Managerial Changes

Managerial Changes

The Premier League is famous for it's drama and revolving door of managers being ditched and appointed by clubs.  But what is the reason for this? Watch this programme to find out more.   Managerial Changes

Wiggins defends Team Sky For DCMS Report

Wiggins defends Team Sky For DCMS Report

Sir Bradley Wiggins speaks to Dan Roan about his take on the DCMS Report which claimed that he along with team Sky had not 'crossed the line' for the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Olympic gold medalist Sir Bradley Wiggins was accused along with Team Sky for the use of drugs for performance enhancing instead of medical purposes, but Wiggins denies these accusations. 

"No. We didn't, not at any point in my career did we cross the ethical line. As I have said before, I had a medical condition that I went to a doctor - this has been being treated since 2003 when I was diagnosed with it through the doctors at British Cycling at that time.'

Wiggins also claimed that he was undergoing treatment for a medial condition which was asthma. 'I had problems with asthma attacks, 'I had problems with breathing that flared up through pollen season.' 

In reaction to Shane Sutton's comment on Wiggins use of drugs, The British cyclist gave a strong reply to Sutton's statement. 
"That hurts me, actually. Shane knows exactly why I was taking that medication. My asthma inhalers that I had been on throughout my career, I had complained of these problems during the Dauphine, complained after the Dauphine.'  

So this suggests that Sutton was giving a false statement about Team Sky using drugs during the Tour de France in 2012. 

The two time Olympic champion also questioned Sutton's motives behind his statement "I don't know what his motivation is, that's all I'll say." 

Wiggins also also gave positive statements about the way the team looked after themselves as hypochondriacs.   
 "We are constantly there. We are hypochondriacs as athletes, especially coming to the height of the season, the biggest race of the year, whether it is the Olympic Games or the Tour de France.

This was an abnormal for Wiggins as it was the first time that he was accused for something in his career thus far. 'The first time I am aware of being accused of anything was today.' So now Wiggins needs to prove that he along with Team Sky are innocent. "So I have got no comeback on this, this is now taken as fact. I have now got to prove that this is wrong." 

Backlash From Fans Hits Hammers

Backlash From Fans Hits Sullivan and West Ham FC

West Ham supporters hit out on Chairman David Sullivan

Following West Ham's 3-0 home defeat to high-flying Burnley, Hammers fans began to express their feelings on their teams woeful form in the Premier League and especially at the board for numerous reasons to do with the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium and use of the Transfer Window. Captain Mark Noble indulged in a heated confrontation with one of the supporters for the team's lack of form and courage to fight. There were also banners going up, which were targeting the chairman of the club David Sullivan who apparently was hit by a coin from one of the supporters.

The Hammers are currently 16th in the Premier League table and have only won one of their last five games which include four defeats.With eight games remaining in the season. the Hammers have a huge  battle on their hands to stay in the Premier League, as half of their remaining fixture include teams from the top half of the league Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea. 

This was a sad day for West Ham United Football club and after the game Noble and manager David Moyes summed up their feelings on the situation and urged the fans to get behind the players.

'I think as a supporter, you can't cross the line. You know here it is, you can't come on the pitch and the players know they have ti perform on the pitch. We were one goal down, in with a real good chance still, game was tight and whatever happened we lose a second goal within a minute and we are two goals down.' 'We want you behind us.' 
Sir Trevor Brooking also gave his statement on the situation "There weren't sufficient stewards and they couldn't really cope with what was sometimes going back to the bad old days of 25 years ago," "The club are obviously going to have to look at things with the local police and make sure that trained stewards and police are in place -- you're almost looking at it and saying: 'This is out of control.'"A lot of the stewards who are on duty on matchdays are not West Ham people -- they're actually stadium people and sometimes, until they get a job there, haven't had any experience dealing with football crowds."They were quite young and couldn't deal with the aggression they were faced with." 
Post this mess, it would be intriguing to see how the Hammers react too this, especially for the remainder of the season, can they avoid relegation? Will Moyes be able to pick his team up and encourage them to fightback? What will the future hold for West Ham United Football Club?

  

ITTF Team World Cup

ITTF Team World Cup

Table tennis isn't a top sport of mine, however when I attended the International Table Tennis World Cup on 22nd January, there were some intriguing contests going on at the Copper Box. 

As many as 20 countries took part in this event which was a prestigious one on the Table Tennis calendar.  The Germans looked the strongest out of all 20 teams.  There were also other countries competing such as USA who looked a pretty good team and showed their potential in a doubles match on Table 3 where they swept aside Australia after a fairly tight first set. The American duo took the match 12-10,11-5, 11-1.

The pick of the action came on Table 2 in the mens singles where Germany beat Australia 11-7, 11-8, 8-11 and 11-4 in what was a fairly close and competitive game. Although Germany looked the stronger of the two according to the ITTF rankings, Australia did manage to make it into an intriguing contest.  

In between each match, there were some coloured soft balls being shot into the crowd for some light entertainment. At first, I thought this was a bit cheesy in the sense that you would probably see this in a crowd of a slightly younger age, but on the other hand, table tennis is a ball game, so I can sort of see where they are coming from.

