cycle of Grail stories, Le Mort D`Arthur, for example, quest for the Holy Grail, a cup that Jesus `Christ`, `the chosen`, drank from at what came to be called the `Last Supper`, before he was nailed to a wooden cross by the Romans then occupying Jewish Palestine where the `chosen people` of the Jews had their home, and died as a `dissident` who preached: `Love your neighbor as you love yourself.` (Mk: 12. 31) In short, the English F.A. Cup and the original European Cup, etc., are symbolically Christian, because Jesus expereinced Resurrection and Ascension to heaven after being crucified by agents of the Roman Empire then illegally occupying Jewish Palestine. In other words, the European and World Club Cup competitons are in the Judeo-Christian tradition of friendship between equals in freedom.
In the stories of the Grail the knight Perceval is the one that is vouchsafed the role of being the individual who pierces the veil to achieve a sight of the Grail, which in European and global soccer is symbolized by the various cups. Neither a saucer or a plate is celebrated from the `Last Supper`, but that`s because it was traditional at the time of Jesus for all of the food to be placed into a single bowl or cup, and even the wine drank by those sitting at the table, which is why the United States` football teams compete for bowls. Although the English Shield denotes that of a knight, its significance in terms of Jesus` `Last Supper` is that of the door: `Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.` (Rev: 3. 20) The concept of the door as a shield is important, because of the US` notion of the `trophy wife`, which is the label applied to women who marry and are perceived as trophies. Some people want to see the team with the trophy after the victory of one side or the other, whereas some wnat to see the trophy with the team. Although that seems a too fine distinction, the US` concept of `trophy wife` pertains to Arthurian notions of adultery and faithfulness. King Arthur`s door was open to the knight Lancelot, who embarked on an adulterous relationship with the queen, Guinevere, who wasn`t his trophy. Consequently, the notion of doors or shields being shared is adulterous, and so is the idea that non-champions are equals, for example, in the International Champions` Cup it`s possible for Real Madrid to be champions of China and Australia by invitation to the competition and with no legitimacy perceivable. In an International Champions` Cup (ICC) contest it ought to be reasonable to expect that an international champion would emerge, whereas what emerged was a European champion of China and Australia, which is as if Real Madrid were declared chapions of Austria for defeating Rapid VIenna in a UCL qualifier. Just as sharing the Shield is indicative of adultery, so the dilution of the significance of the ICC, which was competed for and won outright by the English champions Manchester United in 2014, 3-1, against Liverpool, was designed to embarass the champions, because it`s a sign of degeneracy. Adultery, however, isn`t simple, because it`s a sign of poison, that is, what`s adulterated is poisoned. When Jesus was asked to condemn a woman allegedly caught inflagrante delecto, he asked: `Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.` (John: 8. 7) None could, and Jesus said to the woman: `Go, and sin no more.` (John: 8. 11) Because women can sexually reproduce with each other as futanarian women with `seed` of their own, they`re a distinct species adulterated, that is, poisoned, which is the meaning of the `Last Supper` at which Jesus drinks from his bowl, the Grail, and offers `bread and wine` as symbols of his `body and blod` to the disciples. Born of his mother, the Virgin Mary, Jesus was `woman`s seed`, so his Resurrection and Ascension to heaven prefigures that of women`s race to the planets amongst the stars as colonists there through the power of their own brains to devise means of taking them away from the Earth and its adulteration.
The abolishing of the European Cup WInners` Cup (ECWC), perhaps because sports` reporters on television news found it difficult to say, `the cup winners cup winners` and have it make sense to themselves, was an initial sign that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and the world`s `soccer government`, the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), were adulterating their cups. If Manchester United were embarassed at having their ICC 2014 triumph diluted, it was doubly embarassing to see UEFA and FIFA agree to abolish the competition between the winners of the respective nations` cups very hurriedly after United won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1991, 2-1, against Barcelona, with a brace of goals from Welshman, Mark Hughes. The meaning of world football`s undue haste in abolishing the ECWC in 1999 was again diluted for Manchester United, because the club won the UCL Champions` League, and its trophy, a cup, which had been known as the European Champions` Cup, when the club had won that in 1968, 4-1, against Portugal`s Benfica, in 1999 against Germany`s Bayern Munich, 2-1, with two very late opportunist strikes from England center forward, Teddy Sheringham and Norway`s Ole Gunna Solskjaer. United had been inspired by Irish winger, George Best, who scored a typical solo goal in the 1968 Final, although England deep lying center forward, Bobby Charlton had opened the team`s account with a header in the 53rd minute, 1-0, cancelled out by a strike from Portuguese right wing, Jaime Graça, in the 79th minute, 1-1, meant the crowd was treated to a mesmerising dribbling run from Best before he scored in the 92nd minute of extra time, 2-1, and then teenage striker Brian Kidd`s successful second attempt at a headed goal, after a defender could only head it back to him in the 94th, 3-1, before Charlton scored again with a dipping volley from a tight angel in the 99th minute, 4-1. It was the first and only time that Manchester United won the European Cup as champions before it became the UCL Champions League in which non-champions could compete for the same trophy. Consequently, it was the first and last time that the club won the European Grail undiluted by an adulterating football central authority.
