Friday, September 17

Holy Stoke

At least Avram Grant will miss the game at Stoke, whereas I'm stuck with it. The fear is that we'll be done up like a Yom Kippur by the rampaging Kenwyne Jones and, of course, you can bet on Matty Etherington to score.

Yom Kippur is the Jewish Day of Atonement, which seems rather apt for Hammers fans. It's accompanied by 25 hours of fasting and repentance — pretty similar to how most of us feel after West Ham games.

Grant lost several family members in the Holocaust and takes his faith very seriously,so it would be a little churlish to criticise him for observing this one day. And he'd receive serious flak in Isreal too if he worked on Yom Kippur.

Interestingly though, the Daily Mail did come up with one possible solution:

"If Grant were to arrive in Stoke before nightfall on Friday, attend a synagogue service in the area, return there on Saturday morning and then walk to to the stadium, without coming into contact with his players, it might be considered acceptable.

Particularly if he then returned to a synagogue after the match, although again he would be expected to walk - and not in leather shoes."

Although the nearest synagogue to Stoke is four miles away in Newcastle-under-Lyme. And would anyone really want to walk four miles through Stoke?

No comments: