Offensive chants about tragedies such as Hillsborough can be public order offences under new guidance
Football fans in England and Wales could be banned from matches if they mock tragedies such as the Hillsborough disaster, under updated guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS guidance will state that actions such as singing, chanting or displaying offensive messages about disasters or accidents involving players or fans can be seen as a public order offence.
Continue reading...As the German national team gathered before their opening match of the Women’s World Cup, a convincing win over Morocco in Melbourne, a curious knitted mascot sat on the grass in the middle of the huddle.
Lying on top of a shirt bearing the name and number of defender Carolin Simon, who was ruled out through injury on the eve of the tournament, sat a koala named “Waru”.
Continue reading...Lewis, whose family owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, is accused of ‘brazen’ insider trading
Lawyers for the British billionaire Joe Lewis have accused prosecutors of making an “egregious” mistake, as the 86-year-old pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.
Lewis, who heads the family that owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, was arraigned on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court with 16 counts of securities fraud and three of conspiracy to commit fraud, which prosecutors called a “brazen” insider trading scheme to enrich his friends, lovers and employees, including two private jet pilots.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Billions deployed since early 2021 in a move critics say is an attempt to distract from human rights record
Saudi Arabia has spent at least $6.3bn (£4.9bn) in sports deals since early 2021, more than quadruple the previous amount spent over a six-year period, in what critics have labelled an effort to distract from its human rights record.
Saudi Arabia has deployed billions from its Public Investment Fund over the last two-and-a-half years according to analysis by the Guardian, spending on sports at a scale that has completely changed professional golf and transformed the international transfer market for football.
Continue reading...Billionaire allegedly gave friends, employees and romantic partners information on companies in which he was investor
The billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur football club was charged with orchestrating “brazen” insider trading by US federal prosecutors on Tuesday.
According to Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, Joe Lewis gave friends, including his personal pilots, assistants and romantic partners, inside information from companies in which he was an investor.
Continue reading...From Suffolk to Sheffield, youngsters inspired by England’s Euros triumph sat down before big screens to enjoy the side’s World Cup campaign
Ninety minutes before the Lionesses took to the pitch for their World Cup opener, the under-11s Hadleigh United girls’ team kicked off their own tournament – a mini World Cup five-a-side organised by coach Matt French. More than two dozen girls, representing global national teams, showed off their skills to cheering families and friends.
After the final whistle, it was time to head to the clubhouse to watch the England women’s team play.
Continue reading...Average was once every 16 seconds across 10 matches last season, with a total of 3,522 in West Ham v Chelsea
Betting company logos appear as often as 3,500 times during the course of a televised football match, the majority on pitchside hoardings, prompting renewed scepticism about top-flight clubs’ plan to give up front-of-shirt betting ads only.
A study led by psychology experts from four universities measured the volume of gambling adverts during 10 matches that took place last season, featuring every Premier League club.
Continue reading...Advertising Standards Authority rules against two promoted tweets featuring Premier League coaches
The advertising watchdog has banned two adverts run by the sports betting business Ladbrokes for appealing to under-18s by featuring well-known Premier League managers including Frank Lampard and Eddie Howe.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation into the two promoted tweets, published in January and February, after concerns that the use of images of managers of top flight teams would break UK rules banning ads that have a “strong appeal” to young people under 18 years old.
Continue reading...A man has been arrested at Wembley after a picture emerged of a football fan wearing a jersey with what appeared to be a reference to the Hillsborough disaster printed on the back.
The Metropolitan Police Events Twitter account retweeted a picture of a man wearing a Manchester United shirt that had the number 97 on the back and the words “Not Enough”.
Continue reading...Soccer for Life league in Tokyo has about 40 players, enough for three teams, playing 30-minute matches
There are mops of silver hair, Bobby Charlton combovers and a fair number of creaking knees. But the Red Star and Blue Hawaii football teams can be forgiven for the hesitant start to their match: every man on the pitch is older than 80. Within minutes, though, they are running freely – and moaning at the referee – as they roll back the years with every pass and tackle.
With a combined age in four figures, the 22 men are defying the passage of time in the Tokyo Soccer for Life league for the over-80s, a sporting expression of Japan’s status as a “super-ageing” society where the average male life expectancy is 85.
Continue reading...Farhad Moshiri reportedly a ‘person of interest’ at special unit over links to sanctioned oligarch Alisher Usman
The Treasury’s sanctions police have been reviewing the finances of the Everton Football Club owner, Farhad Moshiri, the Guardian understands.
