English football is well-known for its aggressiveness and attractiveness, but its good reputation may be ruined by the ongoing John Terry affair which has been dragging on for over a year now. This is the opinion of David Bernstein, chairman of the FA.
If you follow English football closely, then you are familiar with the John Terry and Anton Ferdinand racism affair which started last season during the match between Chelsea and QPR. John Terry was handed a four-game ban and surprisingly he didn’t appeal this decision.
This has brought an end of this shameful chapter of English football and shows that the FA will certainly review all racism cases. Terry has already apologised for his behaviour, but he stated that he is deeply disappointed by the FA’s decision.
According to Bernstein, football is not a game which should have anything in common with law suits and the Terry affair has certainly had a negative impact on the English game. The FA is doing its best to get rid of racism and through the years they’ve launched many anti-racism campaigns. The Terry affair had many consequences – the resignation of former England coach Fabio Capello is one of the most notable examples.
Bernstein says: “Terry has been sanctioned and I’m glad that this case is closed. The Chelsea player apologised for his behaviour and this should be the end of this matter. We have learned a lot from this case.”
The late decision was criticised by many people, but Bernstein rejected this notion, stating: “This was maybe one of the most important cases in the history of English football and we had to be certain that every evidence and opinion has been reviewed.
We could have finished the case much earlier, but considering the impact it can have on individuals and families, we decided to take the necessary time and carefully review the facts before coming up with a final decision.”
Jack Charlton, one of the winners of the World Cup in 1966, has recently taken part in a penalty event in order to encourage interest in football for the next generation. This is a particularly impressive achievement when you consider that the football player has recently had a hip operation, although it shows that it has been a great success by the fact that he could make the penalty. He took the shot against a junior keeper from Brandon United, and managed to get it in, despite being nearly 80 years old.
The former England international and Leeds United defender, part of Sir Alf Ramsey’s famous World Cup winning squad, was officially unveiling a new third generation (3G) artificial grass pitch at Meadowfield Leisure Centre in Durham that has been funded with the help of a £78,273 grant from the Football Foundation – the sports charity funded by the Premier League, The FA and the Government via Sport England.
Jack Charlton: “This is a fantastic surface that the Football Foundation has funded. I remember the old artificial pitches that were at QPR and Luton. The ball would bounce so high, you would think it was to take half an hour to come down again. Plus after the game the players would have grazes all over their legs.”
Jack also gave a special pep talk to the youngsters from Brandon FC, advising them: “If you want to make it, listen to your coach!”
Durham County Council worked with the Durham County FA to secure the funding from the Football Foundation. The new pitch is both full-size and floodlit, and can be used for full 11-a-side games, or divided into three to allow smaller teams to play, supporting The FA’s youth football development plan. The floodlights mean that football does not simply stop when it gets dark at around 4pm and the durable, all-weather surface will ensure that more people are able to access regular sport.
Young players from Brandon FC, one of the local clubs that will use the new pitch, showed off their skills on the new surface. The event was also attended by Football Foundation President, Lord Pendry, Durham FA Secretary, John Topping, Middlesbrough FC mascot Roary the Lion, and Durham County Council’s ‘On the Ball’ football coaches.
Brandon FC’s Under-13 captain, Cameron Allan, 12, from Bearpark, Durham, said: “It was an honour to meet someone like Jack Charlton. And I really enjoyed the night – especially playing on the new astro turf, which was the best pitch I have ever played on.”
David Barber, Chair of Brandon FC, said: “It was wonderful to have Jack Charlton come up and we are very grateful to the Football Foundation for their support in helping to build this new pitch. It is a great facility and a great opportunity for the youngsters of Brandon to stay healthy, have fun and to play football.”
Football Foundation President Lord Pendry said on the night: “It is a real honour to have World Cup winner Jack Charlton here to launch this first-class playing surface. Since its launch in 2000 the Football Foundation has helped to build nearly £1bn worth of facilities, such as this, thanks to the generosity of our funding partners – the Premier League, The FA, government and Sport England.
