Think violent women's football and you think Elizabeth Lambert, but there is so much more to it than just one crazed lady. See below a plethora of hideous tackles and even a fair few head butts as well as people being put into neck braces. Enjoy (maybe not the word we should use but hey ho). Thanks to Dirty Tackle for the heads up on this one.

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Thought some of the tackles made by male defenders were rough and nasty? Here is a video of New Mexico defender Elizabeth Lambert, who yanked BYU Cougars Kassidy Shumwa to the ground by pulling her ponytail. It took place in a Mountain West Conference Semifinal which was won by the Cougars 1-0. That is not the [. Click to continue reading...

It looks like the Women's Super League in England, a new semi-professional venture (not fully professional, as some are saying), will finally launch in 2011 and the application process is now open for clubs who wish to participate.

The plan is for eight teams to compete in a summer season from March to October, thus minimising schedule conflicts with the men's game but also going up directly against Women's Professional Soccer in the United States.

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If Santos' fans are not so happy with the men's team in the Brasileirão, the Santos' ladies are giving fans total happiness: the team took home today the title for the women's Libertadores Cup. This is the first edition of the tournament and Santos brought in big names such and Marta and Cristiane to help win the title.

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Yesterday I went to the London FA Female Football Forum at White Hart Lane. It was a great opportunity to hear more about the progression of the Women's game and to meet the others who had gone to the event. I admit feeling a little bit of pressure as they said they all want to [...] Click to continue reading...

It seems the evolution of women's football in Brazil reached another stage. Female footballers can also put on a good and old fight on the pitch. It all happened in the match Cesmac 2 1 Sóesporte for the Alagoas state championship. The video is below. And no, don't expect just hairs being pulled or nails turned into weapons.

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The FA has announced today an 8 club Women's Super League commencing in 2011, originally this was for 2010 but due to financial uncertainty following UK television broadcasters Setanta collapse, it has been delayed a year. The FA hopes this will stop England players leaving for America and FA Chairman Lord Triesman said "The launch of [. Click to continue reading...

Initially I said the problem with the lack of interest in the sport lies with society and not women's football itself. Well, I changed my mind (woman's prerogative). We need to stop pointing the finger at men, and perceived unfairness in society, ladies. You know the saying- trying to change someone else will see you beating your head into a brick wall. Click to continue reading...

Wednesday night marked the debut of the best woman footballer at Santos. In a friendly match, her club defeated Comercial from Mato Grosso 10-0, and she scored twice. The most remarkable, however, was how she drove fans crazy, as if she belonged to The Beatles. Even the players of Comercial took pictures with her, as you can see it.

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The day the Women's United Soccer Association died, I called Tom Stone, the ever-quotable head coach of the Atlanta Beat, who was grappling with the fresh reality that he was out of a job.

This was just days after his team finished second in the WUSA in 2003 and shortly before the Women's World Cup, which had been moved to the United States from China because of the SARS outbreak.

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Perhaps my most powerful experience of soccer fandom, amidst years of following MLS, the English Premier League, and the World Cup, came in a college basketball arena at the University of Portland (UP) in the early winter of 2005. Along with a thousand locals, I watched a projected ESPN feed from Texas of a national championship game where my little University team (~3500 students) was playing the giants of UCLA (~38000 students).

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Big Story
It's not often a 6-2 loss is taken to presage a "nation's arrival on the big stage", but that's the reaction today in the Guardian from Anna Kessel on the England's women's team's defeat in the UEFA European Championship final to Germany last night.

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Marta was introduced to Santos fans today. She will be the main name of the side in the women's version of Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores. She will be on loan for 3 months from Los Angeles Sol. The Copa Libertadores will be from the 4th to the 18th of October. The Copa do Brasil will run from September 15th to December 15th.

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Editor's Note: Chicago Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt returns for his third weekly column on Pitch Invasion, pulling no punches as he grades the first season of the league his own team plays in.

Sunday's Women's Professional Soccer All-Star victory over Swedish powerhouse Umea ended WPS' first season and that makes this a good time to reflect on the inaugural year and analyze WPS' progress.

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Caster Semenya

The issue of gender testing in sports has hit the headlines again. South African runner Caster Semenya has become the subject of considerable speculation about her gender after she went to Berlin and claimed the world championship in the 800m, crossing the line at 1:55.45, two seconds faster than her nearest rival.

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It might not be getting the 16 page pullout supplements in every newspaper that the Barclay's Premier League is, but the F.A. Women's Premier League also kicks-off this weekend. The shadow of the men's game (as well as the women's European Championships going on concurrently) obviously looms over the season's launch, but so does a black cloud over the future prospects for women's football in England as a whole.

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BOOF. And again, just because once isn't enough... BOOF. BOOF. BOOF!...

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A report by the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport which the BBC's Gordon Farquhar blogged about earlier this month points out that just 2% of media coverage on elite sport focuses on women. Now I first got into writing about football by following one of my best friend's journeys through the matches, tournaments and politics of women's football in Oxford.

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One is a gentleman footballer. One is a lady footballer. Can you tell who is who though? Think you have a better Shit Lookalike than this? I highly recommend that you Email Pies with your suggestion. This isn't Diego's...

