Two Liverpool fans are in hospital being treated for stab wounds they received in Naples while their team have been preparing for tonight's Europa League game against Napoli, there were reports of trouble on Wednesday at the San Paolo stadium ahead of the game which is to be played tonight. Even tourists in the area were thought to be Liverpool fans at Restaurants were attacked and had stones thrown at them.
Police are expecting more encounters tonight as the kick-off time approaches.
Naples police spokesperson said, "We are still gathering information with regards to yesterday's incidents,"
"Four people of the same family, a father, a mother and their two sons, were attacked last night and needed medical attention.
"Due to the aggression, three Naples citizens were arrested."
Three men have been arrested in Naples in connection to the stabbing.
Vampires seem to be everywhere at the moment, on TV screens and at the cinema. That’s fine in our books because vampire ladies usually get their kit off at the drop of a hat. There’s a number to choose from, so it was a great surprise to see that the latest issue of FHM has sixteen (yeah, sixteen) pages devoted to vampire ladies in their lingerie.
There are plenty of other articles in the issue to sink your teeth in to, of course, but it was the likes of the lovely Christian Serratos from Twilight and True Blood’s Natasha Alam that really drew our eyes. Our favourite has to be Diora Baird from 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. She was great in Wedding Crashers and the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and she looks out of this world in this issue of FHM.
You may just associate FHM with gorgeous women brilliantly photographed but there is now a lot more to it than before. As well as the usual pictures you can pin up just next to the bed there it now covers much more – fitness and health plus music and games too. The writing style is still as concise and funny as ever, but now there’s a lot more to the articles than previously. Fashion and film are also included in this new line up.
Yet our eyes still keep coming back to those lovely vampire girls. In her interview Diora Baird reflects that filming a vampire movie was ‘horrifying. I would never recommend being fed on.’ That’s fine, Diora, but you will always be a feast for the eyes!
Alex Ferguson is keen for an end to the saga that has plagued Manchester United the last few days following revelations that star striker Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club, the United striker has come out and said he doesn't want to sign a contract and is keen on a move away from Old Trafford.
Alex Ferguson has a meeting with chief executive David Gill tomorrow and would like to put the issue to bed before it starts to effect his team, Fergie wants to move on from this and concentrate on team-affairs rather than Wayne's contractual problems.
Alex Ferguson said, "I have a meeting with David [Gill], who has spoken to the owners tonight. We don't want it to become a saga.
"We don’t want this to carry on. We don’t want it to become a saga. We’ve got the team to consider and an important game on Sunday. It’ll be the end of it tomorrow."
Roy Hodgson has today said that Liverpool could be vulnerable to bid from Manchester United when the transfer window opens in January, after revelations from Old Trafford the last few days that striker Wayne Rooney wants to leave United. Alex Ferguson could very well come knocking on Hodgson's door for Fernando Torres. The out of form striker has looked delusional for Liverpool this season, likewise with United's Wayne Rooney.
Roy Hodgson said, "When a great player like Wayne Rooney is looking to leave his club, Manchester United will be in a position to target a lot of players around the world,"
He also added. "I don't think Fernando Torres will be the only striker they target, and I don't think that we will be the only club that will be worried their striker can be targeted.
"I am not naive to believe there won't be any danger and we will never lose a player like Torres, I understand these things can happen. I don't believe we will lose him, we will do our best to ensure he stays, and I only hope I can do everything in my power to help him return to the very top level we know he has. I certainly hope he will get back very quickly, we want to get him back to form and back to the level we know he can achieve as quickly as possible."
Also Roy Hodgson says he was caught unaware that managing director Christian Purslow was resigning from his position a week after securing the sale of the club. The manager added, "Christian Purslow leaving doesn't impact on my position as far as I know, but that is not a question for me to answer," Hodgson said.
"I came to work for Liverpool Football Club not an individual. I had no idea before today that Christian was going to leave the club. I believe I have the backing of the club, and I want to continue with the rebuilding job that we have here. We knew it was a big job, and as far as I am concerned nothing has changed."
