Plenty of Nothing

John Betjeman at St Pancras Station

Source.

Honda Lock

Everyone wears white at Honda Lock. Source.

Developments:

Ann Budge has come back with a two-year 14-14-14 reconstruction proposal, hoping there will be the votes for it this time.

Regardless of the structure the SPFL chooses for 2020-21, it's not clear at the moment how many clubs will be able to participate. For some clubs it would make more financial sense to go on hiatus for a year than to operate without gate receipts. Falkirk are already calling for those clubs to identify themselves. If Falkirk can persuade Dunfermline to sit out then it's promotion for the Bairns. Dunfermline recently released 17 players.

The powers that be have approached the Scottish government with a plan to start the Premiership on August 1st.

Finland plans to restart the Finnish Cup on June 16 and its top league the Veikkausliga July 1. The cup has already completed its group stage and is ready for the 1/8-finals. The Veikkausliga is a summer league and has played no games so far in 2020.

J2 and J3 plan to start June 27. J1 will restart July 4.

The Canadian Premier League is looking at using Prince Edward Island as a hub. Atlético Ottawa unveiled their home strip Thursday: red and white stripes, blue shorts, red socks.

Games happening:

Faroes: Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag (TB for short)  1 - 3  B36 (May 27)

K League: Incheon United [1 - 4] Pohang Steelers (tomorrow)

After three games Pohang have 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss and a +1 goal difference. They occupy sixth place. Incheon are tenth and have yet to score a goal.

Games not happening:

Iwaki FC were to have played Honda Lock today.

CPL: Valour vs Wanderers (yesterday) (no)

Bolivian league: Blooming vs The Strongest (May 27) (no)

This would have completed the Apertura.

SWF Championship South: Gartcairn vs Morton (May 27) (no)

AFC Champions League East, group stage, matchday 3:*

Group F: FC Tokyo vs Shanghai Shenhua

Group G: Vissel Kobe vs Guangzhou Evergrande

Group H: Yokohama F. Marinos vs Shanghai SIPG

*Match day 3 was postponed from March and is now postponed again.

Historical games:

JFL 1999: Yokogawa Electric 0 - 1 Mito HollyHock

Nowadays Yokogawa Electric is called Tokyo Musashino City FC.

Pohang Steelers in the 2000s:

            G     W     D     L     F     A      GD     P     Pos

2009    28    14    11     3    55    33    +22    53    2nd    League Cup

2008    26    13     5      8    43    34      +9    44    5th    FA Cup

2007    26    12     5      9    27    31       -4    38    5th    playoff champion

2006    26    13     8      5    42    28    +14    47    2nd

2005    24    11     7      6    28    22      +6    40    5th

2004    24     8      8      8    23    24       -1    32    6th

2003    44   17    13    14    53    46      +7    64    7th

2002    27     9      9      9    31    34       -3    36    6th

2001    27   10      8      9    28    29       -1    38    5th

2000    27     5      7    15    31    39       -8    22    9th

Club The Strongest league results since 2010:

                     G    W    D    L     F      A     GD   Pts    Pos

2019C         26    17    6    3    72    27    +45    57    2nd

2019A         26    16    4    6    55    30    +25    52    2nd

2018C         26    16    2    8    65    29    +36    50    2nd

2018A         14      7    1    6    22    16      +6    22    2nd, Serie B

2017C         22    12    4    6    42    24    +18    40    2nd

2017A         22    13    2    7    47    31    +16    41    2nd

2016A         22    14    7    1    44    12    +32    49    1st

2015-16C    22    11    5    6    36    24    +12    38    2nd

2015-16A    22    11    6    5    45    26    +19    39    3rd

2014-15C    22    12    6    4    48    28    +20    42    2nd

2014-15A    22    11    4    7    39    26    +13    37    3rd

2013-14C    22    12    4    6    40    32      +8    40    3rd

2013-14A    22    14    3    5    47    27    +20    45    1st

2012-13C    22      9    7    6    40    35      +5    34    5th

2012-13A    22    13    6    3    53    31    +22    45    1st

2011-12C    22    11    5    6    47    28    +19    38    1st

2011-12A    12      4    3    5    34    23     +11    15    4th, Serie B

2011            22    10    5    7    33    26      +7    35    4th

2010C         22    10    2   10   37    36      +1    29    8th (3 pts deducted)

2010A         12      5    4    3    21    18      +3    19    1st, Phase 1, Serie A

                    10     3    4    3    15    14      +1    13    4th, Phase 2

(In the lefthand column A = Apertura, C = Clausura.)

