Archive for May, 2010
The precise year eludes my memory but it is with certainty that I claim that it was sometime between the 1974 World Cup in Germany and the 1978 World Cup in Argentina that I decided to see what all the hullabaloo about football was when I decided to join my father in watching a match. It is not that I do not remember who was playing but I just did not think to ask as I was more concerned about learning how the game was played.
As for my father, whose name was also Gianni (who passed away this year) I knew him to be a great fan of football (calcio being what Italians call it) or the sport that I growing up in the US heard referred to as “soccer” as how many times had I seen him in my parents bedroom or living room watching a game with friends and relatives. I had observed how loud the action would get in the room though at the time I did not even know what the game was about. It happened on that day which I will never forget that on what was a rare occasion I caught my father watching a game on his lonesome.
I remember entering the room and started to watch the game and to be honest I could at first I did not get the point of the game. I saw some people kicking a round ball all over a field that had to goals; one on each side but I could not see what the objective of the game was. I naturally asked my father what was the aim of this sport to which he told me that the point was to put the ball in the goal and when one did so one got a point or a goal as they called it. Of course in his description of what I would later discover to be a great sport he did not exclude details like that only the two goalkeepers were allowed to use their arms or hands while the other players were not and what a corner kick, (calcio di angulo in Italian), off sides (fora di gioco) and foul were.
As these two teams who I did not even know played on while I continued watching this game for the first time I actually started wondering if it was at possible to put the ball in the net as I could see with the passing minutes that the ball had not even come close to going in either goal. After what must have been about ten minutes I asked my father “Does that actually happen? I mean the ball being put in goal? Have you ever seen that happen?”. He at first did not see the reason of my question but then realized that the ball had not even come close to being put in the goal in what would have been called a “goal” however after laughing off my question he did tell me that goals were scored in football but this only happened an average of 3 or 2 times a game.
I don’t remember much about this first game other then being bored as I did not even finish watching the game though for all intense purposes football had been introduced to me. I tried to watch some other games and eventually I went on to see goals being scored though again I did not think to ask what teams I was watching until one day I started thinking since my father was Italian which prompted me to ask “Is Italy good at football?”. My father told me then with some pride that Italy was one of the best at this sport and that Italy had even won the World Championship on two occasions though he did not forget to mention this had been a long time ago in 1934 and 1938.
By then the year was 1977 during the later part and he told me that the following week Italy was playing a game against England which would determine which one of them would be playing in the upcoming World Cup which was due to take place in Argentina. This match between England and Italy was actually the first game I ever remember watching which he told me was one in which Italy did not need to win and could even afford the luxury of loosing by as much as two goals; of course he did tell me that if Italy were to loose by three then it would be England who would go on to the World Cup as Italy would be eliminated.
As the game got under way it did not take England long to score in the form of a header by a curly haired player by the name of Kevin Keegan making it one to zero for the English. My father naturally was pulling for Italy in this game while I was not really pulling for anybody specially since Italy did not start off wining and at that point I still did not know of the importance of the world cup in football. This match played at “Wembley Stadium” would end up England 2 Italy 0, which meant that Italy qualified for the World Cup Argentina 78 while England was eliminated.
Italy had qualified but this meant very little to me at the time since they had not won. As for the period that followed between then and the World Cup I would go on to see Italy play another match against Spain which again they lost 2 to 1 in Spain though this being a friendly as my father told me did not mean all that much. However it was in the time leading up to the world cup that I became a huge fan of football by reading as much as I could about the sport and those who had played it in the past. I even saw some footage of the previous world cup which put even more doubt in my mind as to weather Italy could really play this game since they did not manage to qualify to the quarter finals loosing out to Poland and Argentina; the first of which they lost to by 2 to 1 and second of which they barely managed a draw at one a piece.
I naturally had read about Italian greats like Gianni Rivera; player for AC Milan; thanks to whom I am even up to this day a Milanista (fan of AC Milan), Gigi Riva, Giuseppe Meazza, Piola and other greats but these had played a long time ago making me believe that perhaps Italy no longer had great football despite what my father told me. Regardless of my doubts the world cup in Argentina started with the first match that bore my stiff with Poland and Germany keeping a blank score through out the game.
By the time the Italian National team which I knew to be called the “Azurri” took the field against France I was ready and hopeful of seeing them win and see for myself that those whom I descended from could still play the game of football. Well looking back on this I can say that if Italy wanted to get off to a good start this could not have gone any worse. 38 seconds had gone by and France thanks to Lacombe was already up one nil making me want to just watch something else but it was my father who told me it was not over yet. I really thought Italy was going to loose because I had seen France beat Brazil (1 to 0 goal by Platini) before the world cup in Paris and hold them to a draw (2 to 2) in Rio but I stayed tuned after all even I could see then the world cup in football was a huge deal.
