"We're focused on sports, not politics. We don't deny that we are Kurds. But when we play, we never say, ‘We are Kurds and they are Turks.'" - Tahir Temel
Sitting in an especially tense region of Southern Turkey, Hakkari is a province trailed by hardships.
Gesturing toward the sea of people and the thousands of fluttering black, red and white Iraqi flags, Mr. Shamki said: "You don't know who is Sunni or Shia or Christian. They are just chanting for Iraq." The fans also cheered for something more, at one point breaking into the chant, "Sunnis and Shiites, we are all brothers!
There was a decent game this past weekend, you might have heard about it. The best rivalry in all of sport brought ~400 ~800 million eyes onto the Camp Nou this Sunday to watch Leo be Leo, Cristiano be Cristiano, and witness the undeniable pride between what many Catalans would consider to be two different countries.
Cairo street art remembering those who were lost in Port Said.
While Egypt is beginning to move past the potent darkness that overwhelmed its citizens and
global onlookers in the Spring of 2012, those who were lost in the riots of Port Said were not
forgotten. Frustration, angst, and the sentiment of injustice still fills the air in Cairo.
Angela Merkel frowned, probably. Here was Giorgos Karagounis, a Greek man with a Greek name,
taking the plaudits for something that they had both done; though not together. The Germans have
kept the Greek economy alive - just - but it was Karagounis who bailed out the Greeks against
Russia on Saturday.
Activists took over the UEFA EURO 2012 page on Wikipedia.
Remember the Howling Football that was meant to raise awareness for animal protection ahead of
this summer's EURO 2012 in Ukraine and Poland? Well activists/hackers (do people that change
Wikipedia pages qualify as hackers?
""Football can go to hell if this is the situation.""
-
Those were the words of Al-Ahly's star player Mohamed Aboutrika in the
wake of the tragedy in Port Said, calling for the Egyptian league to be suspended indefinitely.
"Crowds are dying in front of us, and there aren't any police or security forces,"
he said.
Football For Diplomacy Between Cambodia and Thailand
On Saturday, amongst the Premier League and La Liga, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen
hosted a ‘friendship football match' between Thailand and Cambodia to help smooth over some of
the recent tensions the nations have experienced.
Football, to those who choose to consume it, realise its importance within cultural
proceedings. But to an outsider looking in, the game is considered a bullring containing a group
of people over zealous with riches and addicted to their celebrity persona –to some, á la low
culture.
In what has been a historic week for American politics, AFR Voice is here to count the ballot papers of world football and see who have been the real winners and losers this week.
We'll be getting things started with the audio equivalent of shaking hands and kissing numerous babies as we get bleary eyed about the first round of this year's FA Cup, the return of Big Mick McCarthy to football management, before having it out in an untelevised debate on the diving issue, featuring special guest - Olympic diver Tom Daley (not technically a guest on the show, but we do talk about him a bit).
The US women's national soccer team faces off against Italy today in Chicago It's their second
match with Italy ... and total goals will determine who goes to Germany to play in the women's
World Cup.
A win or a draw will send the US to Germany. A one-point win by Italy would send both teams into
a tiebreaker scenario, while a win by more than one point would send Italy to the women's World
Cup.
A Seattle Sounders fan dressed up as Obama on Halloween. Sadly, the Sounders lost to the Los
Angeles Galaxy. However, the ‘House' is still very much in the balance. If you're American
remember to go out and vote today!
The second uniform for FC BARCELONA for season 2013 - 2014 has been "leaked" as the below image
highlights. For the first time in the Clubs 113 years founded by Swiss , English & local Spaniards,
the Club takes literally its "recent history objetive" of representating the "Region of Catalunya".
The colours & print are the same as the "Senyera", the name given to the flag of Cataluña.
China, Why Costa Rica? - Costa Rica have recently unveiled the
state-of-the-art Estadio Nacional. But why was it funded exclusively by the Chinese
government?
On Saturday, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid kick off at the Camp Nou and the Mestalla,
respectively.
The political pressures - especially from Catalonia - has finally contributed to set & move the
date that "El Clasico" , FC BARCELONA vs REAL MADRID, match will be played. The big Spanish
Football event has been set for MONDAY 29th of NOVEMBER at 21.00 HRS. FC Barcelona - Real Madrid
The reason is that Catalonia holds its Autonomous Parliament Elections on Sunday the 28th Nov.
I don't know exactly why, but the heads of football's most prominent organisations – FIFA's
Sepp Blatter and UEFA's Michel Platini, respectively – often give the air of a deranged, despotic
dictator, bursting at the seams with outspoken controversy and just waiting for a popular revolt to
remove them from power.
On Saturday, we indulge in the pleasures of the beautiful game. On Sunday, we wake up with a global
headache.
A collective romance with fair play grounds the entertainment value of sporting events. We love the
idea of a level playing field, stories in which the best competitor wins, or in which the
well-played match is its own reward.
It would be difficult to call Mohammed Bin Hammam of Qatar an outsider as the FIFA incumbent's
sole challenger in the race to lead the world's largest sport's governing body. A member of the
FIFA Executive Committee since 1996, he's been the Asian Football Confederation president for the
past nine years.
