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	Birth of a fan's voice by Asa Butcher One of the first national fan-produced magazines emerged from Birmingham, entitled Off The Ball. Editor Adrian Goldberg wrote in his opening paragraph: We won’t be treated like idiots anymore. We being “ordinary” support
	Tears on the Toon by Clint Wayne With the departure of Kevin Keegan for the third time from my beloved Newcastle United following a shambolic week of events that has left every ‘Toon’ supporter filled with confusion, bewilderment, outrage and finally a flat numbness,
	Gone for a Barton by Clint Wayne As a Newcastle United supporter for nearly fifty years I have witnessed all of the few ups and many downs of our famous football club but none have left me feeling more ashamed than the story behind the news this week that midfielder Joey Barton h

	An All-English Affair... sort of by Asa Butcher Tonight in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Manchester United will play against Chelsea in the first-ever all-English club final in the history of the European Cup. As a Newcastle United supporter I naturally have a dislike towards both teams, but
	It Was All Greek to Me by Clint Wayne Back in the summer of 2004 I found myself, like a lot of my fellow football compatriots, cheering on the Greek National team as they took on the hosts Portugal in the European Nations Football Final. Of course you understand that this had absolut
	100 history and one misery that must go! by Thanos Kalamidas Too many times over the last few years I have written articles about the lethal responsibility of the billionaire owners of football teams and their potential to destroy the world’s most popular sport. Without any real sense of their acti
	1971 European Cup Final: AFC Ajax vs. Panathinaikos FC by The Ovi Team The 1971 European Cup Final was a football match held at Wembley Stadium, London, on June 2, 1971, that saw AFC Ajax of the Netherlands defeat Panathinaikos FC of Greece 2 - 0. An incredible comeback in the second leg of their se
	No to Game 39 by Asa Butcher Over the last few decades, football has been threatened with any number of outlandish commercial ideas ranging from the introduction of American Football style time outs to playing on AstroTurf, but the latest idea - if
	Munich Remembered by Clint Wayne Today is the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster that claimed 23 lives, including eight ‘Busby Babes’, which ripped the heart from Matt Busby’s talented young team.It was a tragedy that had a huge effect on English
	King Kev by Clint Wayne Stunned isn’t the word, it's not even sensational, it's far beyond that. The news that Kevin Keegan was returning to Newcastle United marking the homecoming of a hero that many are calling the second coming of the Messiah has shocked
	African Cup of Nations by Asa Butcher Africa, the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, is usually in the news for tragedies, famines and having 33 of its 61 territories listed among the 50 poorest in the world, including the top (bottom) position due to Sierr
	You cannot fake quality by Asa Butcher "You cannot fake quality,” were the words of one Croatian journalist as he summed up England’s pitiful performance against his country and their resulting failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 Championships. It isn’t the firs
	Wor Bobby by Clint Wayne Had he not been so modest and introvert, there was a time in the late 1960s when Bobby Charlton could have claimed, with some justification, that he was the most famous living Englishman and as he celebrates his 70th birthday today he is still hel
	State of England's International Football by Colin Having sat in front of the TV on Wednesday night expecting an uplifting performance, but what turned out to be an extremely lack lustre England International side, I honestly thought, why do I bother? Where is the passion we have witnessed from
	Drogba: King of African Football by Amin George Forji Didier Drogba, Chelsea's Ivorian prolific striker, was named 2006 Player of the Year by the African Football Governing body, CAF, following a ballot of Africa's 53 national team coaches in the Ghanaian capital of Accra for the country'
	Cameroon's coach quits by Amin George Forji The bilingual daily Cameroon Tribune recently announced that national trainer, Dutchman, Arie Haan has quit his post six months after taking the job, citing irreconcilable differences with the country's football federation FECAFOOT. He is sai
	Promises, promises, Mr. Platini by Thanos Kalamidas So that’s it. Michel Platini is the new boss of European football sending the Swedish Lennard Johansson into history and, with 17 years behind him as president, Mr. Johansson’s history book is a very thick one. The
	Galacticos to the Galaxy by Kevin Mitchell David Beckham will end his career in the United States, just as he said he wanted. Now, I, for one, am happy about this, and not because I am a Liverpool fan. Beckham always seemed to have more style over substance,
	Roger Milla: Africa's Best by Amin George Forji The Confederation of African Football (CAF), as part of festivities to mark its 50th anniversary on February 8th, has published the names of what it calls the 30 Best African Players in the Last 50 years.
	ZZ: Sportsman of the Year by Amin George Forji As 2006 ended, and we welcome a new year, it is traditionally imperative to picture out persons who distinguished themselves during the course of the previous year. In fact, prominent magazines the world over are rig
	African Military Cup Of Nations by Amin George Forji The competition wrapped up on December 17th when host, Cameroon outplayed their Malian counterpart winning 1-0. This year's African Military Football Cup competition, dubbed CAMFOOT 6, was the sixth of its kind organised in Africa. It was held
	2014 bidding is now open by Amin George Forji The Executive Committee of the world football governing body, FIFA, have released the time schedule for the forthcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa. According to the programme, the competition will run for exactly one month from June 11th to Ju
	No football in Spain by Thanos Kalamidas It is just days since I met a very good friend of mine from Spain and naturally after we had sorted out all the major and minor problems of the world we ended up discussing sport. It doesn’t matter how rarely we meet, we always end up talkin
	The 'other' World Cup by Amin George Forji Nobody knows for sure how many countries there are in the world. The United Nations, said to be the 'world body' boasts of 192 states as members, while an organization such as the world's football governing bod
	Nigerian Queens conquer Africa by Amin George Forji An old adage says: In the Land of the Blind, the One Eyed Man Is King. This could have been written for the Super Falcons, the Nigerian female football side. They have dominated the female version of the African Nati
	Another Greek tragedy by Thanos Kalamidas While thinking about how to write this article a new question was raised. Is it sports or politics, or is it even society? The theme is violence in the sports grounds and the catalyst for talking about it happened in the Greek basketball and footb
	Barcelona shattered by Chelsea draw by Amin George Forji The night of Tuesday, October 31st was a black one for Barcelona, when they clashed with their English archrivals, Chelsea, in front of their own fans. The 2-2 result means that the former European Champions will now have to hope they can still ad
	Barbados vs. Guatemala by Asa Butcher According to this month's FIFA World Ranking, the national team of Barbados is flying high after climbing an impressive 52 places to sit at the bottom of the Top 100 teams. Over the course of September 2006 the C
	Football terrorism? by Thanos Kalamidas Here I was listening to the game in total concentration, the Serbians had the ball and I started to worry, the goalkeeper catches and I take a deep breath. Wednesday night and I am following my national team on the r
	England FC by Asa Butcher On Saturday night Steve McLaren's England squad managed to do at least one good task, which was to lull the country's terminal insomniacs into a deep, long-anticipated slumber. While they were happily dreamin
	The rise of football fanzines by Asa Butcher The growth of football fanzines in the 1980s emerged from a climate of hooliganism, Heysel, Hillsborough, I.D. card schemes, brutal policing, derelict stadiums and the responsibility was placed squarely at the feet of all football supporters. W
	Football without the clichés by Asa Butcher Hugh McIlvanney is a craftsman. A painter of words, a sculptor of vocabulary and a metaphor magician. Page after page provided a concrete foundation for those goals, players and magical moments shown numerous times on the television, never meaning