Fergie announces that he will only allow Ryan Giggs to play in the Olympics

by

It was thought that several over age players were going to be chosen from Manchester United to play football in the Olympic Games that are occurring this summer. However, Sir Alex Ferguson has just made the announcement that the only overage player from the team that can be selected to play in the Olympic Games is Ryan Giggs.

The coach, Stuart Pearce, was potentially going to pick Jonny Evans or Paul Scholes, but this has been made an impossibility because of Sir Alex’s decision. A court ruling in 2008 also made selection of football players for the Olympics rather challenging. This court decision stated that football clubs have no obligation to release their players to play in the Olympic Games and it is a decision that they will have to make by themselves.

Ryan Giggs is not officially been chosen for the tournament, this decision just decides whether you will be allowed to play in the Olympic Games. However, Mr Giggs has stated that if you were asked to play on the Olympic squad, he would accept the invitation.

Each squad in the Olympic Games are allowed to select three players who are over the normal age limit and Mr Giggs falls into this category. The question was whether the Football Association would allow Mr Giggs to play because of his age.

A spokesperson from the Football Association has refused to comment on whether they have received any communications from Manchester United about the issue. It seems as if this means that a legal battle about the issue is not going to take place, especially considering the typically accepting position of Manchester United that young players don’t get involved in Euro 2012. The original court decision was about whether to release players for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Delay in Olympic match tickets frustrates fans

by

The organisers of the Olympic Games which are taking place this summer have still not announced when the remaining tickets for football matches at the games are going to go on sale. The reason for the delay is because the online systems are still being tested to make sure that they will function properly.

Football is not the only sport that has seen a delay in the release of tickets and the tickets were supposed to go on sale earlier this month however, they have been pushed back until the start of next month. A spokesperson representing the games has stated that the system is going to be back online shortly and all the technical problems should have been resolved.

The original site responsible for selling the tickets experienced an enormous amount of demand which caused it to crash. The spokesperson stated in an interview with the BBC, “Before we put these tickets on sale we want to make sure that the system is working as well as possible. It is essential that we do the appropriate testing so it doesn’t crash again when it starts up.”

The chairman of Locog has stated, “We don’t want to push the release of the tickets forward unnecessarily. It is best to be absolutely sure about systems before we release the tickets and this is what we’re doing. We are also currently working on finalising the seating plans for the venue and this is also pushing back the release of the final batch of tickets a little.”

Win tickets to the FA Cup final with ipadio Facebook app

by

 

Win tickets to the FA Cup final with ipadio Facebook app

Win tickets to the FA Cup final with ipadio Facebook app

The Football Association is the governing body of British football, and cover a vast portfolio of the beautiful game that ranges from grass roots to the elite teams in the Premiership.

Social Media plays a vital part in the engagement strategy of the FA, and thanks to the work they are now doing with ipadio’s VideoInPage service they are providing a unique way of putting fans right in the heart of the game.

The FA Cup ipadio Facebook app allows fans to make their own commentaries on goals scored, as well as giving them a chance to win tickets to the FA Cup Final. The commentaries are to be judged by John Champion from ESPN and the winner will receive the much sought after tickets.

Charlie Boss is the FA’s marketing manager for the FA Cup and he has said that using the ipadio’s VideoInPage service is one of the most engaging and easiest ways to get involved with user generated content that the FA has seen for a long long time.

Mark Smith, ipadio CEO notes that, “ipadio strives to make the task of getting rich content online as simple as possible, so while our audio products make podcasting no more complex than making a phone call, VideoInPage is that same principle applied to video. This takes away the barriers to upload and allows organisations to easily place their people in the centre of their online presence.”

ipadio’s VideoInPage (VIP) service allows organizations and brands to collect user generated video from their stakeholders with no more complexity that pressing ‘record’. The VIP service works by detecting the presence of a camera and allows the user to record directly into the webpage. This video can then be moderated (or not!), embedded into your website or intranet, cross posted into other sites (eg. Facebook, YouTube), and automatically alerted to registered viewers.

