Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
WTFifa? Even Though They Haven’t Qualified For 16 years, Colombia Seeded Above Italy And Holland
ALL football fans know that FIFA are beyond farce. They fine racist clubs the equivalent of lunch money while doling out huge penalties to people who divert from their sponsors and, of course, look for all the world like the kind of company that MIGHT accept bribes to move to tournaments to Qatar, for the first World Cup to be built on a graveyard.
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Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere Loses His Car At Wembley Stadium
HOW did the England v Poland game go for Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere? Well Charles Sale tells Daily Mail readers:
“It was reassuring to find one of England’s cosseted millionaire footballers having to join the real world on international duty. Jack Wilshere was searching late on Tuesday night – along with others – for just where his vehicle had been left in Wembley’s cavernous main car park. Wilshere had declined the usual chauffeured FA transport – that picks up players in a secured underground area – because he lives near the national stadium.”
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Spurs: The Sun Goes Looking For Racism In Andros Townsend’s Space Monkey
THAT the Sun has little time for Roy Hodgson is no great shock. He is, after all, guilty of not being the Sun’s columnist and England would-be legend Harry Redknapp. And so it is that one day after Roy’s Rover have made it into the World Cup Finals by winning their tricky qualifying group, the Sun wades in with an Andros Townsend RACE ROW:
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Posted: 17th, October 2013 | In: Sports, Spurs | Comments (18)
English Football Is A Brat Factory: Manchester United and West Ham Prospects Row
IN the England Under-21 game against Lithuania, the Three Lions ran out 5-0 and that would’ve been something to celebrate. However, there’s something troubling – is English football little more than a brat factory, churning out vacuous, quick-tempered babies who can’t get along?
U21’s manager Gareth Southgate certainly hinted as much, saying that there’s poor relations between England’s talented young few.
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Arsenal: Millets criticises Mesut Ozil’s looks to flog its anoraks
WHEN football were invited to engage in an online Q&A with Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, Millets saw an opportunity. The sellers of canvas and (blushes) anoraks saw a chance for a bit of piggybacking promotional work. So. It tweeted:
‘does our 20 per cent off all clothing offer not make your eyes bulge with disbelief?’
Liverpool: Daniel Sturridge won’t pick Steven Gerrard’s pre-match music
LIVERPOOL and England’s Daniel Sturridge is talking music:
“It’s too much stress for me having to look after the music and making sure that everybody’s vibe’s right.”
Not easy. Not when Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is such a big Phil Collins fan. Footballers are so very mainstream…
The funniest darts video ever
THIS is the funniest darts video Anorak has ever seen:
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High-five horrors: James Faulkner pokes Brad Haddins in the eye
HIGH-Five horrors presents James Faulkner fluffing the god-awful high-five and poking Brad Haddins right in the eye. Slapping flesh might be good enough for the Americans, but if the Australians see any value in the Commonwealth and links to Great Britain they must surely be manifest in a smart, brisk handshake. British Colonialism might be old hat, but standards never go out of fashion. It’s signs of American imperialism you need to watch out for – literally:
Andros Townsend Watch: better than Bale and Lennon, the Spurs legend made Arsenal buy Ozil
ANDROS Townsend Watch: the Spurs winger is being hailed as the greatest England prospect since…well, the last one. One match and he’s a superstar. In the Mail, Adrian Durham has more to say:
Does Andros Townsend really need a huge pay rise? Does he deserve one? He’s had a decent start to the season and very good game for England and now Spurs are apparently ready to hike up his wages.
I can only hope money doesn’t change him because he seems like a decent lad from a good family.
From a good family? Is Durham now a godly social worker?
One question remains though: Roy Hodgson said Townsend really caught his eye on loan at QPR last season. Makes you wonder doesn’t it? If AVB had more faith in Townsend and kept him at Tottenham, they might have made the top four. And Ozil would never have joined Arsenal. What a massive mistake.
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Posted: 15th, October 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Sir Alex Ferguson Way: the opening of Manchester United’s trail of silver, tears and vitriol
TODAY, Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson opened Sir Alex Ferguson Way, Trafford.
A Way? Surely Ferguson is more suited to Alex Ferguson Cross. Or Sir Alex Ferguson Passage. Or how about Sir Alex Ferguson Trail, a track of tears, beaten opponents (Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Roberto Mancini and many more), banned journalists, vanquished nations, abused match officials and even entire nations slighted: “When an Italian tells me it’s pasta on the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure”; and “Typical Germans. It was only a slip, a slight tug at the boy, but they saw the opportunity and forced the referee. The ref wasn’t going to do anything, but they forced him to get a card out”?
