footballcircus: Dude Looks Like a Lady

This week on Football Circus: Incompetent football associations; drunken kids; incompetent managers and; a man playing in the Women's World Cup? And if that doesn't grab you, you can always catch up on Mario Balotelli's latest antics and the Italian Football Story of the Week....

Football Circus Clown Quote of the Week

"Would you like to rear-end Roy Keane?".

- An Irish journalist poses perhaps the most bizarre question of the week to Alex Pearce, after Roy Keane and Martin O'Neill were involved in a crash prior to Ireland's clash with Scotland.

FAI Chairman Delaney Costs Association €10,000 over Programme Notes

FAI chairman John Delaney is not the most popular man in Ireland right now. Having denounced Sepp Blatter in recent weeks for his running of FIFA, it subsequently came to light that FIFA had paid the FAI €5 million towards the completion of the Aviva Stadium in exchange for their silence over the Thierry Henry handball fiasco.

Delaney has resultantly looked rather foolish and indeed, hypocritical, as he struggles to justify his own silence on the €5 million 'hush money'.

Embarrassingly for Ireland, Delaney had some scathing remarks to make about Blatter in the programme notes ahead of Ireland's Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland last Saturday.

Unfortunately, the match programmes were printed prior to the €5 million 'hush money' story coming to light. On realising just how bad the comments would look, especially on an international level, the FAI were left with no choice but to fork out a ridiculous €10,000 to edit the programmes before they were published.

Maybe FIFA will sort them out with another €10k to stop moaning again.

Grief for Grealish over Holidays Photos

Young Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish's name has come to the fore in recent months after he put in some extremely impressive performances toward the end of the season. In fact his performances have been so impressive that the Republic of Ireland and England are currently in a tug of war to get Grealish to commit his international future to their respective national teams, as he is eligible to play for both.

Despite Grealish make an excellent impression on the field, he has this week sullied his reputation off the field somewhat. Photographs of the youngster surfaced on Twitter, of Grealish passed out on the ground in Tenerife after a night's drinking on a lads' holiday.

Grealish later attempted to claim that it wasn't him in the photos but unfortunately the evidence was stacked against him.

Aston Villa later released a statement on the matter:

"The club is aware of the photographs of Jack Grealish currently circulating. We will be meeting with the player but any action will remain an internal matter.
There will be no further comment from the club".

Fabi-Go! Russian Fans Fundraise to Get Rid of Capello

Fabio Capello has not endeared himself to Russian fans this week as the national team lost 1-0 to Austria in a Euro 2016 qualifier. The result leaves Russia third in Group G and it now looks like they may struggle to qualify for France next year. Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has said Capello may now be fired later this month.

Some fans however, believe even waiting until the end of the month is too long to wait to see the back of the Italian. A group of fans have created a website called 'Fabio, Go Home' (http://fabiogohome.betfoot.ru/), which aims to raise €22 million to have Capello's contract cancelled.

A statement on the website reads:

"Recent public surveys show the vast majority of the country’s football lovers want Capello to step down.

"But to do that the Russia’s Football Union needs to pay Capello a serious penalty for the cancellation of his contract – €22m".

Under Capello, Russia failed to win a match at the 2014 World Cup and have amassed just eight points from six Euro 2016 qualifiers.

South Korea Women's Captain Accused of being a Man

The Women's World Cup is in full swing and the competition seems to be helping to distract from the negativity surrounding the FIFA corruption scandal. Nonetheless, there have been some less positive headlines garnered, with few more eye-catching than Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo's claims that South Korea captain Park Eun-seon may in fact be a man.

An article by journalist Begoña Villarrubia, has called Eun-seon's gender in question. Villarrubia claims the South Korean captain has an "imposing physique" and powerful shot, which when coupled with "slightly masucline features", are enough evidence to doubt the player's sex.

The article referred to Eun-seon as "he" throughout and even categorised Eun-seon as "stout". It may be of note that South Korea happen to be in Spain's World Cup Group!

It is not the first time that Eun-seon's gender has been in doubt however. In 2013, six teams from the South Korean Women's league demanded that the player undergo a gender test. Prior to that, in 2004 during the Athens Olympics, Eun-seon participated in and passed a gender test.

What's Mad Mario Upto this Week?

After going to watch his brother Enoch play a match in his home nation of Italy last week, Balo showed once again just how little time he has for the press, particularly the Italian variety.

The striker was spotted at the match by a journalist and was simply asked to give his opinion on his brother's performance. Balotelli replied, in Italian:
"Beware, I do not speak Italian any more".

Right you are Mario.

Meanwhile Super Mario continues to be linked with a move away from Liverpool and back to his home country. Sampdoria seem to be leading the chase with many media outlets touting the possibility of Samp looking to reunite Balotelli with his one time strike partner for Italy, Antonio Cassano. However were such a move to come to fruition, Sampdoria's financial position may mean that a permanent move isn't on the cards just yet and a loan deal may be more realistic.

Italian Football Story of the Week

- Khedira Denies Joining Juventus for Money

Sami Khedira has this week spoken out against claims that he joined Juventus solely for financial gain. The midfielder recently signed for the Turin club on a free transfer after being linked with countless clubs across Europe and beyond. However Khedira has told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that it was not for the money.

Said Khedira:

"It hurts when people say I left Real Madrid because of money.

"I did not behave badly. Real Madrid presented me with an impressive contract and at the end of the day I could’ve still won a lot there.

"My decision to leave Real Madrid had nothing to do with money. I told my agent that I wanted a change, as I was tired, even though they were five fantastic years.

"After the World Cup I felt completely exhausted, above all mentally. Now I am back in shape and want to continue enjoying my football.

"Juve are a fantastic club with a great tradition, a wonderful present and a promising future.

"I am certain Juventus will have its say in Europe in future and I want to be part of that".

Artist's Impression of the Week

- 'Dude Looks Like a Lady'; Spanish newspaper questions gender of South Korea women's captain.

Football Recommendation of the Week

- The Guardian Italia '90 Quiz; This month marks the 25th anniversary of Italia '90, so what better way to celebrate than to test your knowledgr of the great tournament? We'll warn you though, it ain't easy.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/quiz/2010/jun/13/italia-90-quiz

Non-Football Recommendation of the Week

- Samsung Galaxy S6; If smartphones are your thing and this, or indeed the potentially sexier S6 Edge, are within your budget, you'll find it hard to put this phone down. Though the battery life leaves a lot to be desired, the S6 is probably the pinnacle of mobile phone technology right now.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/galaxys6/