Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 35th installment of Football Circus. This week we report on a Red Hot Chili Pepper feuding with Brazilian football fans and pose the question: Is football fan Pope Francis a thief? We will also attempt to mislead you with headlines such as "United's Giggs to play for Sierra Leone?". We're sneaky like that. But hey, it's a dirty industry, we have to lure you in somehow.
United's Giggs to play for Sierra Leone?
No not that one. There are strong rumours this week that Ryan Giggs' younger brother Rhodri has been contacted by Sierra Leone officials about playing for their national team. Rhodri, now aged 35, qualifies to play for the African side through his grandfather.
Currently playing for FC United, the younger Giggs brother is thought to be open to playing for the country as he has never played international football previously and is highly unlikely to be afforded the opportunity again at this stage in his career.
It is believed that Irishman John McKinstry who was recently appointed caretaker manager of Sierra Leone and is in fact seven years younger than Rhodri, is behind the move.
Chili Peppers Drummer hopes Flamengo Beef is Water Under the Bridge
Brazilian club side Flamengo have found themselves a rather peculiar new rival - Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.
The drummer was on stage in Belo Horizonte in Brazil and produced a Flamengo jersey to garner some positive reaction from the crowd. This seems to be a common method of forming a bond with a local crowd and many big name musicians have been seen to don the jersey of a local football team in recent times, despite having no real connection with the side. Unfortunately for Smith, he seemingly failed to do his research.
On producing the jersey, Smith was met with a chorus of boos. Upon realising the crowd were clearly not Flamengo fans, the drummer attempted to make amends for his actions and pretended to wipe his, well, behind, with the Flamengo jersey.
Smith obviously knows very little about Brazilian football as his jersey antics demonstrated. His ass-wiping gesture gave rise to an onslaught of abuse from Flamenco fans. The few Flamengo fans that actually were present threw objects towards the stage, while he also received death threats after the appearence.
The Chili Pepper has moved swiftly to put the matter to rest by tweeting:
"I want to apologize for my inappropriate antics at the drum clinic,my joke about team rivalries went too far. Flamenco fans...I'm sorry".
Football Manager Illegally Downloaded...By the Pope?
A fortnight ago Football Manager 2014 earned our 'Football Recommendation' of the week accolade. Indeed, the popular franchise is a huge hit amongst football loving gamers. So much so that illegal downloads of the game are rife throughout the world. Nothing out of the ordinary there, given how popluar online piracy has become. What may raise an eyebrow however, is the fact that Football Manager has been illegally downloaded by someone in the Vatican City.
The Daily Mirror has reported that Miles Jacobson of Sports Interactive (Football Manager developers), revealed to the London Games Conference that 10.1 million individuals illegally downloaded the game on May 12th after it was leaked online.
3.2 million of the culprits were based in China, Jacobson confirmed, while one download could be tracked back to the Vatican. With a population of around 800 people, there is therefore, an 800-1 chance that the illegal downloader was the Pope himself. Given that Pope Francis is known to be a big fan of the beautiful game, those odds may narrow again.
Ugandan Fan Bets his House on Arsenal...And Loses It
There's belief in your team and then there's stupidity. Unfortunately, this is a tale of the latter. Ugandan newspaper The Observer has this week reported on Arsenal fan and Ugandan native, Henry Dhabasani, who staked his house on a Gunners victory against Man United on Sunday.
Dhabasani foolishly got into a heated debate in his home town of Iganga with United diehard Rashid Yiga. Dhabasani insisted league leaders Arsenal would get the victory while Yiga favoured the Red Devils.
This was not your average football talk in the pub between rival fans though. Both fans were so confident that their respective team would taste victory, that they decided to put a little wager on it. Dhabasani would hand over his house if United won and were Arsenal to win, Yiga would part with his Toyota Premio car. Oh and his wife as well.
The obsessed pair went as far as to sign documents in front of other fans and local leaders. United went on to win the match 1-0. Far from dismissing the bet as pre-match banter between friends, Dhabasani would not be let forget his gamble. The Observer reported:
"Dhabasani, married to three wives with five children, fainted at the end of the match on realising Arsenal had lost the game 1–0.