As Preston North End's Northern Irish born Daniel Devine has opted to play for the Republic of
Ireland instead of the football association who developed him at under-age level, it seems I have
an excuse to write a bit relating to Irish football for this blog.Devine is just the latest player
of Northern Irish nationality to declare for the Republic after Darron Gibson, Shane Duffy, Marc
Wilson,
Football is ofttimes accused of self-serving megalomania. These accusations aren't necessarily
baseless – while FIFA and it's regional tributaries do give back, they do so somewhat
disproportionately to their behemoth fiscal inflows (see here).
Depressingly, few of us who work at the University of California were surprised by the fact
thatdemonstrating students would be treated with such violence. A squad ofcolleagues affirmed that
it was business as usual when they stood passive whileOfficer Pike calmly went about his task. UC
Davis's Chancellor and its PoliceChief both reacted as if this were an unpleasant routine, until it
became anews item.
The French philosopher argued that as our public discourse tightens its grip on sex, mining it for
more and more information about the body, the mind and the soul, it turns "sex" turns into a
rhetorical black hole – a vortex sucking energy in, radiating pure affect. Making less and less
sense.
Is there a place for women in the macho sport of football? According to Sky Television Presenters
Richard Keys and Andy Grays, women don't belong in any aspect of the sport. Throughout the
Wolverhampton Wanders and Liverpool game, Keys and Grays made several disparaging remarks about
female linesman Sian Massey.
Ryan Babel is in trouble once again over his twitter account. The Liverpool player is coming under
fire after making improper comments about official Howard Webb. The wanna-be rapper is being
investigated by the FA after posting a photoshopped picture of Webb wearing a Manchester United
kit. Babel posted the picture in protest of Webb sending off team captain Steven Gerrard.
Arsenal player Theo Walcott admits to diving in a candid interview. The English player admitted to
diving in a attempt to save Arsenal from a loss against Leeds United. Walcott admits what he did
was wrong stating, "I'm not the sort of player to do it, I own up to that and I apologise for that.
It's one of those things that I don't like to see in my game.
Though Brazil will develop into the decade's epicenter of South American sport thanks to the
2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro summer olympics, this summer the spotlight will be on
Argentina at Copa América 2011, the continent's prestigious quadrennial international
tournament.
The world of power playing global politics has been hit by a magnitude 1000 earthquake as the
Sweden-based site WikiLeaks released a plethora of secret US Embassy cables. The madness
surrounding WikiLeaks' cablegate has been described as "the 9/11 of world diplomacy" by Italian
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
The bombing at the Boston Marathon - what is there to say about such a thing? Already, barely a day into the story the story is on repeat. Terror, heroism, terror, heroism. How many are dead? Wounds and more wounds. Women & children. Look out for a dark skinned man in a hoodie. It's an awful mix.
I'm jumping into the Penn State mosh pit! In this week's column (Why the NCAA Sanctions Are Just
Dead Wrong), Dave Zirin takes the NCAA to task for the $60 million dollar fine and post-season ban
that it leveled against Penn State. Zirin isn't arguing that the program shouldn't be punished:
quite the opposite.
Well done to Wycombe for signing up to the Government Charter for Action to stamp out homophobia
and transphobia, the first football club to do so. Admittedly the Charter is rather woolly, a set
of four vague pledges with no concrete targets or deadlines, but the sentiment is key, and
Wanderers' stated commitment laudable.
Looks like it will be a good read
What next for Labour
"Labour does not quite seem to get enough credit for its considerable accomplishments. The
foundation of our modern state occurred in the 1945-51 period yet seems taken for granted; the
1960's was a vital decade of social change certainly made easier by a centre left Government; the
achievements of the Blair period, constitutionally, electorally and socially are to be lauded and
never denied; similarly the social spending of Gordon Brown together with his international
financial management at a time of need- all represent considerable governmental achievements.
Egypt's football fan clubs are figuring prominently in stories about the current uprising. For
readers wanting to learn more about the Ultras in Egypt and their role in the uprising, here are a
few links:
James M. Dorsey, "Soccer Fans Play Key Role in Egyptian Protests" (readers of this blog will not be
surprised, as this is a fairly consistent topic in writing about the sport and politics).
Time and time again the Unions are painted by the media as being loony-left strike happy
agitators.
Consider this relating to British Airways taking legal action against Unite and stopping it's
members from striking (because they failed to mention the number of spoiled ballots
In January 2010, Unite gave BA notice of its intention to conduct a ballot.
Just in case anyone starts banging on about Ed Balls and Ed Miliband being sons of Brown here is
David Cameron with Norman Lamont on Black Wednesday
interesting that I found it on ConservativeHome...also interesting that by the time David Cameron
was masterminding Howard's disastrous "Are you think what we're thinking" campaign he seems to have
learned to blend into the background a bit more.
"It really bugs me", an exasperated Paul Calf once exclaimed. "They say, 'Oh, David Beckham - he's
not very clever.' Yeah. They don't say, 'Stephen Hawking — he's a bit shit at football.'" Many a
true word is spoken in jest, and Steve Coogan's mulleted Man City fan may have been onto
something.While adored and idolised for their abilities on the pitch and for their "intelligence"
in terms of
It was just like being back at a football match again! There I was, surrounded by lots of people,
of all different ages, most of them with banners in their hands, protesting about cuts to Public
Services. I ended up waving a Socialist Workers Party banner around 'cause some bloody clown stuck
it in my hand [.
