History of European Cup Football

European Cup football, more commonly known as the Euro Cup, is one of the longest standing traditions in all of sports and as such, has some remarkable roots of which to speak. The beginnings of the Euro Cup can be drawn back to the days when soccer was rarely, if ever, played under lights. In 1953, the Wolverhampton Wanderers of England experimented with the use of floodlights during some of their friendly matches against other powers around the world. With their lights in place, the Wanderers began to take on all comers for their experimental matches, thus bringing more fervor to the idea of a tournament that encompassed all of Europe.
After Wolverhampton was able to defeat a number of teams across Europe, then manager Stan Cullis proclaimed his side as the “Champions of the World”. Naturally, other squads took offense to this assertion, thus prompting even more support for the continent-wide competition. Two short years later, in March of 1955, the United European Football Association’s governing body met and approved the competition, which would take place the following year.

Since its somewhat humble beginnings, the European Cup has grown into one of the most popular and fiercely contested sporting events in the world. The first five years of competition were dominated by traditional Spanish power Real Madrid, which featured stars like Gento and Jose Santamaria. During those early years, the competition was just as important to the losers as it was to the winners, as Real Madrid’s complete domination prompted other nations and clubs to elevate their level of play. English teams in particular made an effort to get stronger as a result of the predominant effort from Real Madrid.

It did not take long for European Cup football to become an establishment among fans on that continent. The fifth of Real Madrid’s consecutive titles was won 7-3 over West German power Eintracht Frankfurt. That game was broadcasted across Europe by the BBC, as well as other European television stations. More impressively, the game still holds the record as the highest attended contest in Euro Cup final history as more than 135,000 fans packed Glasgow, Scotland’s Hampden Park to witness the match. At this point, it was clear that the European Cup had both succeeded in promoting excellent football, as well as in helping improve the interest in the game among fans all over Europe.

Real Madrid’s early dominance was aided by one of the most tragic events in European Cup history. One of the few sides to pose any challenge to Madrid was the young Manchester United team out of England. They had assembled a talented young corps of players known as the “Busby Babes” who, in 1957, helped lift Manchester United into the semi-finals of the European Cup. In 1958, they again led their side to the semi-finals, but tragedy stopped their dream over the airspace in Munich, Germany. Overall, eight members of the team were killed in a plane crash over the German city, while many others were injured. That incident decimated the up and coming franchise and left no real challenger to the power of Real Madrid.

The history of the Euro Cup has seen the rise and fall of many great teams, with just about every area in Europe having some representation at the winner’s table. The Iberian Peninsula maintained its football domination even after Real Madrid, as fellow Spaniards Barcelona claimed two titles immediately following Madrid’s reign. Later, the competition would be dominated by Italian side Milan, who ushered in the rise of Italian soccer. Scottish team Celtic got into the action, as did other squads across Europe. Manchester United ultimately got their redemption ten long years after their tragic fall when they claimed the first title for England in the 1968 competition.

Overall, the importance of the European Cup football competition can be seen in how it caused football to take hold all over Europe. Though certain countries and areas and had teams dominate the competition for a short period of years, nearly every side in Europe got into the act at one point or another. From Germany to England to Spain and Italy, the Euro Cup quickly became the number one priority of all teams. It brought together fans and helped promote a sense of pride for one’s side, as well as one’s nation. That is the lasting impact of the Euro Cup, which continues to run today, long after its somewhat meager beginnings in 1955.

Cycle Touring – Why and How

Cycle touring is a fantastic way to discover new places, see new sights, meet new people and simply slow down the pace of life for a while. A cycle tour can be anything from a couple of days to a few months in duration and as basic or luxurious as you wish.

Cycle touring allows you to experience a place in a totally different way to motorised transport. On a bike you really are in amongst it, not isolated from it sealed inside your metal box. You can smell a place, see it, feel the heat, the cold, hear the noise, or the silence. You can pull up whenever you like, pause to look at a stunning view, visit a shop, eat lunch, and then get on your way again quickly; no parking worries, no looking for gas stations, no long days at the wheel feeling the fatigue, just the wind in your hair and the freedom to go wherever you like.

Spend a couple of days exploring a new area or a few months touring the country; once you’ve tried cycle touring, you’ll be hooked.

