Against Video Replay
When Saturday Comes published this short opinion piece about the idea of introducing video replay to football. It, along with the commentary it generated, struck me as a usefully balanced exploration of the always-hot topic.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Homage to Catalonia
Perhaps cribbing the title of George Orwell’s famous 1938 account of the Spanish Civil War is a little much. But, seventy years on, with the question of the what status Catalonia has and should have within Spain still a serious issue, football has become an important battlefield in its own way. Yesterday’s victory of the… Read More »
Documentary on African Football
Stefan Lovgren, a documentary filmmaker who has worked on a many previous films about Africa, is now making one about football in Africa. It focuses in particular on one football academy in Ghana to tell a broader story about African football, the hopes and exploitation of footballers, and the broader context surrounding the history 2010… Read More »
World Cup 2010: A Coming Out Party for 3D Technology?
The upcoming World Cup will be filmed in 3D and FIFA is soon to make a decision on whether or not these matches will be broadcast live using the new technology, which has been developed by Sony. Special glasses are needed to take advantage of the special broadcast. From the article: Now, analysts believe the… Read More »
Puskas Awards 2009
Created in honour of Ferenc Puskás, captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, the FIFA Puskás Award will be bestowed upon the player from either the men’s or women’s game judged to have scored the best goal of the year. The final decision gets determined by FIFA.com users. In making their decision, the… Read More »
The Paradoxes of Soccer in the U.S.
I published the second of a series of op-ed pieces on soccer in the Durham Herald-Sun today. Click here to read it.
Egyptian Blues
Front page story on NYT regarding Egyptians reaction to the Algeria – Egypt playoff loss for a spot in the 2010 South Africa World Cup. While my last final exam tomorrow precludes an analysis, the series of matches between Egypt and Algeria have served as a platform, a somewhat cathartic space, for all the ill-will to come… Read More »
Mario Balotelli and a question of citizenship
I stumbled upon this article that describes Ghana national team coach Milovan Rajevac’s new pursuit of Italian striker Mario Balotelli. Balotelli, an Inter Milan forward, is widely regarded as one of the top young talents in the world. Having been born in Italy to Ghanaian nationals, Mario is eligible to play for both national teams.… Read More »
South Africa and FIFA
Here is an interesting article on the World Cup draw “show” and match-ups hosted by Theron. It was funny how the article mentions, “The only uncomfortable moment came when Blatter forgot the venue of the World Cup’s first match (which, of course, is Johannesburg). The FIFA president redeemed himself, however, when he announced that the… Read More »
World Cup Draw Blues
In the early days of the World Cup draw, in the 1930s, organizers from FIFA gathered around a table and drew lots from a hat. Once it was Jules Rimet’s grandson Yves who got the job of picking the lots. Until relatively recently, the draw still consisted of men in suits from FIFA doing the… Read More »
