The Footballer

I photographed what I thought was a female hoverfly nestled in thistledown on our morning walk. How appropriate I thought as The Lionesses were due to play Columbia. How annoying for me to read that, unlike most other hoverflies, the eyes of males do not meet in the middle so therefore I am unable to say what sex this footballer is.

In 1887 the Rothwell Hosiery Company of Bolton introduced a novel machine that allowed stripes to be knitted in any direction. The popularity of vertically striped shirts meant that very quickly they became synonymous with Association Football. When I was a child in the fifties it was much more common for football teams to have striped strip than it is today. Newcastle United, The Magpies, have kept up the tradition.

Well done England for making it through to the World Cup semi-final against Australia.