writer's moll

It’s only football! Yes I know and I’d have said no more about it but for an article in the sports section of the Sunday newspaper, which showed that whatever observation a writer wants to make on the human condition, Shakespeare got there first. So even Hugh Mcllvanney, who probably reckons he can make a point as poetically as anyone, still had to dip into one of Shakespeare’s sonnets to recount the fall from grace of Thierry Henry by his horrible playacting to win a free kick in France’s match against Spain last week. Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds couldn’t describe more perfectly the disappointment you feel when someone as exquisitely gifted as Henry cheats.