For the first time in my lifetime, I will be hoping that Manchester United will win against Arsenal, and I speak specifically of the English FA Cup final between the two teams in May.
And why is that so, I hear you ask? Let me take you through the whole ordeal of the semi-final on Saturday between (my team) Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium in Wales which ended 3 - 0; before, during, and after the event.
Before getting onto my analysis the match, let me say that I was exceptionally proud of reaching the semi-final of the FA Cup.
It was the first time in 45 years that the Lancashire team had participated in it, and just being there was like a final, especially since this 2004/2005 season has been a struggle for Blackburn, who has changed managers and was flirting with relegation to the English Championship from the Premier League for most of the season.
Quite simply, it was a remarkable achievement and we realistically had nothing else to prove, other than coming through the match with pride intact.
And what was the verdict? Rovers did indeed do their supporters proud during the match, dominating for some periods of the game, harrying their opponents all over the pitch, getting very stuck in and making it hard for them, while they had a few shots on goal as well.
The first half an hour of the match was when Blackburn were the most dominant of the two sides, being in control with the ball much of the time.
They actually made a very good attack with striker Paul Dickov breaking through for a one-on-one with Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, only to be erroneously called offside, denying Rovers from changing the ultimate outcome of the match.
David Thompson had a great opportunity in the penalty box when Rovers were dominating as well, but his lack of confidence on the ball ruined a beautiful opportunity to score a goal.
This dominance was a delight to see, and something which most other supporters would not have expected, given that we were playing a 4-5-1 defensive formation, although Rovers fans knew that they could take the game to their opponents, given that they won 3 - 0 against Southampton in the last Premier League match.
However, it was not long after this period of Blackburn dominance that Arsenal hit back in a counter-attack, getting a goal before the break courtesy of winger Robert Pires.
From then on, Blackburn tried to draw level, while changes were made to formation to make it more attacking but it was not to be, with Arsenal getting two goals late in the second half to make the score 3 - 0, courtesy of only three defenders being posted to stop them, which flattered the Gunners greatly.
There was only one bit of disappointment on my part, and that was from captain Andy Todd who I think more than likely knocked Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie down purposely after he scored their third goal, although it is inconclusive at this stage.
I based my judgement, which is in contradiction to what most Rovers fans think, on watching Australian rules football for over a decade, where elbow incidences happen almost every week, and so I think I am well placed to make a judgement in that regard.
Overall, I was not overly disappointed by Todd though, because he was not malicious in his action, whether intentional or not, judging by the concerned reaction on his face after immediately after the incident.
In all honesty, Van Persie exaggerated the situation by running straight into him and then falling down like a tonne of bricks, in a terrific acting performance.
Further to that, I would like to say Todd has come a long way under new manager Mark Hughes this season in controlling his temper, which was a real problem under former manager Graeme Souness, and has been superb in the way he has conducted himself.
In fact, I have found captain Todd to be very inspirational, who is the epitome of Blackburn Rovers' improvement under Hughes.
An overall good game, especially on Rovers' part, was marred, however, by Arsenal's Oscar-winning performance; barely a minute went by without a Gunners playing falling over as if they had been hit by a train, when in reality they were only being played host to some aggressive and very fair tackling.
This was in stark contrast to the Arsenal of old, which was a very attractive and attacking outfit committed to flowing football; not anymore are they my second favourite team to watch, but rather they have become one of my most hated teams.
Usually, even such outrageous simulation, nor even erroneous statements such as
"their target was to destroy Patrick Vieira" by Robert Pires would drive me to hating a team more than Manchester United, so much so that I grudgingly hope they do win the FA Cup final, although I will not watch the match on television and am certainly not excited at the prospect of an arrogant United winning.
However, this time I made an exception, and the mass media in general is the biggest culprit in re-evaluating the whole way I relate myself to many football clubs in England.
It all started with the football commentary, which was one of the worst performances that I can remember in my time as a football supporter.
