Sovereign city state nations with populations less than 1,000 find themselves irresistibly drawn to soccer. Or perhaps that pertains only to one-man rulerships like Vatican City, right smack in Rome, that can't help but intersect with soccer and watch it blow up in their faces. When soccer runs amok, it self-inflates beyond all suggested parameters and eventually explodes, pressure pumped beyond the limits.
A couple of decades ago, in a golden age of Italian football, there was a bunch of credible contenders for the Serie A title dubbed Le Sette Sorelle, which translates to ‘The Seven Sisters'. Six of them were traditional powerhouses - Milan, Juventus, Inter, Fiorentina, Lazio and Roma - but one was a team from a place previously best known for its cured hams and cheeses.
This afternoon at the mildly absurd time of 5.15, Manchester City and Wigan Athletic will kick off in the one hundred and thirty-second FA Cup final and, much as the old trophy has frequently been debased in recent years, it still has a rich history upon which we can draw. What follows is listed chronologically (partly out of a mild degree of Saturday morning laziness, and partly because, well, how do you compare a middle-aged man running onto a football pitch and evading his would-be captors with a penalty save or a match that would prove pivotal in the entire history of the game?
A recent tweet by the BBC's Ian Dennis brought some memories flooding back. Not of Dennis's angry reaction to my criticism of a Radio 5 Live show he hosted about UEFA's Financial Fair Play initiative (although I thought Dennis was the programme's only decent contributor). But memories of a curious FA Cup first-round tie from 1992.
When the Bradford City team takes to the pitch on Sunday afternoon for the 2013 League Cup final, there will be many for whom thoughts turn to the horrific events that unfolded on the eleventh of May 1985. Tonight, on the eve of a match that surely no-one could have seen at the start of this season, we take a look back at that day, the events that led up to it and the aftermath of a disaster that claimed fifty-six lives.
In some respects, the 1982/83 football season had much in common with the season that is now drawing to a close. At the top of the First Division table, the most successful club of recent years was steamrollering its way to another championship victory the difference, of course, being that it was Liverpool rather than Manchester United destroying all before them whilst, at the bottom of the table, a desperate scramble occurred over the last few weeks of the season as clubs sought to avoid relegation which included one club which had, just a few weeks prior to the last day of the season, been in what had looked like a comfortable position in the middle of the table: Manchester City.
Between September 1955 and July 1995, Southampton Football Club had four managers Ted Bates, Lawrie McMenemy, Ian Branfoot and Alan Ball. During this period, the club rose from Division Three South of the Football League to the First Division for the first time in its history and barring four seasons during the mid-1970s, when any disappointment on the part of the supporters was ameliorated somewhat by beating Manchester United to win the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history.
The month of March marks a global celebration of women's talents, achievements and contributions to society. Every year, since the United Nations proclaimed March 8th International Women's Day in 1977, organizations around the world host a variety of events honoring those with a double x chromosome.
Many of you who play sports, or work, or go to school, or are old enough to vote, may take women's equality for granted. You may not feel like feminists because basic liberties that your grandmothers and mothers fought so hard to attain are now commonplace.
Over the last half-century, America has seen one of the most sweeping social revolutions in its history, as women have asserted their rights to a full and fair share of political power, economic opportunity, and personal autonomy.
Lauren Silberman, a 28-year-old from New York City, will make history March 2 when she becomes the first female to ever participate in a regional NFL Draft Combine according to NFL.com.
Silberman, who haskicked a 40 yard field goal but never played competitive football, will tryout as a kicker.
Can you imagine a sports world without the Williams sisters, Jackie Joyner Kersee or Gabby Douglas? It's pretty difficult to picture, but there once was a time when women weren't allowed to compete. And there was also a time when black athletes weren't allowed to be on the same playing field as white people.
Lavonne "Pepper" Paire-Davis, star of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, has passed awayat the age of 88.Paire-Davis was a model for the character played by Geena Davis in the movie, "A League of Their Own".
"I know what it's like for your dream to come true, mine did," the Los Angeles-born Paire-Davis told the Associated Press in 1995, when she was 70.
Expect more deaths on March 9 in Egypt—both from judicial death sentences and the inevitable post-verdict riot—in the continuing fallout from the demise of the Mubarak regime in January 2011 and the soccer stadium massacre an anniversary-perfect year later.
