The Onion Bag

The Onion Bag is a website of parody and satire about football (soccer), published weekly, usually every Monday morning. It began publishing in May 2003 and has now reached 200 issues.

The term "Onion Bag" is a reference to the British slang for a goal net (onions are sold in netted bags in the UK).

Its articles comment on current events in the world of association football, both real and imagined (an example of the latter: "Chaos as managerial merry-go-round breaks down"), and usually with a focus on the English game though it does sometimes satirise football stories from around the world. Its primary targets are the British media's obsession with football scandal and sleaze, as well as the wealth and bureaucracy that define the modern game.

In January 2007 the writers behind The Onion Bag launched a new sister website called The Orion Bag; with its content taken from satires on science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. The Onion Bag is a member of HumorFeed, a prominent community of news satire webmasters.

Influences

The Onion Bag is influenced by The Onion and the British satirical magazine, Private Eye. The writing is informed by a typically British sense of humour and is often full of saucy double entendre, mild xenophobia, and references to pop culture from the 1970s to the present day, as well as deliberate, absurd misinterpretations of events.

Regular Characters

While the stories are based around real people in and around the world of football, the writers use a number of recurring fictional characters.

* Larry Gak - The Onion Bag's intrepid, and seemingly only, reporter. First appearing in Issue 20, he has been mentioned in over 100 articles.

*Julius Limbani - Used as expert opinion, usually for scientific matters. Named after the African political prisoner in the 1978 film, The Wild Geese. First appeared in Issue 21.

*Les Dyke - Community/political activist of unspecified gender. First appeared in Issue 28.

*Ernesto Cockgroupier - Media Consultant/Lawyer/Corporate ".First appeared in Issue 49.

*Wilhelm Van Clenchmonker - Owner of The Onion Bag and various niche pornographic websites. First appeared in Issue 71.

"Must stay at least 100 yards away from"

The Onion Bag's longest recurring gag is the injunction photo. Pictures of glamorous women (whose link to the article is often tenuous) are almost always accompanied by the line "Must stay at least 100 yards away from". Its first use was for Kylie Minogue in Issue 25. Kirsty Gallacher and Heidi Klum are the only women to have appeared twice.

It became the basis for the online game [http://www.the-onion-bag.com/100yards.php Heidi's Babe World Cup] , part of The Onion Bag's 2006 World Cup guide.

Fantasy Football Agent

In keeping with its dystopian view of the world of football, The Onion Bag runs a satire on Fantasy football (soccer) games called Fantasy Football Agent. The game parodies Fantasy Football games by awarding points on the headlines players receive rather than their performances on the pitch: a high profile player getting into a drunken brawl can often out-score another player scoring a winning goal.

External links

* [http://www.the-onion-bag.com Official site]
* [http://www.orionbag.com The Orion Bag]
* [http://www.fantasyfootballagent.com Fantasy Football Agent]