The first African-American World Heavyweight Boxing Champion whose win provoked a race riot.
Way before Cassius Clay (later to be Muhammad Ali) was even a twinkle in his father’s eye an African American took the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, the first African American to do so. The year was 1908 and Jack Johnson (born John Arthur Johnson) held the title for seven years. Many people have never heard of Jack Johnson, but his story is one which needs (or indeed begs) to be told.
His story also enables us to reflect on how much times have changed in so many ways – and yet in others hardly at all.
Johnson was born to Henry and Tina Johnson in Galveston, Texas in 1878. His parents were emancipated slaves and Henry, their first son was represented the first generation of his family to be born in to freedom. Yet times were tough. Although the parents worked a succession of blue-collar jobs yet still managed to teach their six children to read and write. Galveston only had about five years of formal education before he joined the tough world of the Galveston Docks as a general laborer.
Johnson developed his boxing technique in this environment, patient and defensive, he would lie in wait for his opponent to make a mistake and then he would go in for the kill. A cautious starter he would build up his aggression over a series of rounds and then continuously punish his opponents rather than go all out for a knockout blow.
The press of the day rounded on Johnson for his technique. Yet only a decade earlier they had praised “Gentleman” Jim Corbett, generally considered the father of modern boxing, for a very similar style. Johnson had studies the techniques of the 1892 World Boxing Champion and adapted them to his own style. Yet still the press condemned him for being devious. Clever and color it seemed, would not be rewarded.
By the turn of the new twentieth century Johnson had dozens of wins against both black and white fighters.
His first title would come in 1903 – when he won a title that no one would contemplate these days – the World Colored Heavyweight Championship. Perhaps he could have won the World at that time but the champion of the time, James J Jeffries simply refused to fight him – on purely racially grounds.
Today, this would probably mean the end of someone’s boxing career and international vilification in the press. However in 1903 Jeffries was well within his rights. Other championships were open to black boxers but the world title was blocked, completely off limits. Not to be thwarted, in 1907 Johnson proved his mettle when he knocked out a former World Heavyweight Champion in the second round.
Johnson used a tactic familiar to us today in order to secure a match. He virtually stalked the world champion (the Canadian Tommy Burns) around the world and used the press (his old enemy) to taunt the boxer in to finally agreeing to fight him. Burns finally gave in and on Boxing Day 1908 the pair went head to head for fourteen rounds in front of over twenty thousand people in Sydney, Australia (see picture below). It was stopped by the police and the referee awarded the title to Johnson.
The referee deemed the win to be a Technical Knock Out (TKO) deeming Burns unable to continue. However, Johnson had clearly won the fight, having soundly beaten the champion particularly in the later rounds. The technicality must have made him furious but he had what he wanted – the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
There was an immediate and racial backlash towards Johnson in the press, who had happily printed his goads towards Burns but had not expected him to win. Jack London (who wrote Call of the Wild) was one of many who called for a Great White Hope to come along and beat Johnson. And so they did – many of them in exhibition matches.
While champion, Johnson lived the life of a celebrity and was forever in the press or on the radio. He was immensely popular - above, a crowd await his arrival in New York sometime between 1910 and 1915 (his poster appears bottom left).
He endorsed a great number of products and became a hobbyist, joining in the new fad for automobile racing. He was always immaculately and expensively tailored - and had a fine line in nouveau riche wit. When stopped once for speeding he gave the traffic cop a one hundred dollar note. The fine was fifty and the policeman protested that he had no change to give. Keep it, rejoined Johnson – I intend to make my return trip at the same speed.
The day Johnson – and the world – would never forget came in 1910. The former champion, James J Jeffries (who had never been defeated during his career) came out of retirement. He was quoted in the press as saying “I should step into the ring again and demonstrate that a white man is king of them all.” He had been out of fighting for six years and was not at peak fitness by any means. You can guess the outcome.
