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Sports

Sports Category

Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.

Chelsea Balls: The Richest Teams Dope The Transfer System To Ensure Unequal Competition

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THE loan system isn’t fait, is it? It favours the rich clubs. It favours Chelsea.

Everton’s on-loan Romelu Lukaku is prevented from playing against parent club Chelsea. The striker can knock them in against Chelsea’s rivals but not prove himself against the club that owns his contract.

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Posted: 10th, April 2014 | In: Sports | Comment


Arsenal Balls: If Not Diarra Then Who Is The ‘Former Arsenal Star Fighting Jihad In Syria’?

WHO is the former “Arsenal “star fighting as a jihad warrior in Syria”, as “The Sun can reveal”?

 

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We’d like to take a look at his shooting accuracy before making a guess.

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Posted: 10th, April 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment


Ultimate Warrior Jams Brian Hellwig: Gloriously Mad And Regrettably Gone

The Ultimate Warrior is escorted by his daughters to the stage during the WWE Hall of Fame Induction at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, April 5, 2014. (Jonathan Bachman/AP Images for WWE) Date: 05/04/2014

The Ultimate Warrior is escorted by his daughters to the stage during the WWE Hall of Fame Induction at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, April 5, 2014. (Jonathan Bachman/AP Images for WWE). Date: 05/04/2014

 

THE Ultimate Warrior has died at the age of 54, WWE has sadly confirmed. Born James Brian Hellwig, Warrior electrified kids and adults alike during his time as a fearsome wrestler of the WWE (formerly WWF). His wild antics, shock of crazy hair and charged entrance made him a hit with those who are fans of professional wrestling.

For those who sniff ‘oooooh, it’s just all acting!’, The Ultimate Warrior took it wrestling to a high octane, monster truck level of theatre. He was bigger, bolder and weirder than his counterparts and everyone who watched him, immediately got excited when he appeared.

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Posted: 10th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Sports | Comment


Manchester United Balls: United Fans Beg David Cameron To Offer David Moyes Full Support

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Posted: 9th, April 2014 | In: manchester united | Comment (1)


Chelsea Balls: Jose Mourinho Is The Custard Cream Of Stamford Bridge

WHY did TV3′s Trevor Welch hand Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho a pack of custard cream biscuits following the Blues’ Champions League win over PSG?

 

 

Welch handed The One the biscuits because of this:

 

Is a custard cream the trickiest biscuit to eat whilst trying to talk? We’d suggest it was a Jaffa Cake, but, then, is that really a biscuit?

 

Posted: 9th, April 2014 | In: Sports | Comment


Chelsea Balls: The Champions’ League Semi-Final Is The ‘Last 8’ (With Added Piranhas)

THE Sun was once the byword for a polished newspaper. It is now routinely poor. Take this example: Chelsea are through to the semi-finals of the Champions’ League. Or as the once soaraway Sun puts it:

“Blues reach last eight…”

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cheslea the sun

 

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Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Sports | Comment


Spurs Balls: Salutist Daily Mail Erases Black Coach Chris Ramsey From Team Photograph

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SPURS Balls: Tottenham Hotspur smashed a dire Sunderland last night. The Daily Mail leads with a lovely picture of Emmanuel Adebayor (American salute) saluting his manager Tim Sherwood (British salute).

Adebayor might also have been saluting Chris Ramsey, but the Mail has cut out the team coach.

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Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Sports, Spurs | Comments (3)


Liverpool Balls: Luis Suarez Doesn’t Eat Young Boy With Down Syndrome In Park

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CAN Liverpool’s bristling Luis Suarez be loved?

On Liverpool’s Reddit page, we spotted this picture of Suarez in Calderstones Park with a young boy who has down syndrome.

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Posted: 8th, April 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment


Spurs Balls: Tottenham Only Get A Great Manager When The Season Tickets Are Up For Renewal

SPURS are ready to demote Tim Sherwood, their cheaper English version of Andre Villa-Boas in a gillet. Many Spurs fans should be delighted. He is clearly out of his depth. So. The chatter is on club chairman Daniel Levy offering the job to the old stager Louis van Gaal.  But why leak this news now? Maybe it’s because the letters to season ticket holders are about go out.

