soccer

Brazilian footballing legend Pele dies aged 82…

Brian O'Neill on December 30, 2022, 10:18 am

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Considered by many to be the greatest footballing player of all time, Pele is credited with scoring a world record 1,281 goals in 1,363 career appearances. He is the only man to have won the World Cup three times – in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Obviously, many of us would be biased towards George Best being considered the greatest footballer and there was mutual respect between the two of them. Pele has always said that George Best was the greatest …

Should we boycott the World Cup?

Ciaran Ward on November 4, 2022, 8:21 am

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You wait years for a world cup and four come along at once. In recent weeks we’ve had world cups in women’s rugby union, men’s rugby league, T20 cricket – and now we’ve got the big one coming up – the long awaited 2022 FIFA World Cup in soccer, possibly the most controversial tournament ever and dubbed by Amnesty International as the “world cup of shame” It will be the first world cup to be held in the Middle East, …

So what do you think of Euro 2020?

Brian O'Neill on July 12, 2021, 8:30 am

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A year late, but hey. Last night Italy beat England on penalties to win the Euro 2020 Soccer tournament. A moment Gianluigi Donnarumma and Italy will never forget… …the moment they became Euro 2020 champions#ITAENG | #ITVFootball | #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/HpWY8SEoon — ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 11, 2021 Cue the inevitable from the English press: To be fair penalties are a bad way to end a match, you might as well do a coin toss. Still, for soccer fans, it was …

“We Don’t Like Naked Greed: We Like Our Greed Sharply Dressed.” The Super League backlash…

John Moriarty on April 22, 2021, 7:48 am

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It’s okay folks. Those bastions of the people, Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea and Abu Dhabi’s Manchester City have interceded to save the day on behalf of Joe Football Supporting Public. They pulled out of the tri-nation Super League, followed semi-swiftly by the other four English clubs. ‘Pres Perez’ called a Zoom meeting but couldn’t keep the band together. So much for the Little Power-Grab That Could. Sorry if you were one of the not-so-vocal few who thought that watching Cristiano Ronaldo …

Cartoon – Lose-lose for Germany and Greece

Brian Spencer on October 10, 2015, 6:18 pm

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The Republic of Ireland beat the creditor state 1-0. Northern Ireland beat the debtor state 3-1. For a short moment Germany and Greece are both losers. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

England Football: “What’s so funny ’bout peace, love, understanding (er, and intelligent surrender)?”

Mick Fealty on May 28, 2013, 9:39 am

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Mark Perryman, who runs Philosophy Football has an interesting argument on a latter day tradition at England football matches. In advance of this week’s England v Republic of Ireland at Wembley he notes: For as long as I’ve been a travelling England fan (my first game was Moldova away in 1996), a decent proportion of England fans have used the musical pause after the third line of God Save the Queen to insert “No Surrender” with as much volume and …

Ferguson’s departure: Rivals must work to burst “the incumbency bubble” of the EPL

Mick Fealty on May 9, 2013, 12:39 pm

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I always had it in mind to write something about three exceptionally long term and successful leaders in three very different fields. Now Alex Ferguson has gone, here’s the gist in short blog order… – Gerry Adams, who came to lead his political party from the fringes of constitutional politics in Northern Ireland to the head of northern nationalism, and is now spearheading a challenge for political power in the south. – Rupert Murdoch, who landed on British shores to …

The new old firm…

Dewi on April 16, 2013, 9:56 pm

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Right – Cardiff City in the Premiership…looking forward to the South Wales Derby. Seriously – fabulous for the city. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Passion went missing Republic’s ‘pointless’ show at #Euro2012…

Mick Fealty on June 19, 2012, 10:47 am

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Managerialism. That’s what they call it. Shuffling the deck chairs with little or no point or sense of long term value other than to perform a job. Call me, generally, neutral on the FAI/IFA thing, but last night missed the passion for the green shirt shown in former days by Gerry Armstrong, Sammy Mc, Niall Quinn and even that old fake Irishman Tony Cascarino. There wasn’t even trace of Jack’s much derided route one to goal. Trap’s game plan was …

After #Euro2012 is it time to think about a single Ireland soccer team?

