Browsing: Grandmaster

From mysterious footballer-turned-rapper Dide, to the likes of Moise Kean and Memphis Depay dropping albums, it isn’t unusual to see players taking on the music industry in this day and age.

But that wasn’t always the case. Indeed, for a long time, the only name that immediately sprang to mind when you said the words ‘footballer’ and ‘rapper’ was John Barnes, thanks to the former Liverpool and England winger’s iconic bars on New Order’s 1986 World Cup banger ‘World in Motion’.

Yet when asked if those revolutionary rhymes ever led to further opportunities behind the mic, Barnes is unwavering.

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‘I was never asked to be on another rap song’ – John Barnes on why his music career ended with ‘World in Motion’

“No, that never happened,” he tells FourFourTwo on behalf of Video Gamer. “These days you would be asked but, back then, it wasn’t like that at all. Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle did a song together, Gazza did a song, even Pele did a song. But those were pop songs especially written for those guys.

“There wasn’t a proper crossover between established music artists and footballers back then. We weren’t truly celebrities back in my day. Not like today, when you see Premier League footballers hanging out with rappers, Formula 1 drivers and movie stars and all the rest of it.

What could have been John Barnes’ album cover, in 2006 (Image credit: Alamy)

“We didn’t do that at all,” he continues. “We weren’t hanging out with pop stars. There wasn’t this idea of, ‘Hey, we’re all from different walks of life but we’re all celebrities together’.

“As good as it got for us was being invited, along with the rest of the Liverpool players, to a Rod Stewart concert or, in my Watford days, Elton John playing some songs for us.

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“Which was amazing by the way, but not a collaboration. We just didn’t have that harmony between footballers and singers like there is now. I was too old by the time that all started.”

Failure to recruit Barnes more often is British rap’s loss, in FFT’s humble opinion, given how many tunes his dulcet tones would have undoubtedly improved. When asked to name any legendary rap tunes he’s loved to have been a part of, Barnes doesn’t hesitate.

“Easy, Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’,” he grins. “I do like Dr Dre and Ice Cube as well, but there’s too much swearing in their songs. I also love Grandmaster Flash.

John Barnes made 79 appearances for England, scoring 10 goals (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I’m from that late-70s, early-80s era, so I love the old stuff like Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ and Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’. I like those kinds of raps.

“The New Order song, as much as it was a brilliant tune and a lot of fun to be a part of, you could say it wasn’t a real rap. Because it was a rap section added onto a New Order song, a pop song. If I had it my way these days, I’d be doing more Ludacris or something like that.”

Somebody offer this man a record deal, for the love of god.

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October 13, 2025 | Graham Frankel

BATTS†2* Star Under-13 Open yesterday started with our strongest ever line-up. With four in the England top 10, three more in the top 20, and four more in the top 30, we knew would have an exciting tournament, and we were not disappointed.

The players must have been excited too, given that all the expected 48 arrived in such good time we were even able to start 10 minutes before our scheduled time.

As usual we had a wonderfully diverse group of competitors with players from 21 different clubs and 14 different counties. I stand by the slightly controversial decision made earlier this year to limit clubs to a maximum of eight entries. There is a huge benefit to be gained from competing against people from other clubs and areas.

During the group play in the morning, tension mounted as the matches got steadily closer and some of the newer players overcame their initial nerves, giving a few worrying moments to their more experienced opponents.

We had some of notable performances in the group matches where players achieved unexpected wins. Callum Campbell (Hampstead) won four of his five group matches to secure a place in Band 1. Three players overcame more experienced opponents to reach Band 2: Bradley Prosser (BATTS), Noah Clarke (Kingfisher) and Matthew Boa (Woodford Wells).

All three of the girls who entered performed well. Saskia Svoboda (Brighton) reached the semi-final of Band 2, while Sky Brafield (Rougham) and Hanusri Mohansundar (Britannia) met in the semi-final of Band 3. Hanusri won that and then went on to beat Samuel Hamilton (Ellenborough) in a very closely fought final.

We hope all three girls, and many others will continue entering our mixed events as well as our first girls-only open tournament scheduled for 5 July next year.

The Band 2 final was another extremely close encounter. The finalists, Elias Amin (Ellenborough) and Kenzo Boulton (Clissold) had met in at the group stage. In the morning match, Kenzo had narrowly won in five sets after Elias had taken the first two sets. The final was beginning to look like an exact replica, with Elias winning the first two sets, Kenzo refusing to give up and taking the next two, then building up a big lead in the decider. But Elias had other ideas. He demonstrated a calm determination to claw back the lead and win the decider. The final scores: 13-11, 11-9, 13-15, 9-11, 11-9.

The Band 1 final between the top two seeds was fascinating. We expected high-class table tennis and were not disappointed. But it had something more than that, almost like a game of chess.

Both finalists were superbly impressive. Li Hao Chen was doing his best to work out how to deal with Lusioâ€s highly skilled bat twiddling. There were times when it began to look like he might have found an answer, but Lusio managed to keep one step ahead and emerged as the grand master, winning 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. A well-deserving recipient of the £80 top prize.

We now look forward to our next junior open tournaments at BATTS. The Under-17s on Sunday 23 November is almost full, and the Under-15s on Monday 29 December has only a few places left.

Thanks to our great team of officials: Linda March, James Pettigrew and David Gatheral and to Neil Brierley for all his help and continuing to keep the club in such pristine condition.

Prize winners: Hanusri Mohansundar (Winner B3), Samuel Hamilton (Finalist B3), Kenzo Boulton (Finalist B2), Elias Amin (Winner B2), Chris Darby (Semi-Finalist B1), Daniel Pavia (Semi-Finalist B1), Li Hao Chen (Finalist B1), Lusio Wen (Winner B1), Linda March who presented the prizes.

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Kirill Shevchenko has been punished for hiding a phone in the toilet during a chess tournament and been found guilty…