Terry in court to face racial abuse claims

Updated February 01, 2012 13:30:43

Chelsea and England captain John Terry will face claims that he racially abused Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match in October when his case comes before a London court tonight.

Lawyers for Terry, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, are expected to enter a plea on his behalf before a district judge at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court at 10am London time.

If Terry pleads not guilty, the case is expected to be adjourned until a later date. It is not clear if he will appear in person at what will be a high-profile hearing.

In December, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ordered Terry to be prosecuted for a "racially aggravated public order offence" over comments allegedly made to Ferdinand in an on-field exchange during Chelsea's 1-0 defeat.

The CPS took action after video of the incident was posted on the internet and a member of the public complained that Terry had used allegedly racist language when speaking to Ferdinand.

Terry could be fined up to 2,500 pounds ($3,700) if found guilty, which is only a fraction of his weekly wage, but such a verdict could have an impact on his lucrative sponsorship deals and relationship with Chelsea team mates drawn from around the globe.

Allegations of racial abuse have cast a shadow over the Premier League this season. Liverpool's Luis Suarez was banned for eight matches for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra during a match in October in a case dealt with by the football authorities.

Chelsea Football Club has stood by Terry, who as the long-serving club captain is adored by the Blues fans for his footballing commitment and passion on the pitch.

Terry missed Chelsea's match against Swansea on the eve of the court case with a knee injury and coach Andres Villas-Boas said on Monday he would consider giving Terry time away from his football commitments to clear his name if it was needed.

Allegations against the England captain come at an awkward time with just over four months until the Euro 2012 championship begins in June.

Until recently, Terry was expected to form England's central defensive partnership with Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand, the older brother of QPR defender Anton.

"I will fight tooth and nail to prove my innocence," Terry said in December after CPS announced plans to prosecute him.

Reuters

Tags: sport, soccer, english-premier, united-kingdom, england

First posted February 01, 2012 12:48:53

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FFA hits back at Culina insurance claims

Updated December 26, 2011 08:05:20

Football Federation Australia has fired back at claims the governing body is responsible for ensuring injured Socceroo star Jason Culina was insured by his A-League club.

The Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) on Thursday served the FFA with legal papers on behalf of Culina - reportedly suing them for $1.7 million - after it was revealed that the midfielder had not been insured since his return to the the A-League in 2009 with Gold Coast.

The PFA claims in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, the FFA has to ensure that insurance is in place to cover wages for at least two years in the event a player is injured.

The FFA hands this responsibility to the clubs in their licence agreements, but the players' union is arguing the FFA still has the responsibility to make sure the premiums are paid by the club.

"The PFA is trying to make out that this situation involving Jason Culina can be boiled down to a dispute between FFA and Jason over insurance," said FFA head of corporate affairs and communications, Kyle Patterson.

"This assertion is a red herring, a quite mischievous distraction from what's happening. You have to question the PFA's motives in running this line through the media.

"Our advice is that the Newcastle Jets have been meeting their obligations under Jason's contract, as they should.

"We also understand that Jason is working hard on his rehabilitation in order to get back into action."

And while the FFA would not discuss Culina's case specifically it made a point of clarifying the terms regarding insurance for marquee players in the A-League.

"Any club that decides to contract a marquee player does so knowing they are responsible for all costs, including insurance, and any liabilities arising from that engagement," the FFA said in a statement.

"The cost of marquee players, as with the benefits, rest with the individual club, not the FFA or the A-League or other clubs."

Culina suffered a serious knee injury representing the Socceroos in January, while he was contracted to Gold Coast.

After surgery, he signed a three-year $2.65 million deal with Newcastle but was ruled out indefinitely before even playing a game for his new club after suffering an injury in the preseason.

Just four days out from the start of the A-League season in October, the Jets announced they had sacked his coach and father Branko Culina and would seek to have Jason's multi-million dollar contract "set aside" amid fears he would never play again.

The World Game reported on Saturday that Culina was set to return to training in the next week after receiving a clean bill of health after surgery.

AAP

Tags: socceroos, soccer, sport, a-league, newcastle-2300, nsw, australia

First posted December 26, 2011 08:05:20

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Fergie shrugs Hargreaves 'guinea pig' claims

Updated September 23, 2011 20:04:29

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has defended his club's medical staff after Owen Hargreaves accused the Premier League champions of treating him like a "guinea pig" during an injury-hit spell with them.

Hargreaves, who joined rival Manchester City as a free agent in the off-season after four years in the red half of the city where he made just 39 appearances, said injections he had received had hampered his recovery from knee problems.