Internationally Manchester United experienced the same fate. After winning the European Cup in 1968 the club competed in the Final of the Intercontinental Cup over tow legs, home and away, which they lost, 0-1, in Buenos Aires to Estudiantes of Argentina, and could only draw, 1-1, at the club`s Old Trafford statium in Manchester, after a late strike from Scots` right wing, Willie Morgan. When the club got another chance to compete in the Intercontinental Cup in 1999, the opponents were Palmeiras of Brazil, winners of South America`s equivalent of the UCL Champions` Cup, the Copa Libertadores (Cup of Freedom), and the contest was a single event taking place in Japan`s National Stadium, Tokyo, which United won, 1-0, after a 35th minute far post goal from Irish midfield dynamo, Roy Keane, who ran on to a cross far out on the left from Welsh winger, Ryan Giggs, to direct the ball into the net with his outstretched right foot. In almost indecent haste, the world`s football bodies abolished the Intercontinental Cup in 2004 after Manchester United`s victory in 1999, together with its legitimizing role as a Europe and South America championship trophy, and rpeplaced the competition with the World Club Cup, which was largely modelled on the UCL Champions` League, where teams qualified wihout winning, although United did win the competition as winners of the UCL Champions` League, and as winners of the English championship (2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09), with a low speculative shot from England center forward, Wayne Rooney, from the edge of South American champions LDU Quito of Ecuador`s area in the 73rd minute at the International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan, after the team had been reduced to ten players when Serbian center half Nemanja Vidic was sent off for elbowing Argentine forward, Claudio Beiler, in the 49th minute.
When Manchester United won the successor to the European Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Cup, the UEFA Europa League in 2017, which had been the trophy competed for as the UEFA Cup, while the ECWC remained remarkable for its unremarked upon absence, world record buy from Juventus` midfield, Paul Pogba, struck from long range at The Friends stadium, Stockholm, Sweden, in the 18th minute, while Armenia`s national team captain, and right winger, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, struck from a header towards goal from England central defender, Chris Smalling, in the 48th minute, which Mkhitaryan, falling backwards, managed to hook in as he went over. Although the club`s joy was undiluted, it might have caused some fans to speculate on how the presence of the ECWC amongst the European competitons could have increased United`s haul in terms of European trophies won since the ECWC was abolished in 2004. Manchester United were record winners of the F.A. Cup in 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2016. Although the club competed for and won the Champions` League in 1999, and qualified for the UCL Champions` League again in 2003-04 by virtue of finishing runners-up to Arsenal in the English Premier League championship, the team had won the F.A. Cup against Millwall, 3-0, that season, with goals from Portuguese right winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, a header from right full back Gary Neville`s chip in the 44th minute, and a penalty from Dutch center forward, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, in the 65th, who tapped in a third from just three yards out, after a left wing cross by Giggs in the 81st. Many supporters felt that United would have stood a better chance of winning the ECWC, rather than make up the teams in the UCL Champions` list. Without the incentive of European glory, the F.A. Cup was reduced in value for the winners, and United didn`t win it again until the brief managerial spell of former Dutch team boss, Louis Van Gaal, as he made way in the last days of his two season tenure for Portugal`s renownedly instantly successful soccer manager, Jose Mourinho, to take over for the 2016-17 campaign, and whose expertise brought the Europa Cup.
