so zimmy is in London + a few Oz FB mates

I will prolly get a monstro sized "NTR Red"...but here goes

from the Age online


Rowdy Australians are on notice ahead of today's first one-day international against England at Lord's.

The reason is an eye-catching rant from John "Fingers" Fingleton, a stalwart of the exclusive Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for more than 40 years who has criticised the dress and behaviour of what he calls "The Great Unwashed" at the ground, known as the home of cricket.

Fingleton, a charity auctioneer, and others have taken to the MCC's members' online noticeboard to protest the presence of "mobs of ill-behaved, ill-dressed screaming yobbos" in the Lord's Pavilion during a domestic Twenty20 game this month.

Advertisement: Story continues below “I cannot ever recall experiencing the Pavilion both as full as it was....and so crammed with such predominantly repulsive, ill-behaved, apologies-for- membership-of-the-human- race — what, for the most part, I would regard as 'The Great Unwashed',” Fingleton wrote.

“I have never recognised so few of my fellow members in the Pavilion at any previous match. The Long Bar was jammed to capacity with mobs of ill-behaved, ill-dressed, screaming yobbos — and that was just the men.

"I understand, albeit anecdotally, that a number of our 'guests' were drinking in the Long Room during the match, and when asked to refrain by a fellow member, behaved discourteously and even somewhat pugnaciously.”

Australia's visit to Lord's today is a sell-out and there will be extra antipodean interest after the shambolic early exit of the Australian tennis contingent at Wimbledon.

Fingleton told Fairfax his experience with Australians at Lord's - the home of cricket - had mostly been positive although a couple of episodes had slightly tainted his memory.

One, he said, was also at a Twenty20 match, at the SCG, following the 2006-07 Ashes when he was seated in the Members Pavilion near the England dressing room. "After about four overs my panama hat suddenly went flying and from behind me a bloke said 'Take that f****** thing off, mate!" Fingleton said.

In another incident, at Lord's last year, he suspects that an Australian he had been talking to stole his hat band while he visited the toilet. "I went to have a pee and when I returned my hat band had disappeared," he said. "I wasn't wildly impressed with that. I had no doubt in my mind at all that he'd nicked it."

Fingleton added: "Don't get me wrong. I love Aussies. I love their commitment to cricket, I've been to all your Test grounds, I've watched a whole Ashes series. It was one of the thrills of my life and I think the Sydney Cricket Ground is one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in the world."

He stood by his comments on the MCC message board. "Someone suggested I'm being a snob. I said 'No, I'm being elitist'. They are very different and I make no apology for being elitist."

Only MCC members are permitted entry to the Victorian-era Lord's Pavilion during Test matches but those rules were relaxed for a T20 game between Middlesex and Surrey a fortnight ago, with members of those clubs able to bring guests.

According to the Lord's website there is currently about an 18-year wait for full membership of the MCC and there is a strict and highly-policed dress code to gain entry to the Pavilion. The new dress code, which was issued last month with accompanying picture cards amid concerns about slipping standards, dictates that men must wear: "lounge suits or tailored jacket and trousers, shirt, tie or cravat and shoes with socks".

Ladies are to wear "wear dresses; or skirts or trousers (which may be cropped below the knee) or culottes, with blouses or smart tops and shoes, boots or sandals".

The items on the restricted list include "jeans and their close relations; leggings; jodhpur-style trousers; T-shirts; track suits; training shoes; plimsolls; flip-flop shoes; denim clothing and overalls".

Sounds like'Fingers' should keep his head jammed squarely up his own clacker.

hehehehe...agree...I really enjoyed the bit where he denies that he is a snob but then tries to defend being an elitist

sounds like a fun place to watch cricket

Fingers is probably one of those chaps for whom Merlin fetches drinks.

So urgently and confidentially masturbating in Mr Fingleton's ear between overs would not be well received?,

furriner wrote:So urgently and confidentially masturbating in Mr Fingleton's ear between overs would not be well received?,

I assume he went to a Public School, so that is probably acceptable.

I read that article last Thursday in the Torygraph.. reminded me of Merlin.

...so what do our Pomgolian FB comrades think of Mr Fingleton?...truly representative of the English or just its upper class?...or just an inbred throwback to another era in Pomgolian life?...btw is he a royal or eligible to go into the House of Lords?