Italy started moving forward and at the 29 minute mark a very young player named Paolo Rossi brought us back in the game by leveling matters at one a piece with a strange goal that bounced of the post and another player before going in. I will never forget the hysteric shouts of “Goal” that I heard as this happened and I must admit I started feeling the emotion of wanting Italy to win like one of the many “tifossi” around me. As the game continued in the second half Italy scored again. This time it was an unmarked Renato Zaccarelli who put us ahead to stay as we went on to win 2 to 1.
I saw all the other games though Italy’s held the most interest for me as I could see my grandmother was also caught up in the “calcio”. I even remember seeing Brazil having a last minute goal disallowed against Sweden that would have won it for them at 2 to 1( because the final whistle had gone two seconds before) which forced them to settle for a 1 to 1 draw.
Italy won its next match against Hungary 3 to 1with Bettega, Benetti and again Rossi doing the honors while Hungary only managed one by Toth from the penalty spot when the score was already 3 to 0 in Italy’s favor. Next came the home team; Argentina which had also won their first two games but this made no difference as Italy would go on to beat them 1 to 0 with a goal by Bettega who played for Juventus. By then I knew this was a game Italy could play as well if not better then most and I even started seeing the Azurri becoming champions as I though not Italian born started to feel from my father’s side of the family the Italian in me.
I however was told by many that there still a long road to thread for Italy to win the FIFA world cup trophy but I was optimistic it could be done. The next match did not got so well for Italy as it saw us draw at 0 with West Germany (then defending world Champion) in a match that saw us do everything but score as Italy hit the post and had one saved on the line by Kaltz; a German defender. The second game in the quarterfinal round saw Italy return to winning ways beating Austria 1 to 0 with a 16 minute goal by Rossi. Italy had won but it had not been enough for in order to get to the finally they would need to beat the Netherlands who by virtue of having beaten Austria 5 to 1 and having drawn with Germany 2 to 2 had a better goal ratio of 7 to 3 while Italy’s was 1 to 0.
A draw would simply not be enough so with this in mind our usually defensive minded Italy started on the offense; dominating the runners-up from the previous world cup who had great players like Neeskens, Rep and Rensenbrink with Cruyff their greatest player being absent. Eighteen minutes in the match a goal came for Italy when Brandts put the ball in to his own net and Italy in the lead and the final of the world cup. This was how the first half ended making me believe that with Italy’s defense this was a score we could hold through out the second half. The second half however would prove to be my first heartbreaking experience in football as five minutes in to the second half Brandts would redeem himself by scoring for the Netherlands to make the score one, one. I was still optimistic Italy could get to the final after all they only needed one goal and had 40 minutes to get it but contrary to my hopes it would be the Netherlands to get the second goal when Haan (minute 75) scored from 30 meters out to practically ensure the Netherlands what would take their second trip to the final in as many world cups. As a thought that came to me after seeing Holland’s second goal was that our goalkeeper; Dino Zoff was blind as it seemed that he just could not see the ball from a far. This being an opinion that was shared by many a critic of his specially after the next match. As for the final score of that game it read Netherlands 2 Italy 1 meaning that Italy would have to play Brazil for third place in a match that to this day I don’t see much point in playing.
In this match again Italy would start of winning when Causio drew first blood with a header for Italy only to have Brazil like the Netherlands storm back with two spectacular goals to win 2 to 1. I must confess though that the first goal by Brazil scored by Nelinho was a truly masterful shot which I recommend to anybody who has not seen it to do so on Youtube as it is really worth a look. Brazil’s second goal by Dirceu was also a long distance shot from outside the penalty box but nowhere near as spectacular as the one by Nelinho whose shot simply curled twice.
Italy was forth which was not bad but better days would come for the us the “tifossi” in 82 and 2006 when we would win the world cup and 90 when third place would be all we would get despite playing at home and in 94 when suffer we would in loosing the first final decided by penalties. During the years football has given my many great moments of glory and defeat though perhaps none greater then loosing to Argentina in Naples in the semifinal but in all I will never forget that time from that match in Wembley Stadium to the final in which Argentina beat the Netherlands 3 to 1 as it was this time that would see me become a great fan of the sport we Italians call “calcio”. Football of course was a different game in those days then it is today but it was this time that allowed me to see the beauty of the sport and how it really was an international game played by so many nations from all over the world with Italy being one of the top teams as they showed in “Argentina 78”.
