Club Sportif Sfaxien (Tunisia)

Hailing from the coastal city of Sfax - once base to the fabled Barabary pirates of the Mediterranean - CSS have recently been deemed one of the five best club sides currently playing in African. Their history in both their home league and the African Champions League is littered with trophies and awards, and their fans as rabid and excitable as you'll find anywhere. 

Founded in 1928 as Club Tunisien, the originally played in a rather eye- melting kit of red and green stripes. It took them another 34 years to realise that this really wasn't particularly nice, and changed their strip to the glorious black and white stripes in 1962 - the same time they changed their name to their current title. They were promoted to the top flight of Tunisian football in 1947, and there they have stayed, for the most part, ever since.

The club and fans alike are hard task masters, and despite their frequent success on the pitch, the team has got through a startling 30 managers in the last 20 years. Although I've not checked in the last few minutes, so that figure may have risen. Despite this rapid turnover of coaching staff, they've still reeled in seven league titles, four President's Cup wins, three CAF Confederation Cups, and were runners-up in the CAF Champions League in 2006, narowly missing out by a late second leg goal to the prolific Egyptian trophy hunters Al Ahly.

They also have had success in both the North African Cup Winners Cup last year, and the Arab Champions League, which they have won twice.

However, despite their great success on the field of play, they are perhaps even better known for their fans, and were among the first on the continent to employ elements of choreography to their pre-match fun. They finished fourth in Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 last season, some distance behind the champions and all-time local record holders and fierce rivals Espérance Sportive de Tunis, but you can bet that the team widely known as The Juventus of the Arabs won't leave it too long before their next league triumph.



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Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas (Brazil)

Very little is simple in a country as vast and diverse as Brazil, and getting to grips with the history of Botafogo and its projectory through the various layers of its nations football league system is no exception. Pinpointing the club's exact genesis is tricky, but popular legend cites it as being the foundation of a rowing club called the Club de Regatas Botafogo in the summer of 1894. Based in the beach area of Botafogo, which means literally 'he who sets fire', they chose as their colours black and white, and devised the Lone Star emblem that they've kept to this day.

Ten years later in 1904, a local football team called Electro Club was formed by a bunch of school mates during an algebra class. They chose their black and white striped strip because one of their number was an ardent Juventus fan. After one of their grandmother's complained that the name sounded a little silly, they quickly changed their name to Botafogo Football Club. They soon became one of the strongest teams in the city, winning the local championship many times in their first few years.

The football club and the rowing club finally merged in 1942. Despite having the same team colours and hailing from the same part of town, it never dawned on them to pool their resources until a basketball challenge between the two. When one of the football club's members died suddenly after the game, the president of the rowing club (the famous Brazilian poet Augusto Frederico Schmidt) deemed that the two should club together in his memory. From then on in, they shared the same badge and the same general management. I told you nothing was simple in Brazil.

Until as recently as 1971 there was no national league in the country, because of its massive size the difficulty of travelling between the regions. So in that time, Botafogo played in a number of regional, state and invitational leagues and tournaments. Their most impressive record is in the Rio de Janeiro state league, which they have won a massive 19 times - plus another 27 other titles from a variety of regions - including one national league title in 1985.

The club has seen some of the most famous names in Brazilian football history grace its stripes. The names roll off the tongue like a fantasy league of greatness - Bebeto, Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho, Josimar, Nilton Santos. But the greatest of them - and in many eyes the greatest footballer of all time - was a little fella with wonky legs called Garrincha.

Manuel Francisco dos Santos was better known by his nickname - a local phrase meaning Little Bird. he was the first international superstar of Brazilian football, and dazzled the planet in their twin victories in 1958 and 1962. Widely regarded as the greatest dribbler in the history of the game, his success was even more spectacular as he was born with a series of birth defects, including a deformed spine, a right leg that bent inwards, and a left leg that was two inches shorter and curved outwards. That he could walk at all was fantastic. That he could play like and angel was nothing short of amazing.

Sadly he died almost destitute in 1983, a victim to the wicked alcoholism that had blighted his family. But despite all that, thousands of well-wishers turned up to his funeral to pay their respects to Alegria do Povo - the Joy of the People. They still fly flags with his face on at Botafogo. But had he lived in a more televised age he would be an international household name perhaps even greater than Pelé.

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Traces of a Sharp-Shin

He is the James Bond of hawks, beating the bushes for his breakfast, almost always getting his man.

He hunts our feeders. When he is hungry he perches right on them, peering around for any bird who might be frozen to their sides or under their tops.

