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.
Sunderland takes on Everton in rubbish storm
HAVING seen Sunderland lost 0-2 to Everton in the FA Cup quarter-final, the Sunderland Echo reassures its readers that the visotors are not better than the Mackems at all.
Locals now know that:
Everton has apologised after one of its players was seen dropping litter.
Scum!
The littering was witnessed by the Sunderland Echo’s Durham reporter Rob Freeth.
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Posted: 2nd, April 2012 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
RIP Chris Ralph, the man we never knew but whom football will mourn
RIP Chris Ralph, the 47-year-old footballer who collapsed during a football match between Chagford and Topsham Town. Mr Ralph fell ill playing for Chagford in the Devon Veterans’ County Cup final at Newton Abbot.
Mr Ralph, of Budleigh Salterton, Devon, died in Torbay Hospital.
The game was abandoned.
And so begins the grim procession of orchestrated grief. Any sane human being would love Mr Ralph to be alive. He was a family man who will be much missed. He died suddenly. His family would have had little or not time to prepare for his passing. That is cruel. The game being abandoned was the correct thing to do. But only who those knew Mr Ralph in life can feel pain at his passing. However, next weekend the league wants clubs to hold a minute’s silence. The story, at the time of writing, is the second most read item on the BBC News.
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Posted: 1st, April 2012 | In: Sports | Comments (47)
Chelsea captain John Terry’s T-shirt of the day: Stiliyan Petrov and photos
PREMIER League photos of the day are introduced by Chelsea captain John Terry’s T-shirt of the day for Aston Villa’s Stiliyan Petrov. Not an illness, good cause, popular campaign nor expression of love for his fellow man escapes John Terry. He cares. And he wants to show everyone how much he cares. John Terry’s T-shirt collection is extensive. But – oddly – no- footballers wear “John Terry is innocent” T-shirts or show any kind of support for him and his fights and trials.
May Stiliyan Petrov and Fabrice Muamba can pray for the selfless Chelsea captain.
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Fabrice Muamba has never heard of Liam Stacey – Bolton player tweets his thnks
FABRICE Muamba has tweeted a photos of himself sat in his hospital bed. The 23-year-old Bolton Wanderers midfielder’s message to the fans is written by his fiancée, Shauna Magunda. It reads:
“Fab wanted me to post this pic for you all and to also say thank you for such overwhelming support.”
Well, not all of you. Not Liam Stacey, the idiot whose vile racist tweets saw him snitched on by the twitter police and who now languishes in jail the recipient of a 56 days (!) sentence for offence caused.
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Alex Ferguson is wrong – It’s Arsenal who suffer most from bad decisions
MANCHESTER United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says Manchester City’s Patrick Vieira is wrong and United are not helped by favouritism from referees. Says he:
“It evens itself out over a season and that will never change. You get breaks here and there. Every club gets good breaks, bad breaks.”
Really? The website Debatable Decisions looks at “The Real Premier League Table” – “It’s calculated using the decisions that directly affect goals e.g. goals ruled out for offside, corners incorrectly given that lead to goals, whether or not the ball has crossed the line, penalties etc.”
Man United would still be top of the table with an increase on their current 73 points to 76 points. Man City would be on 71, up one from 70. Third-placed Arsenal would be on 62 points, a rise of fours points on the actual Premier League table. Spurs would be fifth and Chelsea fourth.
The ‘real’ bottom three would be Bolton, Wolves and QPR and not, as is now, QPR, Wigan and Wolves.
