Plenty of Nothing

Katerina Belkina

Source.

Grace MacInnes

Grace MacInnes (1905-91) was a politician with the CCF and NDP, and the daughter of J.S. Woodsworth ("Dad" on the left). She was a member of the Canadian Parliament from 1965 to 1974. She was the only female member of the 29th Parliament, 1968-72. Source.

Soccertastic

The Canadian Premier League's two Japanese players Wataru Murofushi and Kodai Iida met in Halifax in May.

Morton visit Arbroath.

Today's match is the first meeting between these clubs since 2005 when they were both members of the Second Division. 2019-20 is the first season to see them together in tier II since 1977-78, in the old three-division days. They missed each other in 2001-02 and 2002-03 when Arbroath were up in tier II and Morton were down in tiers III and IV.

This is Morton's first match against Derek Gaston, who tended their goalmouth from 2012 to 2019.

What was Arbroath's greatest moment? On September 12th, 1885, Arbroath beat Bon Accord 36 - 0 in a Scottish Cup match. That scoreline still stands as the world record for a football drubbing.

Second greatest moment: Arbroath made it to the semi-finals of the 1946-47 Scottish Cup, losing to Aberdeen 0 - 2 in front of 22,000 spectators at Dens Park on April 12th, 1947.

What was Arbroath's biggest win against Morton? January 9th, 1993, Arbroath knocked Morton out of the Scottish Cup by a 3 - 0 score.

Morton are currently fifth in the Championship with 10 points. Arbroath are seventh with 8 points.

Arbroath are better than expected. They were supposed to monopolize tenth place but have not been down there even once, which is more than Inverness, Alloa, Dunfermline or Partick can say. And they knocked Dundee United out of the Challenge Cup. However, they're now on a four-game losing streak.

Morton's last win was on September 21st.

Arbroath have the oldest squad in the Championship, with seven players aged 30 or more. The eldest is Gavin Swankie, aged 35.

Most recent league match against Arbroath prior to 2019-20:

2018/3/31      Alloa

2018/3/14      Ayr United

2014/4/26      Dunfermline

2013/3/16      Queen of the South

2005/3/5        Morton

2003/3/15      Inverness CT

2002/3/2        Partick Thistle

1979/5/6        Dundee

1975/3/19      Dundee United

The other Championship matches:

Dundee (4th) [1 - 3] Partick Thistle (10th)

Dunfermline (9th) [3 - 2] Ayr United (2nd)

Inverness CT (3rd) [2 - 2] Alloa (8th)

Queen of the South (6th) [4 - 0] Dundee United (1st)

Lawrence Shankland scored in Scotland's 6 - 0 win over San Marino last Sunday.

[Arbroath 1 - 0 Morton.]

League One:

Airdrieonians (4th) [1 - 3] Montrose (9th)

Clyde (6th) [2 - 2] Raith Rovers (1st)

East Fife (2nd) [1 - 0] Forfar (7th)

Falkirk (3rd) [4 - 0] Peterhead (8th)

Stranraer (10th) [0 - 0] Dumbarton (5th)

1907-08: Morton hosted Motherwell. They played to a 1 - 1 draw. At this point Morton were 9th out of 18, with 3 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses, 17 gf and 21 ga, for 10 points.

1963-64: On October 14th Morton met Hibs in their League Cup semi-final replay and won 1 - 0. On the 19th they were home to Berwick Rangers and won 7 - 1.

Port Glasgow versus Cowdenbeath. These two played in the 1910-11 Division Two. They each won one game, and they each scored 5 goals on aggregate. Cowdenbeath win on the away goal rule.

It's the 2019-20 Scottish Cup, Round Two. This is where the League Two clubs join in. Games involving survivors from the preliminary rounds are:

Penicuik vs Stenny [postponed]

Cowdenbeath [1 - 1] Broxburn

Edinburgh City 3 - 1 Banks O'Dee (last night)

Lochee United [1 - 1] BSC Glasgow

Auchinleck Talbot [1 - 0] Cove Rangers

Stirling University [0 - 2] Linlithgow Rose (tomorrow)

Other games:

Bonnyrigg Rose 2 - 0 Buckie Thistle (last night)

Top of the Lowland League versus top of the Highland League and a possible advance viewing of next spring's pyramid playoff.