He is not what most people would consider a welcome feeder bird, but he always makes me smile. I have spread this feast for him, and he gladly avails himself.

He is the king of the birds in our yard, a cruel despot in their eyes.

The traces of his presence are everywhere—in the dark flank of a cardinal, torn

In the odd posture of a nuthatch, injured

who I no longer see around

And there’s nothing I can do about it but stop feeding

But to do that would be to lose the flocks I love so well

and send him hungry into the cold woods.

Spring is here and I miss him. I haven't seen him for weeks. Bill saw him April 25, circling over the east half of our land. Perhaps he is mated to the beautiful female sharpshin I saw carry a small package into the valley over which he circled. I hope he stayed.

I hear sharpshins calling from where she disappeared, on my morel-hunting slope below the big pines. Perhaps I’ll see him again when we’re moving slowly through the leaves, searching for pale honeycombed heads. The first ones came up April 21. We're hoping the gentle rains and soft ground will bring many more.

Rabat Ajax FC (Malta)

Based in the village of Rabat in the centre of Malta's main island, Rabat Ajax FC have become somewhat of a yo-yo club in recent years, dipping in and out of the second and third tiers of Maltese football with some regularity. However, they have a long and fairly complicated history. Founded in 1930 under the name Rabat Rovers, they joined with their local rivals Rabat Rangers and a team called Old City in 1937 to become Rabat Zvanks. A year later, they decided that this was too complicated a name, and changed it to the simpler Rabat FC, before joining with a club already called Rabat Ajax in 1980, finally settling on the name Rabat Ajax FC.

Their golden years were in the mid- 1980s, when they twice won the Maltese Premier League. Around the same time, they had a short but spectacular flirtation with European football - twice in the UEFA Cup and twice in the European Cup. 1983 saw them take a 16-0 UEFA hammering by Inter Bratislava, but they performed much better the following year against fellow stripes FK Partizan, losing by only two goals in each leg. However, their title wins saw them enter the big one, back in the day the Champions Trophy was for champions only. Their European Cup debut in 1985 saw them take two 5-0 batterings to Omonia Nicosia, but their biggest moment of all came in 1986 when they got a plumb first round draw against FC Porto.

In the home leg they only conceded a single goal to the high-flying Portuguese champs, so were full of expectation for the return leg. Unfortunately Porto denied the team whose home ground can only hold 400 the chance of playing at their massive Estádio das Antas, and the game was played at the much smaller Rio Ave stadium instead. Still over-awed by the occasion, Ajax took a brutal 9-0 beating, and it was the last time this plucky side would ever grace a European stage.

Their most noted player was Carmel Busuttil, who saw action away from the Island, at first with Italian amateur side Verbania, before joining the Belgian outfit Racing Genk. Also of note from their roster is a chap called Paddy Sloan, a much travelled Irishman who not only played internationally for both Irish national side, but became the first Irishman ever to play for in Serie A when Milan signed him way back in 1948. he also had spells at Manchester United, Arsenal, Fulham and Udinese, before finding his way to Malta, both playing for and managing Rabat Ajax, and eventually ending his playing days at Bath City.

See, we stripes like to keep it in the family!

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Saba Qom FC (Iran)

Nestling within the city limits of the beautiful holy city of Qom are a team who were indeed born again. Starting life as Mohemat Sazi in the capital Tehran, the team saw little success, and spent most of its days pottering around the lower divisions of the Iranian league system. However, in 2002, the club was bought up by the Saba Battery Company, a commercial wing of the Iranian Ministry of Defense. immediately they had the funds to afford a few decent players, and within two years were promoted to the local top flight, the Iran Pro League.

Indeed, their rise was so meteoric that a cup win in the 2004/06 season saw them in the Asian Champions League - although they swiftly knocked out in the first round. In 2008 though, the Saba company moved them from the capital to the city of Qom, as it was decided that there were too many clubs in Tehran with tiny fanbases. In this case, doing a Milton Keynes worked in their favour, as their gates immediately rose. It was at this time that they thankfully changed their name from Saba Battery to Saba Qom. A much more becoming title, don't you think?

The same season they were notable in being the only team in the IPL who kept the same manager for the whole season! Since their second coming, they've become a solid mid-table team, making their second Champions league appearance - although seeing the same brief exit.

Perhaps their most well-known player was the prolific Ali Daei - the world's all time leading goalscorer in international matches, with 109 goals in 149 matches. This puts him a massive 25 goals ahead of his nearest rival, Hungary's Ferenc Puskás. His massive caps tally also put him at 12th in the most capped internationals list, two behind the grumpy German Lothar Matthäus. After a distinguished career in Iran, he spent the spent the turn of the century years playing in Germany, for the likes of Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin, before returning home and breifly becoming the manager of the Iranian national side.