"We've been trying to analyse all the stuff he's said this morning and we are going to have a club statement to address that," Ferguson told a news conference.

"But as far as I'm concerned ... my medical staff are one of the main reasons Manchester United have been so successful in the last few years. There is absolutely no doubt about that. We have fantastic medical staff and great sports scientists.

"That's my opinion of Manchester United and that's more important than what anyone else has got to say about that."

Canadian-born Hargreaves, whose career has been blighted by chronic tendonitis in his knees requiring surgery, was critical of his former club in comments reported by local media.

"I received some injections and my tendon was never the same," he said.

"I tried to get back on my feet and (United's medical staff) said my tendon was good, but it felt like I was made of glass.

"(The injections) obviously had a huge impact. With hindsight, I probably should not have had them. It's difficult.

"I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of treatments."

He also suggested he was pressured into playing against Wolverhampton Wanderers last season, his only appearance last term which lasted just five minutes when he limped off with a hamstring injury.

"I said, 'I think I've got a bit of a muscle problem here'," Hargreaves said.

"I was surprised it didn't go in the warm-up. I wasn't going to sprint, which sounds comical. I was just going to try to get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start.

"But I didn't even last five. I wasn't surprised because I had said to them that I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did have."

The midfielder moved to Germany aged 16 to join Bayern Munich where he won the Champions League, four Bundesliga titles and three German Cups.

The Canadian-born 30-year-old, who has won 42 England caps, played at the 2002 World Cup and was outstanding at the 2006 finals and although he broke his leg the following season that did not put off United who signed him for 17 million pounds.

He won the Champions League and Premier League during his first season with United but then spent most of his time in the treatment room.

He famously posted videos of himself on YouTube carrying out exercise and mobility drills to prove his fitness shortly before securing his move across town to Roberto Mancini's City.

He made his first appearance for his new club this week, marking the occasion with a stunning goal in the 2-0 victory over Birmingham City in the League Cup.

"The guys here (City's medical staff) have been great so far," Hargreaves said.

"I've been here three weeks and you can already see the difference. I knew it was all there. It was just a matter of doing things right."

Reuters

Tags: english-premier, soccer, sport, england, united-kingdom

First posted September 23, 2011 20:04:29

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Qatar bid boss denies corruption claims

Published:Tuesday, July 12, 2011 1:52 AESTExpires:Monday, October 10, 2011 1:52 AEST

Chief executive of Qatar's FIFA World Cup bid Hassan Al Thawadi has denied allegations of corruption.

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Tags: fraud-and-corporate-crime, world-cup, qatar, united-states

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Murray retracts Socceroos mutiny claims

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Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 03/07/2011

Football journalist Les Murray withdrew his claims that Lucas Niell led a player revolt against Pim Verbeek at the World Cup.

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Claims of another FIFA cover up

TONY EASTLEY: When Sepp Blatter was controversially re-elected as boss of FIFA, soccer's world governing body promised it would make serious reforms.

Now the organisation is once again being accused of making dodgy deals and covering up rather than exposing corruption.

Overnight FIFA's vice-president, Jack Warner resigned after 28 years of wielding power in the world game.

And as Simon Santow reports FIFA has controversially decided to drop its investigation into Mr Warner's conduct.

SIMON SANTOW: It was done by statement.

After nearly three decades near the summit of world football, controversial official Jack Warner called it quits.

He says to spare FIFA from further acrimony and divisiveness.

FIFA for its part thanked the Trinidadian sports powerbroker and dropped the investigations into corruption surrounding him.

MEL BRENNAN: Whatever was going to happen to Jack and all of his political connections as a result of the investigation that was emerging was probably worse than giving up the position.

I mean it's a lesson for us that, I think that's the way to proceed with not only Warner but with Chuck Blazer and the other copycat malfeasances as well as Sepp Blatter and anyone else who is about inappropriate behaviour with the world game and the world's resources.

SIMON SANTOW: Mel Brennan worked closely alongside Jack Warner at CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) and was a FIFA delegate from North America for the 2002 World Cup.

MEL BRENNAN: These guys are at the top of the world football, a perfectly political organisation, because they are perfectly political creatures. That's who they are.

They're the best at this political game. So this was a political calculus no doubt. But FIFA certainly took advantage of it with some of the statements that they've made and abandoning the investigation.

There's been outcry across the mediascape today with regard to the fact that just because Warner resigned doesn't mean that the investigation shouldn't go forth. But that in and of itself is a political move from Blatter and from FIFA.