So how do you go about planning your cycle tour? Clearly you’re going to need a bike. You’re also going to need some method of carrying your gear. You can fit panniers, bar bags, saddle bags etc to most bikes, but check your frame before you invest in any cycle luggage. A road racing bike, for example, won’t have the eyelets and fixing points required to fit luggage, and a carbon fibre frame isn’t strong enough to take the load, but most other bikes should be ok. If in doubt, ask for advice at your local bike shop.

The amount and type of luggage you require will depend on the length and nature of your tour. If you’re only going to be away a couple of days and will stay overnight in a hotel or guest house, then you won’t need much gear, so a saddle bag or even a rucksack might be enough. For very long tours you might consider a trailer. If you’re going to camp, you’ll need more gear than if you stay in hotels.

Cycle touring is a really good way to pare down to life’s bare essentials. Everything that you will need on your tour you must carry in some way, so pack judiciously and take only the things you absolutely need; for a short trip, clean clothes for each day and a toothbrush should be sufficient!

In addition to your personal gear, you’ll need to carry basic tools in order to mend punctures and perform routing bike maintenance to keep you on the road.

If you have a limited amount of time, you might want to plan your route in some detail, to make sure you get to the end point on time. If you’re touring for a few weeks, or even months, you might take a more relaxed approach, having a vague plan in mind but seeing where the road takes you and perhaps lingering longer in places you like. There are a number of published and well sign-posted long distance cycle routes, and one of these would be a good idea if you’re new to cycle touring or not 100% confident in your route planning abilities. Whatever your approach, it’s a good idea to build in some contingency time to allow for additional stops and running repairs, and just to give yourself time to take it all at a leisurely pace.

If you are in any doubt about whether cycle touring is for you, give it a go – you’ve got nothing to lose and lots to gain.

Cricket

An English game par excellence (though the most successful teams in history are Australia and West Indies), confusing, long, boring - but what on earth is this game all about?

Easy. Cricket really isn’t as hard as it seems.

There are two teams of eleven players.

It is played on a pitch. This is a strip of turf 22 yards long and about 4 yards wide. At each end are wickets – sticks which the batters stand in front of and the bowlers try to knock down. Play alternates between ends. Outside the pitch is the field, a huge expanse of grass where fielders chase down or try to catch the ball.

The game is about scoring more than the other team. You have points, but they are called runs, because, like baseball, the batters run when they hit the ball - they only run if it’s possible, though, and if the ball runs over the edge of the field they get 4 or if it goes flying over without bouncing, they get 6.

So you score more runs than the other side. Or you try to. Meanwhile they try to stop you doing it.

While one side tries to bat and accumulate runs, the other side is the fielding team. The fielding team has a bowler, who has to deliver the ball to the batter with a straight - usually vertical or near vertical - arm at the point of delivery, from 22 yards away, making the ball bounce before it reaches the batter. The leather ball, with its raised seam, is similar to a baseball, though it starts off shinier. The bowler can bowl fast (around 93mph), can spin the ball (by twisting the wrist or fingers as the ball leaves the hand) and cause it move in ways after it bounces which the batter will hopefully not understand before it reaches them, or can swing the ball - ie exploit the different amounts of shine on each side of the ball to make it move in the air and deceive the batter.

The bowler is really aiming for three three-foot high sticks behind the batter, called the stumps or the wicket. If the bowler manages to hit these, the batter is out. The bowler bowls six deliveries (an over) before swapping with another bowler, who works from the other end of the pitch.

If the batter hits the ball, they might run - this means trying to get to the other end of the pitch, 22 yards away, from where the bowler has bowled. They don’t have to - it is entirely up to the batter.

There is a fielder permanently behind the batter, the wicketkeeper, and the other nine fielders are arranged around the field however the captain chooses (although certain forms of cricket have restrictions as to where fielders can be placed).

A batter can be bowled (ball hits the stumps), run out (fails to get to the other side before a fielder knocks down the stumps with the ball), caught, leg before wicket (you are NOT allowed to stop the ball hitting the stumps by putting your body in the way!) and a few other ways.

If the batter is out, they leave the field and a new batter comes in. Since batters have to bat in pairs (remember play alternates between ends of the pitch), when ten of the eleven batters are out the innings is over. In some forms of the game you carry on until all ten are out, in others you have to finish your innings after a certain time.

The winning team is that which has more runs than the other. To win though you have to get more runs than them and get all their players out.

