The Printed Word

The month of  May draws to a close and the Elite League's total confirmed signings don't add up to one full roster. Image: Photo-Mix/Pixabay Only 12 players have signed up anywhere for the 2020-21 season; the starkest illustration yet of how uncertain the future remains for the sport in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. While work for next season is going on, there is only so much teams, and the league, can do without knowing when hockey can recommence, and how it can operate with social distancing restrictions. Of the 12 players announced thus far, none are new to these shores, suggesting perhaps most of the deals were already done and dusted before the 2019-20 campaign was brought to a premature halt. Cardiff Devils fans will be delighted to see forwards Joey Martin and Joey Haddad return - Martin for a seventh season - while, up in the Midlands, Coventry Blaze will be more than happy with the trio of returnees - former Fife Flyer Evan Bloodoff, the im...

  Stepping through the gates of a cemetery is like opening the pages of a book. There are stories to find at every turn, from the great and the noble, to the unsung and forgotten. New Calton Cemetery on Regent Road is overgrown and unkempt, but maybe that's the way it should be as nature slowly reclaims the resting places of people who once scuttled along nearby Princes Street up to the cobbled streets of the Old Town or down to the elegance and grandeur of the New Town. With every passing season the branches extend further around the intricate, beautifully crafted inscriptions, the grass grows higher around the base of the tombstones, and the work of the stonemasons starts to fade. We shouldn't halt the march of time, but, neither can we lose them entirely. Every headstone offers a glimpse into a life lived, many leaving you wanting to know more. "Tombs with a view" is the welcome message on the gate which beckons you in at the foot of Ca...

Small men. That is all they are. They may have huge jobs,  and make policy that effects millions, but, deep down, they are pitiful little people.  Strip away the status, the stage and the image, and you are left staring at at duo who parade in the emperor's clothes. Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings deserve each other. Trouble is, we don't. Johnson is the man who craved the role of Prime Minister, but can't be bothered actually doing the job - you know, the bit that means reading a few red boxes, going to Parliament, being held to account and speaking for, and to, the nation. Add caption His feeble performances throughout lockdown can only partly be excused by the fact he did fall ill. His real malaise is utter laziness wrapped around a stomach-heaving mix of entitlement and arrogance. He has the power. That's all he wants. Johnson's carefully cultivated buffoon image allows him to bluster his way through speeches pock-marked with ums...

The German Bundesliga’s return to action at the weekend, playing games in empty stadia, will be closely monitored by all sports . They will  be keen to see how games work without spectators, and how teams a dhere to social distancing in the midst of contact, competitive sport. Some weekend reports said viewing figures for the games were poor. Not even the novelty of watching a game after a long eight week absence could tempt all fans back. Perhaps sport has to understand just how much has changed since coronavirus halted every aspect of our lives- not just the 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon, or the evenings rinkside for ice hockey. Instead of trying to pick up where they left off ,sport may need to find completely new models to get through the next 12-18 months before perhaps regrouping once more. And, if there is only a limited audience, to watch spectator-free matches, their problems are only just beginning. Borussia Monchengladbach honoured their fan...

The view from high up in Holyrood Park across the Forth Today marked our 50th day in lockdown – a world we could not have imagined barely two months ago. From birth to death, every single aspect of our lives has been thrown into turmoil. Shops and schools have closed, offices have decanted to kitchen tables and spare rooms, sport has stopped, theatre lights have dimmed, and the circle of life and death painfully disturbed. People are dying without the comfort of loved ones at thei r bedsides. Children are being born with partners afforded the briefest of glimpses. Care homes may never recover from the grievous, devastating loss of life. Funerals go ahead with just a handful of mourners; everyone else denied the right to pay their last respects. Moments like that cannot be re-wound. Over 30,000 people have died in t he UK - many fear the official figure is much, much higher. The long road back has yet to begin. Furlough and social distancin...

As venues go, Wembley Arena in the 1980s was nothing special. The walk-up was drab - a far cry from the smart, wonderfully lit plaza that exists now - and the building was a bit of a barn. But it remains a magical place for ice hockey fans across the UK. If ever the sport had a spiritual home, this was it. The venue had hosted ice hockey across the decades, and was home to the famous Wembley Lions who formed part of the sport’s post-war heyday. But, it was also home to the championship finals weekend. The competition continues to this day, and is now resident in Nottingham, where the weekends are still as much about friendships off the ice as they are rivalries on it, but, for a generation or more of hockey fans, nothing will ever quite match the magic of Wembley. That may well be partly down to nostalgia, and a yearning for a time when hockey teams were filled with local skaters, there were many intense local rivalries, and games were played in rinks rather th...