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.
Does West Ham’s Paolo Di Canio lounge ban fascists?
THE debate over self-declared fascist Paolo Di Canio’s appointment as Sunderland FC’s boss has subsided. If things don’t work out for the Italian at the Mackems, it’s unlikely he will be West Ham United’s new manager.
Karren Brady, vice-chairman of West Ham United, uses her Sun column to explain her club’s view on Di Canio:
“Many times since we took over the club Paolo has approached owners David Sullivan and David Gold about being the manager of West Ham. I think they considered him briefly – something I never did – but dismissed him on the basis that football and fascism do not mix.”
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Posted: 10th, April 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Football must have no minute’s silence for Margaret Thatcher: what madman wants to remember the 1980s?
THE best thing you can say about Margaret Thatcher’s attitude to football was that she rarely used it to coin easy popularity. To her, football was a thing that needed controlling. Football to Thatcher was a threat to the social order. The Sunday Times said football was a “slum sport watched by slum people in slum stadiums”.
So. Football will not mark her passing in any special way. There was no minute’s silence for the former Prime Minister at Old Trafford last night as Manchester United took on Manchester City. Good. The minute’s silence has become the most overused tribute going.
Photo above: Margaret Thatcher sharing a joke with England footballers, left to right, Kevin Keegan, Terry McDermott, Phil Thompson and Emlyn Hughes and other members of the international squad outside 10 Downing Street when they were leaving after attending a reception given by Mrs Thatcher. Date: 05/06/1980
This was not snub. Maggie Thatcher (once an honorary vice-president of Blackburn Rovers) was the Prime Minister when English football was in the mire.
Photo: Screen shot from ITN News showing the fire that swept through the main stand at Bradford City’s football ground. The club were playing Lincoln City in the last match of the season. 56 people died and 265 were injured as a fire swept the packed stand just before half-time.
On May 11 1985, 15-year-old Ian Hambridge left his Northampton home to see his first football match. Birmingham City Football Club were playing Leeds United. A riot saw 80 fans and 96 police officers injured. Ian was stood by a 12 ft high wall, which collapsed. You might have read about him. But it’ unlikely. Because on that every day a fire took hold at Bradford City’s ground killing 56 people.
A short time later, on May 29, Liverpool played Juventus in the European Cup Final at Belgium’s Heysel stadium. Another riot. Another wall collapsed. 39 Italian fans died in the mayhem. English clubs were banned from European competitions.
In a era of lows, the infamous footage of Millwall fans rioting at Luton Town stands out.
Thatcher’s Government assed the The Football Spectators Act of 1989. It made ID cards compulsory. To be a football fan you needed to carry ID. You were no longer a citizen of a free democracy. You were a pariah the State wanted to control. Margaret Thatcher, regarded football fans as the “enemy within”.
Thatcher ordered Justice Oliver Popplewell to investigate football. He suggested fences to keep the fans from the pitch.
Bradford City FC chairman Stafford Heginbotham (left) with Mr Justice Popplewell, in front of the stand which was burnt at Bradford’s Valley Parade ground. The 57-year old judge spent more than half-an-hour touring the ground. He headed the inquiry into the blaze.
Chelsea chairman Ken Bates suggested electrifying it. If it was good enough for his cattle, it was good enough for football fans. (The GLC prevented Bates from plugging it in.)
1985: Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates, indicating the controversial anti-hooligan 12-volt electric wire on top of the 12ft high fence screening spectators from the pitch at Stamford Bridge football ground when it went on public show for the first time.
Then came the horror of Hillsborough, in which 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death. The police refused to open the fences at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground. The dying and uninjured were not instantly recognised as victims. They were a public order matter.
The police lied, saying that hooliganism was to blame. How much did Thatcher’s Government know?
So. Does Baroness Thatcher get a minute’s silence at sport she was no fan of? The Daily Mail’s Jeff Powell thinks she should, writing beneath the headline:
No Old Trafford tribute for Baroness Thatcher… Shame on football for snubbing the lady who rescued our game from tribal hooligans
A snub? Who in their right mind would want to remember football’s dark days?
As they took their comfortable seats on Monday night, feeling safe and secure as they enjoyed the match, in many cases savouring the hospitality of their boxes, how might they have reflected on the lady without whom such glittering stadiums would never have been built? And where might English football be now, had Thatcher allowed football to wither on the vine of feral violence and tribal hooliganism?
She wanted to bring in those aforementioned ID cards. And what of Hillsborough?
Did she save the national game? Without question.
On Monday night, that contribution to the beautiful game went unrecognised.
What about Hillsborough, then?
The long haul towards all-seat grounds, monitored by closed-circuit television cameras, began. It was a battle which would not be won until, by a terrible irony, the people of Liverpool became entrapped in an even greater disaster of their own, at Hillsborough four years later.