Simple and beautiful. And it looks even more beautiful than it sounds. A cricket match unfolds over hours for the shorter form of the game, or five days for the longer form. Over a five day match each team bats and fields twice and the most extraordinary duels and relationships open up; and no matter how long the match is, those tiny moments, as in all sports, can still turn a game.

Pittsburgh Pirates Rebuilding Again?

After a decade and a half of utter futility and failure, the Pittsburgh Pirates have gained little to nothing through the draft and have improved their financial situation by trading away their good players. Only in baseball can a team turn a profit every year finishing in the basement. When will the league realize that a salary cap is a must?

The great fans of Pittsburgh love all of their sports teams and have given the Pirates the benefit of the doubt numerous times. Most people felt when the Pirates received their new ballpark (PNC Park) that the ownership would begin to strengthen the roster in the hopes of being a championship contender again. Unfortunately for the fans, ownership only seemed worried about pulling in a profit. This meant signing no meaningful free agents and trading any player that cost the organization a little money. In any other sport this would be dooming to a franchise, but baseball awards teams for being losers.

By awarding losing teams money at the end of each season it allows the Pirates ownership to sit back and allow this team to lose every season. This year alone the Pirates have traded Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Ian Snell, Nyjer Morgan, Nate McLouth and Adam LaRoche. This has left the Pirates back at square one again.

Some people would argue that teams with a lesser salary cap can still win (ex. Tampa Bay Rays making it to the World Series), while that is true there is still little incentive to win. The Pirates ownership understands this fact and has little care for building up a ball club. You would think at some point Major League Baseball would step in and help this franchise, but it appears that the Pirates have been left out to dry.

Pittsburgh fans rarely give up on their hometown team, but if the Pirates continue these antics they will begin to dig their own grave.

The Oaks Stakes

The Oaks Stakes is run in early June, over a mile, four furlongs and 10 yards (2,423 metres) at Epsom Downs.

In 1778, Edward Smith-Stanley the 12th Earl of Derby, hosted a party at which he and his guests devised a sweepstake which would be named after the estate he leased in Carshalton, near to Epsom - The Oaks. The race was eventually held in 1779 and was won by Bridget, the Earl’s own horse.


The Oaks is the third of five British Classics to be run in the flat calendar and is open to three year old fillies only. It makes up the second leg of the Fillies’ Triple Crown, won by just seven horses throughout history, including the famous Oh So Sharp.


The Preis der Diana (Germany), Prix de Diane (France), Irish Oaks and Oaks d’Italia (Italy) are national variations of the Oaks, based on the Epsom event, although not all are contested over the same distance.


In 1916, Fifinella won both the Oaks and The Derby under jockey Joe Childs. She is the last filly to win The Derby.


Robert Robson trained a phenemonal thirteen Oaks winners between 1802 and 1825 but in more recent years, the event has been dominated by Henry Cecil, who has saddled eight winners from 1985 to 2007. In 1989, Cecil’s horse Snow Bride was promoted to first place after the original “winner” of the race, Aliysa, had been disqualified after a positive test for a banned substance. This led to her owner Aga Khan IV withdrawing from British racing until 1996.


The jockey with the most wins to his name in The Oaks is Frank Buckle, “The Pocket Hercules”, who managed nine winners from 1797 and 1823. Post war, the best record for a jockey belongs to Lester Piggot, who was aboard six winners between 1957 and 1984.


The greatest margin of victory in The Oaks was back in 1983, when Sun Princess hacked up by a whopping twelve lengths. In 1904, Pretty Polly won the race at a starting price of 8/100, the shortest priced winner in the history of The Oaks and indeed any of the British Classics. The biggest starting price of an Oaks winner is 50/1; Vespa winning in 1833 and Jet Ski Lady in 1991.


The 2010 Oaks Stakes will take place on Saturday June 5th and is sponsored by Investec.

Golf: How Your Stance Affects Your Swing

If you have any hope of playing golf well, it is vital that you give attention to the fundamentals of the game. As a memory aid to the basics, think of the word GASP. These letters stand for grip, alignment, stance and posture, all basic elements for any golfer who wants to excel at the game. Let's give our attention to the third of those fundamentals, your stance.

How you stand when you address the ball is important for a variety of reasons. A proper stance gives stability, encourages a balanced swing and allows you to strike the ball without losing control on the follow through. Although your stance will vary as to width depending on the club you are playing, it should always give you a solid basis to make a good swing. The stance you take when using the driver for example, will be a bit wider than when you are playing a wedge or short iron. The shorter the club, the narrower the stance.