After a February 2012 match in Port Said, Egypt, between Cairo's most successful club Al-Ahly and its portside rival, Al-Masry, fans set upon one another with rocks, fireworks, broken bottles, knives and reportedly even swords.
While some dictators qualify as relatively batshit crazy, North Korean Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il took run-of-the-mill guano and weaponized it with a deep, visceral nuclear fear factor. Against the backdrop of a starving nation, he enriched uranium, trained missiles on South Korea and Japan and generally gave everyone the heebie jeebies with the supremely iffy accuracy of the North Korean military's test fires.
We continue our series of archive matches of the clubs of Football League One with Sheffield United and six matches from the years between 1967 and 1989, starting off with a trip to London to play Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup. We follow this with three matches from the 1970s, kicking off with a home match against Blackburn Rovers from 1970, then against Manchester City from February 1972, and then against West Ham United from 1975.
We continue our series of the archive matches of the clubs of Football League One this morning with one of the stalwarts of the lower divisions, Scunthorpe United. Our first match is from the 1957/58 season, and features Scunthorpe then still known as Scunthorpe & Lindsay United at home against Liverpool in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.
We continue our series of archive videos of the clubs of Football League One this morning with one of the twelve founder members of the Football League and the first champions of England in 1889, Preston North End. We don't have footage, of course, of their first unbeaten season in the Football League, but we do have six matches from the years between 1905 and 1992, kicking off with some Mitchell & Kenyon footage of a match between Preston and Aston Villa from 1905.
Portsmouth Football Club has had a pretty rough time of things over the last three or four years or so, but today we continue our series of archive videos of the clubs of Football League One with the Fratton Park club, and six videos from the history of a club which has won both the FA Cup and the English championship on two occasions.
We continue our series of archived matches of the clubs of Football League One this morning with Oldham Athletic, and six matches from the years between 1976 and 1993. Our first match sees Oldham playing the bridesmaid to West Bromwich Albion's bride at the end of the 1975/76 season, while our second match sees them taking on Watfordb at a very wintry looking Boundary Park in 1981.
We continue our archive series of matches of the clubs in Football League One with Notts County, and six matches from the years between 1926 and 1994. First up is some quite extraordinary film footage of the team in action against Fulham in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup at a packed Meadow Lane from February 1926, while our second match sees them traveling to London to play Crystal Palace in a Second Division match from April 1979.
We continue our series featuring archived matches from the clubs of League Two this morning with Leyton Orient, and six matches from the years between the years between 1972 and 1988. The 1970s were good to a club that long been considered the poor relations to other, bigger London clubs and our first match sees Orient who lopped the "Leyton" from the start of their name in 1966 before putting it back a little over two decades later play Chelsea in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup in 1972.
We continue our series of archive matches of the clubs of Football League One with Hartlepool United, and five matches from their past as well as some fascinating archive footage of one of England's greatest ever managers learning his apprenticeship. It was Hartlepool United then Hartlepools United who first recognised the managerial potential of one Brian Clough, and our first clip is a brief clip from a television obituary of Clough which shows some outstanding footage of Victoria Park then known as The Victoria Ground: it didn't subtly change its name until 1996 from the middle of the 1960s.
Many thousands of football supporters will have looked at this weekend's fixtures with a sense of impending doom, checking for the dreaded abbreviation which means an afternoon in front of the television: "P-P." These days, ice on the roads around a football ground or anything approaching a frozen pitch is often enough to mean the cancellation of a match, but it wasn't ever thus and, in the absence of having any Non-League matches to bring you this week the weather took an axe to the programmes of many leagues this weekend we thought we'd bring you some matches played on pitches covered with a thick layer of snow from down the years, kicking off with an FA Cup Third Round match between Hull City and Charlton Athletic from January 1971.
We continue our series of archived matches of the clubs of Football League One today with Doncaster Rovers, and six matches from the two decades between 1985 and 2005, kicking off with their trip to Goodison Park to play Everton in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup in January 1985. Next up is a match from two years later, and Belle Vue is packed to see them play a Middlesbrough team at the cusp of promotion.
We know that the front office at D.C. United is bullish on their chances for a stadium deal with the city in the relatively near future. We know that any announcement will probably involve property on Buzzard Point in Southwest Washington. We know that Volkswagen has first dibs on naming rights for any stadium under the terms of their jersey sponsorship.
For many critics of the American game (among a plethora of other complaints) they cite a lack of history of the sport in the United States. But contrary to popular belief, the beautiful game was established here for much longer than most realize.