On Monday, several Manchester United fans stormed Dhabasani’s home and threw him and his family out".
There is no word as yet on whether Dhabasani will be putting any of his three wives up for grabs for Arsenal's next game.
Samba Beat Stops as Brazilian Footballers Protest
Brazilian football came to a halt this week as the 'Common Sense Football Movement' protest took place. The movement was set up by footballers in the country, who believe the domestic football calender is too long. So on Wednesday, the players stood with their arms crossed at the beginning of numerous fixtures in the Brazilian league. Fans and TV pundits joined in.
The Sao Paolo versus Flamengo match saw the teams kick the ball to each other and waste time after the match had gotten under way.
One of the leaders of the movement is Corinthians defender Paulo Andre. Andre had the following comments to make after Wednesday's actions:
"We will escalate the protests if the federation doesn't respond to our demands. This is historic for Brazilian football. Players know what they are doing and they know the importance of this movement. They are engaged.
"We understand the problems in the 2014 calendar (with the 2014 World Cup taking place)and we accept making a concession there, but if nothing is done for 2015 we likely won't be playing that year. It makes no sense to go against this movement. The only thing they can do is punish all 20 team and all players. This is important for football, everybody knows that things must improve."
What's Mad Mario Upto This Week?
Well not a whole lot as it happens. His poor form has resulted in both Corriere Dello Sport and Tuttosport newspapers linking him with a move away from AC Milan. Corriere claim Paris Saint Germain are set to swoop for the striker and will make a €30 million move for him, while Tuttosport believe Balo may head for the San Siro exit door as early as January.
Meanwhile, Italian coach Cesare Prandelli has put Balotelli's loss of form down to a lack of confidence. Ahead of Italy's friendlies with Germany and Nigeria, Prandelli stated:
"Great champions have to make their team win. They have something more to give but they have to be included in the game plan.
"You have to arrive to games mentally prepared. Mario is going through a strange and delicate time, but if one has character, then you can gain more strength from this.
"He knows how to play football, he just has to get his confidence back."
And Frimpong?
Frimpong has, oddly enough, not been making headlines with through his Instagram offerings this week. There was another social media outlet that he took to however to embarrass himself.
Frimpong played in Arsenal under 21's 4-2 victory over Aston Villa this week and took to Twitter to proclaim he had scored his first Arsenal goal:
"First goal for Afc today. Glad we won great team spirit by the lads".
Which is all well and good. Only Frimpong scored for Arsenal's reserves (now the under 21's) in a 4-2 win against West Ham in January 2010.
Italian Football Story of the Week
- Strange Goings On in Salernitana and Nocerina Match
Poor old Nocerina must be cursing their luck. Either that, or the club has been getting upto some serious mischief. We'll let you make up your own minds...
Salernitana hosted Nocerina on Sunday in one of Italy's Lega Pro derby matches. The match was shrouded in controversy before a ball was even kicked though as Nocerina fans had been banned from attending. As such, they had requested for the match not to be played. That request was of course denied and the Nocerina team made their not so merry way to Salrenitana.
En route to the stadium, players were attacked on their team bus. Their own fans then issued death threats to the players, feeling betrayed that the players would carry on and play the match without their presence.
The match was subsequently delayed by 40 minutes. League officals eventually managed to persuade the away players to take part in the match. But it was after the kickoff that proceedings really took a turn for the bizarre.
Within two minutes of kickoff, Nocerina used all three of their permitted substitutions. During the seventeen minutes that ensued, five players Nocerina players had to leave the pitch 'injured'. This left Nocerina with just six players remaining on the pitch and the referee with no choice but to call a halt to the farcical match.
Afterwards, the board of directors of Nocerina all resigned and the club are now face an investigation by the league to ascertain exactly what they were upto.
Football Recommendation
- Dave Will Online Store - Whether you're a Liverpool fan or not, you will surely appreciate the artwork of Dave Will who designs Liverpool post-match postcards.
Non Football Recommendation
- Dublinwalls.com - Like the football recommendation this week, the non football recommendation comes in arty farty form too. Some very impressive street art to be seen here.
Song of the Week
- Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)
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You can also contact us at footballcircus@gmail.com
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