Breathing Relief™ Sport

Gary Speed, the manager of the Wales national team was found dead by his wife in their mansion on Sunday. The police have confirmed that the 42 year old’s death was suicide by hanging. Only hours earlier he was on the BBC1 football focus talking about his hope for next year.

At the Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff, flags were flying at half-mast today in respect and fans and friends show their support by putting down flowers and shirts outside the ground where he use to play. This has been a shocking event for everyone in the sporting world.

A man draped in Celtic top could be viewed strolling on to the bus with what resembled a carrier bag brimming with bananas. In an era when men sported Graeme Souness moustaches and Frank McAvennie mullets as standard practice, the sight of fruit in Glasgow seemed like an odd occurrence, even before the latest helping of a touchy fixture that has never ceased to throw up large sequences of unplanned mayhem.

It later transpired that the bananas were intended for the black player Mark Walters, a winger who had signed for Rangers from Aston Villa hours before the match.
The bananas shamefully lay strewn before a drenched 'Jungle' area of the old Celtic Park, a spot not far from where Celtic's enthusiastic band of supporters known as the 'Green Brigade' can be found on match days in the revamped ground. This singing section of ultras support the team while also making their political feelings on wider issues, especially relating to the political make-up of Ireland, be known.

It has been 23 years since Walters was racially abused at Celtic Park. With a mission statement that describes itself as 'a broad front of anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-sectarian Celtic supporters', it is perhaps inconceivable that a member of the Green Brigade or the wider Celtic-minded family would racially abuse a player, but old habits die hard in small splinter groups of the Glasgow club's vast support.

Celtic have endured problems policing IRA chants away from home, but their emergence on their own doorstep in recent times is something that must be handled with the realisation that while they may be offensive/illicit and unwanted, such chants may not be illegal.
This morning I heard on the radio that racism is not in the game of footballs anymore but has it really changed much from 23 years ago. Society has but it seems that a handful of football fans and maybe even some plays will be staying in there primitive minds.

By Sophie Mccormack

A massive defensive effort saw England cling on to a shock 1-0 win over world champions Spain in a friendly match at Wembley. The game saw 3 yellow cards and a whopping 8 substations.
England snatched an unlikely win against the world champions Spain with Frank Lampard's header proving to be a historic moment among the England fans.
Much of the crowd at Wembley had gathered to see the world champions rather than their own team. However, the English support provided England with a boost in confidence.
It was a well-organized, functional home side who worked hard for their victory. Scott Parker was tackling all over the pitch; Joleon Lescott was solid in defence while Frank Lampard provided his trademark goal to deem Vincent Del Bosque side to an unlikely defeat.
However, the first half was a boring affair. Spain couldn't find the incision required to work past the English defence, and their only clear cut chance fell to Sergio Busquets whose many qualities doesn't involve clinical finishing, England's sole shot came from Lampard, who had a pop from a distance as he was without passing options.
The second half served for a much more entertaining contest. England ventured out more from their comfort zone, and it was from a set piece that the winning goal came. James Milner's whipped in a free kick, which Darren Bent headed onto the post. Pepe Reina, coming on at half-time, was committed and as the ball rebounded, Lampard was the first to react heading it in from all of three inches.
England was still content to sit back and attack on the counter while Spain marauded forward in search of the equalizer. David Villa was unlucky to see his half-volley come back off the post, while substitute Cesc Fabregas missed a sitter late in the game.
England defended for all they were worth, and at full time, they would have been content with their victory which was just about deserved.

Fifa has agreed that the England, Scotland and Wales teams can wear poppies on black armbands during the upcoming internationals. As an alternative to having embroidered poppies on their shirts, the FA had previously said England players would wear black armbands during the game and lay a wreath on the pitch during the national anthems.

The progress came after Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron wrote to Fifa asking that England be allowed to wear shirts embroidered with poppies. The Fifa bans political, religious or commercial messages on shirts.

The Fifa announcement of the compromise came shortly after it was revealed that the Duke of Cambridge had written a letter to world football's governing body in his position as president of the FA.

England and Wales have agreed to the compromise. Scotland will consult their opponents before making a decision. England will be wearing the armbands in Saturday's friendly against Spain.
England and Wales' rugby league players will be wearing poppies on their shirts this weekend, along with the other two teams - Australia and New Zealand - involved in the Four Nations.

To assure us that the FA are doing enough for remembrance day they have relisted a list of what will be happening to show their respect and mark Remembrance Day in a number of ways.

1. The England players will wear black armbands during the Spain game on Saturday. These armbands will have poppies on them
2. The FA will place a poppy wreath on the pitch during the national anthems
3. There will be a one-minute silence ahead of kick-off
4. Players will wear training tops with embroidered poppies on match day
5. Players will wear poppy-embossed anthem jackets during the national anthems
6. Military representatives will be in the presentation party prior to kick-off
7. The FA has donated 500 England v Spain tickets to 'Tickets for Troops', for members of the Armed Forces, and 1,000 tickets for the England v Sweden game on Tuesday (this is standard FA policy for Wembley matches)
8. The England senior squad will train at Wembley on Friday ahead of the Spain game. They will observe the two-minute silence at 11am, all wearing training tops embossed with poppies. This session will be broadcast live
9. The training tops embossed with poppies will be passed onto forces' charities post-match as auction items for fund raising
10. The poppy will be visible around Wembley on Saturday, on the scoreboards and advertising boards, and poppy sellers will be in the stadium to allow supporters to donate to the poppy fund and show their support
11. On Thursday, England Under-21s play Iceland in Colchester and England U19s play Denmark in Brighton. All players and staff will be wearing poppies pre- and post-match
12. Both the Under-21s and U19s will observe a one-minute silence, too, at their games - the Under-21s will do so alongside troops from Colchester barracks.

This list was taken from the FA website: http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/search?s=poppies

WWE is not a sport I partially watch much of, or know much about. Although for Halloween I made a special exception to watch it, and I hope for those of you who read this will agree this is not one to miss. Not only is he the biggest Muppet. He’s the biggest Muppet in the world. Kermit the frog and miss piggy guest star for a Halloween special in the WWE fighting ring.

Kermit - “and I thought our show was weird.”

http://www.skysports.com/skysportsnews/video/0,,13987_7285177,00.html


By Sophie McCormack