Football and Fashion |

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

The local field may not be the best place to watch the big match, after last Saturday when Sky screened the Manchester United and Chelsea Premier League game in 3D to over 1,000 pubs.

Those who now cannot score tickets for Old Trafford can instead head the local pub where they can grab 3D glasses and a pint while they watch Didier Drogba rack up the goals

Although the installation of 3D televisions and equipment has been expensive for pubs, the payoff may be large with some already asking customers to reserve viewing space as they anticipate a large amount of excited fans to show up.

Commercial manager at Walkabout, a popular chain of Australian styled pubs, James Mawer said that 35 of their chain pubs will  be screening the next game which is likely going to lead to ticket selling in the future as an increasing amount of people are booking their viewing spots in advance. 

Mawer said that they will continue to gauge the response of customers but early research suggests some will pay up to six or seven pounds to get inside for a 3D match viewing.

Walkabout has been hit hard with the smoking ban and the recession which in turn has also hit many other pubs forcing the Australian bars to close down about 52 last year.  However, Mawer suggested that the 3D football matches may be the key to getting customers back in their doors as the appeal of watching live sports mixed with drinking has never faded away.

A new study conducted in Sweden and including 187 football stadiums found that many European football grounds do not have the correct action plans or equipment on the grounds in order to save fans that have a heart attack while in attendance.

According to the results of the poll, more than a quarter of the stadiums accessed do not have emergency plans or the necessary defibrillators.   The survey was carried out by club doctors who stressed that more should be done since it is not always possible to quickly get fans to an ER.

Currently, it is only considered to be advisable to have defibrillators at sporting events but the researchers are pushing for mandatory requirements to be put in place.

In the last few years however authorities across the UK have been attempting to do more to place the life saving pieces of equipment in public areas.

Official medic for GAIS the Swedish club and a member of the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, Mats Borjesson, stated that every sporting ground should have a supply of defibrillators due to the fact that those that are emotionally engaged in a sporting event are more likely to suffer a heart attack.

Borjesson also noted that given that Europe is where football is the most popular it is quite likely that the situation is even more alarming in other areas.  He also added that planning and procedures also need to be in place so that they could be properly used.

At 9:15pm Tuesday one of the last reminders of male dominance in the sporting world fell to the ground when referee Tony Bates was forced to leave the field with a calf strain, after which a petite woman with dark hair took over to help finish the Sky Blues’ game against Nottingham Forest.

Bates was replaced by his referee assistant, Amy Fearn, who is has now become the first woman to ever referee in a Football League game.  The 31 year old from Loughborough who’s day job is as a Rolls Royce financial analyst is a part of feminist history that will have males re-evaluating their role in the sporting world.

This is not the first time than a woman has landed on a line, however as Postmistress Wendy Toms from Dorset was on the Premier League in the nineties and Fearn herself has also worked the line using her maiden name, Rayner, as an assistant for the last four years.

Fearn is certainly not a stranger to the game since she has been refereeing since age 14; however, it was still a leap for women in the sporting world.  She stated that it was a great experience to get the chance to referee at a Football League and laughingly said that she could get used to being in charge every week.

She also added that she did not notice at the time that the crowd had reacted to the change, but was glad that nothing controversial occurred while she was in charge of the match for twenty minutes.

A PE teacher has set the new record for the farthest football throw after pitching a ball over half the length of a typical pitch.

The teacher, Danny Brooks, utilizes his own special ‘flip’ style to toss the football a total of 163.32 feet, which is a world record.  The technique is considered legal because he keeps both of his feet grounded while reaching behind his head with his hands to launch the ball.

Brooks is from Halifax, West Yorkshire videotaped the launch, after which he sent photos and the video to Guinness World Records who declared him the new record holder

A former gymnast, he commented that he came to the conclusion that he could perform a flip to get a better toss of the ball.  He continued to say he was sure that if he could get the angles just right like a discus or shot putter he would be able to beat the current record.

Brooks was inspired to try for the record by Stroke City player Rory Delap who is known for his long throws.

The previous record holder for long distance pitching was Michael Lochner from America who completed the distance of 158.04 ft.

Considered to be the most popular sport in the UK and pretty much across the world, football has a legion of follows who claim support of their local or favourite team by wearing their football shirts. In the early days of football there were no uniform kits instead players would wear what they had and distinguished themselves by wearing coloured caps, scarves or sashes.

The first uniform kits began to appear around 1870 just before the creation of the FA, back then most teams came from public schools or officers serving in the army so the team colours were distinguished by their colours.  It wasn’t until the late 1870’s that working people in Scotland formed their own teams that the sport became more widespread, once more working class people wanted to form teams it caused a departure from footballs upper class roots. With the formation of more teams came the first manufacturer of sportswear in the UK by a company called Bukta which was established in 1879.

The player’s tops known as ‘jersey’ became popular and featured many designs, a lot of the early era of organised English football began to disappear and football kits became more distinguished for each team. Many of the kits worn today still feature the clubs trademarks from the early 1900s in particular Manchester United’s most recent strip which features a bold V design, which was a new design first worn by them in the 1909 FA Cup.

Many fans now like to emulate their favourite player by wearing the kit which features their name on or creating their own replica t-shirt from a prominent time in the clubs history which can be custom to any design. Numbers and names are often applied to the back of Replica kits via a method of t-shirt printing.

Speech Soccer is the first voice only activated online football game and the fans are going wild for it at www.speechsoccer.com. It’s the brainchild of automatic speech recognition specialist and football fan Nick Wilkinson PhD of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire whose love of the game inspired him to create Speech Soccer.

Speech Soccer is an addictive game where the players respond to your voice to pass the ball, tackle and shoot in fast flowing football action. It is the game for the football purist that wants to recreate the art that was Brazil 1970, Liverpool 1988 or Arsenal 2004. The speech interface liberates you from focusing on the individual players giving you the freedom to play as a team . There’s a formation editor too, which allows you to develop your own tactics for attacking and defending.

Once you’ve trained the speech recogniser you’re ready to play. To score goals you must move the ball quickly about the pitch to create space for shooting. When your team has the ball, say the number of your player you wish to pass to. Or, if you keep saying the number of the player who already has the ball, he will run with it. When you are in range of the goal simply say “shoot”. When the opposition has the ball you need to win it back. Say the number of one of your players and he will start moving towards the ball. When you get close say “tackle” to challenge for the ball.

Beware though, tackling from behind results in a yellow card and if that player commits another foul then a red card is given and the player is removed from the pitch!

The real fun of Speech Soccer is playing against other people online. Registration to play online is £5 for six months access and if you’re one of the first 1000 people to register you’ll be in with a chance to win a football shirt personally signed by England Captain John Terry.

Here’s a demonstration video:

To join in the fun download your FREE copy of Speech Soccer at www.speechsoccer.com.