http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/soccer/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-blame-the-beautiful-game-for-riot-shame/ If badminton was the World Game there would probably be just as many riots as there are now with soccer. The graceful swoop of the goose-feathered shuttlecock would not calm the madding crowds. If only badminton had the power to invoke the passion, it could rival the semi-religious fervour that soccer induces. If only. Then we could blame badminton for all violence in sport and stop making soccer out to be evil. Soccer is, globally, inextricably linked to violence in people’s minds. But it’s not soccer’s fault. Soccer just happens to be the medium for the message. It is the excuse, the scapegoat. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-blame-the-beautiful-game-for-riot-shame/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-blame-the-beautiful-game-for-riot-shame/#item7690 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-isnt-there-more-of-a-roar-about-this-super-streak/ Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-isnt-there-more-of-a-roar-about-this-super-streak/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-isnt-there-more-of-a-roar-about-this-super-streak/#item7261 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Man-what-a-power-shift-as-the-world-unites-behind-City/ In Manchester the world turned on its axis as City staged a palace coup in the Theatre of Dreams, smashing rivals United 6-1 away from home to take a five point lead in the race for the English Premier League and stake their claim as the new kings of English football. If you know anything about football, and even if you don’t know anything about football, you’ll know that Manchester United are the biggest soccer club on the planet. Yes, Spain’s Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have hundreds of thousands of members and passionate Latin American support, but since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, no team has won more devotees around the world than the Red Devils. United’s reputation has been built on sustained footballing excellence, millions of pounds of match day revenue, and the simple human desire of fans around the world to back a winner. Or shameless glory-hunting as it is otherwise known. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Man-what-a-power-shift-as-the-world-unites-behind-City/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Man-what-a-power-shift-as-the-world-unites-behind-City/#item6992 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Its-predictable-as-English-weather-but-I-love-the-EPL/ It is simultaneously the most gripping and the most frustrating sporting competition in the world. The standard of play really is amazing (and yes, we should stop comparing it to the A League), and manages to captivate millions of fans across the world every season, even though they all pretty well know what the result will be. I’m talking, of course, about the English Premier League. If you’re not an aficionado, then fear not. Two weeks into the season, here is a simple team guide to get you up to date. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Its-predictable-as-English-weather-but-I-love-the-EPL/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Its-predictable-as-English-weather-but-I-love-the-EPL/#item6531 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whistle-blows-on-murray-but-is-it-halftime-or-fulltime/ Les Murray was doing what Les Murray does better than anyone last weekend. On SBS’s Women’s World Cup Show, he was pronouncing the unpronounceable, and enthusing over the prospects of one of Australia’s national teams – in this case, our women’s team, the Matildas. In the ad breaks, there he was again, promoting his latest book. That book has gotten him into all sorts of trouble lately, due to alleged inaccuracies surrounding Murray’s claim that Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill led a players’ revolt against coach Pim Verbeek at the 2010 World Cup. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whistle-blows-on-murray-but-is-it-halftime-or-fulltime/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whistle-blows-on-murray-but-is-it-halftime-or-fulltime/#item6244 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-womens-soccer-up-there-with-the-paralympics/ Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit. Yesterday, F1 racer Nico Rosberg was flogged with limp lettuce for bracketing women’s soccer in with watching the Paralympics. Rosberg was pinned down in an interview about his level of interest in the women’s World Cup, and said he’d probably just watch the finals. “Then you have the Paralympics, which people also watch on TV,” he said. German defender Saskia Bartusiak was among those who disapproved of his comments. