A purple velvet bag. To understand the innate conservatism of many football fans, we need look no further than a simple drawstring purse of plush, woven fabric.
Every year, in the build-up to the televised FA Cup draw in England, at least one pundit will say with a whimsical sigh: "Of course, it is not the same now they have got rid of the velvet bag." The comment will be echoed by fans of a certain age across the land.
You see, in the halcyon days of yore, the numbered balls, each representing a different team, would be plucked at random from a purple velvet bag. We loved that bag. It was as much a part of the cup's magic as giant-slaying in the third round, or a sun-baked Wembley in May.
Then, a few years ago, Fifa forced the English Football Association to change the procedure. They took away our velvet bag and, like Kubla Khan in Xanadu, "a stately pleasure dome decreed".
Well, in truth, it was more of a small perspex dome, of the type a French patisserie owner might use to keep the flies off his apricot tarts.
Certainly it contained no sacred rivers, nor caverns measureless to man, which is probably a good thing as it would have made retrieving the balls a bit tricky.
No, not a pleasure dome but just another showy plastic gimmick for our increasingly showy plastic game, we grumbled.
They may have given a reason: transparency of process, perhaps, which as we all know is very important to Fifa.
But we were not listening. All we knew was that they had taken away our velvet bag - no, it does not count that they continue to pour the balls from the bag into the dome, as a patronising nod to tradition. Things would never be the same.
So, now you understand how many football fans feel about a change in ball-receptacle for a domestic cup draw, try to imagine how they might react to a slightly more significant upheaval. Like, oh I don't know, holding the World Cup in the winter.
Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, has suggested that Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup in January or February to avoid the intense heat of June or July. Of course they should.This is a classic no-brainer, which already has the theoretical backing of FIFpro, the world players' union.
It will surely make for a more comfortable and competitive arena for fans and players alike.
Yes, it will disrupt the normal order of things for certain countries: an earlier start to the season, a later finish, possibly a dip in attendance figures and television revenues, perhaps a break in players' mental focus on their club ambitions.
But so what? These issues are surmountable, and the disruption will affect every top club in the same way. Would it really hurt to try something different for a single season?
European football (and it is the big dogs of Europe who will com'plain most bitterly) managed to survive the disruption of the Second World War, but do we honestly believe it will crumble to dust if we take an extended winter break?
The Bundesliga already takes a month-long winter break, while the leagues of Spain, Italy and France pause for a fortnight over the Christmas period.
English clubs take no winter break but prefer to bury their heads in the snow, seeming genuinely puzzled when Arctic conditions yet again force the postponement of fixtures, as happened this weekend. (Seeing footage of the snow-bound chaos in the UK this weekend, one must wonder why they are not actively seeking an excuse to visit Qatar.)
Alas, these arguments are logical, and the velvet bag brigade prefers to respond emotionally.
Ian Holloway, the excitable manager of Blackpool, launched a bitter and hysterical tirade against Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, for even mooting the idea, suggesting that Fifa's next plan would be to "reschedule Christmas". (They are not moving Christmas, of course, and nor is Blatter suggesting holding the World Cup during that period, which would no doubt disgust Holloway even more.)
Perhaps the most reasonable charge to be levelled against Blatter is the timing of this suggestion, which was instigated by him and not the Qataris.
The time to discuss the possibility of a winter tournament, one might say, was at the bidding stage and not after the vote.
But here's the rub: it had to wait. Awarding the tournament to Qatar was always going to be controversial, but even a body as progressively-minded as the Fifa executive committee may have struggled to swallow such a seismic proposition.
The sleight of hand was a necessary trick to achieve Blatter's dream of taking the game into new territory.
Progress is not always easy, particularly in a "football family" so fond of its rituals and traditions that it borders on the obsessive compulsive.
Sometimes change must be forced through the barriers of innate conservatism by fair means or foul.
An iron fist in a velvet glove, you might say.
Or perhaps an iron fist in a velvet bag.
sports@thenational.ae
The Programme
Saturday, October 26: ‘The Time That Remains’ (2009) by Elia Suleiman
Saturday, November 2: ‘Beginners’ (2010) by Mike Mills
Saturday, November 16: ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ (2013) by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Tuesday, November 26: ‘All the President’s Men’ (1976) by Alan J Pakula
Saturday, December 7: ‘Timbuktu’ (2014) by Abderrahmane Sissako
Saturday, December 21: ‘Rams’ (2015) by Grimur Hakonarson
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
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Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
Everton 1 Stoke City 0
Everton (Rooney 45 1')
Man of the Match Phil Jagielka (Everton)
OPENING FIXTURES
Saturday September 12
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Fulham v Arsenal
Liverpool v Leeds United
Tottenham v Everton
West Brom v Leicester
West Ham v Newcastle
Monday September 14
Brighton v Chelsea
Sheffield United v Wolves
To be rescheduled
Burnley v Manchester United
Manchester City v Aston Villa
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Company%20Profile
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Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs