1. Bad Losers
Successful teams have a winning mentality instilled into them by the manager and coaches but they need to learn to become gracious losers on the rare occasion that a result goes against them. So often when the team loses, it's the fault of the referee, they were unlucky and didn't deserve to lose - there must be someone to blame, unable to accept defeat. Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez are all past masters at this art of self promotion and deception.
2. Time Wasting
When teams set out to waste time from the very start of a match, slowing it down at every set-piece and stoppage, they are depriving spectators of the game for which they paid. Taking the ball to the corner flag in the final moments of a game only enrages their opponents and is liable to lead to serious injury or an incident as tempers boil over.
3. Diving and Conning the Referee
Players who cheat should be exposed for their claims for penalties and and free-kicks that were not merited. Retrospective decisions should be taken by the authorities where referees have not been aware of the cheating.
4. Weakened Teams
Managers should be required to select their strongsest available team regardless of any future fixture. Manchester United and liverpool regularly field under-strength sides ahead of Champions League games. This demeans the competition, their opponents and the paying public. Manchester United lost at Chelsea in a crucial Premier League game as Christiano Ronaldo started as a substitute.
Selasa, 06 Mei 2008
My Top 4 Hates in Football Plays
Cristiano Ronaldo: World's Best FootBall Player
Cristiano Ronaldo could go one better this campaign than last, and win Fifa World Player of the Year, but is he really the world's finest footballer?
He was second only to AC Milan's Kaka for last year's Fifa World Player of the Year, but he is the frontrunner for the title in 2008. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 38 goals for Manchester United this season, an astonishing number for a winger, smashing the 40 year old record of 35 strikes held by George Best. Ronaldo is arguably having the greatest single season of any player in the history of Manchester United.
The Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has suggested that Manchester United are overly reliant on their Portuguese playmaker, claiming that Ronaldo "has carried United on his back" through the season, as reported by Charlie Caroe, April 18 for the Telegraph. Although Ronaldo is United's outstanding player, it is the team around him that allows him to play his game. To suggest that he carries United is off the mark.
Football Clubs' Religious Roots
in some ways, football has become similar to religion. Every weekend for nine months, large groups of people go on a pilgrimage to stadia across the country to support their team. They often wear replica shirts or the colors of their team to identify themselves.
However, like religion, rivalries have caused conflict, often resulting in violence between the two sides.Of course, hooligans don't really think about religion, when they're beating up rival fans, but they still go around thinking they're following the true faith.
With the amount of money now in the game, it is often forgotten that several of the major clubs in Great Britain were in fact formed by church groups. And, ironically, stamping out violence was one of their aims when setting them up.
Even today, there are many schemes to remove youths from the street and get them into sport, but religion does not play as big a part in society as it once did. Back in the 19th Century, the church was more influential and in several cases, the clubs set up by parishes have developed into multi-million pound companies.
Brother Walfrid's Bhoys
North of the border, there is one such club that still has links with religion: Celtic. Several clubs were formed by Irish Catholic communities, the first such being Edinburgh's Hibernian (their name being Latin for Ireland).
Unlike the others though, the connections between the Bhoys and their roots remains strong to this day.
They were first thought of on 6th November 1887 by the Marist Brother Walfrid (aka Andrew Kearns) in St Mary's Church hall in Calton, Glasgow.
The club was set up with the intention of alleviating poverty in the East End of the city. The name, Celtic, was immediately adopted and reflected the club's Scottish and Irish roots. Amazingly, the club's first official match was played against Rangers on 6th November 1888 in what was probably the only 'friendly encounter' between the two teams.
The Bhoys became the first to claim the bragging rights as they won 5-2, with several of the players in the starting XI borrowed from Hibernian.
Brother Walfrid himself wanted to keep the club amateur and only had charitable intentions for the club. However, he wasn't to get his wish, as local builder John Glass was to sign eight Hibs players without the committee's knowledge in August 1888, whilst offering them huge huge financial incentives.
With the club now a professional outfit, they soon established themselves as one of the top teams in Scotland, winning their first trophy (the Scottish Cup) in 1892, with their first league title coming the following year. Since then they, along with Rangers (who were formed by rowers) have dominated Scottish football for over a century.
The other team to have played at Anfield
Nowadays, Everton play their home games at Goodison Park.