Some recreational golfers struggle to match their stance to the club they are using. A stance that is too wide will restrict your backswing, resulting in a lack of distance. Generally speaking, your stance with the driver should see your feet placed about shoulder width apart and becoming narrower as you use the shorter clubs. If your feet are too far apart, it will restrict both your backswing and your follow-through

It should also be noted that if your stance is too narrow for the club you are using, it could affect your balance as you swing through the ball. Experiment on the practice range with a variety of clubs and see how your stance alters as you move from club to club. With a little practice, you will soon learn how to position your feet for a stable and balanced swing. Work on this fundamental of the game and watch your golf improve.

Why Boxing Is Good for Your Kid

Boxing can teach your children everything they need to know about the more important aspects of life. The traits that boxing instills in young participants are not easily found in other activities. With a lack of character-building pastimes for children, parents should open their minds to the possibility that boxing might be right for their children.

This is not an easy sell. Enough negative notions about boxing exist that most parents would bristle at the mere thought of involving their children in this sport. The thought of bloody noses, smashed knuckles, and mashed features are too much for most parents to bear. Boxing itself shares in the blame. Boxing has been marginalized in the past few decades compared to its previous mainstream status. The shady characters and exploitation of its participants fall on the doorstep of the sport itself. It is important to note, however, that boxing on the youth level bears little resemblance to the cutthroat world of professional boxing.

Here are some of the more critical characteristics that can be instilled into your children through their involvement in the sweet science.

Hard Work = Results

Children today often have a sense of entitlement. Some of our younger people seem to think the world owes them a living. Boxing has a way of adjusting this mindset. Anything achieved inside the boxing ring is a direct result of the work put in. Natural talent plays a role, but even the most gifted young boxer is nothing without hard work. Trainers give their young pupils different things to work on and if they practice, they will improve in a very visible and noticeable manner.

Young boxers will initially struggle with the sport. Most are shocked that despite being able to play other sports with ease, they cannot box merely one round without falling to pieces. Young athletes who can run all day long without getting tired will invariably collapse within three minutes during their first experience in a ring. The stamina required for boxing calls on an altogether different kind of resourcefulness. With the threat of being hit, a young pupil will tighten up and lose poise. They will be unable to even hold their hands up after a minute or two.

Beginning boxers will not be able hit the punching bags properly and will be utterly lost in actual boxing action. They will marvel at the more advanced pupils, being instilled with a natural urge to be like them. There is an inherent coolness to being able to swap punches in a heated sparring session or to achieve the rat-a-tat action on a speed bag. The more advanced kids will seem like superstars to them. Many are shocked to find those “superstar” kids have only been boxing for a few months. They will want to rise to that same level without even consciously attributing it to hard work.

Within a few months, the young boxer will improve exponentially. As they continue to train, the improvement becomes very graphically demonstrated. They are soon able to work the bags well and handle themselves in the ring. It becomes impossible for even the most thickheaded students to not emerge from this experience with a more tangible appreciation for the value of a good work ethic, a pre-requisite for a successful life in any field.


Facing Fear

Young adults who are ill equipped to deal with fear could have benefited from boxing in their youth. Climbing into the ring and exchanging punches requires young people to soldier on despite fear. Boxing eventually forces you to take that fear and harness it. Rather than be consumed by it, young boxers are taught to use it to make them more alert and to prepare harder.

Boxers quickly learn that fear is not something exclusive to them. Everyone has fear in youth boxing. Being frightened or nervous is not the issue; it’s how you handle it that is critical. Young pupils form an awareness of the very elements of fear they will face in their lives and how to handle it.

Instead of facing months or years of abuse from a bully, they will instead have the gumption to face the minute of fear and fight back. Rather than caving in emotionally in light of a huge job interview, they will buckle down and prepare more. This poise in the light of fear is not a quality that will magically appear later in life. Boxing can help bring it about at a young age.

Refusal to Quit

Many young people have shown an aversion to quitting, but have they really been put to the test? If everything is within their level of comfort, they cannot develop this quality. In youth boxing, youngsters are pushed to overcome the very mental barriers that prohibit success. The nature of the sport itself calls on you to push beyond the self-defined limitations of yourself.

