People who know me well know that the football genes have skipped a generation. I am, of course, referring to the original game of football as invented by us British and called "soccer" by only one nation on earth (i.e. the USA). To the rest of the world it's just 'football'.

My father and brother love football and support Tottenham. My eldest son, Henry, has caused some consternation by rejecting this club and defecting to Arsenal instead. My brother and father are disgusted

But perhaps I should remind them of another defection that occurred decades before. I seem to remember that when I was a boy we supported another team, one which miraculously made it to the 1st division for just one season, if I remember correctly. That team was Brighton and Hove Albion! When their success ended I became disillusioned with football altogether, whilst the other members of my family simply switched teams! So guys, was that defection to a better team any worse than my son doing the same thing?

Of course, with us living in London the rivalry between these two teams is great. A friend of mine also challenged my son about his support for the 'reds' rather than the 'blues'. The typical boy arguments of who is better ensued. My son had the perfect reply to the Tottenham fan. To understand this, as you can see above, the logo of Arsenal includes a gun, and that of Tottenham, a bird.

Henry simply asked, "Who would win a battle between a canon and a bird?"

The results of a match between Tottenham and Arsenal a couple of months ago would seem to bear this out!

UPDATE

Adrian then . . .

Adrian now . . .