Saba's currently manager is one Rasoul Korbekandi, who eagle-eyed readers may remember from the Iran squad at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.Their current squad include Brazillian journeyman Diego José Clementino, Andrzej Bednarz - the first Pole ever to play in the IPL and the free-scoring Fereydoon Fazli.

With the IPL season drawing to a close at the time of writing, Saba are sitting in 7th place in a close league, hoping for a last push for a Champions League place. Let's hope the Batterys have got the power to make it!

 
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Jeunesse Esch (Luxembourg)

Formed as the rather more cumbersome sounding Jeunesse la Frontière d'Esch back in 1907, Jeunesse Esch are the most successful single club in Luxembourgian history with a whopping 27 title wins. Rivals Racing Football Club Union Lëtzebuerg (they don't do snappy club names round their way, it seems) claim they've won more, but as they're the result of the gradual merging of at least nine different clubs, we don't think that really counts. Based in the glorious South Western city of Esch-sur-Alzette - the country's second biggest city with a population of 27,146 - they have also won the Luxembourg Cup twelve times, and the double on an impressive eight occasions.

Their original, slightly lumpy name was in reference to their proximity to their border with France. They kept this name until 1918, when they dropped the Frontière bit. This they retained until the Second World War when the occupying Nazis forced them to rename as Schwarz-Weiß 07 Esch, as well as making them play in the Gauliga Mittelrhein - the highest league in the Prussian Rhine Province - alongside some Belgian clubs, where despite everything they managed to finish as runners-up in the 1943-44 season. They reverted to their pre-war name upon the liberation of Luxembourg, which they have kept ever since.

The club is considered one of their country's big three, alongside F91 Dudelange and FC Etzella Ettelbruck. However, the mid 2000s saw them take an uncharacteristic dip in fortunes, finishing as low as ninth in 2006 - only just missing out on a relegation play-off.

They also have a proud history in European competition. They've taken part in the three main competitions on an impressive 30 occasions, debuting in the old European Cup in 1958. The following year they pulled off a massive shock by beating Polish club ŁKS Łódź 6-2 on aggregate. The next round saw them up against a little team you may have heard of called Real Madrid. Despite being hammered 7-0 at the Bernabéu, they races to a shock two goal lead in the return leg, before a full strength Real side including Puskás and  Di Stéfano banged another five past them.

Then 1963 they pulled off one heck of a comeback, where despite going 4-1 down to Finns FC Haka in the first leg, they managed to nip them in the last minute in the home leg. This saw them up against fellow stripes Partizan Belgrade for a place in the quarter final, confounding all expectations by beating them 2-1 in the first leg, before being sadly hammered 6-2 by the Serbs at the return. Even more notably they held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in their home leg back in 1973.

For many years they were managed by the English football journeyman George Berry. A player at Charlton, Crystal Palace, Gillingham and Brentford in the 20s and 30s, he won titles in France as a manager with Lille and Nice, before moving to clubs in first Tunisia then Luxembourg.

Current stars include the exciting 22 year old prospect Claudio Lombardelli, Bosnians Ernad Sabotić, Almin Babačić and Meris Ramdedović, and the much capped Luxembourgish international René Peters. Currently they sit at the top of the Luxembourg league with only a couple of games to play. Good luck to the brothers in stripes!

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Sharp-shinned Hawk on the Feeder!

Oh, look. Who's that?

Oh, that's why there haven't been any birds around for the last hour. The sharp-shin is back!

The Indigo Hill sharp-shin as he appeared in November, 2007, the year of his hatch. He's in the spangled brown plumage of a juvenile. Now his back is blue as slate, with ruby eyes. My, how he’s grown, fueled by cardinals from our feeder.

All winter long and well into spring, we have played host to a sharp-shinned hawk. I’m almost certain, from his demeanor and habits, that he is the same little gentleman who was with us last year as a streaky, orange-eyed immature bird, and in 2007 as a rank juvenile (above). By that reckoning, and if it is indeed the same bird, he may be three years old now. He is smart, sleek and persistent, and he is an excellent hunter. Better than he was in 2007, and better than last year, to be sure.

Mostly, he presents himself as a blue bullet streaking about waist-high through the yard.

By the time the cardinal (almost invariably a male) is aware he’s being hunted he’s already being readied for processing into bite-sized bits. That’s a sharpie for you.