To rise above the immediate urge to resign is a critical attribute in any walk of life. In boxing, this trait is tested and improved upon. Everyone has a deeper reservoir of doggedness than we give ourselves credit for. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” may be a tired saying, but it embodies what children will have impressed on them through boxing. The natural human inkling to create excuses or find an “out” is washed away as students re-define their personal limitations.

Life can be difficult for adults who cave in to the trials of life. The frequency of people running up the white flag in the face of adversity is at an alarming level today. It’s all to easy for a child to immediately stop running at PE at the first sign of fatigue or for a student to close the book when the content becomes to difficult to easily understand. That might seem harmless enough until that same loser mentality is applied to their adult life. If the marriage is too difficult, you can walk away. If your boss is giving you too hard of a time, just go ahead and quit. Boxing can help children deal with the often-unforgiving nature of adult life and rise to the occasion instead of allowing difficult conditions to overwhelm them. They realize that the urge to quit is a small moment in time, while the consequences of quitting last days, months, or even years.

Toughening Up

Observing young people today will quickly give way to the feeling that life is too sterile for them. Shielding children from certain hard truths of life is fine, but it can quickly become a disservice if taken to far. Getting hit in the face today is usually a cataclysmic event for any youngster, whereas it used to be par for the course. Many of these advances are for the benefit of young people, which is well intentioned. Sometimes it can go too far.

Without casting aspersions and making judgments about the generational changes that have taken place in this country, one would be remiss in not noting a mental and physical softening of the youth today. When you drive through neighborhoods you don’t see kids playing ball on the street anymore. You don’t see kids with scabs on their knees and elbows anymore. Adults cannot even criticize a young person without getting yelled at by another adult. We can get rid of some of the more damaging aspects of child development from the past without raising children like veal. The backlash to the past has been too severe.

Kids are inside now, playing video games and whittling away the hours on a computer. If they ride a skateboard, they’re more protected than a SWAT team member. Nobody wants to see kids hurt, but taking absurd measures to prevent pain could be doing them a disservice as well. In life there is physical and mental pain, sometimes on a pronounced level. Not allowing them to ever experience pain can backfire as they face the beatings that life can sometimes dish out.

Becoming Humble

Many young people with an arrogant, self-entitled air about them have gained a proper perspective through their participation in boxing. As harsh as it may sound, getting punched in the nose has a way of instilling children with the fact that they are not “all that.” Confidence is one thing, unsubstantiated conceit and bluster are quite another. Boxing teaches confidence, and the other less-becoming traits are driven out of them

Confidence is based on one’s assuredness in their own abilities. Arrogance is often a mask for insecurity. In boxing gyms, confidence is built by having a student climb the ladder of success through hard work. Arrogance has no place in a boxing gym. Pupils with empty bravado and a wise guy smirk immediately find out the hard way that they are on the wrong track.

Sometimes you have to tear something down to build it up. A student with a false sense of self-entitlement will find out first-hand how empty that trait is in real life. Maybe it worked with their friends before, but it takes more than a big head and a cute smirk to be able to hold your own in a boxing ring. Through training, students can replace their hot air with genuine confidence, the type of self-worth that can carry them into the more demanding phases of adult life.

Dealing with Setbacks

If young people are protected from every hard reality of life, they will not be able to cope well with the problems that come later. Resistance to hardships is like a muscle; you must develop it in order to call on it down the line. Some young people today are kept away from moments of failure, as their lives resemble a gradual ascent up a slope with no dips. It becomes easy to see why these same kids have trouble later when faced with the Grand Canyon-sized valleys that adult life can present.

People sometimes have a way of defining themselves by their problems and hardships. They are not happy with their station in life, and inevitably point the finger, looking for someone to blame. In boxing, students become less intoxicated with all the good things they can do and instead focus on how they react in the face of adversity. It does not take long for a boxing pupil to realize that while it is nice to be able to hit hard and fast, it is more important how to react when taking the shots.

In life it is often times more important how you react in the face of hardship than during moments of success. Success is easy to manage, but what about setbacks? You often see young people thriving in the face of good times, only to be derailed at the slightest sign of difficulty. Boxing can change that. Even the most prodigiously talented young boxers will fall flat on their face if their ability to dish out punishment is not equaled by their willingness to absorb it and soldier on regardless.

