Maradona’s shirt set to be the star exhibit at the new Museum of Football

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The new National Football Museum certainly has some interesting exhibits, including a penalty shootout area, coins given out at petrol stations and one of Maradona’s shirts. Whilst Steve Hodge may not be English footballers most memorable figures, and is often referred to more as a journeyman than a star, he is the proud owner of this most renowned item of football memorabilia.

At the end of the notorious quarter final in the World Cup of 1986, when a certain Mr Maradona effectively punched England out of the competition with his hand of god goal, it was Hodge who swapped shirts with the diminutive Argentine cheat. From that day he has held this in his possession, well almost, as he had to keep it in his bank as his home insurance company deemed it to valuable to insure under his contents policy.

While it isn’t recorded anywhere officially, it’s rather safe to assume that Diego didn’t have the same problem with Hodge’s shirt. From next weekend though, Hodge will no longer have to make an appointment with his bank manager if he wants to have a look at this shirt of shame, as it will take its place amongst the 3000 items that make up the display of Manchester’s new National Museum of Football.

Adam Comstive is the marketing and communications manager for the museum, and he says that when they have had test groups around, it’s one of the first things they go to see. He added that he thinks its is an object that we all love to hate.

To be honest, the object of such revision isn’t much to look at. A short sleeved, Royal Blue shirt with visible scuff marks on the neck, presumably from where it had to be stretched to fit over the wearers vastly oversized head.

 

Shrewsbury Town donate shirts to African charity

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If you are in Shrewsbury town that it is not going to be uncommon to see people wearing the football kit with blue and amber. However, this football kit is now going to see a new international reach as people in Nairobi are going to be getting the football shirts from the club.

The shirts are being taken to Africa by the charity, Taking Football to Africa and Beyond. The football club of Shrewsbury town have donated over 5000 football kits in order to give to communities, orphanages, and schools in Africa.

The charity is run by Neil Hope, who was formerly involved with the RAF and he has commented, “I’ve always enjoyed doing work for charity and in a conversation with a friend one time we thought that it would be great if old football kits would be able to be sent to Africa to encourage the people there to get involved with the sport.

I think football is something that can have a universal appeal across the world and by sending kids to Africa it allows people to get involved with the sport.”

In many African countries football is a sport that is enjoyed, but there is often not enough kids to go around. This initiative is going to see a great deal more clothes sent to the country so more children than ever can get involved with playing the sport. It is also a great way to help people who are more needy and is a fantastic charitable cause.

Not only football kits are being sent from this football club, but the charity of also brought in over £15,000 worth of kit from other people. Other football clubs have been very generous in providing their equipment that is now out of date but it is all going to make a big difference.

Improve your skills with Puma football boots

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Improve your skills with Puma football boots Football is our national sport, loved up and down the country for the skill and virtuosity involved. Indeed, many of us spend our Saturdays trying to emulate what we’ve seen on Match of the Day the previous week though, if we’re honest, very few of us come close to replicating in any way the ingenuity and aptitude of those in the Premier League.

To get those step-overs, first touches and in-swingers just that little bit better this season, it may be a good idea to focus on the most fundamental part of improving in any sport – your fitness.

First on your list before training should be the warm up. For football, static stretching isn’t advised – it can easily lead to muscle pulls and injuries. Instead, start with around 5-10 minutes of jogging and light stretching, followed by specific warm-ups using the ball – dribbling, kicking and fast stopping. This will prepare you for the fast paced nature of the beautiful game.

Next is improving your speed. Short sprints and bursts of pace are part and parcel of everything you do on the pitch, so should be well represented in your training regime. Try sprinting for a ball, making a quick pass or shot and coming to a slow stop. Dribbling the ball at speed and between cones can also go a long way to making sure your skill levels keep up with your heightened speed.

Power is also an important attribute, and weight training should be included in every training regime you come up with. Squats and lunges followed by leg lifts and curls can all lay the foundations for a powerful boot and a strong all-round player. Make sure you focus on core strength too – stomach crunches, planking and weighted sit-ups will all help your balance and ball control.

