Plenty of Nothing

Canada Diamond Jubilee Plaque

In 1927, to celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of Confederation, copper plaques like this one were distributed to schools across the country. Source. Also see.

Compton Street Chestnut Tree

Last Days of Sitemeter

Canada as Liechtenstein

Falkirk versus Vaduz, 2009. Source.

Canadian Championship final, second leg: Toronto FC [2 - 1] Montreal Impact.

Winner moves on to the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 in February.

It's the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League, first qualifying round. The league champions from the ten countries with the lowest coefficients pair off. Among them are two clubs familiar to Scottish Challenge Cup cogniscenti: Linfield (of Northern Ireland) and The New Saints (of the Welsh Premier League). Let's follow them:

Linfield [1 - 0] La Fiorita (San Marino)

The New Saints [1 - 2] Europa (Gibraltar)

The 2017-18 Europa League begins on Thursday. Unlike the Champions League, the Europa League 1QR has 100 teams in it -- cup winners, and 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers. Let's watch:

Rangers [1 - 0] Progrès Niederkorn (Luxembourg)

Rangers' European exile is now officially over. Their last opponent was Maribor in August 2011.

St Johnstone [1 - 2] Trakai (Lithuania)

Perth makes it to Europe for the seventh time.

Crusaders [3 - 1] Liepāja (Latvia)

Nõmme Kalju (Estonia) [2 - 1] B36

Bala Town [1 - 2] Vaduz

Bala Town are 2016-17 Welsh Cup winners, but they were knocked out of the Scottish Challenge Cup by Alloa.

FC Vaduz are here as winners of the Liechtenstein Cup, which they have won 19 of the last 20 times. Liechtenstein gave up on having its own league in the 1930s, and now all seven official clubs play in the Swiss system. Sounds a little like the situation in Canada. Vaduz are interesting to me and you because they were just demoted to the Swiss Challenge League, the European league most like the Scottish Championship. The other Liechtensteiner clubs playing in Switzerland are: USV Eschen/Mauren (tier IV), FC Schaan (tier V), FC Triesenberg (tier V), FC Balzers (tier IV), FC Ruggell (tier VI), FC Triesen (tier VI). Thanks to Vaduz's domination of these six other teams, they have been able to pile up a huge record in UEFA competition. They played Livingston in the 2002-03 UEFA Cup, Falkirk in the 2009-10 Europa League, to name just the Scottish teams.

Connah's Quay Nomads [1 - 0] HJK (Finland)

Connah's Quay finished second in the Welsh Premier League and will appear in the 2017-18 Scottish Challenge Cup.

Tre Penne [0 - 1] Rabotnički (Macedonia)

Tre Penne are winners of the 2107 Coppa Titano, San Marino's national football cup. This is their sixth year of European competition. Last year they played The New Saints.

Morton beat Partick Thistle 5 - 2 in a preseason friendly Saturday. Read about it here.

Sylvia Hahn

Sylvia Hahn was head of the art department at the Royal Ontario Museum from 1934 to 1976, and much of the style of the place comes from her brush. Here she is in her workspace in the northeast part of the building. That's the Lillian Massey Building of the University of Toronto across the street. Judging by that taxi it must be the 1960s. Source.

Feudal Hachinohe

A map of Hachinohe with its feudal castle, the seat of the Hachinohe Domain. Source.

JFL action this weekend:

Nara Club [2 - 2] Vanraure Hachinohe

ReinMeer Aomori [1 - 0] Ryutsu Keizai University FC

Ryutsu Keizai are the only university club in the JFL and, like corporation team Honda FC, are proof that the JFL is more than just a waiting room for prospective J League members. The university runs a very successful soccer program. They, or archrivals University of Tsukuba, win the Ibaraki Prefecture championship every year. Ryutsu Keizai also maintain teams in the Kanto League and the Japan university football association.

This ends Stage One of the JFL schedule. [Honda win the apertura. ReinMeer finish fourth, Vanraure fifth.] They take next week off and resume July 8th.

SWFL Division 2 West: Dumbarton United [2 - 6] Morton. This ends the first half of the season. Play resumes August 6th.

Canadian championship, final, first leg:

Montreal Impact 1 - 1 Toronto FC 

The lower leagues in Aomori:

The Tohoku Member-of-Society Soccer League Division Two is the sixth-tier league in this part of Japan. It's made up of two ten-team divisions, organized geographically: The clubs are:

Tohoku Member-of-Society Soccer League, Division Two, North:

    Omiya FC (Morioka, Iwate) Founded in 1969.

