Subject: Chester UK<br/>
Date: Jul 04, 2003 @ 05:59<br/>
Author: kontikipaul (&quot;kontikipaul&quot; &lt;contikipaul@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-1994856262">Well Chester is a stretch no question.<br/>
<br/>
 England, Wales, Scotland and NIreland are all countries in Great <br/>
Britain.  The United Kingdom makes up all the little islands like the <br/>
BVI, Falklands,Rockall, Pitcairns etc, including GB.<br/>
<br/>
  Anyways Chester is a city in England.  But the football (soccer) <br/>
ground is half in Wales and half in England.  The team plays in the <br/>
English Football Association.   GB has 4 different football <br/>
associations.  England Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  If a UK <br/>
citizen is born in one of the 4 &#39;home&#39; countries then he has to play <br/>
in that country.   But if he is born in GB or is a GB citizen born in <br/>
say Austria then he can choose which of the four home nations he <br/>
would like to play for.<br/>
<br/>
  This effected a lot of &#39;lesser&#39;  (read a lot better than me, but no <br/>
David Beckham) players who ended up playing for both the British <br/>
Virgin Islands and Bermuda.<br/>
<br/>
  Each FA (football association) has one vote.  Germanay, France, <br/>
Italy etc.   Well because of this above rule Wales, Scotland, <br/>
NIreland, England each have one single vote.  So GB has  votes to <br/>
most countries one vote.  <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
   Anyways back to Chester.    Both Swansea and Cardiff play in the <br/>
English FA even thought they are in Wales.   Calgary, Toronto, <br/>
Montreal and Vancouver all play in a US A-League.  Auckland plays in <br/>
an Australian league and Monaco plays in the French league.   These <br/>
anomolies allow a country with no FA to play in another countries <br/>
league.  An English club Berwich plays in the Scottish league.<br/>
<br/>
    The soccer field in Chester is half in Wales and half in England <br/>
according to the lay of the land.   But because the team is in the <br/>
English FA and is NOT given the FA exemption a Member of the British <br/>
Parliament put through a request  that the half of the field, club <br/>
house and stands that are attached to the Chester stadium and are in <br/>
Wales be included as England.</div>