Sorry, I haven’t been able to post for a while but here’s a well balanced footballer who reacts with good grace to a booking from the ref. Featuring Paraguayan José Pedrozo from the Primera B of the Chilean league who later received a 27-match ban. Love the fact that the crowd are just laughing away as the riot police have to come on.

Singapore’s Noh “Along” Alam Shah gets provoked by one of Persela FC’s defenders, FX Yanuar over in the Indonesian Super League. Shah reacts to this by trying to give him a little cuddle from behind or something… and they’re off!

“Mass brawls” are often overstated but last week in Trinidad & Tobago armed police were called in when every player from River Plate of Puerto Rico and San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad & Tobago was involved in a brawl, following their Caribbean Football Union Club Championship Second Round Group D decider, at the Larry Gomes Stadium. The Puerto Ricans were unhappy after going under to a Jason Marcano strike in the 75th minute, his third in two matches which secured a spot in the CFU Club Championship Final Round series, scheduled for Puerto Rico later this month. Marcano was punched in the face when he tried to shake hands with the visitors at the end of the match.

It is also alleged that San Juan Jabloteh goalkeeper Cleon John was spat on, which clearly didn’t go down too well with the Jabloteh players or the crowd and eventually led to the brawl with spectators joining in. The altercation was partially quelled by Campbell and his assistants while a gunshot was fired by a security guard in an effort to stop the melee.

The match itself was full of incident as four players were issued red cards. River Plate’s Maximiliano Vallejos, Raul Ruiz (78th) and Jorge Gonzales (85th), and Jabloteh’s Cyrano Glen (75th minute).

Jabloteh, 2-0 winners over Guyana’s Alpha United last Wednesday, needed only a draw to book a place in the Final Round four-team tournament while the Puerto Ricans needed nothing less than a victory after a 1-1 draw with Alpha United on Friday. With the win, the Terry Fenwick-coached Jabloteh stayed on course for a third CFU club title after it ended the three-team group with maximum six points. River Plate, named after one of Argentina’s top clubs and Alpha ended with a point each.

Fenwick said defiantly after the game: “River Plate had no one to blame but themselves. It was a poor display, indiscipline and unprofessional – typical Latin American traits. This was the first time I’ve experienced something like this. It was shocking and should not be seen again.”

This is Tomislav Bosec of Inter Zapresic scoring against NK Zadar in the Croatian first division. Apparently he was trying get to the VIP box where his family was sitting but still, don’t do it in front of the home fans eh?

In 1977 Gordon Jago, Millwall’s commercially savvy new manager invited the BBC’s documentary team down to the Den. Jago saw an opportunity to bring in the TV cameras and show the nation that Millwall’s hooligan reputation was nothing but a myth and had been blown out of all aproportion by the press.

According to Eamon Dunphy, the former Millwall player, what the BBC actually intended to do was quite the opposite and prove the theory that football hooliganism was more than just random violence, that it was organised, linked to the the National Front and deeply rooted at Millwall.

Dunphy reports that people closely linked to the club at the time claimed the story was false, a distortion of the truth and the BBC had stuck to their agenda. The full programme is below and you can read more about the fall-out here.

Danny Baker also did a more quirky report from Cold Blow Lane, which can be found here

The surgical masks never really caught on did they?

Shocking scenes in Ireland as Newry and Larne do battle in the Irish Cup. Number 8 is a coward and should get a lengthy ban if not a prison sentence for the kick to the head. This is Gareth McCullogh’s report from the Belfast Telegraph:

What was witnessed at Newry Showgrounds on Saturday were scenes that were utterly shocking, disgraceful and downright disgusting.

This 1962 World Cup match between hosts Chile and Italy has been re-played a million and one times but I’d forgotten just how bad it actually was.

David Coleman starts the ‘highlights’ with the best intro to a game you will ever likely to hear “Good evening. The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game.” and it’s full of classic quotes such as “That’s one of the most cold-blooded and lethal tackles I think I have ever seen” so it’s worth watching at least one more time.

Tensions were already high before the game and from the kick off the first foul was committed within 12 seconds. Italy’s Giorgio Ferrini was then sent off in the twelfth minute after a foul on Honorino Landa but refused to leave the pitch and had to be dragged off kicking and screming by the police. A few minutes later Landa retaliated with another foul , but managed to escape a red card.

The referee was an Englishman, Ken Aston who then overlooked a punch by the Chilean player Leonel Sanchez to the Italian Mario David. When David got his own back and kicked Sanchez in the neck a few minutes later, he also got his marching orders.

As the violence continued, Sanchez then broke Humberto Maschio’s nose with a left hook, which impressed the commentator “I say, that was one of the neatest left hooks I’ve ever seen!”. The two teams continued to engage in further scuffles, raised fists and spitting, resulting in the police having to intervene three more times.

Chile eventually won the game 2-0 (74′ Ramírez; 88′ Toro) with a full eleven men against Italy’s remaining nine. Fantastic er appalling stuff.

Over in Rio De Janeiro, Fluminense managed to avoid relegation from the first division of the Brazilian championship after drawing with Coritiba 1-1 on the last day of the season

Fluminense finished in 16th place with 46 points and just one position above the relegation zone. But the result their opponents  Coritiba to the second division…

Cue the madness

The Maracana has seen some of the most beautiful moments in football over the years and last week Paraguayan side Cerro Porteño added their own little piece magic. Leading 1-0 at the end of the Copa Sudamericana semi-final last week against Fluminense they conceded twice in injury time to lose on a place in the final 3-1 on aggregate. The first was scored with a Cerro Porteño player down injured and then to add further insult, Fluminense scored from a quick counter attack in the dying seconds, which didn’t exactly go down very well with their opponents.

Players, staff, local dignitaries and even some military police all pile in to have their say.

This Wednesday will see Egypt and Algeria face a play-off in Sudan to decide which of them will go to the World Cup. The stakes couldn’t be any higher after they finished level on points and goal difference in Group C after Egypt’s 2-0 win in Cairo at the weekend. The bitter rivalry between these two should see a tasty game and not for the first time either. There’s a fair bit of history between these two -

2009 – The Algeria team bus is pelted with bricks thrown by Egyptian fans leaving many of their players covered in blood.

2001 – The Egyptian team bus was attacked in Algeria ahead of a 2002 World Cup qualifier. The match itself was stopped on three separate occasions due to fan violence and supporters hurling missiles at the Egyptians.

1989 – After this World Cup qualifier, the Algerian team ran towards the Egyptian bench and a brawl broke out, where Algerian player Lakhdar Belloumi threw a bottle which resulted in the Egyptian team doctor losing an eye. This player ended up having an international warrant for his arrest, which was only resolved years later through diplomatic means.

1984 – Players from both sides fight with each other on the pitch at the end of their 1984 Olympic Games qualifier.

There is an excellent article here about the game

In the meantime here’s a clip from that infamous game in 1984. Highlights include the fake kick in the knackers at 3.35 and the two footed flying lunge at 5.30