We're a small city in a region of 700,000 people. Not a professional mens football team worthy of a mention, not now, not in living memory.
And yet we still produce quality - quality footballers and in the case of Joe Simunic, Carl Valeri who are both still playing, star Internationals.
Throw in excellent A-League stalwarts, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Matty Kemp and Brisbane Roars Kofi Danning and we've almost got a half a team.

I have always thought that one (of the many) reasons that I did not become a footballer was because I am too intelligent. In fact, as has often been the case, with some notable exceptions (Jorge Valdano, Socrates, Ruud Gullit....), intelligent footballers seems to be more the exception that the rule, and at a time when the media scrutiny is so intense, the demand on a bit of brains in footballers

There appears to be a split amongst Gooners at the moment that an Olympic gymnast would be very proud of.
So when I pose the question; is Tomas Rosicky worth a new contract at Arsenal? I expect many differences of opinion.
In the past Tomas has frustrated me. Not because I think he is a bad player but because during his time at the club he has spent at least 78% of it in the physio room.

WIN THE CHANCE FOR YOUR CHILD TO BE A McDONALD'S PLAYER ESCORT AT THE ENGLAND V HOLLAND MATCH

We've teamed up with McDonald's, the official Community Partner of The FA, to offer three lucky youngsters between the ages of 7 and 11 years old the chance to become McDonald's Player Escorts as England take on Holland in an international friendly on 29th February.

It's competition time again folks...

WIN THE CHANCE FOR YOUR CHILD TO BE A McDONALD'S PLAYER ESCORT AT THE ENGLAND V HOLLAND MATCH

We've teamed up with McDonald's, the official Community Partner of The FA, to offer three lucky youngsters between the ages of 7 and 11 years old the chance to become McDonald's Player Escorts as England take on Holland in an international friendly on 29th February.

If you've had more clubs than Marcus Bent, or if you've just fallen out of touch with your old team-mates, a new website is aiming to put you back in touch with those lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of your exquisite range of passing over the years. Footballmates.com connects you with [.

(The entry is formulated from the transcript obtained via Integrated Marketing Solutions Group -IMSG, the PR agency of Nike Singapore)
(P.S: The copyrights of the images depicted in this blog entry belong to Nike, unless stated on the images itself.)
In its quest to help players to maintain their game in order to excel further to the next level, sporting apparel giants Nike had recently launched their latest collection of football boots - the "4 Silo" with aim to help them in achieving that goal.

Rio Ferdinand was booed throughout United's 3-3 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Whilst Rio has never been a popular player with Chelsea fans, given his West Ham and Leeds history, as well as the issues over the England captaincy, it was clear that Rio was singled out for special abuse yesterday thanks to John Terry's charge for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.

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TONY FERNANDES: I'LL STAY EVEN IF RELEGATED
-Chairman Tony Fernandes tweeted yesterday that would stay with QPR even If relegated:
In response to the the Tweet "What Fans Would REALLY Like to Hear: That IF #QPR Do Go Down - You'll Still be With Us Next Season" Tony Fernandes replied "If it happens I will be here and I'm sure all the other will.

Why Fernando Frequently Fails to Fire - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Useless. Flop. Goddamn waste of money. Adjectives are not too hard to come by when Fernando Torres is the topic of discussion. Few footballers have fallen as far and as fast as the former Liverpool hit man has in the past 2 seasons.

Espanyol: +2, Ovaries: Never stood a chance.

Er... the level of cuteness rolled up and squished into the chubby cheeks of Victor Mata Sanchez's son is surely enough to bring about world peace. Or at least a truce between MC Harvey and Cheryl Cole.

A tip for all domestic and international footy teams everywhere: force your footballers to hold a baby whilst posing for their official squad photo and your appeal will increase tenfold.

By Alan Duffy

Young midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong is one of the Premier League's more charismatic chaps, with his all-action and passionate performances on the pitch endearing him to Wolves' fans ever since he made his loan move from Arsenal.

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, the comedy club which welcomes every single one of you Futbolitinos! Of course, for the newbies, Crackovia is the best football sketch show from Catalonia (you'd be hard pressed to find a better one).

Rafael Da Silva has made just three league appearances this season after bad luck with injuries have kept him out of the team. Even when he does get on the pitch, there are plenty of tongue in cheek sweepstakes amongst United fans predicting what time he will be subbed off with an injury.

Rafael has reflected on this bad luck but wonders whether his style of play has an influence on it.

Some players like lots of time and space, others can operate in crowds.

To play in central midfield you need to be at one end of what we'll call the space-time continuum; if you are not at the right end you may struggle in that role. In that case you need to find somewhere else where you will get space and time.

Deaf Football in Great Britain

I'm well-aware of blind football, but deaf football is something that has been completely off my radar.

Deaf Football in Great Britain has a very proud and strong history, dating back to 1871, a history that is virtually unknown to the majority of the followers of football in Britain.

Like an outdated fantasy league auction, the new Premier League Soccer featuring six teams based in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal bid for the rights to sign several "icon" players." Hernan Crespo, who scored nine goals for Parma last season, drew the highest bid and went for $840,000 (£536,000) at the sprightly age of 36.

By Chris Wright

Eng-lish Pre·mi·um/ing'liSH ˈprēmēəm/Noun: An amount to be paid on top of any given football transfer fee to recognise the paltry significance of said footballer hailing from these sceptred isles and will hopefully therefore play with 'bags of passion', etc.

It wasn't exactly Premiership action over the weekend but it was still a FA Cup Party out there, nonetheless! Arsenal, of course, deserve a round of applause for springing back from two goals down to make it 3-2 against Aston Villa yesterday.