One Gary Bloom was the commentator for the match on the television channel I watched in my humble residence in Australia, and his anti-Rovers bias was shocking, prompting some supporters who heard his commentary to wonder whether he had an Arsenal shirt on.
For example, he would take every opportunity he could to slate the underdogs, making derisory comments ranging anything from not selling the full allocation of tickets, to accusing the hard-working team of stopping Arsenal playing magnificent football, to slating Rovers' supposedly "dirty" tackling and calling for red cards when they simply were not there.
Well sorry Mr. Bloom, but did you not notice that Blackburn has a small supporter base, seeing as they are from a small town and had supporters that had to travel some 200 miles, while the other three clubs who sold their allocations are from cities with large supporter bases? I hope you do now.
In reference to stopping Arsenal playing football: which law of the game states that smaller teams must bend their arses over to the bigger teams? None of them.
And as for our so-called "dirty tackling", have you ever not seen Manchester United play Arsenal, who are many times as bad as Blackburn have ever been, and why should tough tackling not be used anyway, as long as they do not overstep the mark (i.e. earn a red card).
This anti-Rovers bias was not only evident in the commentary, but Rovers from all over have talked about nothing but the shocking unofficial media campaign against us since the game, and the media has not stopped yet either.
For some odd reason, we did not even deserve to be in that semi-final, according to the media, despite earning that place by beating four different teams and playing six matches.
They were all teams from divisions under the English Premier League, admittedly, but the media overlooked the fact that Arsenal too did not meet any Premiership opposition during their campaign until they met Blackburn.
Perhaps the reason for the media's apparent anti-Blackburn bias is because they wanted a final between Manchester United and Arsenal, which they have now, since Newcastle lost 4 - 1.
Some of the worst bias in the media came from
The People:
But look at every single Blackburn player and ask yourself: Where's the flair? Where's the imagination?
Where is there anything but muscle and malice aforethought?
Not once in the whole game did a Rovers player produce a piece of skill that brought a smile to the face or joy to your heart.
Nobody in a blue and white shirt did anything but the dourly predictable and mundane ... the only glimpse of imagination came in the myriad ways they found to break the laws.
Did you do not see the first 30 minutes, or even the latter stages of the game when Blackburn tried to take the game to Arsenal, Mr. Paul McCarthy?
Evidently he did watch the game, because he did write about all of Arsenal's fabulous exploits, but he evidently had his right eye closed.
To make the situation clear on the supposed nothing but "muscle and malice" accusation: the simple majority of people thought that Blackburn was
"simply competitive" (44%), according to the Teamtalk Football website.
Such unjustified analysis especially hurts because that piece above, and all of the anti-Rovers bias in general, will hurt the club for many years to come.
If the media did not go out of their way to harm Rovers and provided balanced reporting, then I would not care about anyone liking us, but I have to think of the future of the club.
Now that I have noted some of my gripes with the anti-Rovers bias in the media following this weekend, we have to ask ourselves the question: is this just the silly ranting of a Blackburn supporter who is only concerned about Blackburn?
I can tell you it is not, because what has eventuated out of this FA Cup semi-final clash in the media is not unusual; they are very scathing of smaller teams in general who play above themselves.
Everton, and even Bolton (for all their sin, namely El-Hadji Diouf), have played above themselves this season, in contention for UEFA Champions League qualification, have received some harsh treatment from the media, but especially Bolton, who like Blackburn have been labeled "boring", much like Blackburn has due to tactics.
Oh well, it seems that I and many other Blackburn Rovers fans will have to put up with it for a long time, especially with the likes of Robbie Savage, Gary Flitcroft, Lucas Neill, Aaron Mokoena, Todd, and Dickov in the squad, all unliked for their uncompromising style of play (unjustifiably).
Being the "New Millwall" is our fate, thanks to the media, and we will have to limit the damage to our club's reputation by making humour of it.
All together now: "No-one likes us, we don't care!"