Soccer must be one of the first sports games all played by humans. I can only imagine cave dwellers kicking in the old soccer ball. Or perhaps it is a rock soccer? A soccer coconut perhaps? You must be one of the simplest form of playing sports imaginable. I mean, really, I hit the ball this way and you try to hit the ball this way. That ball (coconut?) Va more this or more so determines the winner. If May be easy for me to imagine soccer around his expulsion by a group of caveman sports enthusiasts, as soon as official minutes of soccer was played by China approximately 3,000 years. Wow, it’s like the World Cup 750, if someone was keeping track. Ultimate Soccer header soccer is also curious nature, insofar as it is one of the few sports I can think of where you use your head more than simple strategies. In fact, you can use your head to make contact with the ball. Imagine trying that in soccer (American) or hockey for that matter. Nothing link deflecting a slap shot with his forehead for a game winning goal. Stitches not hurt that much. These guys are soccer a little strange that way. But the ultimate shot in the head soccer was a little more bizarre. Gruesome actually. Apparently, in addition to medieval times, the head of a vanquished Danish prince has used the ball a day early soccer hooligans in the east of England. Yuck. I think the purchase of a new soccer shoes after this meeting. It is a marvel of soccer ever made with the Danes after a defeat like that. Soccer Wars As with many games these days, soccer has its origins on the battlefield. Rival cities to play soccer against each other, with little or no rules, teams and massive size. Violent, bloody games, with hundreds of people kicking, punching, tripping in an attempt to win the soccer game. Sounds a bit like today, except today, which sounds more like a good description of the fans instead of actors. You think it’s hard to be a soccer referee today, imagine a few hundred years. At least today, they keep the fans and referees separated. Over time, and prohibiting local authorities realized that soccer was not going to work, more civilized soccer fans and has rules for the game of soccer. Not everyone agreed, and there were some splinter groups that came out and formed derivatives of the game. Rugby was one. Soccer civilized like playing Today, we play modern soccer that we even allow our children to play. An extension by far the beginnings of the sport. Perhaps an analogy can be drawn between soccer and many new forms of expression. At first, things can be a bloody mess, but a few thousand years of civilization and everything can be reduced to a child’s play.
Soccer is a competitive sport that the interests of men, women and children is under review and to varying degrees by fans across the USA. Follow the pace with the type of soccer which is available in the USA will be a great company because soccer is played professionally by men and women of the USA and foreign countries, and is also offered to youth at various levels . The interest in soccer has increased considerably over the last ten years partly because of media coverage of the game and players participating in games every week. Men and women throughout the USA participate in training camps of soccer which are available in the world. Such formal training to prepare soccer players for a job the USA national team, or can prepare to play soccer on a college level. Various programs soccer used a simple introduction to the world of soccer and will allow people to decide if this sport is robust adapted to their life. Instead of training, some soccer fans magazines rely on sports to help them keep pace with the world of professional soccer. Through various magazines, a soccer player can learn and read on the ideas of many people who serve as coaches, and other articles will focus on nutrition, training exercises and other elements of information that every soccer player will find very useful to some in their busy career. There is always something useful to be acquired by a person who takes the time to read magazine articles about soccer. These bits of information on health issues affecting soccer players in the world could well prove useful by parents who have children who are interested to learn this sport. The lifestyle they lead when they are young can make a difference on how they play the game of soccer when they become an adult. A healthier lifestyle means they have more energy to put in each party. Most articles contain useful information that will help a soccer player improve the way they play soccer. Another way that soccer fans keep pace with the world of soccer is by reading interviews with soccer players who play the sport robust each week at a professional level. There are things that happen on the ground may be very controversial, and the hearing of soccer players fans can personally understand what happened on the ground during a game of soccer. A fan can keep pace with the current styles offered in soccer held by visiting various retailers on the Internet that specialize in faith shirts, shorts and shoes that are worn by soccer teams across the USA and the world. Fans can also keep pace by purchasing tickets for soccer events that will see for themselves what the appeal of tough action in a soccer match is all. Fans will be able to hold a conversation on a level much more to these events with other fans if they keep up with what’s happening in the world of soccer. A fan can use forecasts Major League Soccer to maintain a close relationship with their favourite soccer team. These tools will help them keep pace with the changes taking place in the team files throughout the year and win a little personal history on people who play the game.
Marketing a small business is one of the most difficult activities any entrepreneur will face. It’s full of challenges and obstacles that demand preparation, dedication and determination to win the game. It’s just like playing football – success will ultimately be determined by your commitment to win and your desire to compete.
Running a business is a lot like playing an intense game of football. Essentially, both are organized chaos with competitors who aim to prevent you from gain ground and scoring points. In business, you win the game by scoring mores sales than your competitors rather making touchdowns or field goals. The one who become the champion of your industry is the company with the best marketing which attracts the most clients or customers.