“This pitch may well help to produce more stars – more Jack Charltons, perhaps – of the future. But that is not why we do it. We fund the development of new facilities so that more people are able to get access to sport purely for the love playing it and to stay healthy. So congratulations to everyone involved in making this happen and, most importantly, enjoy your football!”
Maria Plews, Local Councillor and Cabinet member with responsibility for sport and leisure services at Durham County Council, said:“We are thrilled to have had this support from the Football Foundation and were delighted to welcome Jack Charlton to the official launch of these new facilities.
“This is such a welcome boost to grassroots football in County Durham and will provide high quality training facilities for young and older players alike.”
Following the humiliating 6-1 defeat that Wales suffered at the hands of Serbia in September, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsay was relieved of the captaincy and replaced by Ashley Williams but, according to Chris Coleman, the Welsh manager, he has not been made a scapegoat. The Welsh national team have lost all 4 games since Coleman took charge, and the former manager of Fulham said that if he didn’t start changing things he would be a coward.
Coleman met up with Ramsay on Thursday at the Arsenal training ground and said afterwards that the 21 year old, who became the youngest ever captain of Wales when he was appointed skipper by Gary Speed back in March 2011, had responded maturely to the news. Coleman even suggested that Ramsay was actually relieved that the pressure of leading a struggling national team had been taken off his young shoulders.
Coleman has admitted that it was a far from easy decision and that it was something he had been considering for a while, and he felt that with Ramsay being so young he had really felt the pressure. Coleman added that he thought the team needed to go in a different direction to get out of this slump as the current system clearly wasn’t working and of all the changes he decided to make, this was the biggest.
Coleman went on to say that he fully expects Ramsay to lead his county again in the future, and wanted to make it clear that by making the decision to ask him to step down as skipper he was in no way pointing the finger of blame at Ramsay for their current poor form. He said that Ramsay could in no way be blamed for the losses simply because he was captain, and in fact blamed himself for not changing things sooner.
Ashley Cole, the Chelsea and England defender, has taken to Twitter to vent his anger after doubts were cast over the viability of the statement he gave supporting John Terry over the alleged racial abuse aimed at Anton Ferdinand. In a charming turn of phrase, Cole called the FA a ‘bunch of t—s’ for implying that he could be lying.
His outburst was the response to a report being published that questioned the statement Cole made which supported Terry’s version of event during the hearing of the former captain of England which took place last week. Cole’s tirade took place the day after he had been named in the England squad for the crucial World Cup qualifying matches against San Marino at home, and away in Poland.
It rounds off what has been an exceptionally busy week for Roy Hodgson, the England manager, which included an apology to Rio Ferdinand, the Man Utd defender after discussing his international prospects with a complete stranger on the London Underground. Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse up pops Cole and his rant, throwing his own participation in the qualifiers into serious doubt.
Terry was cleared back in July at Westminster Magistrates Court of a racially aggravated public order offence, which was partly due to the testimony given by Cole, his team mate at both club and country level. The FA commission has since, however, found discrepancies in the initial statement which Cole gave in an FA interview regarding what he heard Terry say to Ferdinand compared to statements he gave later.
Cole didn’t say the word ‘black’ in the initial interview on the 28th October, but on the 3rd November David Barnard, the Chelsea club secretary, asked for the word to be inserted into Cole’s statement, this suggesting that Cole may have heard Terry use the term after all.
Ashley Cole is ready to share a dressing room with England’s Rio Ferdinand after a statement saying that he believes that they can be pals again. Ferdinand and Cole fell out over Cole’s support of John Terry the Blues skipper.
However, Ferdinand may return for an international run with Cole when England attempts to take the World Cup qualifiers against Poland and San Marino.
Hodgson, the boss of England, has not spoken to Rio since he chose not to take him on the Euro 2012 squad, but now that Terry has decided to drop out of the world of international football he will have to do something.
Hodgson is not excited about the idea to take the Manchester United player back on his team, but Cole wants to make it clear that his strained relationship should not be a factor in the decision.
Cole was on the defence for Terry in a courtroom case against that charged Terry of racially abusing Rio’s brother. Terry was cleared of all of the charges but Ferdinand ended up with a FA fine after re-tweeting a racial comment against Cole.