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Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Sports, Spurs | Comment


Manchester City Balls: Southampton’s Luke Shaw Plays ‘You Are The Ref’ On Instagram

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AT the Manchester City v Southampton match on Saturday, the officials made a howler. With the scores 1-1 and City struggling to click into gear, Samir Nasri scored after being set up by David Silva. But when Silva received the ball from Edin Dzeko he was yards offside.

Southampton’s teenage full-back Luke Shaw decided to play a game of You Are The Ref*. He posted a picture on Instagram showing a screen-shot of the decision with helpful line drawn to highlight the awful decision.

* NOTE:

You Are The Ref was the work of Spurs fan Paul Trevillion. Originally written for Spurs magazine The Lillywhite in 1957, the drawn feature invited readers to solve one referee puzzler.

* In 1957 we started and 2,500 weeks later, we’re still going. Now that ain’t too bad, is it? Not many West End shows go for 2,500 weeks. I started doing it for The People and it was called ‘Hey Ref’ and in them days I got Bill Nicholson to help me with the answers – he was a qualified referee you see and that’s why he would never let any of his players argue with the ref.”

Spotter: Pies

Posted: 7th, April 2014 | In: Sports | Comment


Thought Police Arrests Three Gillingham Fans For Allegedly Racially Abusing Rotherham’s Scottish Manager

DID you hear the one about the Gillingham fans arrested for allegedly abusing the Rotherham manager for being Scottish? The alleged abuse occurred during Gillingham’s 4-3 defeat at the Priestfield Stadium?

The story goes that Rotherham manager Steve Evans was allegedly racially abused by three men – aged 24, 27 and 57 – during last weekend’s League One game. The three have been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence. The three have been released on bail until May 7.

Kent Online has some background:

It is not the first time Mr Evans and the Gills have been involved in allegations of racial abuse. The Scot previously made an official complaint in 2011 about then Gills boss, Andy Hessenthaler, after a heated exchange at a boxing day match when he was manager of Crawley Town.

As words were exchanged between players and staff of both teams. A police officer was sent into the changing rooms to calm the situation down.The complaint was later dropped by Mr Evans.

In his column in last Friday’s Messenger, Gills assistant manager John Schofield said that he expected a “side show” to come from the Rotherham boss on the sidelines.

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Posted: 6th, April 2014 | In: Sports | Comment


Liverpool Balls: Flanagan Goes Down In Slow Motion And Anthony Taylor Misses CCTV Footage Of Carroll’s Assault

LIVERPOOL are top of the Premier League. They defeated West Ham United 2-1. They scored two penalties. The first was a pen. The second shouldn’t have been. The Hammers’ goalkeeper Adrian got to the ball first.  We captured Jon Flanagan’s tumble on camera.

The game was also memorable for referee Anthony Taylor’s inability look at the massive TV screen behind his head to see Andy Carroll’s foul in the build up the the happy Hammers’ goal.

Sky TV’s Jamie Redknapp says Andy Carroll’s challenge on Mignolet was “bordering on assault”.

Adam Hurry explains:

The established measure for this, of course, is the If You Did That To Someone in The Street Test – this one would be rather hard to stage in that context, perhaps.

 

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Posted: 6th, April 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment


Liverpool Balls: Manchester City To Buy Luis Suarez, Who Hates Brendan Rodgers

ARE MANCHESTER CITY preparing a “huge investment” to buy Luis Suarez from Liverpool?

Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, says he knows the contents of Suarez’s Liverpool contract. He “believes” the contract Suarez signed in December 2013 contains a release clause making a transfer viable if the player wants to move.

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Posted: 6th, April 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)


Arsenal Seek New Bobby Charlton: Arsène Wenger Says Injuries May Be Down To Hair Loss Treatments

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ARSENAL’S list of injuries is a running sore for Gunners fans. Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Abou Diaby, Lucas Podolski, Mesut Özil, Jack Wilshere, Laurent Koscielny and others have endured lengthy lay-offs this season. Who to blame?

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has an idea.