I love our sharpie. I choose to love him because I have attracted a small truckload of cardinals with my sunflower seed offerings; because I understand that a truckload (I’m talking 50-70) of cardinals in my yard is an unnatural concentration; and I accept the inevitability that somebody is going to take advantage of that. It is a perturbation in the natural scheme just begging for correction.

I also love him because he is beautiful.

He rockets through and alights in a tree like a piece of milkweed down, as if his talons snagged him suddenly there.

He looks about fiercely then settles into his bolt-upright comfort position, to stay for awhile and look for the unwary.

He extends a foot, knocks it on the branch a couple of times, and tucks it up into his downy belly feathers.

Doing so, he conjures Louis Fuertes and Lars Jonsson and the many sketches and paintings I’ve made of sharpies at rest, all tucked up and benign for a few moments.

He sees every small movement, in detail I can only imagine.

When he is hungry, he doesn’t sit so quietly.

He rages and frets, cartwheels, always on the attack, feathers sleeked to his hard little body.

This is when I am glad I’m not a junco.

Thanks to a persistent Pakistani spammer, I've had to disable comments on this post for the morning. Let's hope Mr. showpanmohsin, who lists his only hobby as Playing Video Games, will get discouraged and go stuff beans up his nose. And then let's hope they sprout.

Heracles Almelo (The Netherlands)

Herecles are a top flight team from Almelo on the Easternmost edge of The Netherlands. They were formed back in 1903, and are named after the heroic figure of Heracles, the demigod son of the Greek god Zeus. They have twice won the Dutch national title, in 1927 and in the war time tournament in 1941. Since that time though they had spent much time in the second tier, reclaiming their rightful place in the Eredivisie in the 2005/6 season, where they finished 13th at their first stab back.

In all they have spent ten seasons in the Eredivisie since its inception as a fully professional league in 1956, including their current five season stretch, which has seen them become a respectable and very watchable mid-table team. Their astroturfed Polman Stadion ground has a cosy capacity of 8,500, which it has come close to filling in most games since their elevation back to the top table of Dutch football.

The club are perhaps most notable for being the first in The Netherlands to employ a black player. South African Steve Mokone was beloved to Heracles fans as The Black Meteor when he arrived in 1958, after a short spell at Coventry City. He was a lively character, who also saw service at Cardiff City, Barcelona, Torino and Valencia, as well as being a regular star in the South African national squad for many years. He sadly also spent a spell in prison for knocking his wife about, and is the subject of a Dutch novel and film called De Zwarte Meteoor.

Other notable former Heracles players include the popular Dutch journeyman Ricky van den Bergh, the promising Japanese international Sōta Hirayama, solid Estonian defender Ragnar Klavan, much capped Canadian Rob Friend and the legendary Rudy Degenaar, a member of the Surinamese exhibition team the Colouful 11 who were all but wiped out in the worst plane crash in Dutch aviation history in 1989 - a plane that famous Dutch names like Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Aron Winter were all due to catch.

Of their current squad, Qays Shayesteh is thought to be the only Afghani currently playing in a major European league, and keeper Martin Pieckenhagen was Hamburg's first choice custodian for many years. For team team from such a rural location, they have a refreshingly cosomopolitan feel to them. All hail to the Heraclieden!


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Baker, Beeched

Chet Baker likes beech trees, old hollow ones with high squirtle and racketycoon potential. The terrier part of him comes out of hiding when he fearlessly enters their depths to investigate. You might be surprised to find me a rather lassiez-faire dogmom. I let him do his doggly things, within limits. At five years old, Chet has a good understanding of those limits. Cattle herding is out; he knows that. Horses are to be approached gently. Squirrels, rabbits and deer are to be chased, but only for short distances, and never pursued into briars (gotta take care of those googly eyes). Hollow beech trees are to be investigated. Offisa Pupp jumps on the case.

Into the beech tree he goes.
Perps beware: you're about to be told to move along.


Little-known Chet trivia: He has a jaunty white chevron just above his johnson. Boy, that's a weird shot.



It matches his Michael Jackson paw. Wouldn’t be hard to pick him out of a lineup.



He peers up into the hollow tree and



sassified that there is nothing more to find, he exits, covered in beechdust



To make a Christopher Robin moment for a mother, watching her two boys



On a walk almost forgotten, but preserved in precious images she's saved in the ether.

His sweet sleepy head sags on my arm as I share them with you.

He’s not heavy, he’s my heartbeat.

Photo by Bill Thompson III.