- 02:17 PM
- 11/21/09
| Name: | Huw Morris |
|---|---|
| Location: | Oxford, UK |
| Member since: | February 04, 2002 |
| Last visit: | November 18, 2009 |
salmacis has posted 35 links and 609 comments to SportsFilter and 5 links and 128 comments to the Locker Room.
It's Salford City Reds and Celtic Crusaders!: The Rugby Football League has announced which 14 teams will be awarded a licence to compete in Superleague 2009-2011. The existing 12 clubs have all been selected, plus Salford City Reds and Celtic Crusaders (from Bridgend, South Wales). Missing out are Widnes, Leigh, Halifax, Featherstone, and Toulouse. Wakefield and Castleford must be relieved, but the inclusion of Celtic over Widnes is a huge risk, as the RFL try to expand the game into new areas - in this case, a tradionally rugby union area. PS - Can we have a "rugby" category? Pretty please?
posted by salmacis to other at 10:17 AM on July 22 - 6 comments
Rob Green: 21 days that changed my life.: This summer West Ham's goalkeeper did without the traditional footballer's holiday and went instead to Africa to work with a charity that helps the truly disadvantaged – and uses football to get its message across. Here Rob Green describes an experience that was both shattering and ultimately uplifting.
posted by salmacis to soccer at 10:29 AM on July 17 - 6 comments
Drunk referee shown the red card.: (video link)
posted by salmacis to soccer at 03:41 PM on July 14 - 8 comments
The $6 billion heist: "All in all he [Bernie Ecclestone] took US$3.25 billion out of Formula One thanks to his deals with Mosley. And this on top of the US$1.7 billion he had earned from the APM deals and the US$1 billion he had received as commission for his companies. By the time 2007 closed, since Mosley had become FIA president in 1991, Ecclestone had extracted nearly US$6 billion in profits from Formula One. One astute observer said: 'It is the biggest heist in history.' The same observer reckoned Ecclestone was legitimately entitled to only US$1 billion. He said: 'Ecclestone could have been a billionaire without Mosley’s help, but that wasn’t enough.' ”
posted by salmacis to auto racing at 04:39 AM on April 04 - 3 comments
New badge for Tottenham Hotspur.: Just like local rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur have unveiled a new badge. The logo "Audere est Facere", which translates as "to dare is to do", has been left off the new badge in favour of a retro design. What do you think? An improvement? Too retro?
posted by salmacis to soccer at 12:39 PM on January 20 - 10 comments
I don't see any problem with using the system they have in rugby, with the referee telling the timekeeper when to stop the clock. There is one other important facet of the rugby system though, which would be appropriate to football as well. When time is up, play does not end immediately - it ends when the ball next goes out of play. That should stop Sweden v Brazil type moments.
posted by salmacis at 08:33 AM on September 23
Published attendance figures in all American sports leagues are a complete joke. Allowing teams to distribute free tickets and count them in the attendance figure - whether those tickets were even used or not - means teams can effectively announce whatever figure they like.
posted by salmacis at 08:27 AM on September 23
The fact is that American football has always placed intolerable demands on the human body. The hit that knocked out Willis McGahee in the AFC Conference Final was, in my opinion, no less than GBH. Somehow, the body armour has to be scaled back, and the rules changed to force more tackling with the arms (as in rugby). American football will always be a tough, tough game to play, but that doesn't mean that improvements cannot be made. I wonder whether the NFL's response is down to a fear of liability.
posted by salmacis at 09:18 AM on January 29
"Go ahead, you try going to a rugby game and writing about it. Soccer? Ninety minutes of whatever and then maybe one goal scored by accident. Tough to create a coherent narrative out of that."
Any sports writer who can say that and actually believe it is clearly far too stupid for me to bother reading.
posted by salmacis at 05:59 AM on October 02
The bloke in the background of the World in Motion video (holding up the sign which reads EN-GER-LAND. 3:19 in the video) looks like the guy playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in the new Robin Hood series on BBC America.
I've not watched the video, but the article states the lyrics were by Keith Allen.. who played the Sheriff of Nottingham.
posted by salmacis at 10:09 AM on September 24
1976? Luxury! My lot haven't won anything since 1968. BTW, I was born in 1971.
posted by salmacis at 07:57 PM on September 03
Ironic that a group called United bought City..
The real losers in all this are Liverpool. As it is, they seem to be struggling to hang on to the coat-tails of Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. If they are to be deprived of Champions League football that could be disasterous, considering the debt the owners have accrued.
posted by salmacis at 02:30 PM on September 02
You know, my reaction wasn't that dissimilar to Michael Johnson's. An unbelievable run.
posted by salmacis at 04:25 AM on August 18
I'm finding it really hard to read comments with the new SpoFi. Is it possible to make the "posted by salmacis at 12:00 AM - reply" line made smalled and/or with a different colour background?
posted by salmacis at 11:34 AM on August 15
Is it against soccer rules to do shit like, I don't know, form a 6 man phalanx around the player with the ball while he patiently and slowly dribbles it upfield?
What, you seriously think that would make for a better game? (And yes, it would be an indirect free kick for obstruction.)
Listen. Association Football is by far the most popular spectator sport in the world. It doesn't need Americans monkeying about with the rules to make it more popular over there. (In fact, MLS got rid of the innovations which marked it out as different: Fixed clock, shootout, etc.) As owlhouse pointed out, there have been plenty of rule changes over the last 30 years, and plenty of innovations in tactics. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't exist. I don't know of tactical or rule changes in basketball, but I'm sure they exist.
Back to the a11 offense. I'm sure it could work at high school level, and it might even work at college level. But NFL? Sounds like a great way to get both of your quarterbacks out for the season.
posted by salmacis at 11:29 AM on August 15
lbb, I don't follow or agree with your reasoning at all. Either this place is open for all sports fans to join us, or not. We're not some clique.
posted by salmacis at 03:14 PM on July 30
Well how can you count the number of posts about rugby when they have to be categorised as "other"!? Seriously, cricket and rugby are such major international sports that it's ridiculous not to have them as categories.
posted by salmacis at 10:38 AM on July 30
I've set up a team in the Guardian league as well.
posted by salmacis at 06:47 AM on July 25
Actually, the fact that squealy, as a Midlander, has never heard of Salford City Reds, despite the fact they were in the Superleague last year, shows just how low the profile of league is outside the heartland.
posted by salmacis at 09:57 AM on July 23
Extra Time
etagloh, two points. Firstly, rugby referees don't stop the clock every time the ball goes out of play. They only stop it for excessive stoppages, such as injuries. Secondly, the players can't really do anything to end a match with my suggestion either. The match runs it's natural course, then time is extended until the ball goes out on top of that. It's a subtle distinction, but it works in rugby and I don't see why it wouldn't work in football.
Now that I think of it, there's another rule football could borrow from rugby. In rugby, there is no need to wait for a player to leave the field before the substitute enters the field. Why do we need to wait in football? A simple rule, whereby the substitute is deemed to have not entered the field of play and the substituted player is deemed to have not left the field of play until play is restarted would solve all objections.