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Posted: 30th, March 2012 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
The Belly Flop Championships – my man boobs don’t bounce
TO the Belly Flop Championships between the Aussie Dugongs and the New Zealand Puku Plungers. So. This is what stars of 1980s professional darts ended up doing. Fingers crossed that this becomes an Olympic sport…
Paul Sturgess kills basketball with his planted score
BASKETBALL is over. English Harlem Globetrotter Paul Sturgess – all 7’8″ of him – will now plop the ball into the net into the net with his feet planted firmly on the decking. No need to bounce it. No need to dribble it. Just toss it to the big lad up front. It’s like he’s been coached by Harry Redknapp…
RIP Jockey Wilson: When darts had the lot – photos
RIP Jocky Wilson, favoured son of 1980s televised darts – world champion in 1982 and 1989. Wilson died at his home in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He lived smoking 40 ciggies a day for 40 years. Rumours are that he liked a drink – darts’ Jocky Wilson Cup between England and Scotland was tipped as a new measure for wine and spirits. This is the way with sporting maverick, they can take a dink, a ciggie and, above all, a joke. Back when Jocky used his feed hand to hold a lit cigarette amid the tungsten, darts had character and no need for walk ons, theme music and the Dutch.
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Posted: 25th, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (2)
Stella McCartney goes fur free for Team GB
MUCH debate over the Stella McCartney-designed Team GB Olympic kits – bikinis for the women and tank top, long johns and knitted greaves for him. Is there enough red on those kits? What b out enough leather. Or fur? Peta delivers a tweet:
Loving the @StellaMcCartney Team GB Olympics outfit (fur and leather free, like the woman herself)
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Hong Kong Police arrest 10-Year old for extreme violence in football match – video
THIS video shows a 10-year old boy kicking an opponent in the head in a match between ESF Lions and Kitchee Escola in Hong Kong. ESF in the acronym for English Schools Foundation:
The English Schools Foundation was established by the Hong Kong Government to provide the people of Hong Kong with a seamless, affordable English language education focused on excellence in learning and catering to the diverse needs of the community…
It looks like an ex-pats facility.
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New Team GB kits ‘tres patriotic’ says Nicholas Sarkozy
THE new Team GM Olympic sports kit, as designed by Stella McCartney, is blue. There can be no escaping the lack of red in the Union flag on the kit’s top.
Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter is the “creative director” for the kit, labelled as a “bold design” by the British Olympic Association.
It’s the perfect kit to be worn by Team Scotland at next year’s Commonwealth Games. It can also go with denim janes and as Jessica Ennis, the heptathlete and keen colourologist, said:
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Posted: 22nd, March 2012 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Stoke City manager Tony Pulis escapes driving ban because sick kids and Stoke-on-Trent need him
SO. Why has spikey Stoke City manager and Bournemouth local Tony Pulis not been banned from driving. He had 15 point on his licence. The matter was important enough to occupy minds at Leamington Magistrates’ Court.
Tony Pulis was recorded travelling his BMW 530DM at 96mph along a 60mph-stretch of the M42 motorway on November 6 2011.
The Stoke Sentinel reports:
Pulis has escaped a ban after his lawyer argued it would have caused the manager, Stoke City and the people of Stoke-on-Trent exceptional hardship.
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Manchester United twins Fabio and Rafael da Silva off to Barcelona
THE Premier League football season is in the Squeaky Bum Zone, and the BBC is looking at who will be on the move next season:
Barcelona are plotting a shock summer move for Manchester United twins Fabio and Rafael da Silva, both 21.
Such are the facts…
Fabrice Muamba: two deaths, Thierry Henry insults family and Bolton’s Wembley dream
FABRICE Muamba: Anorak’s look at the Bolton Wanderers’ midfielder in the news: tabloid lies, and D. Venkatesh and Christina Goredema die:
On the Daily Star leads with news of Fabrice Muamba, it’s front-page headline declaring” Muamba dead for 78 minutes”. City AM, the free newspaper for City bigshots, says:
“Muamba was effectively dead for 80 mins”
Bolton Wanderers club doctor Jonathan Tobin has told the BBC:
“It was 48 minutes when he collapsed to reaching hospital and a further 30 minutes after that. He was, in effect, dead at that time. We were fearing the worst and didn’t think we would get the recovery we had. It’s incredible.”
