ON THIS DAY

Four days after Sepp Blatter had been controversially elected for a fifth term as FIFA president he announced his resignation and would leave the post when a replacement was found (presumably giving him time to shred a few documents!). It was a traumatic time for FIFA with daily revelations in the press - 14 people were indicted in USA for corruption, 7 officials were arrested in Switzerland on bribery charges, there was talk of World Cup boycotts and the withdrawal of UEFA from FIFA, allegations of bribery in the bidding process for the finals in South Africa, Qatar and Russia and reports of unhappiness amongst FIFA's commercial sponsors. ....and just hours after Blatter's announcement a sign that things would change for the better came when Macclesfield Town announced that they would be bidding to host the 2026 World Cup finals. They reckoned they could stage the whole thing for £249.99 with a budget of just £40 for gifts to FIFA execs. With the Moss Rose ground - capacity 6,335 - penciled in for the final and opening and closing ceremonies surely football would be coming home in 2026!

In the days immediately following the tragedy of Heysel Stadium which resulted in the death of 39 spectators the Belgian government announced a ban of all English clubs from their country while our government insisted that the FA ban English clubs from playing in Europe for 12 months. However on June 2nd 1985 UEFA banned all English clubs from European competition for an indefinite period, although it didn't affect the England national team. The ban lasted five seasons with Liverpool serving another year on top of that.

The Pope popped into Cardiff City’s Ninian Park ground. No, not to watch a close-season friendly but to speak at a Youth rally being held at their ground during a UK tour. Over 30,000 were at the ground to hear the Polish Pope John Paul II speak.

This has got bugger all to do with football - but it made me smile. On 2nd June 1975 at Buxton the second day of the County Championship cricket match between Derbyshire and Lancashire was abandoned...because of snow! It was the only time a days play has been abandoned in a County Championship match because of snow - it was an inch deep on the pitch. I guess that's the equivalent of a football match in England being abandoned in January because of the heat. That hasn't happened....has it?