Stirling Albion [2 - 0] Strathspey Thistle

Strathspey Thistle [were] on a streak.

Albion Rovers [1 - 1] Fort William

Clachnacuddin [0 - 7] Brora

Rothes [1 - 3] Inverurie Loco Works

Spartans [0 - 2] Queen's Park

Elgin [3 - 1] Berwick

Formartine [2 - 2] Gala Fairydean Rovers

Annan [2 - 2] Brechin

East Kilbride [3 - 1] Gretna 2008

East Kilbride in the Scottish, League and Challenge Cups:

2014/9/13      Lothian Thistle HV 0 - 1 East Kilbride    SC R1

2014/10/4      Spartans 3 - 3 East Kilbride    SC R2

2014/10/11    East Kilbride 1 - 5 Spartans    SC R2

2015/10/24    East Kilbride 1 - 1 Forres Mechanics    SC R2

2015/10/31    Forres Mechanics 2 - 3 East Kilbride    SC R2

2015/11/28    Stenhousemuir 2 - 2 East Kilbride    SC R3

2015/12/5      East Kilbride 2 - 1 Stenhousemuir    SC R3

2016/1/20      East Kilbride 2 - 0 Lothian Thistle HV    SC R4

2016/2/7        East Kilbride 0 - 2 Celtic    SC R5

2016/9/24      East Kilbride 9 - 1 Vale of Leithen    SC R1

2016/10/22    Cowdenbeath 0 - 1 East Kilbride    SC R2

2016/12/3      Stranraer 2 - 1 East Kilbride    SC R3

2017/7/15      East Kilbride 1 - 3 Hamilton    LC GS

2017/7/18      QoS 0 - 0 East Kilbride    (EK won PK.)    LC GS

2017/7/22      East Kilbride 2 - 5 Albion Rovers    LC GS

2017/7/25      Stenhousemuir 1 - 2 East Kilbride    LC GS

2017/8/15      St Mirren 2 - 1 East Kilbride    Ch R1

2017/10/14    Cowdenbeath 0 - 1 East Kilbride    SC R2

2017/11/18    East Kilbride 3 - 4 Albion Rovers    SC R3

2018/8/15      East Kilbride 1 - 1 Spartans    (EK won PK.)    Ch R1

2018/9/8        East Kilbride 2 - 3 Edinburgh City    Ch R2

2018/10/20    East Kilbride 3 - 1 Spartans    SC R2

2018/11/24    East Kilbride 1 - 0 Gala Fairydean Rovers    SC R3

2019/1/19      Inverness CT 4 - 0 East Kilbride    SC R4

2019/7/13      East Kilbride 0 - 1 Albion Rovers    LC GS

2019/7/20      East Kilbride 0 - 0 St Mirren    (EK won PK.)    LC GS

2019/7/23      Edinburgh City 0 - 1 East Kilbride    LS GS

2019/7/27      Dunfermline 4 - 0 East Kilbride    LC GS

2019/8/6        St Mirren U21s 1 - 0 East Kilbride    Ch R1

2019/10/19    East Kilbride [3 - 1] Gretna 2008   SC R2

Swiss Challenge League: Winterthur [1 - 0] Vaduz

There is still one place to be decided in the 2019 Regional Champions League in Japan's tier V, because the Chugoku Soccer League title hasn't been won yet. These two games will settle it tomorrow:

Fuji Xerox Hiroshima (6th) [0 - 4] Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima (1st)

SRC (2nd) [7 - 0] JXTG (5th)

Mitsubishi and SRC enter the weekend equal in points and 1 goal apart in goal difference.

[SRC win the league.]