The VIP service is white labelled, a key feature for corporate users, so they can brand their video with their logo, their messages, moderate and control where the video ends up. It’s these features that resonate with corporates – ipadio’s VIP provides them with the means of socializing their organisations – spreading audio and video content around their networks – but with the necessary control and brand protection.

Also, because VIP is cloud based and doesn’t rely on expensive camera crews and post production (brand elements, intros and outros are all applied automatically) the costs are significantly lower than typical in-house video production.

As with all ipadio services, VIP is provided as Software as a Service – set up times are minimal and the recorder and resultant videos are typically embedded inside the customer’s websites or intranets.

Why not give The FA Cup ipadio Facebook app a go yourself and see if you can win a ticket to The FA Cup final?

Anticipation grows as to who will make the England team for the Olympics

by

Britain’s first football team to appear in the Olympics since the year 1960 is being picked specially for this summer’s Olympic Games. David Beckham, one of prospective squad players that are allowed to be of any age, is still in contention for a place in the squad.

Stuart Pearce, the Olympic football team manager has shortened his player list from 191 down to just 80 since January. The 18 squad players names are expected to be announced by June.

Beckham, now a midfielder for Los Angeles Galaxy team, has previously expressed the desire to be part of the London Games team despite the fact that his England team career is effectively over. Former England captain, Beckham made 115 appearances for England. This is the most appearances of any outfield player for England, the last of which occurred in October 2009.

Britain hasn’t had a football team in the Olympics for over 50 years as Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all feared losing FIFA independence. The federation has assured teams that their FIFA status will not be affected if they partake in the competition, although a combined team has still been blocked. Pearce is still hoping to include players from across the UK.

The 80-strong shortlist includes Liverpool’s Welsh striker Craig Bellamy, Gareth Bale, Tottenham’s winger, Scottish striker Stephen Fletcher who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chris Brunt, a midfielder for West Bromwich Albion.

Apart from David Beckham, there are another four English possible player’s names that have been disclosed. Joe Cole, Liverpool’s 30 year old midfielder on loan to Lille, Jack Butland, Josh McEachran and defender for Crystal Palace, Nathaniel Clyne are all still on the list.

Britain’s first women’s football team is also set to star in the London Games later this year. Both teams are going to be playing friendlies as warm-ups for the July 25th tournament start date.

 

20/1 on Rooney’s red card run to carry on from Bwin

by

Bwin.com has recently annouced a new special market which will see people be able to take advantage of odds that say there is a 20/1 chance that Wayne Rooney will be sent off when his side meet with Liverpool this weekend.

The betting is 1/100 that he will be on the pitch for the entire match. He has made headlines recently as he was sent off in a qualifying match for Euro 2012 when England played against Montenegro. Rooney has a history with Liverpool on a club and personal level and it is expected that he will be prone to an outbreak on the pitch – something he has become known for in the sport.

With this history in mind, punters may well think it a good idea to take advantage of odds and say that he will find himself sent off for the second game in a row. It is also possible to bet on how many cards he will receive throughout the whole year and the odds are not good that he will remain red card free.

That said, the Premier League’s top goalscorer could react positively to his England indiscretion and put in a match-winning performance against Liverpool.

With nine league goals to his name already this season, Rooney is 7/5 to score at Anfield, 5/1 to score first, 15/2 to score two or more and 40/1 to score three or more.

Rooney is also priced at 14/1 to overcome the ban he receives for the red card against Montenegro and emerge from Euro 2012 as the tournament’s top scorer.

Looking ahead to the Liverpool – Man United game itself, the away side are 13/10 favourites to take home all three points in bwin’s 3Way football betting market, with a draw priced at 23/10 and a home win at 2/1.

For all the latest tips, stats and previews, visit bwin.com’s sister site bwinbetting.com throughout the season to ensure you make the best betting choices.

If you have an opinion, have a bet at www.bwinbetting.com