SIMON SANTOW: Given the climate of Sepp Blatter's re-election and the hostility, can he get away with effectively closing down an investigation just because the target has decided to quit rather than face the music?

MEL BRENNAN: In the short term he can't. In the short term he can't. In the long term the same type of oversight, the same type of unending spotlight that had Warner go away will unearth the information required to have this whole system changed.

SIMON SANTOW: When Sepp Blatter received another term as FIFA boss three weeks ago, Australia's sports minister warned reform would have to be real.

Mark Arbib was unavailable to speak to AM this morning but his Opposition counterpart, Luke Hartsuyker says the latest developments are concerning.

LUKE HARTSUYKER: This type of action I think does nothing to improve FIFA's credibility. It smacks of sweeping an issue under the carpet, it smacks of a response of convenience. It really is a situation that FIFA is somewhat of an elephant hiding behind a fig leaf it appears.

TONY EASTLEY: The federal shadow sports minister, Luke Hartsuyker ending Simon Santow's report.

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FIFA suspends two officials amid bribery and corruption claims

30 May 2011

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FIFA's world governing body has cleared president Sepp Blatter of bribery allegations, allowing him to run for the presidency unopposed later this week. FIFA did move on two executive members. Head of Asian football, Mohammed bin Hammam, and FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, have both been suspended pending a full inquiry into bribery claims.

But not everyone is happy with the outcome, with some calling for a mass walk-out of football nations from FIFA. Others have labelled the governing body a 'bunch of geriatrics in Switzerland'.

David Mellor
A forrmer British sports minister and chairman of Britain's Football Task Force

Michel Panayotov, international editor

Radio National often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.

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FIFA suspends officials over bribery claims

Published:Monday, May 30, 2011 7:22 AESTExpires:Sunday, August 28, 2011 7:22 AEST

Football's world governing organisation FIFA has launched an internal inquiry and suspended two officials over claims of bribery and vote-buying.

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Tags: fraud-and-corporate-crime, sport, sports-organisations, football, australia, qatar, switzerland

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Real claims dramatic Cup win over Barca

Updated April 21, 2011 09:40:00

Real Madrid claimed its first trophy under Jose Mourinho when Cristiano Ronaldo's dramatic extra-time winner secured a 1-0 Copa del Rey final victory over arch-rivals Barcelona.

With penalties looming in a tense and occasionally brutal clash at Valencia's Mestalla stadium, the Portuguese forward hung in the air and nodded home a brilliant 103rd-minute header from Angel Di Maria's superb centre.

Di Maria was sent off after receiving his second yellow card just before the end of extra time.

Real's first domestic cup since 1993 came in Mourinho's debut season since joining from Inter Milan, denying Pep Guardiola's Barca, which leads La Liga by eight points, the chance of a second treble in three seasons.

The Spanish giants are also due to meet in the two-legged Champions League semi-final on April 27 and May 3.

"Winning a trophy is always good," a weary-looking Mourinho said.

"I try to do my work as well as possible and I am tired now but very pleased.

"It gives me some tranquility, nothing more, and I will continue with my work."

Mourinho, who won the King's Cup in 1997 and 1998 as assistant to Barca coaches Bobby Robson and Louis Van Gaal, has now won cups in four different countries following triumphs in his native Portugal with Porto, in England with Chelsea and in Italy with Inter.

"In my opinion it was a great football match," he said. "I think we played well against a great team and beating a great team has more value."

Real successfully closed down Barca's creative midfielders and pacy forwards and had much the better of the first half before Pepe crashed a header off the post in the 44th minute with goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto well beaten.

Barca had failed to muster a shot on target but the second period was a different story as it utterly dominated possession, Andres Iniesta and Pedro forcing fine saves from keeper Iker Casillas.

However, even World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was unable to break the deadlock and Ronaldo almost put Real ahead on two occasions, the later when he sped on to Xabi Alonso's pass in the eighth minute of extra time but his arrowed drive whistled narrowly wide.

He made no mistake five minutes later and his powerful header sent the white half of the stadium into raptures and had them singing Mourinho's name and lauding skipper Casillas who held aloft the King's Cup.

Guardiola was philosophical in defeat and said he and his players now had to concentrate on recuperating for Saturday's La Liga game at home to Osasuna.

"First of all I want to congratulate Real Madrid," the former Barca and Spain midfielder told a news conference. "Life is like that. You can't always win."

Barca are the record King's Cup winners with 25, while Real now have 18.

-Reuters

First posted April 21, 2011 09:00:00

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