Canadian Premier League:

Forge 1 - 0 Cavalry (Oct 16)

Valour 0 - 4 York9 (Oct 16)

Edmonton 3 - 1 Pacific (Oct 16)

Cavalry [3 - 1] Edmonton (today)

Pacific [2 - 0] Valour (today)

Prior to this game Pacific FC fired its head coach.

York9 [0 - 2] HFX Wanderers (today) [Goals by Gutiérrez and Kodai Iida.]

This ends the Fall Season. Cavalry and Forge will now compete in the CPL Championship for the league title and a place in the 2020 CONCACAF League.

How did HFX Wanderers fare against the opposition?

League:

York9 FC                     2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss. 6 gf, 7 ga, -1 gd. 8 points.

Valour FC                    2 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses. 3 gf, 3 ga, 0 gd. 7 points.

Forge FC                    1 win, 2 draws, 1 loss. 5 gf, 6 ga, -1 gd. 5 points.

Pacific FC                   1 win, 2 draws, 2 losses. 5 gf, 7 ga, -2 gd. 5 points.

Edmonton FC             2 draws, 2 losses. 1 gf, 5 ga, -4 gd. 2 points.

Cavalry FC                 1 draw, 4 losses. 1 gf, 7 ga, -6 gd. 1 point.

Cup:

Valour FC                   2 wins. 4 gf, 1 ga, +3 gd.

Vaughan Azzurri        1 win, 1 loss. 3 gf, 3 ga, 0 gd.

Ottawa Fury               1 draw, 1 loss. 4 gf, 5 ga, -1 gd.

Some other 2019 HFX Wanderers stats:

Longest winning streak (league and cup): 3

Longest winless streak (league and cup): 10

Longest string of draw scores: 6

Home record (league): 5W 7D 2L

Away record (league): 1W 3D 10L

Hockey Night in Canada Early Sixties Jazz Ending

Watch.

Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria

CD cover of the 1978 recording of Monteverdi' opera Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, conducted by Nicholaus Harnoncourt, with Trudeliese Schmidt as Penelope. Source.

Lions of India

India's 500-or-so remaining wild lions live in Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat. Source.

Oulun Kärpät in the Champions Hockey League

Kärpät and Skellefteå at some kind of non-red-armband event in 2017. Source.

The Champions Hockey League group stage wraps up today. The top two from each group advance to the Round of 16. The final Group E games are:

Kärpät [4 - 4] Skellefteå [Kärpät wins the shootout.]

Grenoble [1 - 3] Bern

[Final Group E standings:

11    Skellefteå

11    Bern

11    Kärpät

  3    Grenoble

Skellefteå and Bern advance because each did better head-to-head against Kärpät. I think I see how that works:

Skellefteå earned 4 points off Bern. Bern earned 2 points off Skellefteå. Skellefteå finishes higher than Bern.

Skellefteå earned 4 points of Kärpät. Kärpät earned 2 points off Skellefteå. Skellefteå finishes higher than Kärpät.

Bern earned 3 points off Kärpät. Kärpät earned 3 points off Bern. Bern scored 4 goals against Kärpät. Kärpät scored 4 goals against Bern. But Bern scored 3 goals against Kärpät in one game, and Kärpät only scored 2 goals against Bern in any one game, so Bern finish higher than Kärpät.

The draw for the next round is Friday.]

Oulon Kärpät in the Champions Hockey League so far:

2008-09

GS    2008/10/8      Eisbären Berlin 3 - 2 Kärpät

GS    2008/10/22    Kärpät 0 - 2 Metallurg Magnitogorsk

GS    2008/11/12    Kärpät 2 - 2 Eisbären Berlin (Eisbären won SO.)

GS    2008/11/19    Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 - 1 Kärpät

2014-15

GS    2014/8/21      Liberec 3 - 4 Kärpät

GS    2014/8/23      Košice 1 - 2 Kärpät

GS    2014/9/5        Kärpät 2 - 2 Kölner Haie (Kärpät won SO.)

