Stories about Sport from March, 2009
Iran:Iranian football coach sacked
Several Iranian sites and bloggers reported that Ali Daei, Iranian national football coach was sacked after Iran suffered a humiliating 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia in its fifth World Cup qualifier at Tehran's Azadi Stadium. Here is a video film where Iranians insluted Ali Daei and chanted slogans agianst him.
Vietnam: Motorbike stunts
Young “street artists” are performing their dangerous motorbike stunts in the streets of Vietnam.
Guyana: Don't Get Fooled Again
Guyana-Gyal blogs about Allen Stanford, issuing this piece of advice she learned from a friend: “Beware of those with sugar-tongue and oily lips.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Pompoms
“I thought for a second I was hallucinating. Like I think I’m hallucinating when I hear some wild rumour that Papa Patos wants to invoke the Terrorism Act during the Summit of the Americas to stop people from protesting. I mean it can’t be, can it? Cheerleaders in cricket? Why,...
Morocco: Olympian Said Aouta Sacked
According to the Daily Maghreb, former Olympic champion Said Aouta has been fired from his position as technical athletics director.
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Don't Worry, Be Happy
“When a really uptight person marries another who is way laidback, we who attend the wedding always make the optimistic assumption that the uptight person will learn to relax a little bit – but it often pans out the other way around”: Barbados-based B.C. Pires thinks that “on that basis,...
Indian Premier League Cricket In Africa?
Srikanth Mangalam at i3j3Cricket is outraged at the news that this years Indian Premier League Cricket will be played in South Africa: “Yes, all this drama regarding security is all about protecting the politicians during their (election) campaigns. It has nothing to do with protecting the citizenry.”
Afghanistan: Buzkashi National Game
Nasim Fekrat tells about Buzkashi (“goat grabbing”), the national sport of Afghanistan.
Jamaica: Mind Games
From Jamaica, Girl With a Purpose wonders whether the English and Wales Cricket Board is playing “mind games” with the West Indies.
Guyana: The English are Coming
“…plenty visitors from Engerland is here for cricket, and to be hospitable, we the people must speak in a way that they can understand”: Guyana-Gyal is practicing her English.
Argentina: Xenophobia in the Football Stands
Rivalries in Argentine football can become quite heated. The battles on the field often spill over into the stands, as club supporters clash with one another. It is not always physical violence that marks the conflict between supporter groups. Chants, songs, and signs can be directed at the opposing team and supporter groups. In some cases, these messages contain racist or xenophobic overtones, which is what happened when the fans from the team Independiente mocked their rival Boca Juniors for the large number of Bolivian and Paraguayan immigrants in their fan base.
Jamaica: Windies Winners?
Have the West Indies transformed themselves into a winning cricket team following their 20/20 victory over England? Jamaica's Girl With a Purpose is “cautiously optimistic”.
Dominican Republic: Upset at World Baseball Classic by Dutch Team
The 2nd edition of the World Baseball Classic tournament is underway and features Major League baseball players representing traditional baseball powers like the the Dominican Republic whose roster was filled with professional All-Star talent. The tournament also features countries with less tradition playing this sport, such as the Netherlands, who pulled off two improbable victories over the Dominican team eliminating them from the competition.
Jamaica: Congrats, Windies!
Blogging from Jamaica, Girl With a Purpose congratulates the West Indies cricket team on winning their first test series in five years.
Fiji: Rugby, politics and democracy
People in Fiji are slowly coming to grips with the fact the nation’s Rugby sevens team could not defend its World Cup title because it was beaten by upstart Kenya in the quarter-finals. Nearly everyone in Fiji has fingered blame on someone — the players, trainers and coaches. Yet more than a few bloggers and commenters are blaming the loss on the country’s political situation.
Venezuela: New Stadium in Libya to be Named After Chavez
The newest football stadium in Benghazi, Libya is being named after Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez writes Venezuela News and Views.
Sri Lanka: Let Us Not Speculate
J. Krishnamurti at Going Global refutes all the speculations regarding the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team: “I'm trying to tell you folks to calm down a bit and don't be so quick to judge. The attacks could have been carried out by anyone for any conceivable reason. Pakistan...
Australia: Reactions to “Cricket Terror”
Cricket, that shared legacy of British colonialism, has taken centre stage in Australian blogs following the terror attack in Lahore. This terror attack has taken bushfires off the front pages of Australian newspapers and the lead stories of the electronic media.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Attack in Pakistan
Blogging from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Abeni is horrified by the news of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers, saying: “The cricketing terrorism that I know is usually some team inflicting blows on another. Then the weapons of choice are usually a red shiny ball and a wooden...
Sri Lanka: LTTE was not behind
London, Lanka and drums reminds those who speculate that the LTTE is behind the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore: “The Sri Lankan cricket team is a phenomenon, possibly the only one, that has united Sri Lanka through the last twenty or thirty years. We all know that. When...
Sri Lanka: Who Shoots Cricketers?
Indi.ca from Sri Lanka exclaims: “It’s absolutely shameful to shoot cricketers, I mean, who shoots cricketers? It’s the one glimmer that unites everyone across this godforsaken subcontinent. Sri Lanka is one of the few teams which has agreed to play in Pakistan recently, and now they’ve been shot.”
