25/9/02
Red and White Ham
White Hot Lane
Tottenham Hotspur appear to have rejected appeals from the Israel Football Association to host international matches involving Jewish clubs. Internationals have been banned in Israel itself due to the dodgy security situation there. Spurs may be concerned about White Hart Lane becoming a target for Iraqi nuclear missiles in the event of British military adventurism in the Middle East. There have been no rumours suggesting Arsenal be the venue for the Israeli teams.Ham it up
West Ham's Joe Cole has threatened to leave West Ham if he doesn't start scoring goals and winning matches for them. Er...perhaps.West Ham's Paolo Di Canio hates The Sun newspaper most of all. And it seems he is critical of much of Britain's gutter press. Perhaps he would be prefer to read Milan's Corriere della Sera, which prints the names and addresses of the victims of street crime. Though of course there would be no crime were Mussolini suddenly to reappear.
My World - David Beckham
Sepp backs foundation stones
According to FIFA supremo Sepp Blatter, "From now on any player who is sent off will automatically miss the next match in the same competition. The only exception is if the referee admits a case of mistaken identity or says he made the wrong decision or an honest mistake. We have to protect the authority of the referee which is the foundation stone of the game. If people start casting doubts on the referee they start casting doubts on football. The decision has no space for speculation. The player has to serve his one-match suspension immediately unless the wrong player has been sent off."
The new ruling will come into effect next month after FIFA has informed the 204 national associations.