Poise Under Pressure

In boxing, you often see a young boxer dazzle in the gym only to fail in a real boxing match. The pressure of boxing in front of an audience, under the bright lights, and with an equally talented opponent in the opposite corner can be too much for some youngsters. That is natural. As the training continues, however, students learn that falling apart under pressure is a choice.

Boxing teaches the mental toughness that will enable a young person to thrive under pressure in real life situations. If a young person can learn how to coolly tap into their talent while under the tremendous strain of a boxing match, then they will also be able to remain poised in the face of adult obstacles. The natural human urge to succumb to enormous pressure is weeded out in boxing training, as students have no choice: either compose yourself or get run out of the ring.

Final Thoughts

Boxing is the ultimate truth machine. It will cut through all the pretenses and reveal what is truly inside an individual. The characteristics that impede future success will be quickly unveiled in a boxing gym and can then be addressed and improved upon. Boxing allows young people to undergo an advanced study in their own self-discovery. It will give them the tools they need to not only survive, but to thrive. All these virtues are naturally occurring in boxing, as they are instilled naturally. The goal is not to create world boxing champions, but world champions in life.

The Year of the Coach

More than any other year in recent memory, head coaches in college football have dominated the headlines. In the last few weeks alone, there have been three major stories involving head coaches of BCS teams; Urban Meyer did his best Brett Favre impersonation, Mark Mangino was fired for mistreating players, and Mike Leach was supposedly let go for the same reason, though we will probably never get the full story on that one.

The season began with Lane Kiffin shooting off his mouth as soon as someone put a microphone in front of it, and the coaching future of both Charlie Weiss and Bobby Bowden dominated headlines virtually every week. Kiffin then made another splash by leaving the Vols and heading back west to be the head man at USC. The move so angered Vols fans that there is a referendum to name the local sewage plant after Kiffin.

Why are these coaches in the headlines more than their star players (with the exception of Tim Tebow)? Coaches have always been an important part of the college football landscape and some legendary names such as Bear Bryant are as big as the college football programs they built, but it seems as if the media frenzy over coaches gets a bit more frenzied each year.

There are several issues that can shed some light on this, though it must first be mentioned, that with the excessive amount of media outlets and forums today, everyone is more in the news than ever before. Regardless of this, coaches are becoming more and more important and thus they are under more scrutiny and get more media attention, especially when they do something wrong.

Money is the number one reason for the increased attention given to head football coaches. A top-ranked football team brings money to a university through increased attendance, major bowl payouts and the selling of more licensed apparel. In addition, it brings prestige, which can then lead to higher application rates and either expansion of enrollment or more selective acceptance guidelines and higher tuition.

Needing to keep up with the past is another reason that coaches are so much scrutinized presently. At universities with decorated football histories such as Notre Dame, Alabama, and USC to name only a few, the facilities and other costs of the football program grow with success. If success stalls, less money comes in, but that beautiful new stadium and the wonderful new practice and training facilities still need to be paid for. The high priced coach that isn't winning enough still gets his check. These types of programs cannot afford to lose games for too long, which is why Bobby Bowden was forced out, Charlie Weiss was canned and why they were calling for Joe Paterno's head a few years ago.

The right coach can quickly bring a historic program back to glory (Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, Bob Stoops) or can build a program from nothing (Frank Beamer, Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno). Because of this, colleges throw big money at these coaches, but with this money comes an incredible amount of responsibility. The coach becomes the face of the program, sometimes even the university. Players come and go every few years, but coaches are around for five or ten or twenty years.

Limiting scholarships to 85 per school has made a big difference as well. At a time when there was no scholarship limit, coaches such as Bear Bryant would give scholarships to players he knew would probably never play at Alabama simply to keep them from his competitors. Coaches are now forced to be more selective in recruiting and to be better evaluators of talent and potential. A coach that knows how to recruit and evaluate talent is a hot commodity.

Because of the increasing importance of a football program due to the money and responsibility involved, coaches are more in the spotlight than ever before. Coaches will probably become even more important in the years to come as the smaller conferences gain ground and the number of competitors for players increases and the money available increases. Expect more coaches to be fired more quickly in the coming years, and you can absolutely expect more headlines about your team's head man.