But, it is often forgotten that they previously played on the other side of Stanley Park, where their deadly rivals Liverpool now call home.
In fact, the Toffees can claim to be indirectly responsible for their neighbour's formation. Everton became the first of Liverpool's major clubs to be formed in 1878.
The minister of St Domingo Methodist Church, the Rev. B. S. Chambers, set up a football club in order for the members of the church's cricket team to have something to do during the winter. The club was originally called St Domingo FC, but this was changed to Everton in November the following year after men from outside the parish wanted to come and join.
Everton became one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888 and by then the club were renting out Anfield, owned by John Orrell with his friend John Houlding the leaseholder. Eventually, Houlding was to buy the ground from Orrell and quickly increased the rent, something Everton refused to do.
So they left Anfield in 1892 and moved to the other side of Stanley Park and their present home Goodison Park, resulting in Houlding forming Liverpool.
But this isn't where the religious links end with Everton, for Goodison Park is the only Premier League stadium with a church in its grounds - St Luke the Evangelist.
The church is located in between the triple-tiered Main Stand and the Gwladys Street End and the walls of it come within meters of these two stands.
It even has a role to play on match-days, as it sells refreshments.
Blue faith
Whilst their more illustrious neighbors were formed by employees of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, the team from the blue half of Manchester were thought of by a rector's daughter.
Two years after what became Manchester United came into existence, Anna Connell, whose father Arthur was rector of St Mark's church in Gorton, in the north-west of the city, looked to provide activities for men with nothing to do in the winter.
Like Everton, a cricket club was already in existence and more activities were needed to curb levels of violence and alcoholism in the local area.
Ironic, considering these are the sort of things now associated with football fandom.
Boozy fights often took place between different religious and racial groups and the problems were made worse by the high levels of unemployment in the area.
With the help of two church wardens, William Beastow and Thomas Goodbehere, Connell set up West Gorton (St Mark's) FC - the club who eventually became Manchester City.
The club played its first game against Macclesfield Baptist Church on November 13th 1880. The initiative was such a success it led to the Archdeacon of Manchester commented of Connell: 'No man could have done it - it required a woman's tact and skill to make it so successful.' Eventually, the club was to drift away from its roots.
It dropped St Mark's from its name to become Gorton AFC in 1884 and three years later moved across the city to Ardwick and went professional.
It adopted the name of its new home before finally becoming Manchester City in 1894.
Pitt of uncertainty
It's not just the most famous clubs that owe a debt of gratitude to the Church and in this case the man of the cloth even got himself in on the action.
For a long time there was some debate over when Swindon Town was formed with the club switching between foundation dates of 1879 and 1881.
For a long time the later date was deemed official as on November 12th that year Swindon, under their previous guise of Spartan Club, merged with St Mark's Young Men's after a match between the two teams.
But last year, substantial evidence led to the Robins acknowledging 1879 as the correct date. It is now accepted that Reverend William Pitt, curate of Christ Church in the town centre, formed the club in an attempt to unite the communities of the Great Western Railway workers and those there before GWR arrived.
There are two main pieces of evidence that suggests this was the case.
One of these is a local report, discovered by former club statistician Paul Plowman, on a game between Swindon AFC and Rovers FC from November 29th 1879.
The report included a team photo including Pitt himself.
Pitt severed ties with the club in 1881, when he was appointed Rector of Liddington Church. However, he provided the other piece of evidence during a speech in 1911, during which he said the name was changed to Spartan Club as members found the original name too much of a mouthful.
He also mentioned his removal from Swindon led to his departure.
Two years after he left, Spartan Club became Swindon Town.
The clue's in the name
When Southampton moved from The Dell to the St Mary's Stadium in 2001, it represented a bit of homecoming.
For the club moved back into the part of the city where they were originally formed in 1885. The stadium name was a welcome change from the current trend of selling off naming rights, as it referred to the nearby church.
The club was set up by members of the St Mary's Church of England Young Men's Association, meaning its first name was rather wordy - leading to them being referred to as St. Mary's YMA by the local press.
St. Mary's played in a variety of venues around Southampton, one of the earliest being Southampton Common.
Or at least they tried to play there - the Saints often had their games interrupted by pedestrians wandering across the pitch!
The club had changed its name to Southampton St Mary's by the time it became a limited company in 1897 and ended its association with the church.