Fabrice Muamba and the Munich Air Disaster – compare and contrast
FABRICE Muamba is ill. On twitter, Liam Stacey has been death with but what to make of Red Issue, the Manchester United fanzine that sees mourn porn in the media’s cynical treatment of Muamba. It tweets:
* Bolton reserve game off. Time for ‘professionals’ to return to work methinks. Good job they’re not on £22k p/a in Afghanistan.
* News just in: Queen abandons Jubilee Tour. “One doesn’t think it right at a time a man is fighting for his life.” Olympics now in doubt.
* More stats for all our fans out there: 0 – Bolton games postponed when 33 supporters died 2 – Lpool games postponed when 95 supporters died
*
@Pearcesport “at Muamba hospital”??? Are you for real? Has it changed its name in solidarity?#callthisjournalism?
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Wolves boss Terry Connor is Oliver Holt’s white man’s burden
WOLVES are bottom of the Premier League. Their manager is Terry Connor. He’s black. Oliver Holt notices. He writes in the Mirror:
Why the sick wolves are already howling for Terry Connor’s blood
I am indebted to Terry Connor for enticing a new snail’s trail of morons and trolls to come slipping and sliding out of the compost heap… ‘So much for black managers, eh? This is what happens when you go down that route.’
Who says that? Morons and trolls, that’s who. Who listens to morons and trolls? Answer: other morons and trolls and newspaper writers looking for an angle:
Well, thank you very much, because this is indeed what happens. This is what happens when you give a black Englishman a job in the Premier League. What happens is that he is judged by different, harsher criteria. Subliminally, perhaps. But the effect is the same.
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Posted: 21st, March 2012 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
Falkirk streaker Lewis Fraser trips over his pants (video)
STREAKER of the Day is 18-year-old Falkirk fan Lewis Fraser, 18. When Falkirk took on Ross County at Victoria Park, Fraser was stood with the away fans. Ross County scored. Fraser seized the moment. He vaulted the fence. He ran. And then he fell – his feet became entangled with his pants. He never stood a chance.
Fraser has been arrested and fined £500 for breach of the peace (ie: giving everyone a good laugh). Falkirk lost 1-2 – a scoreline from hereon known as the ‘meat and two veg’.
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Posted: 21st, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment (1)
England’s Congo-born Fabrice Mumaba stuffs the Mail’s ‘Plastic Brits’ story
THE Daily Mail has been harping on about “plastic Brits“, athletes and sportsmen who were not born in the UK but who represent the country.
In recent weeks, the paper has published such stories as:
“Plastic Brits rile IOC boss Rogge… but he admits it can’t be stopped – March 15, 2012
“Imports take GB to medal record as Van Commenee eyes Olympic glory” – March 12, 2012 12/03/2012
“There’s no way I’ll be standing for National Anthem when ‘Plastic Brit’ Porter wins gold” – March 9, 2012
“Start learning God Save The Queen! Olympics chief fires warning to Plastic Brits” – March 9, 2012
“It could have been Farah or Ennis but our athletes will be led by a Plastic Brit” March 8, 2012
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Fabrice Muamba: Richard Littlejohn says Muamba is the infection that triggers an English disease
FABRICE Muamba: Anorak’s look at the Bolton Wanderers’ footballer in the news: Richard Littlejohn’s spite in the Daily Mail and the Sun’s cynicism in trying to own Muamba and his illness.
Daily Mirror (front page)” Why did they stop the game?”
The Sun (front page): “Did we lose? Why did they stop the game?”
Both papers lead with same story that Fabrice Muamba’s father Marcel asked him if he knew who he was. Aime Esalo, a friend of the Muamba family, says: “Fabrice said ‘Yes’ and the next thing he asked was, ‘Did we lose?'”
Fabrice asked why the game between Bolton and Spurs had been stopped. Hsi father replied: “Because of you.”
