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

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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.

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.

Patrick Vieira reacts angrily about supposed Man United comments

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Patrick Vieira has recently reacted to what he thinks is a misinterpretation of comments he made about Manchester United. The Frenchman, who plays for Manchester City, recently created a great deal of controversy and upset the fans of Manchester United when he said that their attempt to bring Paul Scholes out of retirement in order to play was the club desperately trying to improve its game.

He says that the quotes have been taken out of context when they were used during an interview. They were initially made in order to be part of a campaign Vieira does as part of his charity work. They were made for a video about supporting the fight against starvation in Africa.

A statement released by Manchester City has read, “He gave the interview to the BBC and people have been misinterpreting the statement. Mr Vieira also feels that during the interview which was done with Dan Roan, from the BBC, the questions from the reporter were very misleading with regard to seeking comments from him about Manchester United.

They were especially leading in regard to Manchester United being given preferential treatment by referees at matches.” Mr Vieira maintains that is comments have been taken dramatically out of context.

 

Italian manager assaults his own player during match

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An Italian football match last night saw incredible scenes unfold when the manager of one of the teams playing physically assaulted one of his players. The assault took place after the manager took the player off in order to substitute him and the event was captured on television.

The substitution came at half time when the manager Delio Rossi substituted Adem Ljajic. The player was obviously such a great fan of the decision and he proceeded to sarcastically clap the decision by his manager. Once that he was off, the manager pointed his finger at him and clearly began to verbally reprimand him.

However, this did not seem to be enough for the manager because after the player sat down in the dugout, the manager jumped into it and slapped him in the face. It then appeared as if he wa about to punch him but he was dragged away by other people in the dugout before anything could happen.

The president of the team made the instant decision to sack the manager and has commented, “I’m sad that I have to make this decision, it is clear that months of stress had been building up for the manager and they all came out of one moment. He has never acted in this way before and I’m just sad that I have to make the decision to fire him.

“That said, it is clear that this sort of action cannot go unpunished as there was no provocation strong enough to cause this kind of response.” The player is also going to face reprimand for his actions but they are unlikely to be as severe as those that have been facing the manager. It is currently unclear who will be taking over the management role at the club in the immediate future.

Arsene Wenger calls for a change to football discipline

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Arsene Wenger, the manager of the Arsenal football team, has recently spoken out against the current disciplinary system in the football world and says that he would like to see an ethics committee installed which will have the ability to over rule the decisions of referees.

The current rules from the football Association state that it is not possible for a player to be punished in retrospect if no officials in the match saw the incident where the rules were broken. The complaint has come about after a match last month where a player was injured by another but the game continued because no official saw the problem.

This was a decision that was met with a great deal of criticism and the whole situation has been made much worse as much smaller infractions have been punished much more heavily, suggesting that there could be bias among some referees.

Arsene Wenger has said that the system just lacks the common sense of systems in other sports and he would like to see it overhauled in the immediate future. He has commented, “The current system basically means that if it’s out of sight for a referee then its out of mind.

A player could openly punch another player and if no official saw it, then it will go unpunished, no matter what is revealed through video footage later on. For anyone who loves the game of football they should support a reform of these rules as they are clearly ridiculous and need to be changed.”

Mr Wenger added, “There are so many things in football to work well but this is an area where there is so much friction it can be very frustrating for fans as well as players. Of course, the decision of a referee should be respected, but there should be a higher authority.”