Swearing ban for England players

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Swearing ban for England players Steven Gerrard, the England Skipper, has warned his teammates that they cannot swear at referees during any of the upcoming World Cup matches.

Wayne Rooney was booked for such action in England’s Monday 3-0 warm-up against the Platinum Stars prompting FIFA to clampdown on foul language during the largest event in club football.

Gerrard is aware of how important it is to keep the ref’s happy, as he wants to make sure that the team is able to keep all of its 11 players out on the pitch at all times.  He stated that it is not acceptable to swear at the refs since they demand and deserve respect.  He added that when one player gets booked the whole team suffers for the action thus everyone is responsible for keeping their tongues clean.

He went on to say that it is already hard enough to play with only 10 players and that the team has already had a few poor matches due to loosing people from the pitch for bad behaviour.

One of the incidents he was referring to was in the Portugal 2006 finals when Rooney was booked from the pitch causing Gerrard to instruct the quick lipped striker to talk back with his feet starting with England’s opening match against the United States this Saturday.

Gerrard refused to comment on the leave of Rafa Benitez the Liverpool coach or if he has a future with the Anfield club stating that at the moment his focus is solely on the World Cup and England.

Virtual Penalty Shoot out – take part to win amazing sports prize and also to help AIDS in Africa

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If you could attend any sporting event in the world, which would you choose? Who would you take? All questions for anyone who plays to win the ultimate sports prize, the Yahoo! Sports Pass. The prize will give one lucky winner two tickets to 16 of the world’s greatest sporting events, four events per year for four years. In addition to allowing the winner to pick the events of their choice, the Yahoo! Sports Pass also includes travel and accommodation for each event.

To win the Sports Pass prize, play Yahoo! Penalty Shootout, an online game that allows you to face off against friends, other fans and rivals in a virtual penalty kick competition. Fans in more than 16 countries will be able to play the game at http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/world-cup/penalty-shootout/ for a chance to win the Yahoo! Sports Pass.

The Penalty Shootout contestants with the two highest scores in the world at the end of the online competition will be flown to Brazil to compete in a real live penalty shootout featuring famous England and Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman. The winner with the highest number of kicks against Seaman will be awarded the Yahoo! Sports Pass.

“The penalty shootout is always the most intense, highly charged aspect of any football competition,” said Andrew Cocker, Yahoo!’s UK Head of Marketing. “For the winners of the Yahoo! Penalty Shootout promotion, the stakes could not be higher – a prize that any sports fan would love – tickets to 16 of the biggest sporting events in the world. The final challenge is to beat David Seaman: a big test for the ultimate sports prize.”

In addition to trying to win the ultimate sports prize, fans that play Yahoo! Penalty Shootout for (RED) on the first day of the World Cup will help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa.  For every goal scored on June 11, Yahoo! will contribute USD $1, up to USD $100,000, to the Global Fund, the recipient of (RED) monies. Since 2006 (RED) has been engaging business and consumers to help eliminate AIDS in Africa and to date (RED) partners and events have generated $150 million for the Global Fund. For more info about (RED) visit www.joinred.com

Support England with iPhone England Football Rattle App

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Support England with iPhone England Football Rattle App A new England Football Rattle app for iPhone and iPod Touch is now available to download from Apple’s AppStore.  This new app means you can now support the England football team the way your dad and grandad used to…. but with an iphone.

It works just like a normal football rattle. You wave your iPhone or iPod Touch as if were a football rattle handle and the rattle sound is created. The rattle will speed up or slow down according to the speed and vigour with which you wave your device. It really is great fun.

England Football Rattle App can be found here.

What could possibly go wrong at the World Cup

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Just as the World Cup kicks off, it’s sobering to think that the World’s biggest sporting event requires a huge amount of insurance cover.  Everything from natural disasters and terrorism to player injuries and household damage, there are a huge amount of eventualities must be insured for, which means that there is a multi billion pound risk industry that surrounds the World Cup.

Here are some example World Cup Risk Factors:

FIFA alone has purchased $650 million in insurance for total cancellation of the World Cup 2010

22% have seen friends or family spill food or drink while watching sport on TV – Indian food caused the worst stains, leading insurers to urge football fans not to get “curried away”

A footballer at the peak of his career who is playing for one of their nation’s top leagues, could be covered by approximately £50 million worth of insurance

David Beckham has taken out the biggest personal insurance policy in sporting history at £100 million

In 2006, Paul Hucker from Ipswich took out insurance against ‘football trauma’ so that he would be compensated with £1m in damages if England were knocked out early of the World Cup

Watch this video to learn more fascinating facts about the World Cup insurance industry.

High altitude World Cup venues could be nightmare for goalkeepers

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High altitude World Cup venues could be nightmare for goalkeepers The new ball is not the only thing that will cause controversy in the World Cup according to a leading sports engineer, who believes the low air density in South Africa’s high-altitude stadia will result in a tournament of high-speed shots.

Professor Steve Haake, head of sports engineering at Sheffield Hallam University, has been investigating how South Africa’s high-altitude venues, such as Johannesburg’s Soccer City, will affect games throughout the competition.

Professor Haake said: “High altitude means lower air density and subsequently less drag on the ball. Combine this with the faster Jabulani ball and we could be seeing significantly faster shots and free kicks. Johannesburg, for example, will have around 20 per cent less air density than Cape Town. If teams don’t factor this into their training they could fall foul of the faster shots it’ll produce.”

According to Professor Haake’s research, a non-spinning 18 metre free kick hit at about 60mph, with no wind, would take around 0.82 seconds at sea-level in Durban or Port Elizabeth. The same shot would take about two hundredths of a second less time in Johannesburg. This means the ball in Johannesburg would be around 41cm ahead of the ball in Durban in real time.

Professor Haake said: “Higher temperatures will decrease air density even further, so goalkeepers will need to be prepared for fast, unpredictable shots. Finger-tip saves can make all the difference and a ball that is over two diameters ahead of where they expect it to be will really test their skills.”