There are five key similarities between marketing and football that every business must implement if they want to become champions:
1. Preparation and Planning
Any successful football coach will tell you that preparation and planning is the key to winning. It’s not the will to win, but the willingness to prepare to win that is important. Countless hours go into scouting opponents, developing plays and practicing for specific situations before the game is ever played.
As a business owner, you must also invest the time to research and planning. The only way for you to create competitive advantage is to understand your market, know your competitors, and create a plan that will score consistent sales. This begins with committing to working on your marketing every day. By dedicating an hour each day to marketing your business you’ll create momentum that your competitors can’t stop.
2. Aggressiveness
It’s simple – you can’t compete if you don’t play. Marketing your business demands that you get in the game and take on your toughest competitors. To achieve victory you must be aggressive and execute marketing plays which positions your company as the best choice, lowest risk option to fill a need or solve their problem.
Being aggressive is a positive, go-for-it attitude. It’s not about being out of control and acting recklessly with your marketing dollars. Instead, it’s about being focused and taking action before your competitors have a chance to beat you.
I tell my football players, “Be the hammer, not the nail.” This means you deliver the hit and not take it. During a football game the more aggressive team wins, just like in business.
3. Positioning
Football is a game of exploiting gaps in the defense to advance the ball down the field and across the goal line to score. Marketing your business is the same – you must find a gap in the market that is not being filled with a product or service that people are looking for. When you have an offer which none of your competitors can match you position company as the obvious choice.
You’ll score more sales and become a champion quicker by finding a gap in the market that is currently unfilled and not crowded with competitors. Creating plays which have an easy path to a score is the goal of every football coach. Your goal as an entrepreneur is to score a sale every time you execute a marketing play. Understanding the value and strategy of positioning is the best way to achieve it.
4. Play Calling
In football, calling the right offensive play in the right situation against the right defense becomes the highlight which is shown on SportsCenter over and over again. When marketing your business the offer that attracts a huge response and generates massive sales is very similar in stature.
A marketing play is any advertisement, promotion or communication you execute to get a prospect to take action. Calling the right marketing play that meshes with your audience is essential to your success. However, this takes time, testing and persistence. Most marketers give up after their first marketing play fails. Entrepreneurs become champions in their industry because they persistently try new marketing plays until they find the ones that perform and score consistently.
Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Marketing champions are the ones who never stop chasing perfection no matter how big the challenge.
5. Consistent Scoring
An old football coach once told me, “It’s hard to win if you don’t score!”
In business in scoring a sale is not only important but the required to survive. Without people buying what you offer, you will soon be out of business. All of your business activities should be in support of creating sales. Accounting, production, engineering, distribution and any other area of your business must help to create the conditions to make more sales.
Unfortunately, most business cut marketing when business slows down. This is a big mistake! No other activity in your business can increase your sales except for marketing. This requires commitment to the marketing process and understanding how to play the game. Like football, reaching a sale is usually a sequence of steps that gets you closer to the goal line and the score – not a one shot “Hail Mary” pass. By focusing all aspects of your business as part of marketing you will no doubt become the champion in your industry.
These five keys are a few of the essential building blocks of creating winning marketing. However, the biggest point of leverage any business owner can have their marketing attitude. Are you marketing offensively or defensively? Are you the aggressor or accepting what the competition dictates? How you approach your marketing is the single biggest determining factor of your success.
“The history of diet plan dated from the moment that the first monkey evoluted to be a lady”. My confidant jessica always says so. Wow, you may get the point. Just as what she says, her “process of becoming beauty” turns out to be a long long road like the human being evolution history.When we were sophomore, I had to catch her back to our dormitory from square, because this guy actually asked me such questions, “wil, why are there so much candy floating on ground? Are they sweety? Could I have them?”. Well, you couldn’t eat them until you became transformer. I told myself. What could I do? The only thing was to buy real candy and huge hamburgs feeding this extreme hungry girl having no food for three days!Then the next time, I saved her life from endless jogging and aerobic training. After that, jessica experiences differential “keep-fit” programs, and I go through kinds of rescue stories.The only result I get from jessica’s lession is that losing weight is really really hard, and beauty is cruel. I comfort myselt that it is not bad to be Ugly Betty, at least I could be safe and I am alive.Yet one day, jessica turns up again, glamorously and brightly. No baby fat, no laziness, but body tight and healthy!I even couldn’t believe my eyes. What have you met? A generous orthopedic surgeon?She smiles mysteriously, and gives me the data. What is it? I read it with suspicion at first. Yet during the process of reading, I am really convinced of by Isabel De Rios. Yes, that is the truth of beauty—no harm for health, and be energetic.Then I do some detailed study on The Diet Solution Program, Isabel De Rios’ theory. I find that two new viewpoints bright Diet Solution Program.The first is that you are what you eat. Of course we eat everyday, and acquire energy from food. Yet maybe people don’t know that some food are good—nutritional for them; some food are bad—harmful for them. The Diet Solution Program tells people how to choose food, and what and when to eat.The second is to free people’s nature, so they could design their own diet plans on different circumstances. It means that people will not obey strict rules, for example people could only have one apple a day, or the calories is less than 100. Otherwise the diet plan would be failed!To be frank, I have never met such easy and useful the diet solution program. Only a few days later. I feel the whole body is full of energy, the fat disappears, even the pores on face is smaller.What a magic program! You could read the ebook here , and another beautiful one for yourself.