Trapped in disaster, literally and metaphorically as the State, media and police colluded to wrongly blame the victims for their own deaths.
Of course, watching football has improved massively. Matt Dickinson writes in the Times:
Taylor’s report in 1990 rejected Thatcher’s ID cards and heralded the era of all-seat stadiums. Indeed, it was as Thatcher tearfully departed in late 1990 that the conditions were coming together for football’s boom. The growth might well have been called Thatcherite given its reliance on club flotations (Manchester United became a plc in 1991), free-market economics, the arrival of Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB paying its first £300 million for a TV deal and the elitism of the new Premier League.
We now have minute’s silence for economic policy? Please, no. Football and politics… never!
Update: Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan and Reading’s Sir John Madejski want a minute’s silence for Maggie.
Whelan: “We owe Mrs Thatcher a minute’s silence. It is not my decision, it is for the FA to decide, but I would be in favour of wearing an armband out of respect to Mrs Thatcher. We have to say thank you very much for the services the former PM has given us.”
Madejski: “We have got to appreciate that Margaret Thatcher was a world leader who did so much for this country. So much that she deserves a minute’s silence. The funeral’s going to take place at St Paul’s attended by the Queen and Prince Philip so I think it would be a fitting tribute from the world of football to Margaret Thatcher, one of our greatest leaders.”
Posted: 9th, April 2013 | In: Politicians, Sports | Comments (3)
Is Harry Redknapp a kipper? That question to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy
IS Harry Redknapp a kipper? Or was he sleeping on the job? Redknapp, currently bossing Premier League strugglers Queens Park Rangers, told Twentyfour7Football magazine:
“I wouldn’t take it [the England job] now, no. Not now, not in the future. That was my time, really, if I was going to get it. Last year there were a lot of things that went against me surrounding that massive contractual clause. People will always deny that is the reason, the FA couldn’t say that and I won’t say, but it didn’t help me. I had such a badly loaded contract it was crazy, in Tottenham’s favour. That’s what you get for not reading your contract properly. It was a massive amount that someone would have had to pay to get me out of it. If they sacked me it wasn’t so massive and that was a bolt out of the blue, a shock, I genuinely never saw it coming.”
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Liverpool and Uruguay’s Luis Suarez punches opponent in the face
TALISMANIC. That’s what we call people who are talented in football, but are thundering dickheads, right? Well, massive talisman Luis Suarez is in trouble again after punching someone in the face during the World Cup qualifier between Uruguay and Chile.
After a small tussle with Gonzalo Jara in the penalty box, Liverpool striker Suarez thought the best thing to do would be to sock the Chilean defender in the mouth and, of course, all the officials missed it.
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Posted: 9th, April 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
Who drew this massive dick on the Nürburgring?
THE Nürburgring race track has been closed for dicks. Not, not closed to dicks. This does not mean a ban on the racers who take their sporty BMWs around the German race track. This is a drawing of a huge penis on the track. Who dunnit and why?
When football kits clash changes are inevitable: a history of soccer disasters
FLASHBACK looks at football kit changes. When both teams are wearing the ame kit,
Are you Crystal Palace in disguise?
There’s only one conceivable reason why any of the 21,281 spectators at Selhurst Park are likely to remember Saturday’s match between Crystal Palace and Barnsley: both team played in Palace kits. The Eagles played in their usual red-and-blue and the Tykes donned Palace’s yellow away shirt. Whether they took advantage of the 30 percent reduction in the club shop is not known. In the event both teams played like Palace and failed to score.
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Posted: 7th, April 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Sports | Comments (2)
In photos: Hallerton hare pie scramble and bottle kicking
IN photos: the Easter Monday Hallerton hare pie scramble and bottle kicking. The aim is to get three barrels across two streams a mile apart, by, pretty much, any means possible. Two of the bottles (actually small keg) are fileld with bear. The third is a made of solid wood. The hare pie is tossed to the crowd.
In 2005, Hallaton resident and Chairman of the event Phil Allan, 47, explained the rules to the BBC:
“There are two streams about a mile apart, and the idea is to get the bottle to your village’s stream, winning a point each time. A different bottle is used for each point played and the first village to two points wins. The rules are very simple; there aren’t any. There are a few injuries, such as broken bones and things like that but most people are unharmed…”
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Arsenal: Arsene Wenger gets help from aliens
GOOD news for Arsenal fans. Cosmic powers are guiding Arsene Wenger. Stephany Cohen, 52, a former policewoman of Bromley, London, says alien races – Grays, Cat People and the half-reptile, half-alien Reptilians (but not Stan Kroenke) – are helping Britain’s economy:
“The people of Britain need not be too down – Reptilians are helping. They are working with people’s minds, in the background, to steer the economy in the right direction. It is a very bad time for everyone but recovery will happen in its own time, at the right time.”