A great winner. A terrific tactician. But Ferguson was the man for whom the phrase “incandescent with rage” might have been coined.
PS: The one great pity was that he never managed England. They’d have named a motorway after him.
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Posted: 14th, October 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Panama’s Critica newspaper repsonds in industrial English to Mexico’s World Cup winner
THE English language is Britain’s gift to the colonies and the world. Panama’s Critica newspapers is well-versed in English. No other language will do when those Mexicans have defeated Panama in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier. The decisive goal in a 2-1 win was a whirling bicycle kick (chilena) from Raul Jiménez.
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Arsenal’s Theo Walcott only needs to beat Spurs ‘superstar’ Theo Walcott to be a World Cup legend
HOW good has Spurs’ Andros Townsend become since he scored in England’s 4-1 win over Montenegro?
Tony Cascarino (Times):
I felt for Theo Walcott on Friday, sitting in a TV studio watching his replacement have a great game. Walcott would have wanted Andros Townsend to do well for England — just not too well! It’s a strange mix of feelings when you see your rival excel.
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Posted: 14th, October 2013 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment
The 20 indignities at English football grounds (featuring Arsenal, Aston Villa, Celtic, Charlton, Fulham, Newcastle, QPR, Spurs and Wolves)
FOOTBALL fans and all decent people everywhere will have been cheered to hear that Fulham Football Club has finally got round to taking down the statue of Michael Jackson that has besmirched Craven Cottage for the past few years. Former owner Mohamed Al Fayed, who erected the statue in 2011, is apparently considering selling it to raise money for charity.
Good news for all those who believe that sporting establishments should be treated with respect and dignity.
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Posted: 14th, October 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Kuwait’s gay test gets Qatari World Cup approval: homosexuals can’t play football in face-melting heat
KUWAIT has banned entry to gay dancers, ice-skaters, TV talent show judges and footballers. It will test anyone coming into the country for gayness. That includes members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which World Cup hosts Qatar are members. What happens to gay football fans and players heading there, then? Qatar thinks homosexuals are against the law. It locks them up. But will it test all fans?
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Arsenal: Jack Wilshere pulls on his blazer and auditions for a role at the FA
AS the world debated Jack Wilshere’s claim that England should be just for the English – and Ian Wright tied himself in knots and Tony Dorigo raised an eyebrow – it was overlooked what else he said. To Jack an Englishman is a no-nonsense, pie and potatoes bloke:
“We are English and we tackle hard. And we are tough on the pitch and are hard to beat. We have great characters. You think of Spain and you think technical, but you think of England and you think they are brave and they tackle hard. We have to remember that.”
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Manchester United’s teenager Adnan Januzaj is just like Tony Dorigo – the Italian-Australian who became English for glory and money
IAN Wright and Jack Wilshere agree that only players born and blooded in England should play for England at football. How Wilshere’s views will pan out with Liverpool and England’s Jamaican-born Raheem Sterling have yet to be established. Manchester United’s teenager Adnan Januzaj should not play for England, they say.
Fair enough. He might not want to. But Anorak recalls one foreign-born player who did pull on the England shirt. Australian-born Tony Dorigo, for it is he, played in the same England team as Ian Wright. We can find no record of Wright saying back then in 1993 that victory over Brazil would have been “hollow” with a foreigner in the team. Playing with a non-England born player is “just cheating” says wright.
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Posted: 11th, October 2013 | In: Key Posts, manchester united, Sports | Comments (2)
Arsenal great Ian Wright says any England win with Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling would be hollow
“KEVIN PIETERSEN let his country down — but Jack Wilshere hasn’t, say Ian Wright, who adds in his Sun column:
The flak Jack copped for his views on foreign players representing England is outrageous. And I agree with everything Jack said. You MUST be English to play for England. KP can say whatever he wants but he was born in South Africa — it isn’t the same him having the Three Lions on his chest…
It’s like cheating. Any victory that requires foreign help is hollow. If you’re English and not good enough to play for England you don’t just go and play for Ireland.
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Posted: 11th, October 2013 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (6)
Arsenal and Manchester United’s Wilshere and Rooney owe England £1.5 and their souls
THE pressure on Arsenal player Jack Wilshere’s shoulders so no signs of abating. The current Best English Player to Look a Bit Like Kevin Keegan is the subject of this balls in the Daily Mail:
‘The midfielder has been hailed as the future of English football and dropping him would represent arguably the biggest gamble by an England manager manager since Glenn Hoddle left David Beckham out of the opening 1998 World Cup game.”