The soccer kit is not just the uniform that a soccer team wears when playing. It means so much more and has evolved from its humble beginning in much the same way as the soccer boot. Beginning life as a simple top to help distinguish one team’s players from the other team, the soccer shirt has become a piece of design and innovation and more importantly to soccer fans across the globe – a fashion accessory.
When soccer became an organised sport in the mid 1800s, the formation of the English Football Association brought many rules to the previously anarchic sport. However, uniforms or kits were not one of the early rules as players generally wore whatever they liked with a coloured cap or scarf used to distinguish themselves from other players. Soccer in England was played mainly by wealthy gentlemen who were financially able to purchase a suitable shirt in their club’s colours – with plain white t-shirts the most popular kit due to its ease to obtain and being relatively cheap.
In a handbook published in 1867, it was advised that ‘if it can be previously so arranged, to have one side with striped jerseys of one colour, say red, and the other with another, say blue. This prevents confusion and wild attempts to wrest the ball from your neighbour.’ However, from the inception of the Football Association in 1863, it still took over a decade for soccer kits to appear and become a regular part of the game.
The first kits that appeared were generally taken from public schools, with teams such as Blackburn Rovers adopting the colours initially of Cambridge University as many of their players were former students. Many of the original kits were garish and brash, shown by Reading’s use of a salmon pink, claret and blue uniform – a million miles from the simple royal blue and white of today.
As the sport moved away from a middle class hobby and became popular as a working class occupation, the kits were to evolve with the sport itself. Individuals would no longer be responsible for providing their own uniform, as clubs began to adopt specific colours and provide the kit for their team to wear.
Association football became increasingly popular with spectators and so the soccer players’ attire was to be affected to improve the ease of viewing. This led to the abandonment of bright, gaudy colours in favour of distinctive primary uniforms to enable viewers to easily identify their team from a distance.
As the game evolved, the equipment used also changed, with the invention of shin pads by Sam Weller Widdowson in 1874. His use of cut down cricket pads outside of his stockings would also evolve into smaller pads worn inside the socks, a more familiar concept to the modern-day soccer player.
Shorts and socks were not considered a part of the team’s kit until around the turn of the century. In 1901, new regulations were introduced making socks officially part of the strip as well as so-called ‘knickers’ not being required to be lower than the knee leading to the ‘soccer shorts’ that we see today. It was in the first twenty years of the 20th Century that the soccer kit of today really began to take shape.
Forty years on from the first soccer kits, and with association football becomingly increasingly popular in the UK, soccer kit styles became more fashionable and design-conscious in the early 1900s. Popular shirt designs included the eternal favourite of vertical stripes, although the pinstripe of the 1800s was replaced with a wider stripe. The First World War prevented the UK soccer league from continuing from 1914 until the competition returned in 1919.
Between 1919 and the next suspension of professional soccer in 1939 with the outbreak of war with Germany, kit innovation had slowed down and the most notable change of the period occurred in the 1930s. Collars replaced crew necks and shorts were no longer plain with the inclusion of stripes down the side of the leg. The most influential change was shown by north London’s Arsenal when their kit had red shirts with contrasting white sleeves, a design that is still their home kit to this day.
Another introduction that appeared in this period was the introduction of shirt numbers, experimented with by Arsenal before becoming more common in 1939 before the Second World War. Numbers would go on to play a significant role in the merchandise sales of shirts in the latter part of the 20th century, but were used initially to allow easier identification of players.
After the end of World War II, rationing would play a major part in the development of soccer kits. Clubs would struggle to replace old kits due to clothing rations and so would play in the same kits for years or borrow full strips from other teams, including rugby clubs. KIts began to keep a level of consistency and teams opted to maintain a specific colour uniform which would become associated with their club.
