Women do understand the offside rule

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In the week when two veteran Sky Sports football commentators were sacked for linking a Premier League lineswoman’s knowledge of the offside  rule to her gender (as well as many other comments that came to light subsequently), a new advertising campaign has been launched to combat sexism in football. Its focus is said offisde rule, a complicated and always controversial part of the game (if awarded against your team) for all football fans, regardless of gender.

To give you an idea, this is part of the explanation from Wikipedia:

Offside is a law in football which law states that if a player is in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by a team mate, he may not become actively involved in the play. A player is in an offside position if he is closer to the opponent’s goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last defender, but only if the player is on his opponent’s half of the pitch. Interpretation of the term “actively involved” is subject to debate.

 

Strange Random Football Quote:

In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. – Jean Paul Sartre, French philosopher.

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Catholic Church bans footy theme songs at funerals | News.com.au

Cover of Highway to Hell

FOOTY club songs and popular music have been banned from Catholic funerals under strict guidelines sent to priests and funeral directors. The guidelines for Catholic funerals, sent by Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart, also declare that a funeral should not be a “celebration” of the deceased’s life.”Secular items are never to be sung or played at a Catholic funeral, such as romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs, football club songs,” the guidelines say.But outspoken Catholic priest Father Bob Maguire pictured described the guidelines as “insensitive”. Funeral service operator Adrian Nelson said footy was an important part of life and club songs were popular requests. “All our MP3 players are loaded up with every club’s theme song,” he said. A Herald Sun survey two years ago found the Collingwood theme song was one of the most popular requests at funerals.

via Catholic Church bans footy theme songs at funerals | News.com.au.

Don’t forget to look at the bottom of the article, where they mention the most popular requests and then the strangest songs asked for. For example, you can understand the logic of Queen‘s “The Show must go on” or Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and at a stretch,  countrymen AC/DC‘s “Highway to Hell“, but imagine a funeral with Monty Python‘s “Always look on the bright side of life“, “Ding, Dong, the witch is dead” from The Wizard of Oz or “I’m too sexy”. Way to go? Suggestions, please!

Strange Random Funeral Quote:

According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld (American television Actor and Comedian, b.1954)

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Spain vs Portugal – World Cup 2010

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A game that brings many questions to mind, such as: Why are Spain still called “La Roja” when they play in blue? Why do Portugal have one of the ugliest shirts in international football? If Ronaldo ever becomes a Buddhist monk, will he have to change his first name? As far as the football is concerned, here are some statistics from the BBC site:

Head-to-head

- They have met 32 times in international football. Portugal have won just five matches, Spain 15 and there have been 12 draws.

- But Portugal won their last meeting 1-0, which came at the Euro 2004 group stages and eliminated Sapin from the competition.

- And Spain have only beaten Portugal once in the ten matches since 1958.

Spain

- They must make history if they are to win the World Cup, as no country has lost its first group match and gone on to lift the trophy.

- David Villa has scored six goals in six starts at the World Cup and is now the all-time top scorer for Spain at the tournament.

- Spain became the first team since Hungary in 1986 not to collect a single card in the group stages of a World Cup tournament. In fact, they have not had a player cautioned in their last six matches since Sergio Ramos was booked against France on 3 March.

Portugal

- Portugal have conceded just one goal in their last 12 internationals.

- Should they get through against Spain, they will set a new unbeaten record for Portugal of 20 games in all competitions.

- They have failed to score in their last two World Cup knockout matches – 0-0 (aet) against England in the quarter-final and a 1-0 defeat to France in the semi-final in 2006.

from BBC

Strange Random Portugal Quote:

Portugal is a high hill with a white watch tower on it flying signal flags. It is apparently inhabited by one man who lives in a long row of yellow houses with red roofs, and populated by sheep who do grand acts of balancing on the side of the hill – Richard H. Davis

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Lego Football World Cup – Spain vs Switzerland

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As we mentioned the other day, more videos are available almost daily at LegoFussball.

Nothing much more we can say …

Strange Random Switzerland Quote:

I’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives. – Billy Connolly

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Lego Football World Cup – England Vs USA

Relive the passion, the frustration, the intense embarrassment and of course, the vuvuzelas (those annoying plastic trumpets) as the USA “beat England 1-1″, according to a US daily headline. All in Lego-vision, courtesy of legofussball.eu! You can find more World Cup 2010 as they are added under Lego Videos —-> WM 2010. Also worth watching is the recreation of the West Germany – England World Cup Final of 1966, in glorious black and white, no less.

Strange Random Football Quote:

A sport where the players actually enjoy getting hit in the head by a ball.  – Soccer advertisement, published for the MetroStars Major League Soccer team, 1997

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