    Tōno Club (Tōno, Iwate)

    Mizusawa FC (Mizusawa, Iwate) Founded 1956. Red and black hoops!

    Akita University School of Medicine FC (Akita, Akita)

    Akita FC Cambiare (Akita, Akita) Founded 1973. They were in Division One from 2008 to 2015.

    TDK Shinwakai SC (Nikaho, Akita) Founded 1987. TDK is a big presence in Akita.

    Oirase FC (Oirase, Aomori)

    Saruta Kogyo (Akita, Akita)

    Hokuto Bank SC (Akita, Akita)

    Hachigakudai FC 2014 (Hachinohe, Aomori)

Tohoku Member-of-Society Soccer League, Division Two, South:

    Nakaniida SC (Kami, Miyagi) Founded 1972.

    Sendai Nakada FC (Sendai, Miyagi) Founded 1965. Played in Division One from 2006 to 2009.

    FC Parafrente Yonezawa (Yonezawa, Yamagata) Played in the 89th Emperor's Cup.

    FC Scheinen Fukushima (Fukushima, Fukushima) Founded 2004.

    Sōma SC (Sōma, Fukushima) Founded 1970.

    Iwaki Furukawa FC (Iwake, Fukushima) Founded 1985. They were just relegated from Division One.

    Kureha SC (Iwake, Fukushima) Founded 1950.

    Aizu Olympus (Aizuwkwmatsu, Fukushima) Company team for an endoscope manufacturer.

    Ricoh Industry Tohoku (Shibata, Miyagi) Company team for the printer manufacturer.

    Mikawa FC (Mikawa, Fukushima)

The seventh-tier Aomori Prefecture Member of Society Football League Division One is in its 49th season. There are nine teams:

    Gonohe SC

    AC Hirosaki

    Aomori Angel

    Shichinohe SC

    Towada Kickers

    FC Rokkasho

    Maritime Self-Defense Force Hachinohe SC

    Inakadate FC

    FＣ十兵衛 (FC Jubei ?)

There's also high school football. Aomori Yamada are current champions of the prestigious All Japan High School Soccer Tournament, played in January.

Sources: 青森県社会人サッカーリーグ (Wikipedia), Aomori Goal Magazine, Aomori Football Association.

About ReinMeer Aomori. Founded in 1995, ReinMeer entered the JFL last season, finishing eighth.

They have appeared in the Emperor's Cup once, in 2015, when they were knocked out of the first round by Mito HollyHock.

ReinMeer is Japanese German for "clean sea". The dude on the emblem is the same warrior figure celebrated each summer in the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri, said to be the Sakanoue no Tamuramaro who conquered the area from the ancient Emishi in the ninth century.

ReinMeer play at Michinoku Bank Dream Stadium, which seats 5,500. They wear blue.

The club does not yet have 100 Year Plan status.

The Red and the Black:

Kashima Antlers.

Halifax Water Company

Luxembourg Is Largest

June 23rd is National Day in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is larger than Singapore, Andorra, Malta, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco and The Vatican put together. Source.

Al Purdy's Elbow

97th Emperor's Cup, Round Two

Detail from Ole Golazo by Moue Takamasa.

It's Round Two of the Emperor's Cup, when the J2 clubs and most of the J1 clubs join in. We're following teams from Hokkaido, Tohoku, Niigata, Ibaraki, and Shikoku.

Match No. 26: Montedio Yamagata [1 - 0] V-Varen Nagasaki

Match No. 27: Consadole Sapporo [2 - 5] Iwaki FC

Match No. 32: Fagiano Okayama [0 - 0] FC Imabari [Okayama win on penalty kicks.]

Match No. 38: Ehime FC [2 - 1] Kamatamare Sanuki

Match No. 39: Vegalta Sendai [2 - 3] University of Tsukuba

Match No. 41: Urawa Red Diamonds [3 -2] Grulla Morioka

Match No. 42: Mito HollyHock [1 - 2] Roasso Kumamoto

Match No. 43: Albirex Niigata [2 - 1] Banditonce Kakogawa

Match No. 44: Cerezo Osaka [2 - 0] Niigata University of Health and Welfare

Match No. 51: Ventforet Kofu [0 - 1] Vanraure Hachinohe

Match No. 54: Tokushima Vortis [0 - 3] FC Gifu

Mito HollyHock in the Emperor's Cup:

96回        R1        Mito HollyHock 1 - 0 Tokyo International University

                R2        Shimizu S-Pulse 3 - 0 Mito HollyHock

95回        R1        Mito HollyHock 4 - 2 ReinMeer Aomori

                R2        Mito HollyHock 2 - 1 Giravanz Kitakyushu

                R3        Kashima Antlers 0 - 0 Mito HollyHock (Mito won on penalty kicks.)

