MP for somewhere in Birmingham and Charlton season-ticket holder Roger Godsiff has put down an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons as follows:
ENGLAND'S FAILURE TO QUALIFY FOR THE EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS22.11.2007
Godsiff, Roger
That this House congratulates Croatia and Russia on qualifying for the European Football Championships from Group E; acknowledges that the Croatian team which beat England were far superior in technical ability, skill and commitment than the insipid and inept England team; notes that £747 million was spent on the new Wembley Stadium but the match was played on a surface similar to those used by Sunday footballers on council pitches; thanks the efforts of the Israeli and part-time players of Andorra in trying to help England by doing their very best against Russia; commiserates with the fans who have spent large amounts of their hard earned money following England during these championships; believes that the over-paid, over-pampered and over-hyped English prima donnas from the Premiership who took the field against Croatia disgraced the England shirt once worn by legends such as Stanley Matthews, Duncan Edwards, Bobby Moore, Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton; and recognises that they will no doubt be consoled by the thought that while they are watching the European Championships from their luxurious holiday destinations their celebrity lifestyles will be protected by them still receiving their vastly inflated wages, provided by Sky and Setanta television money, from clubs in a Premiership League which is nothing more than a money making machine for players, agents and entrepreneurial club owners which does very little for promoting the well-being of football in England either at the grass roots or international level.
Signatures( 2)
Standard Order Party Groups Alphabetical Order Party Totals
Status
Open signatures All signatures
Godsiff, Roger
Russell, Bob
0
Comments
Sure football pales into insignificance compared to plenty of things but he's a genuine long-standing football fan, not a prawn sandwich eater and he feels strongly that the game's changed for the worse....funnily enough so do a lot of people. There's plenty of hypocritical sycophantic bollox spoken by MPs of all persuasions, he should be applauded for telling it as it is.
Come on Carter, you can do better then rolling out the cliche, he's a good constituency MP, does a good job in his part of Birmingham, but he's a massive football supporter, lead the campaign to bring back terracing to grounds, and a massive Charlton supporter. So he cares about the sport and the national side
What of it? It's an Early Day motion, nothing more. Is an MP not allowed to watch England play football or have an opinion about it?
Technically if this got enough signatures from other MPS it could then be debated in the House, but then the Leader of the House would have to find time for a debate and that happens very rarely. Conseuently EDMs are generally used by backbench MPs to publicise their views on a particular subject, like this they generate a bit of national/local interest and that's it.
Yes he is, of course he is allowed an opinion just like the rest of us. However Is this really an issue that needs debate in the Houses of Parliament, and if not then the Early day motion is a big waste of time in a profession where surely time is at a premium. Will such a debate actually result in any positive results in such an arena?
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You don't appear to understand how British Parliament works. An EDM is more of a petition and the result will be read out and if it passes, i.e. it gets a majority of signatures it is possible that it will be debated. However for it to be debated time would need to be found and this would be so down on the list of priorities that even Godsiff wouldn't expect to see it on an order sheet.
It's a light-hearted take on England's non-qualification and has not wasted anymore than a few seconds of the HoC's time, if that, it has however shown up quite a few people to be lacking a sense of humour.
Don't patronise me BFR, I know what an EDM is. My point was why bother formally adding to the endless list of opinions on this subject using a system that is highly criticised for the extreme levels of bureaucracy, other than to gain publicity and notoriety for himself. Such actions IMO are one of many reasons why a majority of people in the UK do not have much trust in the "wheels of democracy".
As for the motion being either light hearted or indeed any way amusing, I think you must have been reading a different document.
Godsiff was mayor of Lewisham in the 70s.
As for the motion being either light hearted or indeed any way amusing, I think you must have been reading a different document.
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And I think you've had a sense of humour bypass...otherwise I agree, it's shocking that someone should dare voice an opinion withyout checking with you first. I hope you've told him not to make that mistake again?
As a politician I hope he is in a safe position to cast stones.
And what could be achieved by this being debated in the house of commons?
Pot, Kettle and black spring to mind here,I think I'm correct in remembering others in the past others saying the same about you BFR (that is the lack of a sense of humour).
The second part of your reply is quite frankly childish.
Because when national teams do well, it makes the country happy, and happy people are more likely to vote for you. If people feel good about the country, they're more likely to gloss over any deficiencies.
And successful sports teams inspire people to get off their arse and play those sports, which makes for healthier people and cuts health service bills. (Obviously, the Labour/Conservative governments' policy of selling playing fields hasn't helped this.)
And... what else can a Labour MP complain about that can't be blamed on his party, eh? ;-)
The second part of your reply is quite frankly childish.
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FFS grow up.
;-)