The fight was arranged on a deliberately provocative date – July 4 – and was fought in Reno, Nevada in front of a capacity crowd of twenty thousand. Fifteen rounds later Jeffries’ team called it quits – Johnson had knocked him down twice already (a career first for Jeffries) and they did not want the black champion to knock him out. Here are the highlights.
Johnson retained his title and earned (for those days) an enormous $65,000. Yet the result of the fight was to have untold consequences. His retention of the title provoked race riots in more than 25 states and 50 cities, all on the fourth of July. Humiliated by his victory whites took the law in to their own hands and police had to stop several attempts at lynching.
Most of the riots began as black communities celebrated in the streets and the police and neighboring white retaliated through sheer spite. Chicago police, notably, allowed the celebrations to continue peacefully and the African-American poet William Waring Cuney was inspired to write My Lord, What a Morning. It is short, pointed and very funny.
O my Lord
What a morning,
O my Lord,
What a feeling,
When Jack Johnson
Turned Jim Jeffries'
Snow-white face
to the ceiling.
Johnson kept the title till 1915, when he lost it to Jess Willard, a Kansas cowbot. It went on for an amazing 26 rounds and ended with Johnson KO’d. By this point Johnson was 37 and past his peak. Yet Johnson’s name will live on forever in boxing history forever.
In 1920 Johnson opened a club in Harlem. After three years he tired of it and sold it to a notorious gangster, Owney Madden. Madden reopened it as The Cotton Club.
Johnson died in 1946 in a car crash near Franklington, North Carolina. He was 68. He had lost his temper in a local diner, had rushed out and got in his car – and ultimately lost his life in the crash. Why had he rushed so angrily out of the diner? They had refused to serve him – on the grounds of his color.
Wayne Rooney has today confirmed in statement that he wants to leave Old Trafford - due to lack of ambition. Rooney confirmed that he met with chairman David Gill last week and he wasn't very impressed with what he was being offered. To say the least.
Yesterday Rooney was keen to meet with Manager Alex Ferguson to hear what he had to say (or offer), but again the striker was not impressed.
Rooney, who has 18 months left on his contract said in a statement, "I met with David Gill [United Chief Executive] last week and he did not give me any of the assurances I was seeking about the future squad,"
Rooney went on to confirm. "I then told him that I would not be signing a new contract."
Speaking about his Manager's comments yesterday he said, "I was interested to hear what Sir Alex had to say yesterday and surprised by some of it."
He also added, "It is absolutely true, as he said, that my agent and I have had a number of meetings with the club about a new contract. During those meetings in August I asked for assurances about the continued ability of the club to attract the top players in the world.
"I have never had anything but complete respect for MUFC. How could I not have done given its fantastic history and especially the last six years in which I have been lucky to play a part?
"For me its all about winning trophies - as the club has always done under Sir Alex. Because of that I think the questions I was asking were justified."
The first notable point when considering the history of football is that various forms have been played for thousands of years and due to this there could be an ever-lasting argument as to who created the first form due to poor record keeping and depreciation of documents.
However, rather then get dragged down in to who did what first, the focus should be on how we have the versions of football and in this instance soccer that we have today. Next we must consider what elements our predecessors games had that could relate to our versions of football based games, which mainly are British football aka soccer, American football and rugby while there are also other noteworthy versions such as Gallic football.
Episkyros (Greece) 2000BC
Around 2000 BC, The Greeks developed a kicking/throwing game, called Episkyros.
It could be said that in this marble we can see many resemblances to the modern games of football.
We can see the man with the ball balancingit in much the same way modern player do. This shows technical ability, a vital skill within soccer.
Also, consider that the younger male is looking up to the player. This shows one of two things - it could be that the player is teaching the younger male in the sport. It may also be that the boy is looking up to they player as an idol in a similar way to many males who hero worship footballers in modern times.