Except the soccer team. Source.

Empress of Ireland

On this date in 1914 the Empress of Ireland was struck by the SS Storstad off Rimouski and sank with a loss of 1,012 lives. Source.

Tsugaru Sashiko

Aomori Prefecture combines territories once controlled by the Tsugaru and Nambu domains. A difference between the two areas is the way they embroidered kimono: Tsugaru is monochrome, Nambu is coloured. Read more about it here.

Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie, Prime Minister of Canada 1874-78. Source.

Red Seal Ship

From 1592 till 1635 Japan sent armed merchant vessels to trade with the countries of south-east Asia. These vessels operated with the approval and protection of the shogunate, and are known by the official red-sealed permits they carried. Source.

Corners of France: Hendaye

See here for images of Hendaye's urban tramway.

1907 Spy Map of Sydney Mines

This map of Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, available at the Library of Congress site, was hand-drawn in 1907 and accessioned by the US War Department Military Information Division in 1908. It's very tempting to imagine it was drawn by a spy.

While no one would bother to seize Sydney Mines today, in 1907 the place had strategic importance. It was a growing industrial town located at the railhead on a major east coast harbour commanding the entrance to the Gulf of St Lawrence. The town was built on top of a large coal seam, and in those days naval ships burned coal. It was at the landfall of a transatlantic cable. And it was vulnerable, as the Royal Navy had left Halifax station in 1905.

The US made war in Cuba in 1898 and Mexico in 1914 and 1916. The Great White Fleet circumnavigated the globe from 1907 to 1909, projecting US power. Japan fought and defeated Russia in 1905, triggering a Communist uprising. France and Germany almost came to war that year. The world in those days was a big board game. Even Brazil, Argentina and Chile were engaged in a naval arms race.

To learn more about how to invade Canada, read about War Plan Red here.

Parklea

Parklea Stadium on the eastern shore of Port Glasgow is the home ground of Port Glasgow FC and Greenock Morton Women. There's also a lawn bowling club next door. This snap is from a night game last November between Port Glasgow (black and white) and Greenock Juniors (red). See here for a scotch pie review.

Developments:

Monday the SPFL cancelled the rest of the Premiership season, making Celtic 2019-20 champions and relegating Heart of Midlothian.

However, the league reconstruction committee is back at work trying to find a way to budge Hearts up again.

The Lowland League website is reporting that Bo'ness United are close to being promoted to the 2020-21 Lowland League. This comes in the wake of the South of Scotland League voiding its 2019-20 season. As there is no SoSFL champion (which would have been Threave Rovers) there is now no need for a playoff with the EoSFL champion (which could not have been played due to the coronavirus) and so Bo'ness are clear to advance by automatic promotion.

On Thursday 1.FC Saarbrücken began training for their June 9th DFB-Pokal semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen.

The SPFL wants to start training camps June 10. The League Cup might become a casualty of the coronavirus, as the part-time clubs can't afford to play without gate receipts. More on that below.

Games being played:

Faroes: B36 [6 - 2] Skála Ítróttarfelag

B36 enter today's game in second place. They have not been scored on yet this season. Skála are in ninth place.

Skála met Tampere United in the 2005 Intertoto Cup, and lost both games. They appeared in the first qualifying round of the 2006-07 UEFA Cup, where they were beaten twice by IK Start of Norway. Skála wear orange and black, to the joy of Dundee United fans. They were sixth in the league last season.

K League: Pohang Steelers 1 - 2 FC Seoul (May 21)

FC Seoul were able to play two matches in the interrupted 2020 AFC Champions League. They beat Malaysian club Kedah in the playoff round and Melbourne Victory in the group stage. They finished third in the league last season.

Games not being played:

HFX Wanderers do not host Forge FC.

The CPL is looking at starting the season by playing all its games at one location, perhaps Langford BC. If they staged one match per day they could complete the schedule in 112 days.