GS    2014/9/7        Kölner Haie 3 - 2 Kärpät

GS    2014/9/24      Kärpät 3 - 2 Košice

GS    2014/10/8      Kärpät 3 - 1 Liberec

 16    2014/11/4       Kärpät 3 - 1 Vienna Capitals

 16    2014/11/11     Vienna Capitals 2 - 3 Kärpät

QF    2014/12/2      SaiPa 0 - 2 Kärpät

QF    2014/12/9      Kärpät 3 - 2 SaiPa

SF    2015/1/13      Frölunda 4 - 2 Kärpät

SF    2015/1/20      Kärpät 3 - 2 Frölunda

2015-16

GS    2015/8/20      Krefeld Pinguine 0 - 2 Kärpät

GS    2015/8/22      Vienna Capitals 0 - 2 Kärpät

GS    2015/8/27      Kärpät 4 - 1 Krefeld Pinguine

GS    2015/9/5        Kärpät 4 - 0 Vienna Capitals

 32    2015/9/22      Düsseldorfer EG 0 - 2 Kärpät

 32    2015/10/6      Kärpät 3 - 0 Düsseldorfer EG

 16    2015/11/3      Sparta Prague 4 - 2 Kärpät

 16    2015/11/10    Kärpät 4 - 1 Sparta Prague

QF    2015/12/1      Espoo Blues 2 - 0 Kärpät

QF    2015/12/8      Kärpät 5 - 1 Espoo Blues

SF    2016/1/12      Lukko Rauma 2 - 3 Kärpät

SF    2016/1/19      Kärpät 2 - 2 Lukko Rauma

  F    2016/2/9        Kärpät 1 - 2 Frölunda

2016-17

GS    2016/8/16      Vítkovice 2 - 4 Kärpät

GS    2016/8/16      Krefeld Pinguine 0 - 2 Kärpät

GS    2016/8/26      Kärpät 1 - 0 Vítkovice

GS    2016/9/10      Kärpät 5 - 3 Krefeld Pinguine

 32    2016/10/4      Sparta Prague 1 - 1 Kärpät

 32    2016/10/11    Kärpät 0 - 1 Sparta Prague

2018-19

GS    2018/8/31      Kärpät 4 - 0 Dragons de Rouen

GS    2018/9/2        Kärpät 9 - 3 Nürnberg Ice Tigers

GS    2018/9/7        Dragons de Rouen 2 - 4 Kärpät

GS    2018/9/9        Nürnberg Ice Tigers 4 - 3 Kärpät

GS    2018/10/9      Kärpät 3 - 2 Mountfield

GS    2018/10/17    Mountfield 3 - 4 Kärpät

 16    2018/11/6      ZSC Lions 4 - 4 Kärpät

 16    2018/11/20    Kärpät 3 - 2 ZSC Lions

QF    2018/12/4      Red Bull Salzburg 3 - 2 Kärpät

QF    2018/12/11    Kärpät 1 - 1 Red Bull Salzburg

Whenever I see the Champions Hockey League logo I think of CIL Paints.

Teika's Wakamurasaki

A copy of chapter five of the Tale of Genji transcribed by Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) has been discovered in a box in a storeroom of the noble Okochi family. Teika's is the oldest known manuscript of the novel, and this is only the fifth chapter of it to come to light. Source.

Sardar Patel

The statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat is 182 metres tall, not counting the base. The Statue of Liberty would just about come up to his knee.   Source.

McGraw and MacGraw

Allan McGraw versus Ali MacGraw.

It's Round Four of the Challenge Cup.

    Q: "When did it become the UEFA Challenge Cup?"

    A: "Wafer! Wafer!"

The matches:

Stenhousemuir 3 - 2 Waterford (last night)

Stenny got to this game by beating The New Saints.

Arbroath [0 - 2] Clyde

This is the twentieth meeting between these two clubs this decade. Arbroath have 13 wins, Clyde 4 wins, plus 3 draws. They have never met in the Challenge Cup before today.