It goes past 1996 and the foundation of Major League Soccer.
At the end of last season Wolverhampton Wanderers became the first club to be relegated in two successive seasons from the top division of English football on two separate occasions, and while younger supporters continue to scream for the heads of owner Steve Morgan and Chief Executive Jez Moxey, older supporters may be forgiven a chill running down their spine as they contemplate the fact that things could yet get worse for the Black Country club before they improve.
When Rachid Mekhloufi took the struggle for Algerian independence to the pitch
By Shireen Ahmed
In April 1958, Rachid Mekhloufi, the great St. Etienne striker was 21 years old. Mekhloufi along with nine other players, left their careers in France and returned to Tunis to comprise the first FLN squad.
Football and architecture have seldom been happy bedfellows. During their prime the homes of British football were woefully under-appreciated, and this lack of attention has been mirrored over the last two decades with many grounds that meant a lot to thousands of people having been demolished and replaced with new structures that owe little to the history of the game and which will doubtlessly, in the fullness of time, be replaced themselves with newer and shinier structures.
Asst Coach Jordan Burns with Head Coach Brett Wubbena following Lebanon Tourney win, 2012
Congratulations to Head Coach Brett Wubbena of the Logan-Rogersville Wildcats. A 2-1 win on Wednesday against the Republic Tigers earned him his 100th career win at the school where he's been the only Coach for the teams that began play in the Fall of 2008 with the Boys.
FC Barcelona secures Spot in UEFA Champions League Quarter Final with an emphatic 4-0 victory against Milan.
Barca created history by Completely overturning the first leg deficit.
It has never been done before - never in the history of UEFA Champions League a team has overturn a two goal advantage from first leg without in which they haven't scored.
Tuesday night in the Copa Argentina saw two sides with proud achievements in Argentine football come together, as Primera División Quilmes beat Primera C side Ferrocarril Midland 3-1 to advance. Quilmes were the firstcriolloteam (that is, a side made up ... Continue reading →
The USSF celebrates its 100th year of existence this year and to mark the occasion, Nike has produced a special kit for both the men's and women's national teams. It's a modernized throwback to the organization's history and it might just be the nicest kit the US has ever had.
Here's a dollop of history from the manufacturer:
Known originally as the United States of America Foot Ball Association, the organization was formed in April 1913.
Did you watch the historic UFC-157 PPV event Saturday night? If not, you missed an exciting bout in which 26 year-old Ronda Rousey became the first female to ever win an Ultimate Fighting Championship. Rousey beat opponent Liz Carmouche via armbar submission to claim the UFC's first female bantamweight belt.
By winning theDaytona500pole today,Danica Patrickbecame the first woman to win the top spot for anyrace in NASCAR's premier circuit. Clocking in at45.817 seconds, averaging196.434 mph, today's achievement is the biggest of Patrick's stock-car career.
Jeff Gordonwas the only one to come close at196 mpheven.
[O]ur first Great Teams post of 2013 features Lincoln City, one of several clubs we have featured in the series who now find themselves outside the Football League - see also our look back to famous Cambridge United and Stockport County sides of the past. Tom Clarkeis a sports journalist with The Daily Mail and can be found on Twitterhere, while some of his previous grumblings about Lincoln City can be foundat the now sadly discontinued Pope and Swift, an excellent pan-sports blog that is begging to be succeeded.
Do you know what today is? It's the first Wednesday in February which means it is National Girls and Women in Sports Day,a day to honor the athletic successes of women and girls in your community.
In fact, it's the 27th annual celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.This year's theme: "Girls in Sports, An Investment in the Future.
This week's extended show is the "Spurs and Transfers Show!" An amazing week in our club's history, with a superb cup win and a whole new LUFC team!Becchio has gone, but his replacements are more than exciting! A delayed show this week brings GGL listeners up to date with transfers in and out, PLUS U.
hiya all just thought i would write an article that will hopefully provide some distraction from the horrible thought of transfer deadline day looming into view with no transfer news.-.. Well no positive news.
I just wanted to talk about why the younger fans do not get treated as one and are often seen as glory supporters well not being biased or anything I thought I would make a case.
Via Coach Jon Leamy Bears Soccer is pleased to announce that former soccer great Matt Caution (1993-1997) will be inducted into the 2013 Missouri State University Athletics Hall of Fame Class! This is special as Matt will become only the third person inducted into the Hall of Fame to specifically to represent our soccer program.
