Sunday July 23, 2006

Thieves have stolen England caps and a World Cup shirt in a haul from Wayne Rooney's parents' house in Liverpool.

The Manchester United star's family home in Sandfield Park was targeted between 5pm and 11.20pm Saturday night.

Merseyside police are now hunting the culprits after the upstairs window was forced and jewellery and memorabilia - also including a cup final football shirt and the Young Sports Personality of the Year trophy 2002 - was stolen.

The National Football Museum is displaying football memorabilia from around the world to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of an anti-racism campaign.

'Culture Clash' celebrates the achievements of the 'Let's Kick Racism Out of Football' (or Kick It Out) campaign by displaying shirts, medals and photographs representing Asia, Africa and South America.

Hugh Hornby, head of Curatorial and Research at the museum, said: "Although this is the National Football Museum for England, it is good for us to connect with the rest of the world through objects, images and text. I think it is worth featuring countries from which overseas players have come. There is a positive message, particularly in the photos of the last World Cup from Japan and Korea."

The football shirt worn by George Best during one of his greatest games sold for £24,000 when it went under the hammer on Wednesday.

The late soccer legend came back from a six-week suspension to score six goals in Manchester United's 8-2 demolition of Northampton Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup in 1970.

The jersey he was wearing that day was sold as part of a football memorabilia auction at Christie's in London.

Kim Book, then Northampton's goalkeeper, last year told The Press Association "not even the Berlin Wall" could have stopped Best that day.

The match was one of the most extraordinary played by the United and Northern Ireland star, remembered as one of the greatest players to have graced football.

The history of the red-black stripes shirts is one of the less known by the fans. The man responsible for the look of the AC Milan shirt was Herbert Kilpin, one of the Englishman who established AC Milan in 1899.

Kilpin inspired himself from the English sides shirts, who most of them had at that time a shirt with stripes and a badge with a cross on a background.

Christie’s Football Memorabilia on 13 September will include the jersey worn by George Best during the Manchester United versus Northampton Town F.A. Cup match in 1970, when he scored six goals and played arguably his finest ever football performance, as well as the jersey worn by Brazilian legend Rivelino in 1970 World Cup Final. The sale will include approximately 250 lots of shirts, boots, George Best is remembered as one of the finest players to have graced British football; Pelé referred to him as ‘greatest player in the world’ and he earned the title of both European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 1968. He played for Manchester United between 1963 and 1974, winning two football league championships and the European Cup.

 Arguably his most famous and impressive performance was in the 5th round match of the F.A. Cup in 1970 against Northampton Town which Manchester United won 8-1. Best set a then-record for the competition by scoring 6 goals as he single-handedly destroyed the team at the County Ground in Northampton with a range of skills, flicks, dribbles and headers. Best was being marked by Northampton player Roy Fairfax who said after the game that ‘the closest I got to him was when we shook hands after the game.’ The shirt worn by Best on that day was won by the current owner in a national newspaper competition in 1996, and is offered in September with an estimate of £20,000-30,000.

A rare relic from English football's finest hour which has been in German hands for the past 40 years finally came home when it sold at auction for £38,400.. The prestigious red No 2 shirt worn by right-back George Cohen during the 1966 World Cup final victory at Wembley was bought by an English bidder for almost double the expected price at auctioneers Christie's.

The anonymous buyer snapped up the unique piece of sporting history that Three Lions hero Cohen had swapped with his West German opponent Lothar Emmerich on the final whistle. Emmerich's family have held on to it until now.

Cohen famously blocked the West German winger's vicious last minute shot which ricocheted into the path of Wolfgang Weber for a late equaliser to take the classic game into extra time.

Fulham star Cohen - who was described by Manchester United legend George Best as "the best full-back I have ever played against" - was one of the five heroes of Alf Ramsey's '66 side to receive an MBE in 2000.

Wednesday, 26 July 2006

Football memorabilia belonging to the family of late Football Association and West Bromwich Albion chairman Sir Bert Millichip has been stolen. Raiders struck at Lady Barbara Millichip's Worcestershire home after she popped out for half an hour.

A Bachelor Brooch, given to Sir Bert when he was knighted and silver goblets inscribed with the Albion crest are among the stolen items.

Sir Bert's son, Peter Millichip, has appealed to the thief to return them.

Also taken from the Barnt Green home during Friday's burglary was a gold chain with a UEFA medallion, five silver presentation platters and a silver bowl inscribed with the Albion and FA crests which were given to him on his retirement.

Designer Ffion Appleton combined her love of sport with her flair for fashion to land her dream job with adidas - and now she gets some of the world's top sports stars dressed for success.

A member of the adidas design team based in Germany, Ffion has helped kit out the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Jonah Lomu.

And because the job means having to keep up to date with all the latest fashion trends, Ffion also gets plenty of opportunity to indulge in her passion for shopping.

“Few institutions, sporting or otherwise, have been able to match the aura and mystique that FC Barcelona as a football club exude. Even if the team is doing badly, as it has done for long spells in its history, Barca has still always been symbolic with Protest Football - be it during Franco's reign where it became a potent symbol of Catalan identity to the incident in March 2002, when anti-capitalists protesting the WTO, stormed the Nou Camp pitch during a Barca-Real Madrid game. If ever there was an anti-capitalist entity sitting among the world's elite, it was Barcelona, or so it was perceived by people not even footballing. So what better place to showcase your ire, then, than in its backyard - with the whole world watching.

That this could happen at any other venue, with any other club is slightly unimaginable, for even if Manchester United's supporters showing their protest against Malcolm Glazer's advances at Old Trafford is heartening, it is a direct reaction to something that is likely to affect them and not so much an instance of lending the world's richest club to an issue totally outside soccer's purview.

Football Shirts

Here I go again,
Sitting in this small place,
Always flung right down at the bottom.
I play on this field for 2 long hours.
The master gives me no credit.
I’m quite famous,
Although I stink of sweat.
After all, I am number ‘11’,
The game is finished,
My owner has won,
Off to the lockers,
Here I come.

Abbey Harris ex-7B