Love is in the air and we just don't care. Valentine's Day is fast approaching, but at Football Circus we have bigger fish to fry. Fish in the form of a New York priest who has been mistaken for a Celtic player; a tattoo disaster for a Liverpool fan; an unorthodox method of stewarding at a Brazilian club; and Ronaldo's birthday antics. It's also been a big week for Mario Balotelli and our Italian Football Story of the Week checks on the employment status of one Samuel Eto'o. So cast aside your significant others for ten minutes and get your weekly fill of Football Circus...
Football Circus Clown Quote of the Week
"The bobbly ones go in, as they say" .
- West Ham's Mark Noble recites an old pearl of wisdom.
Crossed Wires as New York Priest Mistaken for Celtic Signing
One New York priest was left very confused last week after being mistaken for new Celtic signing, Michael Duffy. After Michael Duffy joined Celtic from Derry City one transfer deadline day, his namesake, Fr. Michael Duffy of St. Kilian’s church in Farmingdale, New York, was inundated with congratulatory tweets.
The mixup occurred due to a similarity in the two men's Twitter handles; Fr. Michael Duffy goes by @michaelduffy, while Celtic's Duffy goes by @michaelduffy_.
The mixup occurred due to a similarity in the two men's Twitter handles; Fr. Michael Duffy goes by @michaelduffy, while Celtic's Duffy goes by @michaelduffy_.
In an interview with BBC Radio, Fr. Duffy said:
"I started receiving congratulations messages from people in Ireland.
"I was looking at their names and thought, my goodness, I don’t know who these people are and why they’re congratulating me.
"I finally found out that the other Michael Duffy signed with the Celtics – I’ve never in my life before been confused with a professional athlete, so it was a first for me.
"My Twitter handle @michaelduffy while his is @michaelduffy_ with an underscore after it.
"I only watch soccer if it happens to be at the World Cup or if someone else is watching it, but here in New York we have a lot of international priests coming to us from Ghana or South America, so I’d watch a game with them.
"We’re proud to be Duffys today".
Go Celtics.
Liverpool Fan Left with Ironic Tattoo after Shocking Accident
In 2009, Liverpool fan Andy Grant was serving as a Royal Marine in Afghanistan. On 3rd February that year, he stood on a landmine and lost his right leg. Sad stuff indeed. There was a funny side to the story however. Being the massive Liverpool fan that he is, Grant had a "You'll Never Walk Alone" tattoo on his leg prior to the accident. After the blast, the only part of the tattoo that remained, simply read, "You'll Never Walk".
The Daily Star tweeted photos of Grant and his tattoo last week:
In an interview with the Metro, Grant has been able to see the funny side of the matter and has told how he now uses the remaining part of the tattoo as inspiration:
"I am a huge Liverpool fan so had the Liver bird and the words to the song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on my leg.
"The tattoo that I have been left with has always been a bit of a joke. I use it in my motivational speeches.
"It is ironic that it says I will never walk as I have gone on to run 10km in 40 minutes.
"At the moment I am just two minutes off a record for the 10km for a single leg amputee and I have that in my sights.
"It is bizarre and I just laugh about it – but it adds to my story I guess.
"The fact is that regardless of what the words says, the operation allowed me to walk and run and do so much else".
"You have got to see the funny side of it".
Birthday Boy Ronaldo in Trouble for Karaoke Antics
Balon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is in the bad books of the Real Madrid fans this week after he was caught on camera celebrating his 30th birthday singing karaoke and a looking a little worse for wear, hours after Real suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to bitter city rivals Atletico.
Ronnie was celebrating the big 3-0 in 'In Zalacain' restaurant in Madrid and was joined by a number of friends including James Rodriguez, Marcelo and Luka Modric. Earlier that day though, the Portugese forward had put in a lackluster shift in the Madrid derby. Real fans were outraged, with some believing their star player had been concentrating too much on his big night out and not on the game itself.
However his agent Jorge Mendes has come out defending his client, telling radio station Cadena Ser:
"He was very angry. Any player that loses a game and more so, Ronaldo – who is a great professional, who continues to be the best professional in the world – would be angry.
"The fact is that his birthday party had been organised more than a month ago and he had family coming from abroad.