Cuju (China) 500BC
Cuju means "kick the ball with foot. It was a popular sport played by ancient Chinese
This game was played by both the public and the military. It was used in the military to help leg numbness from horse riding.
This game is based on kicking a small ball into a hole in a net.
This practise is still maintained to this day. We see it often in the western world as a soccer training practise. We have both small sized footballs and goals with solid fronts with just a few small holes to aim at (much like a cuju goal) are sold most high streets in the UK. It could be said that this is the closest old sport to football.
It would seem that FIFA would agree with that statement as on July 15, 2004, Mr. Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA declared to the world at the Third China International Football Exposition that football originated from China. Thus Linzi in Zibo of Shandong Province was officially recognized as the birthplace of football.
After the news broke yesterday surrounding Manchester United and Wayne Rooney's desire to leave the club, this has prompted the group of potential investors called the Red Knights to claim that yesterday's statement could put pressure on the Glazer family to sell the club. Rooney sale would lower the valuation of the club to below £1billion, the Red Knights have said before that they would be prepared to offer £1billion to buy the club from the American owners, but the Glazers have before refused their offer and wasn't interested in selling the club then.
But after Alex Ferguson releasing a statement yesterday, the Red Knights group have today said that they are, "happy to watch and let the price come our way" and news of the striker's departure "simply adds to our belief that the value of Manchester United is less than £1billion."
Following Alex Ferguson confirming that Wayne Rooney has refused to sign an extension to his contract and stating that he wants to leave Manchester United, we have put together some Wayne Rooney jokes:
Carlo Ancelotti is confident of landing Rooney - as long as no-one explains to him that the Chelsea Pensioners are all blokes.
Wayne Rooney might be tempted to join Man City on a 230 grans-a-week deal.
Rooney insisted he wouldn't sign a new Manchester United contract without someone reading it to him first.
Rooney wants to go to Juventus - he'll never turn down an approach from an Old Lady.
This is all just a terrible misunderstanding. Rooney actually told Fergie he'd just seen Adam Ant leaving a club.
Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson have changed their Facebook status from "In a relationship" to "It's complicated".
Odds on Wayne Rooney's next club have been shortened. It's now 8/11 Stringfellows, 3/1 Spearmint Rhino.
After what Rooney's agent has been up to, the Stretford End might have to be renamed soon...
John W Henry has bought Rooney for Liverpool. When he told his manager, "Wayne is on the way", Roy Hodgson immediately put up his umbrella.
Shrek 5 plotline revealed: Lord Farquaad "shocked and disappointed" as Ogre reveals plans to quit Far Far Away.
Ferguson said: "Rooney intimated to me, in his own way, he wanted to leave." Which means he pointed at himself, then the door, then grunted.
The sale of Wayne Rooney couldn't have been better timed, as there's apparently an awful lot of interest in America... going on the debt.
Rooney is planning a move to Real after mishearing that Madrid was "full of lovely Senior Ritas".
"Nice to see your home fans booing you"... You haven't seen anything yet, Wayne.
Rooney was sad to hear of Tom Bosley from Happy Days' death but glad Mrs Cunningham is back on the market.
Rooney's statement was delayed - he broke three crayons writing it
Christian Purslow has stepped down as Liverpool’s Managing Director following last week's £300 million take over from New England Sport Ventures, Purslow will be staying on at Anfield as a non-executive director. A statement from the club read
”Liverpool FC confirms that following the successful sale of the club, Christian Purslow has decided to stand down from his temporary position as managing director. Christian will remain as a non-executive director and will act as a special adviser to the new owners.”
Purslow was brought in by former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett in September 2009 and he was a key player in securing the £80 million shirt sponsorship deal with banking giants Standard Chartered.
Purslow added, “I came to LFC to lead the Club through a sale process to get the best overall deal including, vitally, the removal of the debt. I am immensely proud of what we have all achieved. I now look forward to assisting the Owners in any way I can at this exciting time as they drive the Club forward to a bright future.”