Given the fact that table tennis is a fast paced sport, the matches were still straightforward to follow as they had the scores of each match on the screen. The event itself was well organised and you could clearly see what was going on in each court.

What was slightly confusing but more interesting about this event was the fact that you had two teams in the same country by means of China and Hong Kong China, which to me didn't make sense as Hong Kong is actually a city in China, so was there really any need to have a Hong Kong Chinese team? It's like saying you have England and London England, which wouldn't make any sense at all. But on the other hand Hong Kong is an autonomous part of China who have their own independence, so I can see where they are coming from. 

As far as my views on the event as a whole, I would say that it was quite interesting but a little boring at the same time. This was purely because I'm not really a fan of table tennis, so I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. As far as thee atmosphere at the event itself, it was a little quiet in terms of the spectators who were watching the matches. All you could hear was the sound of the ball constantly being hit by the players along with the crowd applauding every point won by each team.    

PalaceforLife Interview

PalaceforLife Interview 

Crystal Palace Football Club one of the Premier League's well known club in South London have a national charity called the PalaceforLife foundation who enable young disabled people to get involved in sport. So how does it all work? Listen to Micheal Harrington to find out more. 
PalaceforLife Interview

No Hunger in Paradise

No Hunger in Paradise 

Based on Michael Calvin's 'No Hunger in Paradise', this documentary about home-grown English footballing talent is an intriguing program as it investigates and reflects on how the next generation of footballers could or are finding it difficult to have successful careers.

The fact that parents are putting pressure on children who want to become professional footballers is an interesting subject for debate as some people think that it's creating a barrier for them to express their talent. 

Nowadays football is starting to become like a property auction spending spree, rather than an opportunity to explore and discover local talent. This could be one of the reasons as to why countries such as England aren't performing as well in major tournaments. However, having seen the under 17 side win their first World Cup, perhaps this could be the start of a new and successful era for English football just like the 1966 World Cup was.  

There is also the fact that young players with more potential are seemingly under pressure to perform consistently at the highest level due to various reasons such as issues regarding fitness. Take Jack Wilshere as an example, I've rarely seen him go through an entire Premier League season without any major injury of fitness issue.             

There's also the subject on fame in the sense that players appear to be wanting more attention from the media rather than just focussing on their game and their team, which is just selfish and lazy in the sense that you aren't really setting a good example to yourself and the rest of your team on how to bond together as a team and build a good understanding amongst yourselves.  

For other players, it's about the mentality and how they behave in different phases of life, which could ultimately define their career.  Colchester United centre back Ryan Innis's career was effected by his behaviour in the sense that he was unable to stop people from taking advantage of his career in terms of controlling his emotions.

This is all to do with the mindset of the player. Those who have the right mindset and mentality tend to have a far more successful career than those who don't. This is becuase they find it easier to focus on their game and what the team requires them to do.

The Steadman Scott story is an intriguing one to look at. Having just got out of prison, he still wants to be involved in football and in particular coach children on the streets which is step in the right direction, not just for him but for youngsters as well particularly for those from poorer and unpleasant backgrounds such as Brixton.The fact that some of the players from the England team including Liverpool's Nathaniel Clyne who had trained at Scott's academy at the age of 8 years  emphasis the desire that he had, to do something great in English football by training the next generation.

What is also noticeable is his attitude towards training the next generation. He is so passionate about  giving a chance for youngsters to become potential stars in professional football which was something that he couldn't become during his career. 

It's almost like restarting your career, but as a coach or mentor instead of a footballer and aiming high to achieve something which you weren't able to do as a footballer.

The structure of the documentary is eloquently laid out in the sense that the documentary presents how academies are going about preparing the next generation of footballers and the problems that are arising beyond this matter. 

To sum things up, this program is a great example of the barriers in which young people may face in terms of kickstarting their footballing career. This includes difficulty with dealing with pressure from parents or mental health problems.  

Football Beyond Boarders

Football Beyond Boarders

Football Beyond Boarders is a national organisation which helps transform the lives of schoolchildren according to their education. Many students in schools across the Uk have stated that their level of education has increased since the introduction of FBB, especially for those who have studied in backgrounds that have limited opportunities for education.

Who would of thought that football could actually improve young people's lives, especially in terms of their education?

On 21st February I was part of a group from the BA (Hons) Sports Journalism course at London College of Communication that interviewed students from Elmgreen School about how FBB has enabled them to progress in the education. A number of them spoke about FBB improving their social life by making more friends and improving their self-esteem in terms of showing people their true identity through sports participation

We talk about football being the most popular sport globally but how it improves young people's lives is an interesting query. Although, having said that, football is a sport which requires team work and more importantly leadership skills, which is another crucial aspect of education.

It's good for schools and universities to get a chance to collaborate with each other for projects like these, it gives you a sense of what it's like as an individual in the world of education and football combined. The fact that students and their education are benefitting from FBB is incredible becuase generally football is more of a social activity and so you wouldn't really define it with education, but FBB have proved us wrong as students are giving us positive feedback on their development of education through football. 

“It’s different from being a participant and it’s helped me massively because as a participant you’re the one that gets taught, but if you’re doing work experience you’re the one teaching. So it’s like you swap roles. Now I feel more confident to speak to younger people,”