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.
The Premier League
The Premier league is officially the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons. It is a British professional league for football clubs.
Twenty clubs contest in this league. Seasons run from August to May. All teams play 38 games each.
The competition started as the FA Premier league on 20 February 1992. The first game took place on 15 august that year. Some clubs in the Football League First Division decided to break away from the Football League to take advantage of a profitable television right contract.
The Football League has been holding the primary football competition of England and Wales since 1888. Since then, the Premier League became the most followed sporting league.
It is the most well paid football league. In 2005-06, the combined club revenue was around $1.4 billion. It may rise to $1.8 billion in 2007-08 due to the rising media revenues.
Only four out of the 40 clubs have won the premier league title.
Manchester United FC, Everton FC & Liverpool FC
Manchester United FC is a British football club, based at Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester. It is the most popular Football Club in the world with over 330 million supporters worldwide, almost 5 percent of the world's population. The club was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992. The club has played in top division of English football, since 1975.
Manchester United FC was formed in 1978 by the laborers working at the Yorkshire and Lancashire Railway depots in Newton Health. During that time, it was termed Newton Health FC. They named the club as the Manchester United FC in 1902.
Currently owned by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer, Manchester United FC is perhaps the world's best-known sporting brand and undeniably, football's biggest club.
Average attendance at the club is higher than any other English football team. The club has been victorious in English football for over 20 years, since 1985-86 seasons. They have won 18 major championships, which is the highest number. They are the Premiere League's reigning champions and have won the Premier league for 16 times.
n 1968, they won European Cup for the first time.
They also hold the record for the most FA cup titles with 11 wins. Since the late 1990s, the club has become one of the richest in the world with the highest revenue of $1.4 million.
Everton FC:
Everton FC is a British FC situated in Liverpool city. This is one of the topmost successful English football clubs in respect of major honors. The club has won the League championship nine times, won UEFA Cup once, and FA cup five times. Everton FC is best known for notable rivalry against Liverpool Football Club.
Liverpool FC:
Liverpool FC is a professional English Football club located in Liverpool, Merseyside. It is the most successful football club in the English Football history. Liverpool FC has won the English League title 18 times with the last title being won in the year 1990. It has won the European cup five times, which is a notable English record. Apart from Liverpool football club, only Real Madrid and A.C. Milan have achieved the competition of Europe's premier club several times.
Tottenham, West Ham, & New Castle Football Clubs
Tottenham FC is an English professional football club, which plays in the Premier League and is the recent League Cup champion. The home ground of Tottenham FC is White Hart Lane, Tottenham, located in the London Borough of Haringey.
Tottenham FC is the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and FA Cup Doubles, winning both in the 1960-61 seasons. In 1963, Tottenham FC became the first British football club to win the European Winners Cup. Recently, the club has beaten Chelsea to attain the Football League Cup.
West Ham Football Club:
West Ham FC is an English football club located in Upton Park, London Borough of New Ham, and East London. The home stadium of West Ham FC, Boleyn Ground Stadium has 35,303 seating capacity.
At first, the name of the club was Thames Ironworks FC in 1895. Before joining the Football League, West Ham FC played against the Southern League and Western League in 1919. The club has been victorious for the top two divisions and has won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975, and 1980.
West Ham FC has also won the first War Cup in the year 1940.
New Castle Football Club:
Newcastle FC is also an English professional football club based in Newcastle. The origination of the club dates back to 1892 after the union of two local clubs, Newcastle West End and Newcastle East End. The home ground of Newcastle FC is St. James' Park.
Newcastle FC is a four-time First Division Championship winner and a six-time FA Cup winner. The club has an old furious rivalry with the local team Sunderland. Sunderland and Newcastle FC has been playing The Tyne- Wear Derby since 1898.
The customary kit colors of the club are white and black striped jerseys with black socks and shorts. Spectators of New Castle refer to themselves as the Toon Army.
Newcastle has a huge fan following and had the third highest attendance counting to (50,686) in the English Premier League in 2006-07 season. The club’s most outstanding fan following comes from Yorkshire.
FC Barcelona - one of the oldest, largest, richest and most successful football clubs in Spain - is
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.
Small Colleges, Short of Men, Embrace Football
WINCHESTER, Va. — Kevin Bosworth's football career here at Shenandoah University amounted to all of 10 plays, across four years otherwise spent watching from the sidelines. No matter. A reedy tight end, Mr. Bosworth wanted to play football, and the college was starting a team.
