This page is for reader comments regarding the England team or international football.  Send your remarks to England Football Online and we'll try to put them up soon after we get them. Please tell us your name, city or town and country.  Younger readers are welcome to contribute.
 

Forum Archive
2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2010	Kids Forum

Mike Sullivan, from Wales, 26 September 2009, regarding the Welsh Language:-

I am an English only speaking Welsh football fan supporting Cardiff City then anything British. Just had cause to look up some stats from the site and noticed that anything to do with Wales is written in the Welsh language. Our beloved Ninian Park is written as, Parc Ninian, Tongwynlais, Caerdydd. Just to let you know, Tongwynlais is a village in the north of Cardiff  approximately 5 miles north of Ninian Park. Don't know how Tongwynlais has crept in there. Ninian Park's address was Sloper Road, Cardiff CF11 8SX.  Also why all the Welsh language I had to find a translation into English to understand it, Parc yr Arfau really got me until I found its the old Arms Park. The Welsh language has been hijacked by the political militants who are force feeding it to the population, its got intrusive now instead of low/medium cultural.  Please not Football too ! Only 11% of Cardiffians can speak Welsh so you are missing c90% of fans who speak English only. Guess you're trying to be nice and thanks for that.

CG: As you may have noticed, every foreign stadia, country, town, etc... has been translated into the native tongue.  And I will admit, when it comes to the Welsh language, I have committed the most heinous of crimes....I relied heavily on Wikipedia. So I am relying on the only true source, you, the welsh-speaking supporter.  So over to you.... what should it be....?

I am an English only Welshman.  For my Welsh only brothers I would print your items in Welsh and English as they do in Wales i.e all road signs are bilingual, all train announcements are bilingual etc., otherwise they get lost (Welsh first of course, so we English speakers miss our train).  If this is not possible because of space I see you have already have a link to the ground name/picture for the Racecourse etc., which carries the English translation but not for the Arms Park (or Ninian) which got me.  I would provide a link to the English translation.  I would definitely take out all reference to 'Tongwynlais' as it is totally wrong and nothing to do with anything football.

CG: Corrections have been made and all Welsh translations have been reverted back to the English language.  The Welsh translation will appear in the Stadium section.

Jane Metcalfe, location unknown, 9 September 2009, regarding names on the back...or not:-

This really bugs me whenever I see it on the telly but why does the opposition not have their names on their backs when they play England at Wembley?  As far as I know it only happens with England and I can't remember if it happens away too.  I mean, the commentators (ITV) are bad enough as it is but if the names aren't on the backs of the opposition it gives them an even better excuse to be rubbish at commentating!

Graham Smith, location unknown, 27 July 2009, regarding unofficial matches:-

I'm writing a book on Portsmouth FC as part of a series - an A-Z Encyclopaedia. I've found your website a terrific resource and will be giving it a credit when the book is published.  In return, I thought you might like to know about a match that doesn't appear in your list for Unofficial matches.  England played a trial match at Fratton Park Portsmouth on March 22, 1933 v. The Rest. The game was intended to give the selectors an idea of who to pick for the Scotland game at Hampden on April 1st. It probably helped them who decide who to leave out - England lost 1-5!  The attendance was 15,000 and the scorers were Bastin for England and Hulme (2) Pickering and Hunt (2) for The Rest. The team was:

Sagar (Everton ) GK; Cooper (Derby), Blenkinsop (Sheff. Wed.), Britton (Everton), Barker (Derby), Keen (Derby), Crooks (Derby), Grosvenor (Birmingham), Coleman (Arsenal), Carter (Sunderland), Bastin (Arsenal)

The other thing of note, as far as I can establish, it was the first time ever that an England team had worn numbers on the back of their shirts.

CG: http://www.englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRslTrial.html - we did have it - honest!

Pete Joel, location unknown, 26 July 2009, regarding the website:-

I discovered your website about a month or so ago. I've always been a massive England fan (Brentford domesticallly... for my sins) and been interested in the shirts particularly. Back in 1996 just before the Euro's I tried to put together a list of what shirts were worn in which matches, even writing to the FA (who were particularly unhelpful) but despite my best efforts I found it too difficult and gave up. (although I did find a hardback book which was very helpful - more about this later).  Anyway, a few months ago when the latest new kit was released and I saw that it was quite nice (much to my surprise! - If we HAVE to have a star then thank god it's now white!) it re-kindled my interest and once again I started to try and look at when each shirt was worn, this time with the help of the internet!! (although I had a computer in '96 and was on something called 'compuserve' which was supposed to be the internet, it was absolutely ridiculous compared with today) Believe it or not it took a couple of weeks before I came across your site and...... welll what can I say, IT'S BRILLIANT!   I can only imagine the amount of work that went into the 'England's uniforms - player kits' pages and the amount of detail is incredible. Some people might not think it important to know when the 3 lions first appeared on the socks (not stockings please..) or what wearing yellow against Poland in 1973 was all about, but I am not one of those people.  I just wanted to drop you a quick email to let you know that joe public (in the shape of me) really appreciate what you've done and to give you due credit for a fantastic website.  One more thing. I did make some progress before (including some elusive details of pre-WW2 games) and the stuff I compiled is lurking in my loft somewhere. I will quite happily look for it (when I have some time) and forward anything I find on to you if you think you can make some use of it. I also mentioned a book. This book has since been thrown out by a 'non-football person' known as my wife but I bought it in Foyles for about 16 quid in 1996 and as I say, it was a hardback and had details of every single England game in it, including detail of which strip they wore (although I can't remember how far back it went). I remember it was good as it mentioned little details like any uniform changes at half-time etc. I mention it because if you can get hold of a copy it would at least confirm everything you've already done. Unfortunately I can't remember any useful things about it like what it was called or who it was by, but at least I know it exists somewhere.  Once agian, many thanks and keep up the good work.

PS: I'm outraged that the Daily Mail ripped off your work, can't you do something about these scum? I bet they would if it were the other way round!

Old Horse of War, from Brazil, 28 June 2009, following Brazil's Confederation Cup win:-

DUNGA or maraDUNGA  ??? !!!  Britain love those things!

CG: Don't ask me????!!!

Diane, location unknown, 10 June 2009, regarding Wayne Rooney:-

Could someone please explain why all the England Team sing the National Anthem, with the exception of Wayne Rooney??? there are many players who would be SO PROUD to play for our National Team,.. If they don't sing the Anthem, then in my view they should not be allowed to play.

CG