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Rafa Benitez gets his own statue in Naples – Liverpool and Chelsea must wait
WHEN Rafa Benitez left Liverpool, the club lost a great manager. But they never did build a statue to his name. Rafa was one of the things that made Liverpool great; they should have made a statue of him in the Tate. At Chelsea, Rafa did well. No statue, of course, but many appreciative Blues’ fans did tell him to get stuffed and offer to mount his head on a spike at Stamford Bridge. And then to Naples: a very slightly unsettling full 1:1 life-size terracotta figurine of Napoli manager Rafa Benitez, complete with ultra realistic signature paunch has ben spotted in the arcades.
No, no tray. He’s no dumb waiter:
Spotter: @matthew_barker)
Posted: 10th, October 2013 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
AFC Bournemouth’s Harry Redknapp and Shaun Teale’s wife: what really happened?
HARY Redknapp continues to make friends with his latest book. Via the Daily Mail, he makes a claim that might well interest the police:
SHAUN TEALE
His wife tried to run me over
Attempted murder?
When I left Bournemouth and went to West Ham as assistant manager in 1992, I’d had enough of being the bad guy. When you are the manager, you put up that team-sheet and, straight away, half the club hates you. Their wives hate you, too.
At Bournemouth, Shaun Teale’s missus nearly ran me over after a row over about one hundred quid. She marched down to the training ground over some minor contractual issue, gave me a mouthful, I told her to p**s off, and the next thing I knew she was reversing out of the car park so fast she nearly took me with her.
So. Redknapp stops well short of saying she tried to run him over. The Mail’s headline is overly spiced. But the story is out there, and it travels. One tweeter takes an interest:
@ShaunTeale‘s wife tried to run Harry Redknapp over according to his book! http://t.co/vQellJdVkr
— Joe Bradford (@Joe_Bradford_05) October 10, 2013
Shaun Teale responds:
@Joe_Bradford_05 difficult when not in a car .yet another lying tw*t it was the other way round
— shaun teale (@ShaunTeale) October 10, 2013
Such are the facts…
Photo: Bell’s Whisky Divisional Football Managers of the Year at London’s Savoy Hotel, after being presented with their silver salvers and a cheque for £1,000. (L-R): Harry Redknapp, of AFC Bournemouth (third division), Arthur Cox, of Derby County (Second division) and Graham Carr of Northampton Town. Date: 15/05/1987
Poor Alex Horne: former FA Chairman David Bernstein nails Harry Redknapp and the General Secretary
HARRY Redknapp has called the FA “clueless“. He says they no nothing about football. Now David Bernstein has responded to the words of the man who was not picked to be England manager (before not being picked, Redknapp said you could trust the FA to make the right decisions). The former FA Chairman tells the BBC:
“There were four people who made this decision [to appoint Roy Hodgson]. One of them was myself, and I’ve been involved with running Manchester City for ten years, and chairman of that club for five years, and have since been involved with the FA and Wembley Stadium.”
Tick.
“Sir Trevor Brooking, who has a lifetime in football and also managed, and done a great deal in football.”
Tick.
“Adrian Bevington, who has huge football knowledge, amazing football knowledge – he may not have managed but he has.”
Tick.
“And Alex Horne, the general secretary.”
Ouch!
Arsenal and Stevenage’s Jack Wilshere v England and Pietermaritzburg’s Kevin Pietersen
WHEN Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere (born: Stevenage, Herts) said only English-born players should represent the national team, England cricketer Kevin Pietersen (born: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) tweeted him a question:
“Interested to know how you define foreigner?”Would that include me, [Andrew] Strauss, [Jonathan] Trott, [Matt] Prior, Justin Rose, [Chris] Froome, Mo Farah?”
Pietersen is, as ever, self-aggrandizing. He and Trott ended up playing for England – albeit with English ancestry – specifically as a result of coming here to pursue a professional career for financial gain. Mo Farah came to the UK when he was boy to live with his British-born father. They are not the same.
The debate is a huge grey area. But it’s clear that football is viewed in a more cynical light then other sports, where foreign-born players are readily accepted.
And the list Pietersen cites is one of winners. We all love a champion. It’s very easy to adopt a foreigner who was part of a successful team. But what about the others who don’t win but occupy a slot in place of a British-born athlete? Were they cheated?
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Spurs and Newcastle United legend Gazza joins Twitter and everyone prays it won’t be a car wreck
Finally on Twitter will keep everyone up to date… Looking forward to getting to know you guys and showing you the real Gazza !!
— Paul Gascoigne (@gazzaofficial) October 8, 2013
EVERYONE loves Paul Gascoigne. He was supremely talented but a wreck of a human. He’s brings out the older sibling in us all, where we want to cuddle him and fix him, fearful that he’s going about his life in a fashion which suggest he’s not long for this Earth.
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