"As a new team, I figured they wouldn't cut anyone," he said. "I didn't know that much about Shenandoah, but I knew I wanted to go there."
Some small American colleges, eager to attract men to increasingly female campuses, have taken notice of how many students like Mr. Bosworth can be lured to attend by adding football teams. Officials at these colleges say football can bring in more tuition-paying students than any other course or activity — and not just players themselves.
"When you recruit a halfback, you get a few of his male friends, maybe his sister and his sister's boyfriend, too," said JoAnne Boyle, president of Seton Hill University. A 123-year-old former women's institution in Greensburg, Pa., Seton Hill added football last year.
"I could have started a spiffy new major of study, spent a lot of money on lab equipment and hired a few new high-powered professors," Dr. Boyle said. "I might have gotten 25 more students for that. And I couldn't have counted on that major still being popular in 15 years.
"Instead, I started a football team, brought in hundreds of paying students, added a vibrant piece to our campus life and broadened our recognition factor. And in the long history of American higher education, one thing you can count on is football's longevity. Football is here to stay."
Last year's freshman class at Seton Hill was the first with more men than women. Four years ago, when the college became fully co-ed, its undergraduate student body was 18 percent male; last fall it was 41 percent male.
At a time when the image of major college football has been sullied by academic, recruiting and sexual violence scandals — and as some prominent colleges eliminate football to cope with federal gender equity regulations for athletics — many smaller institutions have embraced the sport. Since their football players generally do not receive scholarships and are not blue-chip recruits, officials at small colleges say the players tend to exhibit less of a sense of entitlement, leading to fewer academic and discipline problems.
In the last 10 years, nearly 50 colleges and universities have instituted or re-instituted football, with more than 80 percent in the small college ranks. In the same period, about 25 institutions have dropped football, the majority being scholarship-driven teams from the National Collegiate Athletic Association's top tier, Division I.
Shenandoah, a campus of 1,500 students in Virginia's northernmost hill country, added football in 2000 when Mr. Bosworth was a senior in high school outside Washington.
That fall, he was one of 115 young men at the first day of football practice. Shenandoah was playing in Division III, in which athletic scholarships are prohibited. Six years later, Shenandoah still has a football roster of roughly 100, most of them paying nearly full tuition of more than $26,000 a year, including room and board. It has built three new residence halls since adding football, and campus life has been energized with the spectacle of 5,000 fans in the new, corporate-sponsored stadium.
Most important to Shenandoah officials, the team has narrowed the gender gap; the undergraduate enrollment is 41 percent male, up from 35 percent before football.
"You would be hard pressed to find five admissions officers or five professors or five marketing experts that could guarantee you 100 new, paying male students in one year," said Shenandoah's athletic director, John Hill. "But you can hire five football coaches and they can do it. In fact, they can find you 200 if you want. Those boys just want to play."
Dr. James A. Davis, now in his 25th year as Shenandoah's president, said: "I said no to football for 15 years, but I was wrong. Football is the best draw of qualified male applicants that there is anywhere. I am shocked more schools aren't adding football."
Football is popular among small colleges because the start-up costs for a nonscholarship program are less than $1 million, and that money can usually be raised from alumni. The annual football budget is subsidized by increased tuition revenue flowing from teams of at least 100 players. Methodist College in Fayetteville, N.C., routinely has 130 to 165 players. A typical Division I roster is 95 players.
The Football Games
On March 6, private equity baron Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars and a frequent attendee of University of Texas football games, was exposed to some real sports fans. Hicks was at Anfield, the home stadium of Liverpool Football Club, the British soccer team he and his business partner George Gillett acquired for $920 million, to watch his club face off against Spanish rival Barcelona in the prestigious Champions League.
Liverpool lost 1-0. But at the close of the game, 42,579 fans stood, Liverpool scarves and banners outstretched, and roared the team’s theme song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” A few thousand Barcelona fans sang along out of respect. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” Hicks recalls, speaking on the telephone from his plane a week later. “It gave me goose bumps.”
The rendition of the Rodgers & Hammerstein standard isn’t the only thing giving goose bumps to Hicks and Gillett. “Liverpool has 28 million registered fans around the world,” Hicks says, referring to the team’s website. “They have huge numbers of fans in the U.K., in Europe, and in Asia.” The game he witnessed was broadcast in 183 countries.