AFC Wimbledon

The leafy and rather pleasant southwest London suburb of Wimbledon is more often associated with tennis – it is after all, the home of the famous All England Lawn Tennis Club – but another sport is also firmly associated with the area. AFC Wimbledon still proudly claims their roots to be in Wimbledon, despite their home ground of Kingsmeadow being located in neighboring Kingston upon Thames. Since 2002, the club has become an amazing success story and something of a rarity – a football club run by fans for fans.

The origins of AFC Wimbledon can be traced back to 2001 when, in a controversial move approved by the FA, the owners of the original Wimbledon FC decided to relocate to Milton Keynes, a distance of almost 70 miles. Almost overnight, the club lost virtually all of its support and a new club – AFC Wimbledon – was born from the enthusiasm and perseverance of the original supporters, led by Kris Stewart who also became the club’s chief executive. AFC – the initials being said to stand for ‘A Fan’s Club’ - Wimbledon was officially founded in 2002, playing in the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League, along with other teams from London and surrounding counties.

To attract players at short notice, trials were held on Wimbledon Common – unfortunately that didn’t prevent the club from losing their first game 4-0 to Sutton United. The new club got off to a relatively slow start in the 2002-03 season under their first manager Terry Eames, although they did finish third and had better than expected attendances averaging over 3,000. During the 2003-04 season, the club won their first 21 games, meaning they had an impressive 32 consecutive wins over two seasons. After Eames was sacked, Nicky English became caretaker manager and led the club to an amazing 9-0 win; under his leadership, AFC Wimbledon also finished as champions of the Combined Counties League and the Premier Challenge Cup.

AFC Wimbledon enjoyed even greater success during the 2004-05 season and another manger – Dave Anderson. The club ended up top of the division, as well as winning the Surrey Senior Cup and reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup. They also set an amazing record – unbeaten for 78 league matches until a 2-0 defeat to Cray Wanderers. However, this success wasn’t repeated during the 2005-06 season; the club struggled all season and avoided promotion for the first time in several years. The next season wasn’t a good one either – by inadvertently fielding an incorrectly registered player, the club had three points deducted and was expelled from both the FA Trophy and the Surrey Senior Cup.

Another season, another manager. Terry Brown led the club to the top of the league during the 2007-08 season and to promotion to the Conference South. Throughout most of the next season, AFC Wimbledon was positioned near the top of the league and managed to win the title only in the last match of the season. 2010 started well – as of early 2010, the club was 5th from the top of the league and to the delight of its thousands of loyal fans, its future seems to be assured.

Bicycle tour

If you’re planning a vacation this summer, why not consider a bicycle tour. Set your own pace. Take your time and meander through the countryside or if you’d rather, put on a little speed and cover more ground. This type of travel offers a lot of flexibility, and there’s no better way to immerse yourself in the scenery and culture of the community you’re visiting. Best of all, you can sample all the local cuisine. Go ahead and have seconds, you’ll burn all those calories off tomorrow.

In most communities a bicycle is a legal vehicle and as such is subject to the same laws as a car. For a safe and worry free bicycle trip it’s a good idea to learn the rules of the road before traveling. A little planning can save you from delays and discomfort later. Inclement weather, bicycle malfunctions or even minor medical problems could signal the end of your trip if you don’t take a few precautions before you leave.

Familiarize yourself with the weather patterns in the area where you’ll be traveling. It may be sunny and mild when you leave, but there’s no guarantee it will stay that way. Pack a wind and water proof jacket. Additionally you might want to invest in some cycling specific clothing made of fabrics that will actually wick moisture away from your body. Clothes like this will dry quickly and reduce chaffing

Carry a basic tool kit along with a bicycle pump and Familiarize yourself with minor bicycle repairs. You don’t want to be stranded simply because you can’t patch an inner tube. Before you leave make a list of reputable bicycle repair shops along your route.

Bring an adequate supply of water, and keep some nourishing foods in your pack. Cycling is hard work. It’s important to stay hydrated and to reenergize occasionally with a small snack.

Plan your route with regards to the terrain and the type and volume of traffic you can expect to encounter. Carry a detailed map and mark the spots where you expect to stay each night. You should always make hotel or camp ground reservations well ahead of time.
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A basic first aid kit is a must. You never know when you might have to treat some minor injury. Supply your kit with sunscreen, bug repellent and toilet paper just in case.

These are the most necessities for a long bicycle journey. Follow these few simple precautions and you’ll be able to deal with anything that arises. Your trip will be relaxing and memorable.