HMP United With the current goings on surrounding Harry Redknapp allegedly in legal trouble for naming an account after his dog (or something along those lines), we look at five current footballers who have served time at the pleasure of her majesty. 1. Joey Barton The twitter-loving philosophical tearaway was sentenced to four months for [.

Two pieces of excellent news for the lovers of integrity in football.
I spent yesterday afternoon with two very senior officials from HM Revenue & Customs.
This was a most fruitful discourse.
Aside from matters relating to the current spheres of reality, off the record we touched on two other matters, Rangers FC and the trial of Honest Harry Redknapp.

One year on: Egyptian football after the revolution is a post from: Just Football

January 25th 2011. One year ago today, the revolution began. Making his debut for Just Football, Adam Moustafa reports on the changes to Egyptian football in the year since:

Prior to the Egyptian revolution, football was one of the main sources of bliss for Egyptians.

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Images: ONTD_Football.

Victoria Beckham, sole provider of Harper Seven's ridiculous wardrobe, covers the March 2012 edition of Numero Tokyo in a to-die-for turquoise leather trench.

To put things into perspective, this was the "highlight" of our weekends.

Saturday

- Former Paraguay striker, Salvador Cabanas, made his triumphant return to professional football, two years after nearly dying from a gun shot to the head that's fragments are still partially lodged in his skull.

That's how we all feel mate...If i walked into a club, thinking and acting like i was better than everybody else, i'd most probably, within an hour and a half or so, get battered. Which is exactly what happened to Liverpool on Saturday. They walked into Bolton's club, acting like they were better than them, like the three points were theirs before they'd kicked a ball and then, they were battered.

Did you know that the name Joey Barton is an anagram of the word "Wanker"? I know, it took me a while to figure it out as well. Anyway, I think its fair to say that I have long considered that this odius character should have been banished from the footballing world and his latest actions have done nothing to alter my opinion.

I was lucky when I first used to go to Manchester United matches, over fifty years ago. Although the team was in the painful early stages of recovery from the Munich Air Crash they still often managed to play wonderfully expressive football in keeping with the finest traditions of the club.

Fresh from the news, Chelsea's manager Andre Villas-Boas proposed that the English League adopts the system which uses Premier League Reserve Teams in lower divisions.
It is widely known, that this system is widely used in Spain and Germany, and has benefited the young talents of Spain to progress faster and more efficiently to professional football.

By Chris Wright

What with Euro 2012 and the London Olympics crowning over the horizon, Nike are currently running a Twitter campaign called 'Make It Count' which sees several of their footballers and athletes (Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Jack Wilshere, Mo Farah, Paula Radcliffe, Mark Cavendish, etc) attempting to inspire sportsfolk of all levels and abilities to pull their fingers out, push on and make this year.

By Chris Wright

"Umm...R?"

According to the Guardian, David De Gea may need laser eye surgery at the end of the season to correct his long-sightedness.

The Spaniard has worn glasses all his life and currently plays in contact lenses to correct his vision, though Manchester United's in-house optometrist has apparently recommended that he be pencilled in for surgery this summer after putting it off while still at Atletico Madrid last March.

Tomorrow is Gadsby's birthday. So I thought "What do you get the Dictator of the Italy World Cup Blog?" I didn't have any small countries lying around to become subject to his reign of literary terror. Nor did I have access to the world's biggest collection of obscure football jerseys. And all of the female footballers I spoke with had other commitments.

Image: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.

The Platium Hotel near Kiev is the next location to highlight on our EURO 2012 Stalker's Map, Kickettes. This delightful hotel is where the Sweden NT are rumoured to be resting between their group games vs. England, Ukraine and France.

The Hall

Image: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.

Images: twitter, Mike Hewitt/Getty Images.

Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone has had a lot of time on his hands since his ongoing ankle injury started acting up again. But don't be thinking he's wasting it playing FIFA, pimping out his wheels and falling out of clubs like most footballers do.

Apparently the first recorded example of football boots were owned by Henry VIII.
Football boots: worn by oversexed egomaniacs since 1526.
The description of Hank's boots - heavy, leather, ankle high - actually chimes with the general principles of the humble boot through much of the last 150 years or so.

Siena coach Giuseppe Sannino and his cleft chin. Images: Dino Panato/Getty Images Europe; AP Photo/Jon Super.

Chin dimples. Chindentations. Butt chins. Whatever you choose to call it, there's no denying that cleft chins are a unique facial accessory.

Per an obligatory scientific explanation, cleft chins are defined as: "a Y-shaped fissure on the chin with an underlying bony peculiarity.

John Terry's bulge takes a hit from a schoolboy. That's precious cargo, son! Watch where you're aiming next time!

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There's a rumour going around that Pepe (of all people) just came out of the closet on a French radio show. Sounds like complete BS to us because A) why French radio?

Sunday's match between Swansea and Arsenal was an eyeopening account that laid bare the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, especially the gulf in talent and confidence between Swansea's Premier League footballers and the poor confidence and...
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Ricardo Quaresma is sort of the quintessential flashy footballer. The type of gent whose game translates better to YouTube and the video game of your choice rather than a pitch of appropriate measure. Turns out his lifestyle is equally as flashy. He was the victim of an armed robbery this morning, of things which were on his person.

Considering the fact that much of the world is going to be focused this coming weekend on the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his accomplishments toward bringing about progress in the area of civil rights, I believe it is quite fitting to spend at least some time dwelling on the concept of dreams.

With Victory showing sides of improvement last week, and Harry Kewell turning in another quality performance tonight's game should be a belter.
Big crowd, great stadium and lots of footballers on the park.
If Victory can seal their defence, the team could gain some serious confidence and climb the ladder.