Though perceived as a negligible trophy by many, and adulterated by the English Football Association on occasion as to be competed for on such a basis that a draw would mean that it was shared, which happened to United in 1965 when, as First Division Champions, United drew with F.A. Cup winners, Liverpool, 2-2, 1967 when, as First Division Champions, United drew with F.A. Cup winners, Tottenham Hotspur, when `keeper Pat Jennings was credited with scoring from a punt that bounced over United `keeper, Alex Stepney, 1977 when, as F.A. Cup winners, United drew with LIverpool, 0-0, and in 1990 when, as F.A. Cup winners, United drew with First Division Champions, Liverpool, 1-1. Including outright victories, Manchester United have won the English Shield on 21 occasions; 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965*, 1967*, 1977*, 1983, 1990*, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016. A record witness to the truth that older competitions that recognize mythic sensibilities are most significant. Despite football`s governing bodies` attempts to adulterate the trophy`s worth by making the teams share it, as though it were a `trophy wife`, in some dim Shakespearean sense, the Shield remains a symbol of Jesus` teaching: `I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.` (John: 10. 9) The meaning is that the door is a Shield, which isn`t shared without the permission of those within, because friends choose each other well, and Argentina`s Claudio Beiler mightn`t accept an elbow in the face from Nemanja Vidic as accidental, whereas UEFA and FIFA`s ambition that trophies be shared, and champions admit second raters into their midst, tacitly accepts that injurious behavior on the pitch is standard, because teams that play for a draw are brutal in defense of it. When England won the World Cup in 1966 against Germany, 4-2, manager Alf Ramsey described the Argentinian players as `animals`, and after West Ham striker, Geoff Hurst, gave them a quarter-final win in the 78th minute, 1-0. Argentina`s captain, Antonio Rattin, was sent off in the 35th minute, because the Argentinian team`s will to win was epitomized by Rattin`s ferocity. England went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy, with no possibility of its being shared, abolished, replaced, conflated, or otherwise adulterated by false notions of universal brotherhood that reduced the endeavors of serious proponents of friendship to nights` clubbing in search of another frothy mug.The Charity Shield Was Shared By The Demons
The Charity Shield Was Shared By The Demons
One of the more interesting features of English soccer and its history is the extent to which the Shield is despised as a trophy. Essentially it`s a knockout competition, won by Manchester United at its inauguration in 1908, in which the winners of the F.A. Cup compete against the winners of the Premier League for the winning of it, which is the format for all of the world`s greatest soccer competitions. The UCL Champions League is competed for by the winners of each nation`s respective leagues, or it was until recent years when the league format of the European Cup was introduced. Then it became possible for teams to qualify for the European Champions` League without winning their respective leagues, which helped to heap further derision on the English Shield as a remaining anachronism of the days when trophies were competed for by winners. The nature of the Champions` League is that a team that doesn`t win its national title can win the European Cup, which was a sign of egalitarianism for many, but to others it represented a corruption of the original intention that champions compete to determine which of them was the greatest. Consequently, the English Shield remains a competition of some great note because it is still a contest of champions, even though there was a move by socializers to make it a symbol of sharing by renaming it the Community Shield when it was originally named the Charity Shield. Although it`s unfashionble to say so, shields are Arthurian, that is, the name of the English Shield harks back to a bygone age in which the knights written of by Sir Thomas Mallory in his cycle of Grail stories, Le Mort D`Arthur (1485), for example, quest for the Holy Grail, a cup that Jesus `Christ`, `the chosen`, drank from at what came to be called the `Last Supper`, before he was nailed to a wooden cross by the Romans then occupying Jewish Palestine where the `chosen people` of the Jews had their home, and died as a `dissident` who preached: `Love your neighbor as you love yourself.` (Mk: 12. 31) In short, the English F.A. Cup and the original European Cup, etc., are symbolically Christian, because Jesus expereinced Resurrection and Ascension to heaven after being crucified by agents of the Roman Empire then illegally occupying Jewish Palestine. In other words, the European and World Club Cup competitons are in the Judeo-Christian tradition of friendship between equals in freedom.