The first round of the Canadian Championship is supposed to go June 16, which seems very unlikely.

Tomorrow it's not the final of the 2019-20 South Region Challenge Cup.

SWF Championship South: BSC Glasgow vs Morton (tomorrow) (no)

Swiss Challenge League: Grasshoppers vs Winterthur (May 20) (not)

That would have concluded the Swiss Challenge League 2019-20.

The Swiss Cup final should have been today.

Bolivian league:

Guabira vs The Strongest (May 20) (no)

The Strongest vs Aurora (tomorrow) (no)

Historical games:

1963-64: On May 20th Morton played their final Summer Cup group stage match, hosting Partick and playing to a 1 - 1 draw. Partick, Morton and St Mirren all finished with 7 points, but Partick won the group with the superior goal difference. Partick went on to lose to Aberdeen in the semi-finals, and Aberdeen lost to Hibs in the finals.

On May 23rd St Mirren beat Morton 0 - 2 at Cappielow in the first leg of the Renfrewshire Cup final. The second May 26th they played to a 1 - 1 draw in Paisley. St Mirren were Renfrewshire champions.

It's nearly time for the Scottish League Cup groups to be announced. If the SPFL sticks with the same format this year, what teams will be in which pots?

The seedings are based on the previous year's standings, so the matter of reconstruction shouldn't have any bearing on the 2020-21 group stage format.

Bye to Round Two: Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell, Aberdeen

Top seeds North: St Johnstone, Hibs, Ross County, Hearts

Top seeds South: Livingston, Kilmarnock, St Mirren, Hamilton

Second seeds North: Dundee United, Inverness CT, Dundee, Arbroath

Second seeds South: Ayr United, Dunfermline, Morton, Alloa

Unseeded North: Raith, Montrose, East Fife, Peterhead, Forfar, Cove Rangers, Elgin, Cowdenbeath, Stirling Albion, Brechin, Brora, Kelty

Unseeded South: QoS, Partick, Falkirk, Airdrieonians, Dumbarton, Clyde, Stranraer, Edinburgh City, Queen's Park, Annan, Stenhousemuir, Albion Rovers

I don't know if the league would really put Lowland League champions Kelty in the North, but by latitude that's where they go.

There's a one in four chance that Morton's top seed opponent will be St Mirren.

If it looks like football is still off in July the league might opt to revert to a strictly knock-out format, which ought to be easier to postpone.

Who beat Rangers in league play in Division Three, League One and the Championship?

2012/10/6      Stirling Albion 1 - 0 Rangers

2013/3/9        Rangers 1 - 2 Annan Athletic

2013/4/20      Rangers 1 - 2 Peterhead

2014/8/10      Rangers 1 - 2 Hearts

2014/9/29      Rangers 1 - 3 Hibs

2014/11/22    Hearts 2 - 0 Rangers

2014/12/12    Queen of the South 2 - 0 Rangers

2014/12/27    Hibs 4 - 0 Rangers

2015/2/13      Rangers 0 - 2 Hibs

2015/4/9        Queen of the South 3 - 0 Rangers

2015/11/1      Hibs 2 - 1 Rangers

2015/12/19    Falkirk 2 - 1 Rangers

2016/3/18      Falkirk 3 - 2 Rangers

2016/4/20      Hibs 3 - 2 Rangers

2016/4/26      Livingston 1 - 0 Rangers

Cups and playoffs not included.

Pohang Steelers in the 2010s:

             P     W    D     L      F      A     GD    P     Pos

2019    38    16     8    14    49    49       0    56    4th

2018    38    15     9    14    47    48      -1    54    4th

2017    38    15     7    16    63    60     +3    52    7th

2016    38    12   10    16    43    46      -3    46    9th

2015    38    18   12      8    49    32   +17    66    3rd

2014    38    16   10    12    50    39   +11    58    4th

2013    38    21   11      6    63    38   +25    74    1st    FA Cup

2012    44    23     8    13    72    47   +25    77    3rd    FA Cup

2011    30    17     8      5    59    33   +26    59    2nd

2010    28      8     9    11    39    48      -9    33    9th

Penguin Classics Cover Generator

Make your own Penguin cover here. Read "Chekov's Brain" here.