In 1898 the Saints, now just called Southampton FC, moved across the city to The Dell before making the return journey 103 years later.
More clubs of the cloth
There are plenty of other football clubs that have their roots in the church -some more successful than others.
This season's FA Cup semi-finalists, Barnsley were originally a club trying to give football a foothold in a rugby-dominated area.
The Tykes were formed in 1887 by the wonderfully-named Reverend Tiverton Preedy of St Peters', whose church lent its name to the club as Barnsley St Peters'.
He wanted to create 'a soccer club the rugbyites will not crush.'
The club moved to Oakwell soon afterwards, but by 1897, Preedy had departed the area and their fanbase now included those outside the local parish, leading to a name change to Barnsley FC. Aston Villa also had to contend with other sports when they were created.
They were formed by members of the Villa Wesleyan Cross Chapel in 1874 who, like several of the other clubs mentioned were cricket players looking for something else to do during the winter.
It took them a year to find opponents in an area where rugby was more popular and they were in fact a rugby team.
In March 1875, they faced Aston Brooks St Mary's in which the first half was to be played under rugby rules and the second football.
Villa won this encounter, keeping the first half scoreless and scoring a solitary goal after half time. Tottenham Hotspur's Jewish connections are well-known, but they were in fact founded by a Bible class.
'The Hotspur Football Club' came into existence in 1882 thanks to a group of grammar school boys at All Hallow Church.
These boys then made their teacher, John Ripsher, the club's first President - a position he filled until 1894.
Ripsher died in poverty in 1907 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Dover - until Tottenham presented it a proper headstone a century later.
The Church of England Church on Star Road, West Kensington can be credited with the formation of Fulham in 1879.
The Cottagers were originally a Sunday school team and started their existence, like Southampton, with a long-winded name - Fulham St Andrews Church Sunday School.
The church still stands and a plaque outside it recognizes its place in the club's history.
FC Barcelona - More Than A Club
FC Barcelona is a sports club in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. While it has divisions within in many different sports, it is most famous for its football club, founded in 1899 by a group of twelve people, led by Swiss businessman Joan Gamper.
FC Barcelona and long-standing rival Real Madrid remain the most representative teams within Spain. Barcelona, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid, are the only three teams in Spain to have never been relegated from Spain's top football league - 'La Liga' - which FC Barcelona have won eighteen times, including a run in the 90s that saw them win 'La Liga' for four consecutive seasons (1991 - 1994) under the management of Dutch footballing icon, Johan Cruyff. Among many other honours, FC Barcelona has also been crowned European Champions twice, as well as winning the Copa del Ray for a record 24 times.
Until recently, FC Barcelona was well known for being one of the only football clubs in the world to refuse to allow sponsors' logos on their football shirts. However, in 2006, the club announced a five-year agreement with UNICEF, which includes having the UNICEF logo on their shirts. The agreement has seen FC Barcelona donate US$1.9 million per year to the charity organization.
As in often the case between the two strongest teams in a national league, there is a fierce rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, with the game between La Liga's two top sides known as 'El Clasico'. The clubs are seen as representatives of two rival countries in Spain: Catalonia (Barcelona) and Castille (Real Madrid), as well as of the two cities themselves, and the rivalry projects what many regard as the political and cultural tensions felt between Catalans and the Castilians.
Barcelona play their home games at the Camp Nou (Catalan for "new field"), which is often reversed in both English and Spanish to become the Nou Camp. It is a UEFA 5-star rated stadium and has hosted a number of international competitions, including European Champions League finals.
The stadium has an official capacity of 98,772, making it the largest stadium in Europe. Away from football it has also played host to a number of notable music artists, including U2, Bruce Springsteen The Three Tenors and even Frank Sinatra; while Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in front of a congregation in excess of 120,000 people in the Camp Nou in 1982.
So, as you might expect given the great allure of the Camp Nou and the surrounding environs of Spain's second largest city, hotels in Barcelona are always likely to be in huge demand - not only from visiting football teams, but also from stars of the music world, their armies of fans and tourists looking to explore Catalonia's capital city.
England World Cup 2010 Qualification
I know the Euro 2008 finals tournament hasn't even started yet and unfortunately England will not be there as we failed along with all other home nations to qualify.