This combination of intense local support and huge global appeal is a key reason why Hicks and other prominent American investors have purchased well-known British soccer teams. Last summer, Randy Lerner, who inherited the N.F.L.’s Cleveland Browns and billions of dollars from his father, former MBNA head Alfred Lerner, bought Aston Villa, a middling club in Britain’s Midlands, for $120 million. And in 2005, Malcolm Glazer, the corporate raider who owns American football’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, bought Manchester United, the most popular and richest soccer club in Britain, for $1.5 billion.
What gives? For one thing, these guys have simply run out of teams to buy on their own soil. Franchises in big-money North American sports are like Vermeer paintings: There aren’t many (among them, the N.F.L., the N.B.A., the N.H.L., and Major League Baseball count 122 teams), virtually all are in private hands, and on the rare occasions they do come on the market, the bidding is frenzied. And financially speaking, soccer in the United States is small beer. Major League Soccer, now in its 12th year (oh, you didn’t notice?), remains a financial midget. The hoopla surrounding David Beckham’s late-career move to the Los Angeles Galaxy, which could earn him up to $250 million, has more to do with merchandising than with the beautiful game.
But there’s a larger business story here, one that echoes the argument of Franklin Foer’s 2004 book How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. For sports investors, the U.S. market—vast as it is—has limited growth potential compared with the rest of the world. “There are by far more soccer fans globally than there are American-football fans,” says Hicks. Countries such as China and India are minting countless new consumers every year. Alas, few are interested in following the onfield exploits—or buying the licensed merchandise—of U.S. sports stars like Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter.
Meanwhile, the English Premier League has landed huge television contracts. In 2006, it inked a three-year, $3.1 billion deal for domestic television rights with Setanta, a pay-per-view company, and BSkyB, a unit of News Corp. (Half of the revenue is shared equally among teams, while half is awarded on a sliding scale based on where teams finish in the standings.) Earlier this year, the league made another deal, which nearly doubles the fees it receives for international rights—about $1.25 billion for the 2007-2008 season, part of the $5.3 billion it will earn from selling its broadcast rights from 2007 to 2010. “We think the Premier League will have the biggest television revenue of any sport in the world over the next 20 years,” Hicks says.
It’s not just Americans who see the potential. Among the owners of Premier League teams are Mohamed al-Fayed, the Egyptian owner of the department store Harrod’s (Fulham), Russian energy billionaire Roman Abramovich (Chelsea), and Icelandic businessman Eggert Magnússon (West Ham United). Because British soccer teams recruit players from all over the world—and then beam the games back all over the world—many are already strong global brands.
Gillett and Hicks
Photograph by Peter Byrne/Getty Images
George Gillett (left) and Tom Hicks inside the Liverpool players' tunnel.
To U.S. entrepreneurs, the British league offers a purer form of capitalism than sports at home does. With salary caps, luxury taxes, revenue-sharing arrangements, and draft systems (under which this year’s losers get first dibs at next year’s talent), big-time pro sports in the U.S. is basically socialism among billionaires. British soccer is a far more Darwinian affair. There are no salary caps. Each year, the worst three (of 20) teams in the Premiership are kicked out and must play the following year in the second division, the Football League (also known as the Coca-Cola League), and the top three teams from the second division are promoted. For teams relegated to the second division, fan support and television revenue plummet.
That highlights a great risk: Foreign investors paying top dollar for undistinguished Premier League teams (such as Aston Villa) can quickly find their teams out of the money. Imagine if the Arizona Cardinals, finishing up yet another miserable season, had to play in the Arena Football League next year. The Icelandic investors who spent about $170 million last fall to buy West Ham United, which reached the F.A. Cup finals in 2006, must have thought their downside was limited. But the club has been hit by a succession of injuries, and its star-filled roster has yet to jell. As of early March, West Ham was ranked last in the Premiership. So much for the five-year business plan.
That’s why Hicks was drawn to a trophy property like Liverpool. “If you’re one of the top four teams, the combination of television revenue and the fact that you can compete for the Premiership championship and the [Champions] League, as well as F.A., cups” presents a significant upside, he says.
How does the fan base feel about all these Yank owners? After some initial, um, resistance (Manchester United followers actually trampled American flags when they heard Glazer had bought their club), most British soccer fans accepted with relative equanimity the prospect of colonials snapping up their beloved teams. Winning will do that. (Man U. is on track to win the Premiership and is still alive in both the prestigious F.A. Cup competition and the Champions League.)
