Long live soccer

Would you believe that, in this age of technology, I’m struggling to find a way to watch the 2006 Soccer World Cup?

You would think, surely the Internet. Well, yes, sort of: you can get the highlights as soon as the game is over; or, if you wait a few days and are lucky, you can get the whole game (and then it takes about 24 hours to download it using our New Zealand broadband)... but the net is full of decoys that look like the real thing yet only give you the first 20 minutes. Last time (and that was 4 - four - years ago), we could follow the commentary live on the net, but this year FIFA scheduled the matches for the middle of the night, so I haven’t even checked whether that’s an option this year.

So, TV1? Highlights again, mostly, with an occasional game thrown in to look as though they care.

Sky! Sky! Get Sky TV! I hear you shout. Nope, sorry, I have better ideas for spending my overdraft. I’m addicted to soccer, but even my addiction knows its financial limits.

So, I’ve called in all favours, promised bribes, and asked every friend I could think of whether they would kindly tape the games for me. I discovered that my friends fall into one of the following categories:
don’t have Sky (I forgive them),
have Sky but don’t have a recording device (WHAT???),
have Sky and a recording device but don’t have blank tapes and they live in a different part of the planet,
have Sky and a recording device and tapes but don’t like soccer so they forget to tape it,
have Sky and a recording device and tapes (mine) and like soccer but they forget to tape it anyway.

So, come 2010, I will have to:
Move back to South Africa and watch the Cup from the stands, or
Get new friends.
(Unless by then the kids are running the show and we have Sky.)