The Sun has spotted a campaign. Newspapers love a campaign – it’s what makes them stand apart. The front page invites readers to:
“Join our CPR campaign in schools”
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Posted: 21st, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment (1)
The Hans of Singapore’s Liverpool-themed wedding – video
ENGLISH football is the envy of the world. (More here.) So, then, to Mr & Mrs Han’s wedding in Singapore. Theirs was a Liverpool-themed wedding. Lots of You’ll Never Walk Alone as they trod the aisle – but, sadly, no Anfield Rap.
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Fabrice Muamba is a sign of God’s love for mankind
FABRICE Muamba: Anorak’s round-up of the gravely ill Bolton Wanderers player in the news:
The press have adopted Fabrice Muamba as as cause. The Independent leads with:
Fabrice Muamba: Adopted son who thrived in the face of adversity
The Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Mail also love Muamba. But it wasn’t always so. Please read: “Fabrice Muamba turns from sponging black immigrant to footballing hero.”
The Daily Star’s front-page headline offers:
JOY AS MUAMBA SAYS FIRST WORD
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Fabrice Muamba: Jose Mourinho, Dr Andrew Deaner and tabloid experts
FABRICE Muamba: A look at the Bolton Wanderers player in the news:
The Indian Express: “Muamba’s collapse due to excessive exercise, feel experts”
Experts who never treated Muamba:
Although doctors aren’t yet sure what caused Fabrice Muamba’s heart to stop beating on Saturday, some experts say vigorous exercise may have been the trigger…
“Exercise could be a trigger for a cardiac event,’’ said Dr William McKenna, director of inherited cardiac diseases at University College London. “If you have a known problem and push the system to the limit, it may fall apart.’’
Other experts said it was likely Muamba’s problem was a pre-existing one that hadn’t been detected before. “In someone his age, genetic abnormalities are the most common cause,’’ said Dr Douglas Zipes, a distinguished professor at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at Indiana University…
“Athletes under the stress of a game have a lot of adrenalin in their bodies,’’ Zipes said. “That can interact with an underlying congenital problem and cause a cardiac arrest,’’ he said.
This follows the fine work of the Sun’s medical team. The Sun told us:
FABRICE Muamba will need a miracle to survive, doctors warned last night. Figures show just five per cent of people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospital live. This goes up to around 17 per cent if the patient is given defribillation within minutes of the arrest. But of those who survive around 95 per cent suffer brain damage — caused when the brain is starved of oxygen.
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The Fever Pitch Years: two decades of English football’s gentrification
THE Fever Pitch Years: two decades of English football’s gentrification. It started 20 years ago with this man and this book.
Of course there was the Taylor report too, and the Bosman ruling and Italia 90, but it was the publication of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch in 1992 that symbolised the fundamental shift in the world of football. A pastime described by the Sunday Times as “a slum sport played in slum stadiums and increasingly watched by slum people” was on its way to becoming the billion-dollar business we know today. Some call it progress; others beg to differ…
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Posted: 19th, March 2012 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Sports | Comments (6)
Syrian TV Says Barcelona FC Formations Are Coded Messages To Rebels
DID you know that Barcelona FC are delivering coded messages to Syrian rebel arms smugglers? If Lionel Messi beats two men , chips the keeper then swan dives into an ornamental pond, we invade Iran at noon.
In a segment aired last December, Al Dunya TV showed a clip from an El Clasico game between Barca and Real Madrid to illustrate their point…
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Posted: 19th, March 2012 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Why is Fabrice Muamba front-page news – but his photos are not?
FABRICE Muamba is on the front pages of the:
Sun: “God Is In Control”
Devastated Shauna Muganda, 27, kept a bedside vigil and tweeted: “God is in control.”
She tweeted it.
Daily Star: “In God’s Hands”
The words hang by photos of Manchester United player clapping – with their hands.
Daily Mirror: “His Heart Failed For Two Hours”
The Guardian, Times and Independent lead with photos of football players and fans paying tributs to Muamba and hopeing he pulls through.
Why is this front-page news?
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