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Posted: 5th, April 2013 | In: Sports, Strange But True | Comment
National Treasures: those all-time Grand National highlights
National Treasures
AS the Grand National comes round again, bigger than ever and once again dogged by controversy, we look back on some historic highlights of this unique sporting event.
1928: Tipperary Tim
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Vain David Miliband and posing Paolo Di Canio are too similar to work together at Sunderland
PAOLO Di Canio is all over the news following his appointment as manager of Premier League football club Sunderland FC. When he took the job, David Miliband, the Arsenal fan, resigned his £75k pa non-executive directorship of the club. The former Labour MP and Foreign Secretary was upset that Di Canio had given one-armed salutes to Lazio fans and declared himself a fan of Benito Mussolini and fascism.
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Posted: 4th, April 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
Brighton wants football to take homophobia seriously
ALL the football chatter at the moment is focusing on fascism, thanks to Sunderland’s appointment of Paulo Di Canio. However, elsewhere, Brighton & Hove Albion are battling on another front, asking the Football Association to get tough with the regular homophobic abuse they receive from opposition fans.
Of course, Brighton is well known for it’s gay community and, with that, The Seagulls have long been the subject of derogatory chants. This has largely gone unmentioned and unnoticed by all quarters.
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Manchester United’s ‘hurt’ Rio Ferdinand loses to Chelsea’s honest broker John Terry
MANCHESTER United’s Rio Ferdinand is a terrific player whose decision not to play for England was an elegant revenge for once being overlooked in favour of Chelsea’s John Terry. Ferdinand only got the call because the obnoxious Terry has retired from international football. Ferdinand could have used the moment of his selection to tell everyone at the FA what he thought of them in words of one syllable. But he chose not to rake over old ground and mention the row between his brother Anton Ferdinand and Terry. He just said he’d like to play for England, got picked, then explained that his treatment schedule wouldn’t allow him to play, before heading to Qatar for a spot of media work. Mindful of Ferdinand’s grace under fire, we wondered what it would be like when United played Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Terry never got on the pitch, acting as an unused substitute. The monocular Chelsea fans, predictably, jeered Ferdinand’s every touch. Just as they did when the teams’ last played at Stamford Bridge.
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Posted: 2nd, April 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (2)
Police escort for the Reading half marathon pleb (video)
TO the Reading half marathon, where we join the action 1 mile into the race. Pleb 1 is bringing up the rear:.
David Miliband used Paolo Di Canio and left Sunderland with the better man
PAOLO Di Canio has caused “outrage” at Sunderland. The Sun says “thousands of furious” Mackems are turning on the club. A Rob Johnson says he is “sickened and ashamed” that Di Canio is the club’s new manager. John Hall, a 92-year-old World War 2 veteran says he would “fight the fascists all over again”.
The Sun’s lead headline, “WAR VETS BOYCOTT ‘FASCIST’ DI CANIO”, is somewhat undone when Mr Hall’s quote is seen in full:
“I’m too old to go to matches but I’d pack it in if I was still going.”
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Posted: 2nd, April 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comments (13)
Kevin Ware suffers horrendous injury – TV camera keep rolling
KEVIN Ware suffered an horrendous injury playing basketball. His leg broke in two places. It’s a compound fracture of both the tibia and fibula. The bone moved 6 inches out of his skin.
Louisville Cardinals coach Rick Pitino spoke though tears:
“The bone’s 6 inches (152mm) out of his leg, and all he’s yelling is, ‘Win the game, win the game’. I’ve not seen that in my life.”
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Paulo Di Canio’s Sunderland to play 11 far right wingers: David Milliband resigns
SUNDERLAND FC have appointed self-declared “fascist, not a racist” Paulo Di Canio as their manager. This has already led to the departure of David Milliband from the Sunderland board. The former Foreign Secretary has taken into account Di Canio’s “past political statements”.
So. That’s the club’s Jewish fan alienated. And he supports Arsenal.
But other names will be staying at Sunderland. Indeed, fans can expect to see a flurry of new arrivals as Di Canio moves to a formation of 11 right wingers and rebrands the team as the “w*nkers in the black shirts”. Expect goals to be celebrated with a “mountain in the centre”. It being what Mussolini would have wanted.