"He didn’t want to cancel out of respect for the people that came.
"What is inadmissible is that somebody takes advantage of a private affair to release a video.
"Ronaldo was devastated after the defeat and people spent two hours trying to cheer him up".
Unlike the Real fans, Canadian television programme, Breakfast Television, felt it apt to celebrate the birthday of Ronaldo. Their tribute to him however, left football fans a little confused to say the least...
Brazilian Team's Fans on Best Behaviour as Mothers Act as Stewards
Brazilian side Sport Club do Recife have come up with a revolutionary way to ensure their fans stay on their best behaviour: Employing the fans' mothers to act as stewards and keep an eye on them.
The club have been having some issues lately with fans causing trouble and will now try to quell the supporter violence by tasking thirty of the fans' mothers to act as security. They made their first appearance at the weekend against Nautico, with the mothers seen to wear high-vis jackets, with the words 'Seguranca Mae' emblazoned on their backs (this translates as "Security Mums"). Recife won the game 1-0 and there were no arrests.
The idea is the brainchild of PR company, Ogilvy. In an interview with Recife's official website, the company's president, Aricio Fortes said of the move:
"The idea was to make the most fanatical supporters aware and help in some way to bring peace to stadiums.
"At the end of the day, no one wants to fight in front of a mother, especially his own".
What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?
It was looking like it would be another painfully quiet week for Super Mario after he failed to even make the bench in the Reds' Merseyside derby with Everton at the weekend. He was then named as a substitute during Liverpool's mid-week clash with Tottenham and it appeared his woes would continue.
And then bang. Brought on as a 74th minute sub with the game finely balanced at 2-2, Balo pounced to convert an Adam Lallana cross to make it 3-2 and score what proved to be the winning goal. Will this goal be the making of the mercurial striker? Only time will tell.
And then bang. Brought on as a 74th minute sub with the game finely balanced at 2-2, Balo pounced to convert an Adam Lallana cross to make it 3-2 and score what proved to be the winning goal. Will this goal be the making of the mercurial striker? Only time will tell.
Balotelli didn't celebrate the goal on the pitch, nor did he hang around after the final whistle as he was spotted making a beeline for the tunnel alone, with his head down. Afterwards, he posted a slightly creepy selfie to Instagram. The photo, taken in Balo's car, showed him smiling directly at the camera with the accompanying message "This smile is ONLY for those that always Belive and support me".
One other game which Balotelli was involved in this week, emotionally at least, was Ghana's African Cup of Nations final match against the Ivory Coast. Italian international Balo posted a photo of a Ghana flag to his Instagram account following their defeat on penalties. Balotelli was born in Ghana and clearly still feels connected to his place of birth.
Italian Football Story of the Week
- Eto'o Back in Samp's Good Books
Samuel Eto'o is back in favour at Sampdoria, after storming out of a double training session following the team's 5-1 hammering by Torino, as we last week reported. Manager Sinisa Mihajlovic set the record straight on the incident in his press conference at the weekend:
"As far as I am concerned, the case is closed.
"He got it wrong and apologised. I hope he understood the situation and is at our disposal. In fact, it’s better that this happened straight away, because at least he understood how things work at Samp.
"I have no ill feelings, but he will play when I see he is at the same level as his teammates. I don’t think I am snubbing his career by saying that. Every player is different, but the rules are the same for everyone.
"Believe me, when Eto’o scores his first goal for Sampdoria, I will be even happier than him! He’s always smiling and is very humble with the lads in the locker room too.
"Fortunately the transfer window is closed and we can stop with all the distractions of the market. We have many new players who must settle into how we do things and on paper we are stronger, a more complete squad, but there’s a subtle balance in a team that can be shaken".
Artist's Impression of the Week
- 'Never, Ever Selfie and Drive'; Balo saves his celebrations for the car.
Football Recommendation of the Week
- Roy of the Rovers: The Official Autobiography of Roy of the Rovers; "The greatest story ever told by the world’s most beloved sportsman, Roy of the Rovers, in his own words for the first time".
Non-Football Recommendation of the Week
- Better Call Saul; The much awaited Breaking Bad spinoff finally hit Netflix this week and it has not disappointed.
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