In the stories of the Grail, the knight Perceval is the one that is vouchsafed the role of being the individual who pierces the veil to achieve a sight of the Grail, which in European and global soccer is symbolized by the various cups. Neither a saucer or a plate is celebrated from the `Last Supper`, but that`s because it was traditional at the time of Jesus for all of the food to be placed into a single bowl or cup, and even the wine drank by those sitting at the table, which is why the United States` football teams compete for bowls. Although the English Shield denotes that of a knight, its significance in terms of Jesus` `Last Supper` is that of the door: `Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.` (Rev: 3. 20) The concept of the door as a shield is important, because of the US` notion of the `trophy wife`, which is the label applied to women who marry and are perceived as trophies. Some people want to see the team with the trophy after the victory of one side or the other, whereas some wnat to see the trophy with the team. Although that seems a too fine distinction, the US` concept of `trophy wife` pertains to Arthurian notions of adultery and faithfulness. King Arthur`s door was open to the knight Lancelot, who embarked on an adulterous relationship with the queen, Guinevere, who wasn`t his trophy. Consequently, the notion of doors or shields being shared is adulterous, and so is the idea that non-champions are equals, for example, in the International Champions` Cup it`s possible for Real Madrid to be champions of China and Australia by invitation to the competition and with no legitimacy perceivable. In an International Champions` Cup (ICC) contest it ought to be reasonable to expect that an international champion would emerge, whereas what emerged was a European champion of China and Australia, which is as if Real Madrid were declared chapions of Austria for defeating Rapid VIenna in a UCL qualifier. Just as sharing the Shield is indicative of adultery, so the dilution of the significance of the ICC, which was competed for and won outright by the English champions Manchester United in 2014, 3-1, against Liverpool, was designed to embarass the champions, because it`s a sign of degeneracy. Adultery, however, isn`t simple, because it`s a sign of poison, that is, what`s adulterated is poisoned. When Jesus was asked to condemn a woman allegedly caught inflagrante delecto, he asked: `Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.` (John: 8. 7) None could, and Jesus said to the woman: `Go, and sin no more.` (John: 8. 11) Because women can sexually reproduce with each other as futanarian women with `seed` of their own, they`re a distinct species adulterated, that is, poisoned, which is the meaning of the `Last Supper` at which Jesus drinks from his bowl, the Grail, and offers `bread and wine` as symbols of his `body and blod` to the disciples. Born of his mother, the Virgin Mary, Jesus was `woman`s seed`, so his Resurrection and Ascension to heaven prefigures that of women`s race to the planets amongst the stars as colonists there through the power of their own brains to devise means of taking them away from the Earth and its adulteration.
The abolishing of the European Cup WInners` Cup (ECWC), perhaps because sports` reporters on television news found it difficult to say, `the cup winners cup winners` and have it make sense to themselves, was an initial sign that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and the world`s `soccer government`, the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), were adulterating their cups. If Manchester United were embarassed at having their ICC 2014 triumph diluted, it was doubly embarassing to see UEFA and FIFA agree to abolish the competition between the winners of the respective nations` cups very hurriedly after United won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1991, 2-1, against Barcelona, with a brace of goals from Welshman, Mark Hughes. The meaning of world football`s undue haste in abolishing the ECWC in 1999 was again diluted for Manchester United, because the club won the UCL Champions` League, and its trophy, a cup, which had been known as the European Champions` Cup, when the club had won that in 1968, 4-1, against Portugal`s Benfica, in 1999 against Germany`s Bayern Munich, 2-1, with two very late opportunist strikes from England center forward, Teddy Sheringham and Norway`s Ole Gunna Solskjaer. United had been inspired by Irish winger, George Best, who scored a typical solo goal in the 1968 Final, although England deep lying center forward, Bobby Charlton had opened the team`s account with a header in the 53rd minute, 1-0, cancelled out by a strike from Portuguese right wing, Jaime Graça, in the 79th minute, 1-1, meant the crowd was treated to a mesmerising dribbling run from Best before he scored in the 92nd minute of extra time, 2-1, and then teenage striker Brian Kidd`s successful second attempt at a headed goal, after a defender could only head it back to him in the 94th, 3-1, before Charlton scored again with a dipping volley from a tight angel in the 99th minute, 4-1. It was the first and only time that Manchester United won the European Cup as champions before it became the UCL Champions League in which non-champions could compete for the same trophy. Consequently, it was the first and last time that the club won the European Grail undiluted by an adulterating football central authority.
Internationally Manchester United experienced the same fate. After winning the European Cup in 1968, the club competed in the Final of the Intercontinental Cup over two legs, home and away, which they lost, 0-1, in Buenos Aires to Estudiantes of Argentina, and could only draw, 1-1, at the club`s Old Trafford statium in Manchester, after a late strike from Scots` right wing, Willie Morgan. When the club got another chance to compete in the Intercontinental Cup in 1999, the opponents were Palmeiras of Brazil, winners of South America`s equivalent of the UCL Champions` Cup, the Copa Libertadores (Cup of Freedom), and the contest was a single event taking place in Japan`s National Stadium, Tokyo, which United won, 1-0, after a 35th minute far post goal from Irish midfield dynamo, Roy Keane, who ran on to a cross far out on the left from Welsh winger, Ryan Giggs, to direct the ball into the net with his outstretched right foot. In almost indecent haste, the world`s football bodies abolished the Intercontinental Cup in 2004 after Manchester United`s victory in 1999, together with its legitimizing role as a Europe and South America championship trophy, and rpeplaced the competition with the World Club Cup, which was largely modelled on the UCL Champions` League, where teams qualified wihout winning, although United did win the competition as winners of the UCL Champions` League, and as winners of the English championship (2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09), with a low speculative shot from England center forward, Wayne Rooney, from the edge of South American champions LDU Quito of Ecuador`s area in the 73rd minute at the International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan, after the team had been reduced to ten players when Serbian center half Nemanja Vidic was sent off for elbowing Argentine forward, Claudio Beiler, in the 49th minute.