Villas-Boas’s Spurs owe a debt of thanks to Sir Bobby Robson
THE tabloid media love to give Harry Redknapp an overly large share of the credit for improvements at Tottenham Hotspur. They should look to Bobby Robson’s role. It was the former England manager who inspired Tottenham Hotspur’s curent manager, Andre Villas-Boas, 35. He tell the Sunday Times:
In Portugal, every kid dreams about becoming a footballer. I was no exception. My first memories of football are of the club my family supported, my local team — FC Porto. I’ve been going to see them from the age of four. Then, when I was 17, I met Sir Bobby Robson and my life changed. At the time, he was manager of Porto and lived in my block. We got talking one day so I quizzed him about tactics and players and he invited me to come and watch the team in training.
I spent a lot of time with Sir Bobby. He inspired me. From then on, my dream was to manage my own team.
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Four Girls One Cup: Missouri High School girls test their aims
WHEN Monett High School girls’ basketball team took on the ladies of Cassville High School in southwest Missouri, the Cassville players poured a cup of urine into a water cooler used by Monett players.
A letter to Monett parents said that four Cassville players urinated into one cup. But, oddly, only one player’s urine was selected to be tipped into the water cooler. What happend to the other urine? Did it not meet exacting standards? Did it contain traces of illicit and misused drugs?
Cassville school leaders have apologised and the miscreants ticked off.
And, what with his being America, Monett school administrators add:
“Our understanding at this time is that the individual whose urine was used will be undergoing tests to determine if any health risks are present. We will pass along any information we receive.”
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Posted: 30th, March 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Don’t panic: ‘hapless’ England are not QPR
THE Daily Mail is gunning for Roy Hodgson. The England manager’s team is not inspiring dreams of glory. Failure to beat a decent Montenegro team does little to make fans believe England can win the next World Cup. But the team have yet to lose in their qualifying group and in they win every match, they will finish top of it. Brazil here we go.
But to the Mail, England are “hapless”. No. Scotland are hapless. England are disappointing. But the Mail has an agenda. So. Here’s Matt Barlow writing below the headline: “YOU’RE IN TROUBLE, ROY.”
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Rio Ferdinand bonfire chant: thought police want Fifa to punish England fans
“RIO RACE TAUNTS”, is the Daily Mail’s lead sports story. The paper says England have been reported to FiFa for “alleged racist” chants direted at Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand and his younger bother Anton. What did these scumbag England fans say?
Fines could be imposed after Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) flagged up to world football’s governing body the vile songs which suggested the pair be burned.
Cripes! What did they say? Can it be repeated in a family newspaper?
The chant was: ‘Build a bonfire, build a bonfire, put Rio on the top, put Anton in the middle, then burn the f****** lot.’
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Can 3-year-old Lil K. Lewis save Australian cricket? (Video)
CAN Australia be saved? The cricket team needs a new star. And 3AW might just have spotted her. Lil K. Lewis is three. Tim Blair does his best Richie Benaud and appraises the talent:
That backlift is perfect. Her first shot is a drive through mid-wicket taken from outside the off-stump in the manner of Viv Richards, who shares Lil’s lower-hand style. The second shot is a lofted straight drive, again featuring that strong right hand. Lil’s third shot is a cover drive so majestic, so technically exquisite, that the little girl freezes in her follow-through so that lesser players might learn how it’s done:
Monty Panesar’s Flying Circus, and the other greatest sporting endings
MONTY Panesar’s Flying Circus, and the other greatest sporting endings
As Monty Panesar dived comically to slide his bat over the popping crease and set up England’s great escape against New Zealand in Auckland, he and his teammates provided a finale worthy of the ten greatest sporting climaxes of all time. And competition for places is nothing if not fierce…
Cricket first, and in 2009 Monty was of course involved at the business end of the first test match to be played at Cardiff, when England clung on to save the game, and set up their second successive home Ashes series victory. Better still, though, was…
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Golfer Sergio Garcia climbs tree for a one-handed shot from a branch!
GOLF is strange sport which pits man against a small hole and a lot of weather. It provoked King George V to spit “golf always makes me so damned angry!” Ace golfer Sergio Garcia said: “Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle.”
And it was Sergio that created a little sporting miracle all of his own while competing in the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida.
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Rich and handsome David Beckham says God chooses who is disabled, ugly and poor
DAVID Beckham has a new tattoo. Appearing at Peking University, Becks showed off his latest ink. Written in a Chinese script, it translates to:
“Life and death are determined by fate, rank and riches decreed by Heaven.”
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Posted: 25th, March 2013 | In: Celebrities, Sports | Comment
Danny Boyle: The Olympic spirit is dead
SUMMER seems so long ago now, while we all stand at 45 degree angles in the howling wind, sodden by relentless sheets of dreadful rain. There was a time when the sun was out, the Tour De France was being amazing, Wimbledon was on and the Olympics rolled into town.
For a brief moment, a nation was united by the relief that London didn’t mess up the Olympic Games.
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