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Today was a great day for South Africans in Confederations Cup. Despite the 2-0 loss to Spain, the team from Joel Santana has qualified to the semi-finals and should face Brazil (give they end first in their group after tomorrow's match against Italy).

After a scoreless tie, New Zealand and Iraq are out of the competition.

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Canberra United players Ashleigh and Nicole Sykes maybe be barred from playing in their local Dubbo/Bathurst Under 18 team in the Western District boys league...but the story has reached the FFA....
And the FFA has it seems engaged their Legal Department quicksmart.
Some members of the local association were laughing almost mocking when I rang them recently. Click to continue reading...

a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YnSj-ws4uyg/Sdf4FFNT09I/AAAAAAAAB2M/A50vM2D5pok/s1600-h/twins.jpg"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 199px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YnSj-ws4uyg/Sdf4FFNT09I/AAAAAAAAB2M/A50vM2D5pok/s400/twins. Click to continue reading...

If Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) sides Boston Breakers and Chicago Red Stars have their way, Arsenal America had better get ready for a new wave of members. This weekend, both Boston and Chicago hit the road to make their WPS debuts, facing the – it has to be said – curiously-named FC Gold Pride (Santa Clara, [. Click to continue reading...

Another gay icon captains England Following in the wake of David Beckham, apparently the England women's side now has a gay icon wearing the armband. Kelly Smith has been voted "the most lesbilicious UK sportswoman" in a poll by lesbian website Lesbilicious Smith picked up 31 per cent of the vote, putting her just ahead of Dame [. Click to continue reading...

Okay, this is the first article that i feature a woman, but she's more of a girl. She is still about 17 years old. She is worthy of a space on this website. Leah Fortune is Brazilian, but born to American parents. She is currently playing for a club in Chicago, but she prefers to play [...] Click to continue reading...

I'll write about the other (men's) football matches I watched later. For now, it's the women. Arsenal Ladies Arsenal 6-1 Doncaster R.B. (official Arsenal.com match report) Arsenal Ladies outclass Doncaster (BBC match reports, Arsenal and others) Gunners too strong Arsenal took advantage of Doncaster Rovers Belles off-field problems to register another emphatic victory in the Women's Premier Click to continue reading...

UEFA Women's Cup Arsenal awaits the first qualifying round of the UEFA Women's Cup in order to find out who they, and Olympique Lyonnais, will be playing in October. Women's Cup campaign begins The 2008/09 UEFA Women's Cup kicks off on Thursday with 36 of the 43 entrants in first qualifying round action. Click to continue reading...

County teacher set to kick-off Euro adventureCouncil employee Leanne Ross is set for a european adventure in Serbia this week in the UEFA Women's Cup. Leanne, who works as an Active Schools co-ordinator based at Alva Academy, is part of the Glasgow City team who have qualified for the first round of the competition facing teams from Serbia, Holland and Moldova. Click to continue reading...

How to offend one billion people First came Ronaldo at the 2002 World Cup. Then, in 2008, it was Spain's men's basketball team, followed closely by the Spanish tennis team. And now Argentina's Olympic women's footballers have been caught in... Click to continue reading...

How to offend one billion people First came Ronaldo at the 2002 World Cup. Then, in 2008, it was Spain's men's basketball team, followed closely by the Spanish tennis team. And now Argentina's Olympic women's footballers have been caught in... Click to continue reading...

Qualifying Teams : Group A : China Sweden Canada Group B : Brazil Germany Group C : USA Norway Japan USA 2-1 Canada ( Aug 15- Shanghai) ( Angela Hucles, Natasha Kai/ Christine Sinclair) Brazil 2-1 Norway ( Aug 15- Tianjin) ( Marta, Daniela/ Siri Nordby penalty) Sweden 0-2 Germany ( Aug 15- Shenyang) ( Kerstin Gerefrekes, Simone Laudehr) China 0-2 Japan ( Aug 15- Qinhuangdao) ( Homare Sawa, Yuki Nagasato) Click to continue reading...

Jennifer Doyle finds herself mulling over the way the word "profligacy" was used in FIFA's summary of Nigeria's last Olympic soccer game. Click to continue reading...

Jennifer Doyle finds herself mulling over the way the word "profligacy" was used in FIFA's summary of Nigeria's last Olympic soccer game. Click to continue reading...

The sporting security authorities suffered a blow on Tuesday, when it was announced that Javier Castrilli, 'El Sheriff', Subsecretary of Sporting Events Security, had resigned from his post. Disagreements with Aníbal Fernández, the Minister of Justice and Security, led Castrilli to feel that, 'the most healthy and least traumatic option [for me] was to resign. Click to continue reading...

Group G of the Women's Football Tournament at the Summer Olympics in Beijing consists of Japan, the USA, Norway and New Zealand. Team Played Won Lost Drawn GF GA GD Points Norway 2 2 0 0 3 0 3 6 USA 2 1 1 0 1 2 -1 3 New Zealand 2 0 1 1 2 3 -1 1 Japan 2 1 0 1 2 3 -1 1 Norway 2-0 USA ( Aug 6- Qinhuangdao) ( Leni Kaurin, Melissa Wiik) Japan 2-2 New Zealand ( Aug 6- Qinhuangdao) ( Aya Miyama pen, Homare Sawa/ Kirsty Yallop, Amber Yearn pen) USA 1-0 Japan ( Aug 9- [. Click to continue reading...