Matt Murphy

Freelance journalist + producer || almunus @uni_lancashire || Retweets/likes ≠ agree

[Matt Murphy @Matt__Murphy]

One thing I found difficult about my brother's disability was that we'd never get to play @EASPORTSFIFA again because he has limited use of his hands. Thanks to @SpecialEffect for lending him this adapted kit so he could beat me once again. And yes, he genuinely did

[Miguel Delaney @MiguelDelaney]

The visa story is the most telling controversy this World Cup has had

Fifa is going against its own rules and precedent

Should it even be held in a state that clearly doesn't see it as a World Cup

What was the point of Infantino's cravenness to Trump?
https://t.co/87oIeNMo4B

[Sid Lowe @sidlowe]

This World Cup is also being played in Mexico and Canada. Assuming he would be allowed to enter(?), FIFA could surely at least make a point of him refereeing games there.

[Miguel Delaney @MiguelDelaney]

In 2023, Indonesia were stripped of the under-20 World Cup for refusing to allow the Israeli team entry.

Fifa's justification then was the vague "due to the current circumstances".

Quite a contrast to the hardline "FIFA is not involved in host immigration processes" now.

[Thomas Fazi @battleforeurope]

Crazy that this is getting barely any coverage. This year’s European Press Prize was just awarded to an investigative report by the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. It is entitled “What the Wounds Tell” and in it the journalists Maud Effting and Willem Feenstra document the cases of 114 children in Gaza under the age of 15 who were struck by a single bullet to the head or chest. Almost all of them died or were left severely disabled. They chose to document only the cases of boys and girls under the age of 15 (though often much younger: aged 3, 4 or 7) because these are children who can be immediately identified as such. “A single bullet in these parts of the body is a clear indication that these children were deliberately targeted“, the two journalists write.

This is the article: https://t.co/YkZrpqBWBQ

[Matt Slater @mjshrimper]

On the one hand, FIFA says it will get so hot during some WC games that the players must take a 3min hydration break each half for their own safety. But on the other hand, it says fans can’t bring in their own water or a bottle to fill up with water. 🤔

https://t.co/9KUdYkgmxt

[Central @WestHam_Central]

European*

[Match of the Day @BBCMOTD]

Arsenal have set the record for the lowest possession percentage for a team playing in a Champions League final (since records began in 2003-04).

The previous lowest record was also Arsenal, set in the 2006 Champions League final, which they played 72 minutes with 10 men.

[Kegham Balian @kbalian90]

"Soldiers are spitting, too. The soldier, in uniform!"

[Exeter City FC @OfficialECFC]

It was a tale of two cities and two very different football grounds for an @FCBarcelona fan who turned up at the wrong St James Park last night 🏟️

The Spanish supporter, who made the journey to Devon from London, turned up at the turnstiles of Exeter City’s Adam Stansfield stand last night, expecting to see his team take on @NUFC. It was only when he showed his ticket to staff that he realised his mistake.

But he got to see a got to see a game of football – Exeter City staff sorted him out a ticket for the game against Lincoln under the lights of the real St James Park!

Adam Spencer, Supporter Experience Officer at Exeter City, said: “One of our volunteers came to the office to let us know that this guy had turned up expecting to see FC Barcelona. His English wasn’t great, but from what we could gather, he’d come from London. My guess is he’d put St James Park in his phone and then just followed the directions from there.

“He was pretty gutted and a bit embarrassed. So, we sorted him out a ticket and he got to watch a game at the real St James Park. He’d be welcome back any time.”

#ECFC #SemperFidelis

[Charlie Feldman @ParlCharlie]

I don't get modern dating. It's all "hey wanna come over and watch the parliament channel?" and you're like "obviously!" and then they have THE NERVE to put on the amending stage of a bill but haven't printed copies of the bill and the amendments for you. Chivalry is dead!

[Janel Comeau 🍁 @VeryBadLlama]

athlete: so if triathlon is running, biking and swimming, that must mean biathlon is running and biking?

coach: [taking out skis and a gun] haha yeah you’d think so

[James Walker @James_L_Walker]

*Not so fun fact. Matt Goodwin was my dissertation supervisor.

Only briefly mind. I swapped after he said that my idea - a study and survey on the politics of the homeless (less than 1% vote) - was of "no academic interest".

I got a 1st 🎓

[Times Radio @TimesRadio]

“It was a brain damage type of dementia.”

@HayleyMcQueen, daughter of Gordon McQueen, says it “seems like a no-brainer” for footballers to undergo brain screening, after a coroner found that repeatedly heading a ball contributed to his brain injury.

#TimesRadio

[Sana Saeed @SanaSaeed]

The loss of newspapers, and specifically local newspapers, is terrible for many reasons, but two primarily:

1. It weakens modes of accountability for local politics. Less local papers means less local reporters investigating, asking questions and holding local officials accountable which leads the way for deeper corruption and abuse of power.

2. It allows for bigger papers with vested ideological and financial interests - like the NYT, WashPo, WSJ etc - to tighten their monopoly on covering power, finance and politics.

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

"Those who can burn the olive groves of Palestinians can burn everything."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expresses outrage over ongoing settler violence in the occupied West Bank, calling it "totally unacceptable, intolerable and unforgivable... done with the tacit cooperation... of the Israeli police and a gross indifference by the Israeli military in the area. And it is time to stop it."

Watch our full interview here.

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

The video shows IDF soldiers summarily executing two Palestinians detained secs earlier in Israeli-occupied West Bank. The UN’s documented more than 1,000 people killed in the WB by Israeli forces or settlers in the past 2 years 🧵

[BBC Sport Scotland @BBCSportScot]

'I couldn't get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today' ❤️

Andy Robertson on what it means to qualify for the World Cup ⤵️

#BBCFootball

[Hugh Anthony @TheHughAnthony]

No they can’t.

[LBC @LBC]

‘The rise of base, reflexive racism in this country is disturbing.’

@Lewis_Goodall hits back at social media accounts stoking talk of ‘civil war’ after quoting an unnamed ‘academic’.