The American owners have smoothed things out by speaking softly and listening carefully, although Hicks concedes there might be some difficulty bridging the gap between his Texas drawl and Liverpool’s Scouser dialect. They’ve acknowledged their ignorance about the game, left management in place, and kept low public profiles. Mark Cuban and George Steinbrenner they’re not—except in the wallet. Hicks and Gillett have pledged to bring their expertise to help jazz up the new stadium Liverpool is planning to build, and Randy Lerner, who spent his junior year abroad at the University of Cambridge, has been a godsend to Aston Villa, in unfashionable Birmingham, a team that is generally starved for capital. He used about $35 million of his own money to bring in two hot strikers, which has improved his credibility with fans and increased the club’s chances of playing in potentially lucrative European competitions.
The larger question is how, precisely, these successful capitalists plan to make money from their investments—short of flipping the teams to a deep-pocketed soccer-loving magnate in a few years. After all, they’ve promised not to engage in the types of transactions that have allowed them to profit from industrial acquisitions, e.g., taking on debt to pay out dividends to owners. And though clubs can be profitable, constant investment in new players and stadiums is required. Being an owner of an elite global sports franchise is like being a member of a very exclusive club—one with a high initiation fee and steep annual dues.
Based on his experience in private equity, Hicks has come to understand that proprietary consumer products branded in their markets and deriving their revenue from corporate sponsorships tend to turn profits and increase in value. “When I started investing in sports, I made the decision that these would be long-term assets, probably two generations,” he says. “To have three teams that play year-round on a global platform really positions me for the next 25 years.”
President Congratulates Navy Football Players
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2006 – President Bush today congratulated the U.S. Naval Academy football team for its feats on the gridiron, and predicted the young men's real heroics will take place on a field of a different sort -- a battlefield.
President Bush poses with the Naval Academy football team during the presentation of the Commander-in-Chief Trophy at the White House April 25. He said service academy graduates are serving the U. S. on the front lines of the war on terror. Photo by Kimberlee Hewitt
"The greatest achievement for the midshipmen will be when they join their counterparts from (the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y.) and (the U.S. Air Force Academy, at Colorado Springs, Colo.) to help us win the war on terror," Bush said in presenting the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to the midshipmen during a Rose Garden ceremony.
Navy ended the season with an 8-4 record, capped off by a 51-30 win over Colorado State in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego Dec. 22. The team beat Army and Air Force during its season to win the trophy for the third straight year.
Bush today said lessons the players learn on the football field will help prepare them for their duty in the war on terrorism. "Every player on this team works hard to win on Saturday afternoons," he said. "But like the rest of your midshipmen, your top priority is preparing to defend this nation."
The president lauded the young men for their willingness to serve. "When it came time to serve our country, they said, 'I volunteer to serve. I recognize there's something more important in life than serving myself. I want to serve my nation,'" he said. "And for that the American people are really grateful."
He said service academy graduates are serving the U. S. on the front lines of the war on terror, specifically mentioning Marine First Lt. Brian Stann, a former Navy linebacker who was awarded the Silver Star in March for his actions in Iraq.
"Today, there are sailors and Marines who are leading vital missions in Afghanistan and in Iraq and around the world," Bush said. "Graduates from the Naval Academy patrol the world's oceans to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of the terrorists and are maintaining America's command of the seas.
"You protect our nation and, equally importantly, you're laying the foundation of peace for a generation of Americans to come," he continued. "And so we're here to, first and foremost, honor a really fine football team and present the Commander-in-Chief Trophy.
"But as well," he said, "we pay tribute to men and women who wear the uniform of the United States and say, 'Thank you from the bottom of our collective hearts for protecting us.'"