The baggy, loose-fitting shorts of the early parts of the century were gradually replaced during the 1950s when kits became more streamlined to aid speed and agility of players. This change in style and design coincided with the European influence on the previously English-dominated sport as soccer started to evolve into a worldwide phenomenon.
The 1950s saw the introduction of the European Cup, renamed as the UEFA Champions League, won for the first five years by Spain’s all-white Real Madrid. As the game became publicised through the popularity of both club and country competitions, television also introduced soccer to a wider audience across the world. The sport gained followers from many countries and backgrounds and so the players’ attire and the players themselves took on the role of soccer icons.
The arrival of the swinging 60s brought a new type of soccer player to the public’s attention as the sport’s popularity reached unprecedented highs. The club game was full of well-supported teams including the red of Liverpool and the black and blue stripes of Italy’s Internazionale. Alongside the club game, the FIFA World Cup brought a whole new level of interest with the global superstars of the Brazil squad including such greats as Pele and Garrincha.
The popularity of the sport, combined with the new levels of skill demonstrated by some of the new stars of soccer ensured that team kits would need to be as eye-catching and iconic as the players. With television coverage increasing, soccer teams would have to improve the quality of their kits as a symbol of the success and skill that the team possessed. Clubs would begin to realise the potential of a commercially appealing soccer kit in the future, and this belief began to take shape as the 1960s rolled on.
The 1960s saw the arrival of football superstars like George Best, raising the profile of the game to encompass more than just fans of the sport. Often referred to as the ‘fifth Beatle’, Best would be symbollic of the new appeal that the modern 60s soccer player had in society. Best’s fanbase extended past the Manchester United fanbase, in the same way that David Beckham’s celebrity status would engulf the world thirty years later.
With the new soccer celebrity, clubs would realise the commercial potential of their assets and would develop their kits and sales techniques to achieve maximum financial benefits. It wasn’t until 1975 that the first official shirts went on sale in England when Leeds United launched the first ever replica kit. The shirts were made by Admiral and featured a club badge, consequently raising the price for supporters wishing to wear their team’s colours. Previously able to buy a generic white shirt, Leeds fans would now have to spend more than twice as much money on the official replica shirt.
The arrival of the replica kit would have the biggest impact imaginable on the evolution soccer kit. Club badges would become a marketable aspect of the kit, with clubs seeking to register the copyright to protect their investment. Kit makers such as Admiral, Bukta and Umbro would waive their fees for producing the kit in return for a cut of the profits generated by shirt sales, a commercial practice that continues to this day.
Another practice that would enter the soccer kit design would be the introduction of shirt sponsors in the late 1970s. Initially, clubs would show the name of the kit manufacturers, as demonstrated by the first UK club sponsor of Hibernian FC with shirts showing Bukta on the chest. This quickly evolved into a marketing strategy for both club and sponsor, with the soccer team earning substantial financial rewards for advertising the sponsor’s name.
Kit sponsorship remained conservative in the UK, with teams only allowed to display one sponsor up until the 21st century when restrictions were stretched. Clubs would print sponsors on their shorts as well as on the backs of shirts – although this had been common practice in countries such as Mexico for years. Mexican club sides would display three or four sponsors on their shirts, often with two or three individual company names solely on the shirt’s front.
The 1980s saw a trend for slim-fitting shirts and smaller shorts, epitomised by the all red Liverpool kit worn by such Kop legends as Dalglish, Rush and Hansen. These kits gave way to the baggy, retro look of the 90s that was introduced when the Premier League was launched in 1992. Bold colours and unusual patterns were often chosen, sometimes as a second or third kit with a traditional design as the club’s main uniform.
Squad numbers were used by Premier League clubs in another attempt to boost revenue from shirt sales, as popular player’s names were blazened across the backs of supporters in the stands. With so many kits available for each club, shirt sales became a major part of the soccer club’s economy and so regular changes occur to boost club funds and profits. It is not unusual for a club to release two or three different shirt designs each year in an attempt to capitalise on the soccer shirt’s commercial draw.
So what does the future hold for the soccer shirt? With skin-tight lycra, baggy-retro look, sleeveless shirts and animal prints all making an appearance in the last 150 years, the possibilities are endless. As new fabrics, designs and styles become popular, the soccer shirt of the future holds so many possibilities.
Since the first ever World Cup of football in 1930, it has been the ultimate stage for any footballer. Representing your country at the highest level is the dream of almost any sportsperson. Sometimes, however, a player will be regarded by many as one of, maybe even the best in the world, but for reasons beyond their control does not make it to a World Cup in their career. In other instances, reasons within their control, for example, bad attitude hinder their chances for international football.
In this article, I will run through the list of arguably the greatest players to have never represented their country in a World Cup.
