Middlesbrough fc

A football club has become the first to pay its women’s team the same as its men’s. Lewes FC, whose men’s side play in Isthmian League Division One South - the eighth tier of the English game - announced the unprecedented move as part of what they dubbed their ‘Equality FC’ campaign. As well as pledging to equalise the five-figure budget of its men’s and women’s teams, Lewes said they would provide equal resource for coaching and other staff, upgrade equipment and facilities, and invest in local grassroots to drive participation by both boys and girls. They said they hoped to spark a change across the UK, where female footballers are paid a tiny fraction of what their male counterparts take home. That gulf was highlighted two years ago when it emerged England men’s captain Wayne Rooney earned £300,000 per week, while his female counterpart, Steph Houghton - who leads her country at the European Championship starting next week - … [Read more...] about Lewes FC become first football club to give equal pay to both men’s and women’s teams

He’s well known as an excitable football pundit and a presenter on Ninja Warrior UK, yet when we meet Chris Kamara – aka Kammy – he is a much quieter presence than expected. Trim and dapper in a dark blue three-piece suit, he’s just as friendly as on telly but also thoughtful, and he lacks the huge ego that many ex-footballers have. And we soon learn he’s used his talents, determination and strong work ethic to overcome a life of poverty and prejudice. When asked about his childhood, he says, ‘It was a nightmare. We weren’t very rich anyway, we were a poor family, the first black family on our estate and we didn’t have a lot of money.’ His birthday, which falls on Christmas Day, is a particularly memorable event for Chris, and not for good reasons. ‘Just to get a Christmas present was something else. To get a birthday present at the same time never happened. I got one or the other if I was lucky.’ Surprisingly, things … [Read more...] about Chris Kamara got no Christmas presents as kid despite it falling on his birthday

It probably says a lot about how Wimbledon used to be portrayed, back in the days when the team with the lowest gates, the worst-paid players and the tattiest stadium kicked in the doors of polite football society, that there were so few people willing to stick up for them Dave Bassett actually snipped out one of the newspaper articles where someone was prepared to go against the tide. It was written by Eamon Dunphy for the Sunday Times when they were top of the league in September 1986 and Bassett still has that cutting, a little yellow round the edges now, in his collection of football possessions. “There are those who claim that what Wimbledon play isn’t really football,” it begins. “Ted Croker, the secretary of the Football Association no less, is one of them. He has even stated that Wimbledon should not be in the First Division at all. But what Croker and others in English football should be doing is extending to Dave Bassett and his Wimbledon players the … [Read more...] about Plough Lane memories and putting the Crazy Gang’s record straight

It wasn't so easy for a goalkeeper to do his homework on the opposition's penalty-taker back then, but Liverpool were on TV more often than anybody else. I'd probably seen four or five of John Aldridge's penalties that season. He had this jinking run-up and if the keeper dived early he'd send it the other way, but if the keeper didn't move I'd noticed that he'd normally stick it to his left. After training the day before the game we practised a few penalties, and I asked John Fashanu, who also liked to pass the ball that side, to take a few. Then it was back to the hotel. We had our evening meal and then we were sitting around, twiddling our fingers and getting bored. I think Alan Cork spoke to Bobby Gould to ask if we could go to the pub for a change of scenery, and probably for the first time in his life Bobby dug in his pockets and gave us some money. We went to a place called the Fox & Grapes on Wimbledon Common. It was full of Wimbledon fans. You should have seen their faces … [Read more...] about 14 May 1988: The first FA Cup final penalty save

1) Van Dijk finally making his Liverpool bow If there is one message that Jürgen Klopp has to drum into his defenders before Friday night’s Merseyside derby, it is to resist the temptation to place their hands on any Everton attackers in their own area. Manage that and Liverpool should be capable of extinguishing the frustration of last month’s draw with Sam Allardyce’s side, when Dejan Lovren conceded a late penalty with a needless and clumsy push on Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Klopp turned on plenty of people after the game – even a member of Everton’s press team was in the firing line after Wayne Rooney’s penalty – but Lovren was the real culprit and it is telling that Liverpool have bolstered their defence by spending £75m on Virgil van Dijk. Having scored once in their past four matches, Everton could find goals even harder to come by if Van Dijk is ready to make his debut. Jacob Steinberg Klopp expects Coutinho to return against … [Read more...] about FA Cup third round: 10 things to look out for this weekend