When Manchester United won the successor to the European Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Cup, the UEFA Europa League in 2017, which had been the trophy competed for as the UEFA Cup, while the ECWC remained remarkable for its unremarked upon absence, world record buy from Juventus` midfield, Paul Pogba, struck from long range at The Friends stadium, Stockholm, Sweden, in the 18th minute, while Armenia`s national team captain, and right winger, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, struck from a header towards goal from England central defender, Chris Smalling, in the 48th minute, which Mkhitaryan, falling backwards, managed to hook in as he went over. Although the club`s joy was undiluted, it might have caused some fans to speculate on how the presence of the ECWC amongst the European competitons could have increased United`s haul in terms of European trophies won since the ECWC was abolished in 2004. Manchester United were record winners of the F.A. Cup in 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2016. Although the club competed for and won the Champions` League in 1999, and qualified for the UCL Champions` League again in 2003-04 by virtue of finishing runners-up to Arsenal in the English Premier League championship, the team had won the F.A. Cup against Millwall, 3-0, that season, with goals from Portuguese right winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, a header from right full back Gary Neville`s chip in the 44th minute, and a penalty from Dutch center forward, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, in the 65th, who tapped in a third from just three yards out, after a left wing cross by Giggs in the 81st. Many supporters felt that United would have stood a better chance of winning the ECWC, rather than make up the teams in the UCL Champions` list. Without the incentive of European glory, the F.A. Cup was reduced in value for the winners, and United didn`t win it again until the brief managerial spell of former Dutch team boss, Louis Van Gaal, as he made way in the last days of his two season tenure for Portugal`s renownedly instantly successful soccer manager, Jose Mourinho, to take over for the 2016-17 campaign, and whose expertise brought the Europa Cup.
Perceived as a negligible trophy by many, and adulterated by the English Football Association on occasion, so as to be competed for on such a basis that a draw would mean that the Shield was shared, that happened to United in 1965 when, as First Division Champions, United drew with F.A. Cup winners, Liverpool, 2-2, 1967 when, as First Division Champions, United drew with F.A. Cup winners, Tottenham Hotspur, when `keeper Pat Jennings was credited with scoring from a punt that bounced over United `keeper, Alex Stepney, 1977 when, as F.A. Cup winners, United drew with LIverpool, 0-0, and in 1990 when, as F.A. Cup winners, United drew with First Division Champions, Liverpool, 1-1. Including outright victories, however, Manchester United have won the English Shield on 21 occasions; 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965*, 1967*, 1977*, 1983, 1990*, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016. A record witness to the truth that older competitions that recognize mythic sensibilities are most significant. Despite football`s governing bodies` attempts to adulterate the trophy`s worth by making the teams share it, as though it were a `trophy wife`, in some dim Shakespearean sense, the Shield remains a symbol of Jesus` teaching: `I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.` (John: 10. 9) The meaning is that the door is a Shield, which isn`t shared without the permission of those within, because friends choose each other well, and Argentina`s Claudio Beiler mightn`t accept an elbow in the face from Nemanja Vidic as accidental, whereas UEFA and FIFA`s ambition that trophies be shared, and champions admit second raters into their midst, tacitly accepts that injurious behavior on the pitch is standard, because teams that play for a draw are brutal in defense of it. When England won the World Cup in 1966 against Germany, 4-2, manager Alf Ramsey described the Argentinian players as `animals`, and after West Ham striker, Geoff Hurst, gave them a quarter-final win in the 78th minute, 1-0. Argentina`s captain, Antonio Rattin, was sent off in the 35th minute, because the Argentinian team`s will to win was epitomized by Rattin`s ferocity. England went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy, with no possibility of its being shared, abolished, replaced, conflated, or otherwise adulterated by false notions of universal brotherhood that reduced the endeavors of serious proponents of friendship to nights` clubbing in search of another frothy mug.