Ryan Giggs: Born in 1973, Ryan Giggs has played for Manchester United since the 1990-91 season, coming through their youth system. By the age of 20, Giggs had firmly established himself as United´s first choice left winger. As a youngster, he played for and captained England at schoolboy level, but as an adult, played for Wales. Giggs retired from international football in 2007, ending an international career which included no World Cups.
Duncan Edwards: Another Manchester United player, Edwards was born in 1936 and played a number of matches for England, featuring in all of England´s qualifiers for the 1958 World Cup. He was expected by many to play a key part for his country in the World Cup Finals. Tragically, when returning to England from Belgrade, the plane carrying Edwards and a number of other United players crashed in Munich. Duncan Edwards later died in hospital, denying the World Cup of this great talent.
Eric Cantona: The controversial French forward referred to by some as “King Eric”, Cantona is one of the most iconic footballers to have played in England. Despite being an important player for Manchester United, a mixture of disagreement with the French national coach, France´s failure to qualify for the World Cup in 1994, the introduction of Zidédine Zidane and the 1995 Suspension of Cantona for kicking a Crystal Palace supporter stopped him from making a World Cup appearance.
George Weah: One of, if not, the best player to come out of Africa, George Weah played his international football for Liberia, who, in his playing career did not qualify for a World Cup. Weah made up for this with his club career. Whilst at Monaco, he won the 1991 French cup. In 1994 he won the French league with Paris Saint Germain. Following this successful period in France, Weah moved to Italy to play for AC Milan. After being named as the African Player of the Year in 1989 and 1994, he won the award again in 1995 whilst also winning the World Best Player and European Footballer of the Year awards. Whilst playing for AC Milan, Weah achieved two league titles. To top off his list of achievements he was named African Player of the Century.
Alfredo di Stéfano: This striker was named by Pelé as one of the Top 125 Greatest Living Footballers in 2004 and had an impressive career with a number of clubs including Real Madrid in Spain.
Di Stéfano was voted European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959 during his time in Madrid. Linking up with Ferenc Puskás, he managed 216 goals in 262 games between 1953 and 1964.
During his career, Di Stéfano played six games for Argentina, four for Columbia and 31 times for Spain. He was playing for Argentina at the time of the 1950 World Cup, however, the South American country refused to take part. In 1954, he was ineligible to play, having played for Argentina and Columbia. In 1958, Di Stéfano had acquired Spanish citizenship. He played for Spain in the buildup in 1957, but was unable to help them qualify for the finals. A muscular injury prevented him from playing in 1962, making him one of the best players to have not played in a World Cup.
George Best: Born in 1946, the Northern Irish Winger who is best known for his time at Manchester United. Combined pace, balance and acceleration with his ability to use both feet allowed Best to beat defenders and score a number of goals.
Known not only for his ability on the field, but also for living a stylish lifestyle, Best was one of the first footballers to be known as a celebrity. During his time at Manchester United, he scored 138 goals in 361 games. Playing for Northern Ireland, he managed nine goals in 37 matches, unfortunately, during the greatest years of Best´s career, his country did not manage to qualify for the World Cup. He was considered for the 1982 competition, which Northern Ireland qualified for, but at the age of 36, manager Billy Bingham chose note to pick him. Despite this, Best is still considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time.
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The world of finance tends to be one of the elite and privileged, in which those with the best pedigrees from the most impressive universities often dominate the landscape and culture. The road to investment banking remains a reasonably consistent, predictable trek: expensive private school to Ivy League to Wall Street. Growing up in Southern California, Andrew Kline knew little about this precedent. Moreover, he endured several hardships that complicated the journey to his long-term goals. Not to be deterred, though, Kline carved his own path to a prestigious position in finance, and he did it with persistence and fortitude.
Born to an insurance company owner and a stay-at-home mother, Andrew grew up comfortably with a well-to-do family in West Los Angeles. However, fortunes eventually turned amidst a recession in the state’s insurance industry. As insurance firms began to go under one by one, the Klines’ company soon suffered a similar fate. With what they had worked so hard to build gone so suddenly, they were faced with the reality of starting over from scratch. The fallout led to friction in the family and uncertainty about the future: “We went from being a wealthy family to having very little. All of a sudden I went, ‘Wow, I don’t have that company to take over anymore, we don’t have money anymore, and what are we going to do?’”
Because of the resulting difficulties at home, Andrew left and spent most of high school living with friends. One day early in his freshman year, he stumbled upon a new interest, telling his mother and brother, “I found football, and I love it. I’m going to get a college scholarship and I’m going to play in the NFL.” Not only did he love it, he was great at it gifted with the rare combination of size, speed, athleticism and motivation that is so rare at such a young age. With all of the problems surrounding his life, Andrew poured all of his energy into football. It became the most important part of his life. Within a few years, scouts and college coaches took notice, contacting Andrew and his coaches about playing at the next level.