Football Play Book
Do you want to learn how to play football? Football.com has developed this playbook through the input of successful coaches from youth football on up to the NFL level. It includes basic and complex offensive run and pass plays, and several defensive schemes. This playbook uses a methodical number play name system that allows plays to be run in different formations. Since many teams use different terminology and numbering systems, our playbook includes a diagram of hole assignments, passing routes and an explanation of play names. Plays are categorized by play type and include illustrations of standard plays in different formations. If you get stuck on terminology refer back to the Hole Assignments, Passing Routes or Play Name Terms for assistance.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football is played with an oval ball that weighs between 450 and 480 grams (16 and 17 ounces) and has a short circumference of 545–555 mm (21.5–22 inches) and a wide one of 720–730 mm (28–29 inches). Australian football is one of the few field sports that does not use a uniform-sized ground; it is played on an oval field that can vary in width between 110 and 155 metres (120 and 170 yards) and in length between 135 and 185 metres (145 and 200 yards). Two goalposts not less than 6 metres (20 feet) in height are placed 6.4 metres (21 feet) apart at each end of the ground. Two shorter posts, called behind posts, rise to a minimum height of 3 metres (10 feet), with each one placed at the side of a goalpost at a distance of 6.4 metres. The line between the goalposts is called the goal line, and this line's extension from each goalpost to its behind post is called the behind line. 
Pongolle saddened by racist abuse at Atletico
Former Football Player Scores Big with Academic Plan
Melvin was well on his way to stardom when an injury sidelined his aspirations. However, by having a good back-up plan, Melvin was prepared to overcome his obstacle and become a success in another profession.
Today, as one of six African-Americans in NASA's Permanent Astronaut Corps, Melvin has his sights on the stars. Executing his options catapulted him from the gridiron into space.
To accomplish great things, you must not only dream, but also plan; and "every plan should contain options, like having a spare tire, just in case you get a flat," Melvin said.
As co-manager of NASA's Educator Astronaut Program (EAP), Melvin travels across the country, engaging thousands of students through the excitement of space exploration, and inspiring them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"Our children are the next generation of leaders and explorers," Melvin said. "I want to share the value of a well-rounded education with students all over the country and help them make a connection to higher education."
As a child, Melvin treasured the chemistry set his parents gave him in first grade. Later, he took apart the family telephone to see how it worked, and he put it back together again without error. "I always had that passion, that sense of wonderment," Melvin recalled.
While in football training camp, Melvin was working as a research assistant in the materials science department at the University of Virginia (U.Va.), Charlottesville, Va. He was also taking night classes via television.
"By day I was catching footballs, and at night I was watching materials science courses on video," he said. Melvin later enrolled in the U.Va. graduate program in materials science engineering. His passion and devotion paid off when he was hired to work for NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., as a researcher. Melvin began to pursue a new career, one just as powerful as his professional football career. In 1998, he was selected as an astronaut, which led to his position with the EAP.
"Kids today want to be Michael Jordan. There's nothing wrong with that. However, I ask them, 'What will you do if you get injured during a game? Or, what will you do when you're no longer able to pursue that goal?'" he said.
NASA's Education mission is to inspire the next generation of explorers by using NASA's unique resources, such as the Astronaut Corps and the International Space Station.
2008 NCAA Football
Few events can attract hundreds of thousands of fans across the country like college football. It doesn’t matter if you are in Ann Arbor, South Bend, Tuscon, or Lincoln. If it’s a Saturday in the fall, chances are there’s a stadium filled with rabid fans somewhere. Sure, with the constant television coverage you can watch the game from your couch. But the experience is never the same. Nothing can compare to the thrill of cheering in unison with 90,000 fellow fans.
Football was a collegiate game decades prior to professionals ever lacing up their cleats. The first game was played between Rutgers and Princeton back in 1869, which established the first of many interstate rivalries now found across the country. As college football approaches its 140 year anniversary, it has done nothing but grow in popularity.
Universities are now routinely expanding their 65,000 seat stadiums to fit their 90,000 person fan bases. People gather in parking lots hours before the game to drink, grill, and enjoy the camaraderie of their fellow alums and fans. So get out there and enjoy the incomparable fun and the excitement of college football. With Coast to Coast Tickets a great seat to the game is just a click or call away.
FootBall
Football is the name given to a number of different team sports, all of which involve (to varying degrees) kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports world-wide is association football, also known as soccer and most commonly just football. The English language word "football" is also applied to gridiron football (which includes American football and Canadian football), Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".
These games involve:
- two teams of between 11 and 18 players
- kicking a spherical or prolate spheroid ball (which is itself called a football) with the foot;
- a clearly defined area in which to keep the ball;
- scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line;
- the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team;
- players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or hand passing the ball;
- goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts and;
- penalties imposed for causing the ball to leave the area of play, or excessive contact with the opposing team.
In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and; players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.
Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in Europe.
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