 “Some of them [muscle injuries] are down to the medication that the players take that you don’t even know about. Then you realise afterwards that they took this medication but that’s not prudent… If you lose your hair and you’ve taken something to make your hair grow, it might not be good, especially for the rest of your body. Medication always pushes a part of your body and is sometimes detrimental to other parts of your body.

“At the moment, we have not come to any conclusion … every case can be very different and you need to analyse very deeply why things happen. I’m surrounded by people who want to enhance their performances because they have another problem in their life and it’s not always necessarily a good thing to do.”

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Posted: 6th, April 2014 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment


1933: Everton’s Bill ‘Dixie’ Dean Holds Up The FA Cup As The Team Emerge Onto Lime Street, Liverpool

FLASHBACK to May 1 1933:

Everton’s Bill ‘Dixie’ Dean holds up the FA Cup as the team emerge onto Lime Street, Liverpool.

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Posted: 5th, April 2014 | In: Flashback, Sports | Comments (2)


1984: Everton Fans Invade The Arsenal Pitch As Southampton Are Beaten In The FA Cup

FLASHBACK to 14/04/1984:

Police officers battle with rival soccer fans at the end of the FA Cup semi final between Everton and Southampton at Highbury, London. At least 80 people were said to be arrested.

 

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Posted: 5th, April 2014 | In: Flashback, Sports | Comment (1)


Tom Daley Is Gay, Not Bisexual, Okay?

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IMAGINE this: everyone in the world announces that they’re bisexual. Seems trite, but if everyone was bi, then it would stop the need for people to ‘come out’ and indeed, newspapers wouldn’t need to write stories about people ‘switching sides’ or indeed, as we’re seeing with Tom Daley, clarifying exactly which set of genitals he’s most interested in.

The 19-year-old told the world that he was bi on YouTube in December, saying: “Of course I still fancy girls, but right now, I’m dating a guy and I couldn’t be happier.”

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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Celebrities, Reviews, Sports | Comment


‘I’m A Pineapple Not A Racist’: Nicolas Anelka Defends His ‘Quenelle’ Gesture

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NICOLAS Anelka, formerly Le Grand Sulk of English football became its pariah when he performed the cryptic quenelle gesture. Having left West Bromwich Albion after being handed a five-match ban by the FA for making the gesture during the 3-3 draw with West Ham in December, Anelka is talking to Metro News.

“Because some people have performed [the quenelle] in front of a synagogue, then the gesture is suddenly meant to be racist and anti-Semitic in any place and in any situation? Sorry, I’m not swallowing that. I’ve tried to swallow it but it won’t go down. So if I understand correctly, all priests are paedophiles and all Muslims are terrorists? For me, it’s the same principle. If this continues, the people who decide that the quenelle is racist will soon ban us from eating pineapples! It is a vulgar gesture, I grant you. There was never any religious intent on my part. I am neither racist nor anti-Semitic and this quenelle was a simple dedication.”

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Posted: 4th, April 2014 | In: Reviews, Sports | Comment


Manchester United Balls: Of Course Wayne Rooney Dived Like All Good Barcelona Players Should

DID Wayne Rooney dive in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich? There is no doubt that Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger fouled Rooney, but the Englishman went down in true action hero style: legs buckled, chest out, head tossed back, mouth  in a rictus of agony, perhaps death.

Schweinsteiger and Bayern manager Pep Guardiola thought the ‘going to ground easily’ has contributed to the German earning a second yellow card in the Champions League quarter-final.

 

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Posted: 3rd, April 2014 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment


Chelsea Balls: David Luiz’s Hair To Blame For PSG Horror Show

ANORAK enjoys the marks out of 10 given to footballers by tabloid football experts. It’s a neat filler that offers all the insight of a Stevie Wonders’ binoculars. But you’d at least expect the newspaper men in the good seats to award similar scores to a player.

So. Take the Sun’s points for Chelsea’s David Luiz for his showing in the Blues Champions’ League match against Paris Saint-Germain:

“FLOWING locks exaggerate aimless runs with the ball that often end in losing it — putting his team under pressure. If the cross for PSG’s second goal was going in anyway, he sure helped things along. Booked – 4

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Posted: 3rd, April 2014 | In: Sports | Comment