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-womens-soccer-up-there-with-the-paralympics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/icb-womens-soccer-up-there-with-the-paralympics/#item6185 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/no-level-playing-field-in-qatars-2002-world-cup-rort/ In hindsight maybe Australia’s tactics were all wrong. Instead of spending $46 million taxpayer dollars for the 2022 World Cup bid on marketing, advertising, sport-based aid projects in developing nations and flights and accommodation to persuade FIFA members of the merits of our bid, we should have just offered the money direct as bribes to the 24-member executive committee in return for their votes. The worst kept secret of the lobbying campaign for the 2018-2022 World Cups is now becoming apparent – that the successful Qatar bid for the 2022 tournament was deeply suspect, and that nations such as Australia were always destined to look like joke candidates through their refusal to grease the right palms. When Australia garnered a pathetic solitary vote for its 2022 bid, Football Federation of Australia chairman Frank Lowy effectively admitted that he had made the first mistake of politics – he believed the people who had told him they would vote for us, instead of just believing the people who said they wouldn’t vote for us. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/no-level-playing-field-in-qatars-2002-world-cup-rort/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/no-level-playing-field-in-qatars-2002-world-cup-rort/#item6016 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-hate-fifa-corruption-because-were-sore-losers/ I, for one, can’t wait for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, if indeed the Yanks don’t pinch it. Bring it on. Let the world sizzle and wilt in the desert sun. Let the FIFA fat cats keel over from heat stroke and the drunken northern European soccer hooligans with them. Let sand storms arise from the desert and paralyse the whole damn thing, so that the entire world can see the full, spectacular ramifications of FIFA’s corrupt soul. “Crisis? What crisis?” FIFA boss Sepp Blatter incredulously asked at this week’s FIFA Congress. He won’t be asking that when the Qatar doomsday scenario becomes a reality. US political scientist and soccer writer Andrei Markovits described FIFA this week as “a complete, literally perfect oligarchy”. Back home, Nick Xenophon likened Blatter to Monty Python’s Black Knight. Spot on, both of them. FIFA’s members could not be better geared for institutionalised corruption if they wore Chairman Mao hats. The thing is, it’s been that way forever. The only reason we now care in Australia is because we’re the ones that just got bitten. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-hate-fifa-corruption-because-were-sore-losers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-hate-fifa-corruption-because-were-sore-losers/#item5979 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/forget-the-fury-lets-focus-our-anger-on-the-future/ Yesterday afternoon, Football Federation Australia confirmed the game’s worst kept secret and announced North Queensland Fury would not take part in the A-League next season, the club short of cash and the sport’s ruling body unwilling to stump up its own. Given we’re one week out from the competition’s grand final, this is a Godsend for the anti-soccer brigade, who will pounce on any opportunity to shove all those “the world game will dominate” arguments back down the deluded roundball fanatics’ throats. There’s no denying the decision to close the Fury is a body blow for the code but it’s not the death knell for football. In fact, forget the Socceroos – this is the time when football in Australia really comes of age. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/forget-the-fury-lets-focus-our-anger-on-the-future/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/forget-the-fury-lets-focus-our-anger-on-the-future/#item5277 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/more-men-saying-women-are-crap-at-stuff/ Ugh. I can barely be bothered raising the requisite outrage to talk about the latest sexism in sport scandal. Read all about it here. Salient point: UK Sky Sports commentators Andy Gray and Richard Keys have been stood down after they joked a female linesman (woman?) wouldn’t know soccer’s offside rule. What dinosaurs.  Sure, it was meant to be off air. Sure, jokes among friends and all that. Reality: What they said both reflects and perpetuates ridiculous myths that exist in society. Which is why it still deserves a response despite being tiresome and predictable. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/more-men-saying-women-are-crap-at-stuff/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/more-men-saying-women-are-crap-at-stuff/#item4966 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Xenophobia. Pauline Hanson asked for a “please explain” over a decade ago. Here is its latest example: Australia’s indifference to the Brisbane Roar’s absurd mark of 36 consecutive matches in the A-League without defeat. Oh yes, the excuses have come thick and fast. The record includes 13 draws, the A-League is weak, penalties were needed to win the Grand Final. It’s as if the Roar - a team which is as majestic as it is consistent - should be embarrassed they now own such a precious jewel in our sporting history.