Stories about Sport from July, 2006
China: Sino-America Police Sanshou Championship
Zat Liu in Shanghaiist reports on the Sino-America Police Sanshou Championship organized by Ministry of Public Security and Public Security Office of Hunan Province and to be held from August 26-29 at Helong Stadium in Changsha. There is a voting on web (zh) where China supporters out numbered America supporter...
South Africa: World Cup 2010
“We, as Africans should not under-estimate the pessimism, especially in Europe, that surrounds 2010 FIFA World Cup scheduled for South Africa,” writes Matters of the Mind.
Barbados: Save Worrell's house
My Turn–a new blog started by Carson Cadogan, who Barbados Free Press describes as “The Barbados King of Letters to the Editor”–argues that some of the public funds being spent on the redevelopment of Barbados's main cricket venue, Kensington Oval, should be used to restore the boyhood home of cricket...
Gripes with Footballer Lilian Thuram
Of Lilian Thuram, a French football player of Guadeloupean origin, France-based Senegalese blogger says (Fr): “Wanting desperately to become a Martin Luther King-style defender of the Black cause, Thuram seems to have no friends around him to tell him to calm down and to stay away from politics, an artform...
Argentina: Blog and Book Presentation
Leandro Zanoni, journalist, author, and blogger thanks the attendees who came to the presentation (ES) of his newest book, “Vivir en los Medios: Maradona off the record.”
Japan: Japan football
Ampontan from Japundit blogs about ancient Japanese football game called “kemari”.
Racism: France and Zidane
“The politics of head butts in French racist discourse are presented via La Plage, a group of young Africans who put together the song “Coup de Boule” on Monday afternoon,” writes Black Looks.
Haiti: Grateful to Wyclef for his World Cup Performance
Collectif Haiti de Provence points to a Le Nouvelliste article thanking (Fr) Haitian-American hip hop star Wyclef for his representation of Haiti at the World Cup closing ceremony: “Wyclef Jean did everything to associate Haiti to his performance. The Haitian flag served as a bandana that covered his head (…)...
South Korea: Anti-American sentiment
Micheal Hurt in Scribbings of metropolitician talks about the growth in anti-American and nationalistic sentiment in South Korea in both soccer and anti-FTA.
French DOM-TOM Bloggers on Zidane's “Coup de Tete”
Bloggers from the French Overseas Departments and Territories of the Caribbean and Oceania had much to say about the French soccer team's performance at the World Cup Final. The French from “l'outre-mer” simply had no choice but to strongly identify with the potential glory and the shame of a team...
Caribbean: Stanford 20/20
Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat weblog notes the début of the Stanford 20/20 in Antigua, the “fastest and whackiest form of the game [of cricket] yet,” adding that “the purists will no doubt gnash their teeth, as they did when one-day matches were begun in 1963 and when Packer...
China: World cup
The World Cup is over. However there are still much discussion about Zidane's head butt. Ah Q magazine comments that Zidane's head butt is a perfect ending of his career (zh). Jxhill tries to read into the political culture of how french people reacted to Zidane's act. He feels that...
South Asia: Cricket scores
The Man On The Outer reflects on Zizou's headbutt controversy, and how cricket is an extremely challenging game. “Most require certain levels of skill, physical fitness and mental strength to succeed – but cricket demands far more in the last criteria.”
Zidane, Materazzi and FIFA
Steve Ntwiga Mugiri comes out of a reclusive period to write about Zidane and racism in soccer. “The onus of dealing with racism on the pitch has fallen on the players themselves,” he writes. “They have taken up the challenge and are tackling the problem head on and are asking...
Zidane and Camus
Yebo Gogo delights in a comparison between French soccer captain Zinedine Zidane and the French-Algerian hero of Albert Camus’ novel l'Etranger. “Zidane head butts an opponent, and despite destroying the short remainder of his career, chose his fate — that of the anti-hero,” writes Fontaine.
Caribbean: Google maps Caribbean territories
Ryan at The West Indies Cricket Blog notes that Google Maps has added high-definition satellite images for Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados that allow for “upclose overhead shot[s]” of the cricket grounds in those countries. The grounds are being prepared for the 2007 World Cup.
Iran: Conservatives praised Zidane!
Jomhour says Zidane's final act in the World Cup when he lowered his head and rammed Materazzi in the chest, knocking him to the ground, has been praised by conservative news papers in Iran and the head of National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee in Iranian Parliament. The blogger writes...
Indonesia: In defence of Zidane
Oskar Syahbana calls French footballer Zidane a perfect role model.
Guyana: Zidane's head-butt, in Creolese
Guyana-Gyal posts what is very likely the first written analysis of Zinedine Zidane's head-butt in Creolese, Guyana's “nation language“: “‘You saw that?!?’ I ask in my best ready-to-gossip voice. Right off, Indeera know what I talking ‘bout…that goat-butt the French guy give the Italian. Pow in he chest..“
Malawi: Racism in football
Malawi-based Afrika-Aphukira posts a long commentary on the debate now raging over the sending off of French soccer captain Zinedine Zidane after he headbutted Marco Matarazzi in the France-Italy World Cup final. Emerging reports of racist insults from Matarazzi have divided the world into two camps: those who think ‘sportmanship’...
Armenia: World Cup Fever
Raffi K. of Life in Armenia says that central Yerevan was a World Cup watching zone, with people watching games on the streets and in restaurants.
