A weird mix of Brazilian Rio Carnival Costumes and wit from the chaps at Heineken in this promo football related video. Enjoy!
Kick4Life, a UK charity backed by the Vodafone Foundation to tackle the AIDS crisis in Lesotho in Southern Africa, announced it had been selected by FIFA to host a sport, health and education centre as part of ’20 Centres for 2010’ campaign.
In 2008, England Manager Fabio Capello visited a Kick4Life event in Lesotho where he witnessed a young boy being tested for HIV. It was here he called upon the world of football to do more in the fight against disease and poverty.
The ‘20 Centres for 2010’ will help increase awareness about HIV/AIDS, increase literacy, improve gender equality, integrate youth with intellectual disabilities and promote development in other targeted ways, leaving a social legacy for the African continent.
Kick4Life have spent the past four years delivering a range of programmes focused on tackling HIV by providing sports-based health education, voluntary testing, life-skills development and support into education and employment.
Steve Fleming, Kick4Life Co-Founder said:
“Being selected as a centre host as part of the official World Cup campaign is a fantastic development for Kick4Life that will provide a first class sports, health and education facility right in the heart of Maseru, Lesotho’s capital. It will enable us to deliver activities to thousands of orphans and vulnerable children in an aspirational setting, and become, we hope, a centre of excellence for the use of football as a tool for social development.”
Capello offered his congratulations at the announcement: “I have seen first hand how Kick4Life is actually changing lives for the better. This summer all eyes will be on South Africa, and it is my hope that we can harness the power of the game to transform the lives of some of the world’s most disadvantaged people, and continue to fight this disease”.
Kick 4 Life is a registered charity funded by The Vodafone Foundation. For more information & to see how you can get involved go to www.kick4life.org.
The outgoing Football League chairman, Brian Mawhinney, stated that it is inevitable that salary capping will occur because the current business model of England’s professional football league cannot be sustained without change.
Mawhinney stepped down from his position of chairman on Friday to Greg Clarke after seven years with a harsh warning that the clubs are spending more on players’ wages then is actually in their budget.
He continued to say that the business model is broken which can be seen throughout the administrations and that some clubs actually spend around 85% of their income on wages, which is not a sustainable business model in any setting.
In terms of a salary cap, Mawhinney stated that the Championship clubs are not ready to commit to the idea but it will need to happen down the line because it simply will not be sustainable in the long term. He strongly campaigned for the introduction of a cap throughout his tenure as the Chairman of the League, which he concedes that many did not approve of him due to the fact that he was so vocal on the matter.
In particular, Mawhinney was questioned about Stockport County whose club has faced administration since the month of April last year, and there is still no resolution. If they do not figure out a way to get out of the whole by next season the team will be in breach of Football League regulations. He stated that if he were a fan of the team he would be quite concerned.
In the ongoing Cheryl vs. Ashley Cole wars, it’s still hard to tell where the battle lines are really drawn. The last time they were photographed together was on February 12th at the hospital where Ashley was treated for a broken ankle. Cheryl picked him up, but since then she has hardened her heart, in spite of attempts on his part to see her and “sort things out”.
According to sources close to the Chelsea star, Ashley has been pretty confident that the two will get back together, perhaps after a period of separation during which Cheryl will change her mind or at least soften up towards him. Whether his hopes are unfounded remains to be seen. She refused to see or speak to him when he arrived at their mansion to pack some of his belongings, and her mother showed him to the door.
Ashley left that non-encounter in the boot of a Range Rover, the possessions he had retrieved piled on the back seat. Not a comfortable exit, especially for someone with an injured ankle. He has been recuperating in a French sports clinic since the injury, and there is still doubt about whether he will make it to the World’s Cup this summer.
Meanwhile Cheryl’s state of mind has been described as extremely stressed. Friends and associates say that she’s furious and tired of being a pushover, but the strain is telling on her. She’s having trouble sleeping and has abrogated a lot of her promotional duties, behaviour that is very unlike her usual energetic involvement.
Wayne Rooney has announced that Coleen, his wife, will not be heading to South Africa with him to the South Africa World Cup after talking somewhat about the fact that in the past girlfriends and wives have been a distraction; a point of view shared by England captain Rio Ferdinand and manager Fabio Capello.
Rooney stated that if the players’ significant others want to come support them there is nothing in the way but it can be rough. He also stated that his wife just had a child so she would not be able to accompany him anyhow.
Last week Cappello got snappy when asked where the Wags’s would stay in South Africa stating that it is enough to ask that they stay away from the training ground. Earlier he stated that the Wags that choose to come along would have to deal with only getting to see the squad on a weekly basis.
He added that the team is headed to South Africa to play and not on a holiday basis and that if the Wags are not happy with the one day visit they should stay in England.
He also bristled when asked if the Wags had disrupted England at the last Germany World Cup, responding that their presence was somewhat like a virus.
Ferdinand also has negative memories of the 2008 World Cup when the Wags stayed at the same hotel describing the situation as a circus with the publicity centred on the Wags and the football aspect of the event becoming a sideshow.