Moshiri appears to have become a person of interest to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) because of his links to Alisher Usmanov, the Russian-Uzbek billionaire who was sanctioned by the UK, the EU and the US after last year’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Ciro Maiello, whose home is adorned with a painting of the player, says Napoli’s first Serie A win since Diego’s days heralds a new dawn for the city
At 10.37pm on 4 May the man who lives in Diego Maradona’s head threw open the window of his flat in the Spanish Quarter district in Naples for the first time in months, erupting in a cathartic scream as the city celebrated another moment in its rebirth.
Ciro Maiello, a 50-year-old pork butcher, moved to the apartment block featuring a giant mural of the Argentinian in 2006 and lived there through a period he called the “dark days [when] dozens of people were killed in these streets.” The mural was painted more than a decade earlier, in honour of the player who gave the city’s football team the most successful period in its history, including its first Serie A title win, and whose veneration by Neapolitans is comparable only to the adoration of its patron saint, Gennaro.
Continue reading...Workers at World Cup 2022 venues fired as tournament ended and allegedly jailed or deported after trying to claim unpaid wages
Three World Cup security guards who were detained while trying to resolve a dispute over unpaid wages are still being held in Qatar four months after their arrest.
Shakir Ullah and Zafar Iqbal from Pakistan, and an Indian national, have allegedly been sentenced to six months in prison and fined 10,000 riyals (£2,220) each.
Continue reading...Three detained after racist slurs directed at Real Madrid forward, with four more held over mannequin hanging from bridge
Spanish police have arrested three people in connection with the racist abuse suffered by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior during a match with Valencia on Sunday, and detained a further four suspects over an effigy of the player that was hung from a bridge in Madrid four months ago.
In a brief statement on Tuesday morning, the Policía Nacional said three young men had been arrested in Valencia over the “racist behaviour” that took place during the match at the city’s Mestalla stadium.
Continue reading...Judicial sources say incident during Real Madrid’s match with Valencia is being treated as possible hate crime
Spanish prosecutors have opened an investigation over racist chants hurled at Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior during a weekend match, as the head of Spain’s football federation admitted the country had a “problem” with racism.
The prosecutor’s office in the eastern city of Valencia, where the game took place, was investigating the incident as a possible “hate crime”, judicial sources said, after Luis Rubiales of the Royal Spanish Football Federation called for zero tolerance.
Continue reading...At least 12 people have died with more than 100 injured in a crowd crush at a football stadium in El Salvador on Saturday, the Central American country’s government has confirmed.
Alianza FC and Club Deportivo Fas were playing the second leg of their playoff quarter-final game at the Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador, the country’s capital, when play was suspended after 16 minutes.
Continue reading...The chief executive of Football Australia has told the Observer that he is “pretty confident and optimistic” players will be allowed to wear rainbow armbands at the Women’s World Cup, after holding talks with Fifa. In a highly significant development, James Johnson said there had been “meaningful dialogue” between the hosts and football’s governing body and that it was likely to lead to players having greater ability to express themselves.
In an exclusive interview, Johnson also revealed that discussions had taken place over permitting Indigenous First Nation flags to be flown inside stadiums at July and August’s competition in Australia and New Zealand, saying it was an important issue for his country and its team.
Continue reading...Football club says how spectators choose to react to God Save the King is a ‘personal choice’
The British national anthem has been met with resounding boos at Anfield, with Liverpool fans drowning out the music with heckles before their fixture against Brentford hours after King Charles’s coronation.
Liverpool supporters could also be heard chanting “Liverpool, Liverpool” in what has become somewhat of a tradition whenever the national anthem is played at the ground.
Continue reading...Thousands line route as Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney join men’s and women’s teams on open-top bus tour
Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Wrexham AFC’s staff and players celebrated the team’s promotion with an open-top bus parade on Tuesday evening.
Thousands of fans lined up along a 3.5-mile route in the north Wales city as three buses left from the club’s Racecourse ground carrying the team that won the National League title and promotion back to the English Football League after a 15-year absence. The women’s side also clinched promotion to the Genero Adran Premier by winning their playoff final.
Continue reading...Tina Moore unsure how red England shirt left her possession but it is now in hands of mystery private buyer
It is the most famous moment in English football. Bobby Moore, the England captain, hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates, holding the World Cup trophy aloft in 1966.
While the moment was captured on camera and preserved for posterity, the red England shirt the centre-half was wearing, with the number six on the back, has been lost – and Moore’s ex-wife is urging its current owner to return it.
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