                R4        FC Tokyo 2 - 0 Mito HollyHock

94回        R2        Mito HollyHock 2 - 0 Avispa Fukuoka

                R3        Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1 - 0 Mito HollyHock

93回        R2        Mito HollyHock 1 - 1 Ehime FC (Mito won on penalty kicks.)

                R3        Vegalta Sendai 1 - 1 Mito HollyHock (Vegalta won on penalty kicks.)

92回        R2        Oita Trinita 2 - 2 Mito HollyHock (Mito won on penalty kicks.)

                R3        Gamba Osaka 1 - 0 Mito HollyHock

91回        R2        Consadole Sapporo 2 - 3 Mito HollyHock

                R3        Gamba Osaka 2 - 3 Mito HollyHock

                R4        Mito HollyHock 0 - 1 FC Tokyo

90回        R2        Mito HollyHock 4 - 2 Sawaga Shiga FC

                R3        Shimizu S-Pulse 4 - 1 Mito HollyHock

89回        R2        Mito HollyHock 2 - 3 Fukuoka University

88回        R3        Avispa Fukuoka 0 - 1 Mito HollyHock

                R4        Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3 - 1 Mito HollyHock

87回        R3        Mito HollyHock 1 - 0 Zweigen Kanazawa

                R4        Kashima Antlers 2 - 0 Mito HollyHock

86回        R3        Mito HollyHock 0 - 1 Shizuoka FC

85回        R3        Mito HollyHock 9 - 0 Ain Foods

                R4        Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3 - 1 Mito HollyHock

84回        R3        Mito HollyHock 4 - 0 Alouette Kumamoto

                R4        Kashima Antlers 1 - 0 Mito HollyHock

83回        R1        Mito HollyHock 1 - 0 Sanfrecce Hiroshima Youth

                R2        Mito HollyHock 4 - 1 SC Tottori

                R3        Shimizu S-Pulse 2 - 0 Mito HollyHock

82回        R1        Kyushu INAX 0 - 5 Mito HollyHock

                R2        Mito HolyHock 4 - 0 Sagawa Printing SC

                R3        JEF Ichihara 4 - 0 Mito HollyHock

81回        R1        Gifu Industrial High School 1 - 7 Mito HollyHock

                R2        Mito HollyHock 1 - 0 Denso

                R3        Gamba Osaka 5 - 0 Mito HollyHock

80回        R1        Kaiho Ginko SC 0 - 3 Mito HollyHock

                R2        Mito HollyHock 2 - 0 Hannan University

                R3        Sanfrecce Hiroshima 7 - 0 Mito HollyHock

79回        R1        Mito HollyHock 5 - 1 TDK

                R2        Vegalta Sendai 1 - 2 Mito HollyHock

                R3        Yokohama F. Marinos 2 - 1 Mito HollyHock

78回        R1        Mito HollyHock 4 - 2 Mitsubishi Mizushima

                R2        Mito HollyHock 4 - 3 Komazawa University

                R3        Shimizu S-Pulse 5 - 0 Mito HollyHock

77回        R1        Mito HollyHock 3 - 0 Hokkaido Electric Power Company

                R2        Mito HollyHock 1 - 2 Avispa Fukuoka

Before 1997 Mito HollyHock were known as Prima Ham FC Tsuchiura.

76回        R1        Prima Ham FC Tsuchiura 2 - 3 Komazawa University

Team badges, part 1.

Earlier I speculated that the scary figure on the emblem of Blaublitz Akita might be from kabuki theatre, but in fact it's a namahage, a mountain ogre indigenous to Akita. (Blaublitz were knocked out in Round One.)

The plant on Mito HollyHock's badge is the aoi or heartvine, also called hollyhock, though it's not the same plant as this one. The three-leaved aoi is the emblem of the Mito Domain, now Ibaraki Prefecture. The dragon comes from the courtesy name of Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who ruled the area at the end of the 17th century, and who was known as Kiryu (Child Dragon) to his friends. Mitsukuni is famous outside of Ibaraki Prefecture because over time he has become surrounded by legends about his travels in the guise of a commoner, righting wrongs. There was a very long-running TV show about it called Mito Kōmon.

Kamatamare Sanuki has a bowl of udon on its badge.