Airdrieonians [0 - 2] Elgin

This is the first ever Challenge Cup match between these two clubs.

Raith Rovers [3 - 1] Glenavon

This is Raith Rovers' first Challenge Cup match against a not-Scottish-or-Berwick club. Raith are currently top of League One.

Partick Thistle [2 - 0] Connah's Quay Nomads

This is Partick's first competitive match against a not-Scottish-or-Berwick side since the Intertoto Cup of 1995. Partick are currently bottom of the Championship.

Wrexham [4 - 1] St Mirren colts

Wrexham qualified for this tournament by finishing 4th out of 24 in the National League last season, but this season they are 20th.

Inverness CT [3 - 0] Alloa

A rematch of the 1999-2000 final.

Solihull Moors vs Rangers colts (This match is postponed until Oct 29th due to international call-ups.)

They should either take the Premiership colt teams out of this cup or stop scheduling the games on international weeks.

Mortonalia: This week Cappielow was the venue for two UEFA U-19 matches:

2019/10/9      Scotland 2 - 2 Belarus

2019/10/12    Germany [9 - 2] Belarus

An SFA investigation has fingered Morton kitman Andy Bryan for betting on the football. Source.

1907-08: Morton were away to Kilmarnock where they won 2 - 1.

1963-64: On October 7th Morton and Hibs met in the League Cup semi-finals and played to a 1 - 1 draw, necessitating a rematch. On the 12th Morton were away to Montrose and won 0 - 2.

SPFL Reserve League: Morton 2 - 2 Queen of the South (Oct 7)

It's the South Region Challenge Cup, Round Three:

Blackburn United [1 - 2] East Stirlingshire

Bonnyrigg Rose [3 - 0] Threave Rovers

BSC Glasgow [3 - 1] Gala Fairydean Rovers

Caledonian Braves [5 - 3] Musselburgh

Civil Service Strollers [1 - 2] Kelty Hearts

Cumbernauld Colts [1 - 0] Jeanfield Swifts

Easthouses Lily [0 - 4] East Kilbride

Spartans [2 - 3] Stirling University

(Plus eight other games not involving Lowland League sides.)

Canadian Premier League:

HFX Wanderers 1 - 1 Pacific (Oct 9) Perea scored for Halifax.

This was the Haligonians' final match against Pacific FC for 2019, and final home game of the season.

It's the 55th National Football Championship in Japan. This tournament decides who gets into up to three vacant places in the 2019 National Regional Soccer Champions League, from which the list of JFL candidate clubs is drawn. Although Iwaki FC have already won a place in the 2019 National Regional Soccer Champions League by winning the Tohoku League, they qualified for one of the two Tohoku spots in this tournament (along with Sendai University) back in July, and they're going to play, dammit. Iwaki could have up to five matches this week. Iwaki's possible routes:

Today: (Match No. 16) Briobecca Urayasu [2 - 2] Iwaki FC [Iwaki win on PK.]

Aug 13: (Match No. 24) [Chukyo University 0 - 4 Iwaki FC]

Aug 14: (Match No. 28) [Hamamatsu FC 0 - 4 Iwaki FC]

Aug 15: (Match No. 30) [Koshiyasu Kyoto AC 2 - 0 Iwaki FC]

Aug 16: (Match No. 31) [Yokohama Takeru FC 1 - 7 Iwaki FC for third place]

Aug 16: (Match No. 32) [FC Tiamo 1 - 0 Koshiyasu Kyoto AC]

[After all this only one team gets added to the Regional Champions League: FC Tiamo Hirakata, who finished second in the Kansai League, and win this tournament. Of the other three semi-finalists, Iwaki FC and Koshiyasu Kyoto are already in as winners of the Tohoku and Kansai leagues, and Yokohama Takeru are too lowly, having finished 10th in the Kanto league. Therefore two other clubs that were second in their leagues have been elected to fill the final two places: FC Tokushima from the Shikoku league and Blancdieu Hirosaki from Tohoku.]