Tuesday, January 26, 2010

World Football Stars Out in Force to Raise Money for Haiti

Over 50,000 spectators turned out to watch the Match for Poverty that took place last night in Lisbon, Portugal. International football stars donned their football kits to raise money for the people of Haiti after the recent earthquake devastated the area in recent weeks. This is the seventh year running that football has reached out to people in need.

The match commenced after the players lined up in their football kits for a one minute silence in memory of the lives lost in the Haiti earthquake and resulted in a 3-3 draw between the Friends of Ronaldo and Zidane and the Benfica All Stars team. Two of Haiti’s own football players, Joseph Peterson and Jean Sony also took part in the game representing and supporting their nation. Unfortunately Ronaldo could not make it due to his current sport commitments but his side was represented by Brazilian player Kaka.

The star studded game included other players from around the world including Nuno Gomez for Portugal and Fernando Hierro for Spain. Together these stars and their contributions represent the world game's hope that poverty will be halved over the next five years.





Thursday, January 21, 2010

Football Clubs Turn To Artificial Sports Pitches to Beat the Big Freeze

It has been well publicised in the English sporting press over the past month or so that the recent cold spell here in the UK has wreaked havoc for the football fixture list – with the lower leagues in particular falling foul of the heavy snow fall, frozen pitches and treacherous conditions in and around the grounds. While not every club in the English football league has the financial luxury of installing under soil heating to their grounds in order to ease the pressure brought on by the cold, the vast majority of clubs are now turning to all weather surfaces such as rubber crumb sports pitches at their training grounds so their players can at least train and maintain their match fitness in between games. Such facilities have proved critical when the usual grass training areas have been inaccessible through snow, or have been deemed unsafe for professional players to train due to the risk of any injuries they may sustain on the frozen surfaces. The recent advances in technology in this field have allowed artificial surfaces to provide an excellent simulation of the usual playing surfaces used throughout the football league – thereby proving an ample alternative for the leagues top players to keep sharp during the packed winter fixture timetable.