The final aspect you should work on is endurance. Normal endurance runs of 10 miles plus are no good for football – you need 100m jogs and sprints combined with short breaks for a good 20-30 minutes at a time. Drills mixing exercises such as press-ups and sprints will also go a long way to improving your endurance and maintaining your overall fitness.

Of course, all the hard work would be no good without the right equipment. Serious footballers should invest in some serious boots, and you’ll struggle to find any better than Puma football boots from Very. A new fitness regime, some new boots – perhaps even a new player this season!

 

Mag+ brings you the life and times of legendary football striker Ibrahimović

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Mag+ brings you the life and times of legendary football striker Ibrahimović

Mag+ brings you the life and times of legendary football striker Ibrahimović

The life and career of the enigmatic footballer from AC Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been captured like never before thanks to the digital publishing platform Mag+ and the first biography app that is truly interactive. The release of the app has been timed to coincide with the players brief return to the UK for the AC Milan clash with Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League.

 Bonnierförlagen (http://www.bonnierforlagen.se/english/) have published the app, which has been developed by Bonnier R&D http://www.bonnier.com/rd. Using both rich media and layered Mag+ architecture(http://www.magplus.com), this new app really brings the reader up close and personal with the defining moments of Ibrahimović’s life and career.

 It’s launch also augments the publication of his autobiography I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović: My Story,a bestseller that was released released in print late in 201. In the version for the iPad, videos and images are integrated with the text to offer a whole new kind of reading experience.

 This literally adds a whole new dimension to the original text which can now be read alongside storylines that are both chronological and geographical. Ibrahimović has said t hat he wanted to tell his story so that everyone would understand where he came from and the app was a great way in which to do this. He added that this how he always wanted people to experience his story.

Mag+ is poised to build on its digital publishing innovations. “This app shows just how much more interesting and immersive reading becomes with touchscreen tablets. We’re only beginning to harness the full potential of digital publishing, and Mag+ is thrilled to be driving future trends,” says Mag+ CEO Staffan Ekholm.

Unique features only available in the iPad biography:

  • Timeline: explore the original text re-created as a chronological interactive storyline
  • Geo stories: explore the story geographically on an interactive map or using the GPS of the iPad when travelling
  • Stop-motion storytelling: interactive frame-by-frame studies of goals and tricks
  • Tattoo stories: explore Ibrahimović’s tattoos interactively 
  • Dialogue storytelling: The first meeting with manager Mino Raiola
  • Memorabilia gallery: close-up view of Ibrahimović’s boots through the years
  • Statistics: career told in numbers with adjacent images
  • Picture gallery: life outside of football
  • Personal video introduction by Ibrahimović
  • Unique behind-the-scenes interview with author David Lagercrantz on writing the text with Ibrahimović

 

Striker Superstars BETA from CyberSports

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Striker Superstars BETA from CyberSports Cybersports have today announced the launch of their much anticipated Striker Superstars BETA. This is the next stage of the Unity based browser games and reveals new and eagerly awaited features such as Pro Coaching, Inventory and Shop as well as the friends and grouping function.

During the past year, the Cybersports team have been working very closely with Unity Studios, Denmark to create this browser-based game and bring it to the masses. Striker Superstars delivers a a great gaming experience that is truly browser based and has simplified access. The addition of the new grouping feature gives players both the ability to organise their teams and also play with and against their friends.

Your performance is measured by a number of key statistics which are stored against your player profile. Your player rating is promoted to the masses across theStriker Superstars leader boards which give other users to compare their performance against yours.

Striker Superstars is free to play and delivers fluid game play through its use of fully motion captured character player animation. Unlike many casual games out there, Striker Superstars is a significant step-up from your usual browser based gaming experience.

Malcolm Clark, CEO of CyberSports, said

“Striker Superstars makes multiplayer virtual football accessible to the widest possible player-base. What the team have managed to deliver in a browser is unbelievable – a fast real-time multiplayer sports game.

“Gamers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding and are moving on from turn-based games which involve very little true competition or collaboration with their friends. They want a richer and more compelling real-time experience which they can share.

“Striker Superstars is the next generation of ‘social games’, where games become truly social and are not just called that because they are hosted on a social network.”