For FIFA, it was their Barcelona Congress of 1929, driven on by two Frenchmen, Jules Rimet and Henri Delaunay. For the Logica International Football Association (LIFA), it was a few beers outside a pavement café in the picturesque Dutch town of Gouda in 1994, and some idle musing by a Scotsman and an Englishman. Whilst FIFA had a 13-team tournament in Uruguay to show for their exertions, and had only a clutch of empty Chimay bottles to show for their debate. Initially, such invention had seemed harmless enough, but on reflection there seemed as many holes in the idea as in the cheese on their plates.

It was only two bulbous glasses of Duvel which turned idle banter into reality. Humorous hypothesising quickly escalated into “my-team’s-better-than-yours” style challenges as the Dutch courage took hold, and soon there was no going back. Both men were unaware of the size of the monster they had just spawned, an invention that would make them almost as famous as Rimet and Delaunay. Within weeks practice sessions had been arranged, and a prestigious trophy purchased for the princely sum of five English pounds. Just like Ron’s twenty two, the Logica World Cup was on its way.