Though he had been let down many times during his adolescence, Andrew refused to let himself down. He backed up his confidence by earning a full athletic scholarship to play football at San Diego State University. His play at the guard position was impressive enough to get him drafted in 2000 by the St. Louis Rams, the defending Super Bowl champions.
Andrew continued to ride the high of accomplishing his goals and immediately impressed the Rams’ coaching staff with his ability and determination. The team’s head coach, Mike Martz, told the media that Andrew was the most impressive rookie on the squad. Assistant coaches praised his knowledge of the game and labeled him a future force on the Rams’ offensive line. Sure enough, he earned a starting spot as he inched closer and closer to fulfilling his considerable potential. Just when everything seemed to be working out, another tremendous obstacle emerged.
One day during practice, Andrew suffered a devastating hit that left him with a severe concussion, which gave him fits of seizures and vomiting. Ever the competitor, he did his best to play on in spite of the injury in hopes of holding his starting position. But when he found himself unable to remember even the simplest of plays, he saw the team psychiatrist for tests. The results came in as he was preparing for what would have been one of the biggest games of his life: Monday Night Football against the Oakland Raiders. His brain had endured too much trauma, and the next hit could have been his last: “The doctor said that if I had played in that game and taken another hit, I could have had permanent brain damage or even died, because my brain was in such a fragile state.” Andrew would never play football again.
Everything his life had revolved around for the past ten years was taken away in a heartbeat. The concussion left him a shell of the man he was just months before. He had taken an IQ test before the NFL draft in 2000 and scored in the 90th percentile; after the injury, he was in the 40th percentile and remained there for more than 18 months. It would be over a year before he felt normal again.
Again facing a crossroads in his life, Andrew was forced to consider his next step. Damaged and defeated, Andrew returned to San Diego and spent the next 18 months rehabilitating his traumatic head injuries. Eventually, he went to work for a real estate developer, earning only $400 a month. Depressed with the monotonous work, frustrated by the recurring side effects of the concussions, and seeking a change, he took a trip to Indonesia hoping to come to some sort of realization. There, he met a group of professional surfers and spent the next month getting to know them. He wondered to himself, “What if I started a surf school with these guys?” The Australian Surf Academy became an instant success, and Andrew was able to add some money to what he had saved from his time in the NFL.
Having lost over $17,000 a year earlier in the stock market when his broker made risky investments with his money, Andrew had become inspired to learn about an alternative real estate investing. With some cash to comfortably invest for the first time in years, he decided to enter the real estate business himself and started buying property in San Diego and Arizona. His timing and ability to find a deal could not have been better. He showed a natural skill for flipping properties—buying houses or tracts of land, fixing them up, and reselling the properties for substantial profit. Timing the market perfectly, Andrew founded a land-investment private equity group that returned over 700% in three years: “I was buying hundreds of acres of useless land for $2,500 per acre and selling it back to large developers for $25,000 acre. It was such an amazing time.”
Following his success in real estate, a young and confident Andrew Kline joined up with a team of high net worth investors and attempted to buy a professional hockey franchise. As the deal fell apart, Andrew recognized a clear need in the marketplace to effectively value sports franchises and handle the ensuing transactions: “Even the most sophisticated investment banks on Wall Street were unable to properly value a professional sports team or lead the acquisition process for potential owners.” As a result of this experience, Andrew founded Park Lane, a sports investment bank that has worked on transactions with teams from all of the major sports, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. Park Lane typically concentrates on deals of values between $100 million and $1 billion.
With relevant experience, specialized knowledge, and a propensity for capital raising and deal closing, Park Lane has built an impressive reputation in the narrowly defined market of sports finance. The boutique investment bank provides corporate finance services, mergers and acquisitions advisory, valuations and restructuring to its clients—leagues, franchises, sports businesses and wealthy sports investors. The firm additionally offers financial advisory, research, consulting and business development.
Having settled down in Los Angeles with his wife and young son, Andrew Kline now runs a thriving sports investment bank worth millions. Only 32 years old, he believes he still has much to accomplish. Though the odds were stacked against him for much of his life, Andrew has overcome the obstacles thanks to humility, a relentless work ethic, and a strong business vision. He has made a few mistakes and wrong turns along the way, but he has learned from them and moved on as a more well-rounded individual. Andrew Kline’s underdog success story of courage and perseverance not only explains his inevitable rise to the top, but it also should serve as inspiration for those who have fallen on hard times and see no end to the adversity in sight.
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