But at least we have the World Cup 2010 qualifiers to look forward too with the hope that England can qualify from their group and go forward to South Africa. In recent years it has been a turgid affair following England. With the over hyped press before every major tournament and the equally vitriolic dissecting of the England football teams failings after being dumped out of the latest tournament. It's worth noting here in my opinion.
England is over rated with only Spain of the so called big teams regularly underachieving as often. Looking back England has only ever reached the final of one international Football tournament which makes us the worst performing of all the Countries that have won the world cup. In fact England's record in the Euros has been even worse their best finish being fourth in the 1996 Euros, hosted in England. Anyway enough of the England bashing I am after all English and would love to see England lift the World cup.
This is where I think not qualifying for Euro 2008 may have been a blessing in disguise as expectation is now at its lowest for many years and maybe nearer to realistic expectation levels. For me it is not the fact that England has won nothing in 42 years only a handful of countries have shared the major tournament trophies since then. I would like to see England enter the world cup qualifiers with a realistic press and void of all the nationalistic over hype we get through every tournament. The is after all some hope with Capello taking charge if nothing else he should be able to eradicate the prima Donna egos from which ever squad he chooses. And being at the twilight of his illustrious career appears to care little for courting the press. I still hold hope for the World Cup 2010. If nothing else perhaps we can entertain on our way to qualification.
Champions League Final
The Champions League tournament started for the first time in the year 1955. French sports journalist and editor, Gabriel Hanot suggested this continental competition for winners of the European national football leagues.
The competition used a two-leg knockout format. The teams played two matches, one at home, and one on the ground of the opponent. The team with the highest overall score qualified for the next round of the competition. Entry was restricted to the teams that won their national league championships. This qualification system continued until 1992.
In the 1992-93 seasons, the tournament became popular with the name UEFA Champions League. In the year 1997-98, the eligibility changed to include not just domestic champions but also the runners-up. The selection criteria for the winners of the European Cup are, however, not standard.
Champions League Final:
The European Cup or the UEFA Champions League Final is set to take place at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow on 21st of May 2008.
It is a seasonal club football competition. UEFA has been organizing this competition since 1955. The European Cup includes the most successful football clubs in Europe. The prize and the European Cup, is the most prestigious club trophy in the world of football.
The championship is varies from the less prestigious UEFA Cup and the defunct Winners' Cup. The tournament consists of several stages.
In the present format, it begins in mid July with three preliminary knockout-qualifying rounds. The 16 surviving teams join 16 specified teams in a group stage. Eight winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout rounds, and the tournament ends with the final match in May.
The current holder of the European Cup is AC Milan. They have beaten Liverpool FC by 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece on 23 May 2007.
How to Get Such Football League News:
Admirers of the European Cup may now easily get the league football news, scores, and events of their favorite sport through online web sites, as the Internet offers them with plenty of updated football news. It is 100% possible to get updated football news within a single mouse click. Hence, search now and know the current and happening affairs in the world of football leagues.
Arsenal FC versus Chelsea FC
Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. They play in the Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football. They have won thirteen premier league titles and ten FA cups.
Arsenal FC was set up in 1886. They won their first major trophies in the 1930s, with five League Championship titles and two FA Cups. They became the second club of the 20th century to win the doubles in 1970-71. For the last twenty years, they have been one of the most successful clubs in English football.
Chelsea is another English professional football club based in west London, founded in 1905. They have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea has won three league titles, four FA cups, four League Cups and two UEFA Winners' Cups.
Strategies of Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC:
A large part of the Arsenal game includes tripping, feigning injury, shirt pulling, unsettling and rhythm-braking game. Arsenal is famous for its spoilt game in English football. They have serious bad disciplinary record and an infantile attitude if they lost.
The real problem with Chelsea is the lack of power and strength in defending. Chelsea Football Club has great players. That is why their game is more entertaining for the neutral public than a proper defense in the game. Football is about winning game. It is the top priority of clubs such as Chelsea to win them all the time.
Records of Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC:
Currently, Arsenal FC is just ahead of Chelsea Football Club by few points in Barclays Premier League of 2007-08 seasons with Manchester United FC on top. Chelsea has won the League Cup on three occasions in 1965, 1998 and 2005 whereas Arsenal has won it twice in 1987 and 1993.
Chelsea's 5-0 remains the biggest win against Arsenal at Highbury in November 1998. However, since that biggest defeat, Arsenal went 17 games unbeaten against Chelsea Football Club until the Champions League Quarter Final.
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