Mick Fealty on June 15, 2012, 10:10 am

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Well, as it was put on Morning Ireland this morning the Republic sang whilst Spain played football. The singing, whilst impressive, only annoyed Roy Keane the more. The Corkman was blunt: “We’re a small country, we’re up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.” Translated, this roughly means: “this is sport, not entertainment”. I’m sure my old Da, who never even saw Keane the elder play but who loved seriously competitive players …

Man City’s real triumph may be the undoing of Premiership’s featherbedding of past champions…

Mick Fealty on May 14, 2012, 5:28 pm

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Well, they did it. I was in P4 when the team I (“Foolishly?” – Ed) chose to support in Primary School last won the championship of English football. Yesterday I watched them win again just round the corner from where I saw them gain promotion against Gillingham in 1999, when “typical City” similarly left their own salvation to the very last minute. And it was a good feeling. And better for the longer wait and the tougher win. The sentiment …

Northern Ireland soccer represents ‘British’ Northern Ireland, not, erm Northern Ireland

Mick Fealty on June 2, 2011, 8:34 am

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I’m not a fan of the rule change that means players who grow up in Northern Ireland rising through facilities paid for by the IFA now have the right to designate as FAI players at internatinonal level. Somehow the GFA got enrolled to convince FIFA that it was okay because of the Belfast Agreement. FIFA may have been convinced but the Oireachtas isn’t going anywhere near there re voting rights for ex pats never mind passport holders. But Ian Parsley …

Good grief – Wales win a Soccer match..

Dewi on May 28, 2011, 5:37 am

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2 – 0. Not a classic, and a crowd of 529 people, but from a Welsh viewpoint every minute that Aaron Ramsey plays as captain is good. Any positives for you? DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

‘Football’: With a rifle and a pistol in my hand – fuck Bobby Sands …

Blank on February 15, 2011, 7:54 pm

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Their wee country (Norn Iron) comes to Dublin with their wee ‘supporters’ award?

And Qatar win the 2022 World Cup…

Dewi on December 2, 2010, 3:57 pm

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Astonishing victory. Spent some money Snazzy new stadia.. And a good idea: To ensure a lasting impression, Qatar 2022 have proposed that post-World Cup, many modular components of the stadiums no longer needed will be dismantled and shipped to other countries in order to promote football development. ..might need to work a bit on that world ranking..although it’s one way to qualify. Congratulations. DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Glentoran – goal of the year….

Dewi on November 7, 2010, 5:26 pm

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Matty Burrows’ wonder goal against Portadown has been shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or-Puskas award. No wonder – it’s astonishing. ……and this one wasn’t bad… DewiWelsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

Welsh Language in the Heartland

Dewi on October 7, 2010, 4:14 pm

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There is increasing evidence of the decline of the Welsh language as a lingua franca of areas traditionally thought of as Welsh speaking, coupled with a marked increase in the use of the language in more Anglicised areas. It’s a fairly easy phenomena to understand – as the % speakers fall below 75 to 70% it is normal for the languages of institutions such as the WI, Cricket Clubs, Young Farmers etc etc to change their primary language.

Dewi

Welsh Nationalist. Rugby Fan. Know a bit about History and Railways…

That’s the end of that

Blank on October 6, 2010, 2:08 pm

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Back in July Chris noted the CAS dismissal of the IFA case over Daniel Kearns representing the Republic. At that point only a brief press release was available. As this finally ends any doubts on player eligibility and for completeness – here, at last, is the full CAS judgement and the arguments presented. Blank

IFA: Court case for Irish, ‘understanding’ for English

Blank on September 29, 2010, 9:39 pm

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One thing Slugger loves is a blog on football allegiances, so here you go… Today English teenager Adam Barton withdrew from the northern ireland football squad facing Italy and the Faroe Islands in the European qualifiers. Yesterday the north’s manager had declared: If players don’t want to represent Northern Ireland, it doesn’t matter how good or how bad they are, that’s up to them and good luck to them. It’s not a problem for Northern Ireland. “I focus on the …

England: “We’re sh!t and we know we are…”

Mick Fealty on June 28, 2010, 11:24 am

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The average England soccer fan has a strange love hate relationship with the serial failure of their international football team to win anything much since Wembly 1966. “It will really teach us a lesson” quipped one caller on Nicky Campbell phone in on BBC Radio Five Live this morning. Er, no actually. If there was any chance of that, you’d have learned something since you started serially beating up your managers, starting with Don Revie back in 1974. Even the sainted …