It's Not Cricket

You may remember my post of last week where I questioned the Stop the War Coalition’s plans to protest the Israel-Jersey cricket match in Glasgow.

It seems that they have forced the cancellation of the game, scheduled for today.

Israel Cricket Association President Stanley Perlman told The Jerusalem Post late Wednesday night that his efforts to convince the Scottish Union to keep the fixture had failed.

Perlman said that Glasgow police had approved a Muslim demonstration at a Glasgow cricket club field for approximately 2,000 demonstrators, but that on Wednesday, Scottish cricket officials received anonymous telephone calls saying, according to Perlman, that the safety of the Israeli players at the ground could not be guaranteed.

I’m not saying it was the Stop the War Coalition who made the calls, cos who knows who made them, they’re anonymous eh, but they certainly stood on a platform in the town centre and rallied in order to have the game stopped.

The game has now been cancelled with both teams receiving one point in the group. There are of course two more games for these idiots to disrupt. All it seems to be doing is allowing the other sides in Israel’s group to progress through at their expense.

Cricket Scotland may also be hit by a huge fine.

I’m sure the protesters will see this as some sort of achievement, but perhaps you could think of better ways to stop the war than inconveniencing teams of cricketers, the residents of Glasgow and needlessly draining Strathclyde Police resources. Any ideas?

While I’m on the subject of the Middle East, (although really I was on the subject of bams) we had a comment last week from Gunpowder Monk. Gunpowder actually lives in Beirut and has a blog called beirut impromptu. Have a look at what’s he’s saying on the situation.

"Meanwhile, the US is still as slow as ever in pressing its Israeli allies to stop the barbaric assault on Lebanon. Last night was hell not only in Beirut, but also all over the country. Israeli war planes attacked areas in the south, north and center of the country. Yet again, the attacks seem to be simply for the sake of attacking."

Be warned though, some of the images may be upsetting.