Junior Gunners meet their Arsenal heroes

Arsenal Football Club’s full first team squad today attended the annual Junior Gunners Awards at Emirates Stadium, opening its doors to special members of the Club’s junior supporters’ club. All nominated by a friend or family for a special achievement or bravery, the Junior Gunners in attendance on the day were presented with an award by a member of the first team squad.

The Awards, hosted by Junior Gunners’ Manager Sue Campbell and assisted by Club mascot Gunnersaurus, honour young members who have been brave, shown dedication academically or sportingly, or simply shown empathetic support for the Club. The winners were also able to meet the attending players for autographs and pictures to remember their special day.

Sue Campbell said: “The Awards day is always a very special one – it’s an opportunity for our dedicated young supporters to meet the first team, but more importantly, they get well deserved recognition for personal achievements or bravery.”

Arsenal forward and England international Theo Walcott added: “It was great to come down to Emirates Stadium for the Junior Gunners Awards again this year. What some of these youngsters have experienced or achieved is amazing and this is a great reward for them. I hope they’ve all enjoyed their day with us for this special ceremony. Personally, I would like to say well done to all of the Junior Gunners here today.”

The Junior Gunners, for Arsenal supporters up to 16 years, is a great Club which runs many exciting events and competitions throughout the season. Members receive a fantastic souvenir pack, have the exclusive chance to be a mascot at a match throughout the season and have access to reduced price tickets for first team matches at Emirates Stadium.

Membership costs just £22 or £25 for overseas supporters (Republic of Ireland, Europe and rest of the world). Supporters can contact the Junior Gunners office for an application form by calling or by emailing jgunners@arsenal.co.uk.

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The English Premier Soccer League

Regarded as the most popular and richest soccer league in the world, the English Premier League was established in 1992 after breaking away from the traditional Football League. Now in its sixteenth season, the Premier League is capable of attracting the best soccer players from around the world and its top teams compete regularly in the latter stages of Europe's premier soccer tournament, the UEFA Champions League.

Origins of the Premier League: During the 1980s, the reputation of English soccer was at an all time low. Years of misbehavior from fans and a number of related tragedies, had subsequently led to English clubs getting banned from participating in European club competitions.

For this reason the top clubs were unable to sign the best players and they could not complete financially with the major teams in the other European leagues. Consequently, spectator attendances at many of the games began to decline rapidly.

However by 1990, many of these trends began to reverse. The English national team played a great tournament in that year's World Cup, reaching the semi-finals and this encouraged a feeling of renewed interest in the game. UEFA removed its ban on English clubs participating in the Champions League and compulsory seating was introduced in all stadiums to alleviate the problems associated with violence amongst spectators.

In the midst of this renewed optimism, the top soccer clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United decided to break away from the existing league structure to capitalize on the influx of television money that was offered by new satellite broadcasters such as Sky TV.

In 1992 all top division clubs resigned from the football league and formed the Premier League. This was a unique structure that effectively created a limited company that was able to negotiate commercial revenue and share the benefits based upon performance.

Structure of the Premier League: The Premier League consists of twenty soccer clubs from all regions across England. They play a thirty-eight match season that begins in August each year and is concluded the following May. All teams compete home and away against the other teams twice.

At the completion of the season, the bottom three teams are demoted to the football league and replaced by the three best teams in that league the following season. The winners of the Premier League are declared the champions and are eligible to play in following season's UEFA Champions League, along with the next top three teams.

Notable Clubs: The most successful club in the history of the Premier League is Manchester United. In the 2007/08 season they won the competition for a record tenth time. The only other teams to win the league are Arsenal, Chelsea and Blackburn.

The Future of the Premier League: By 2008 the top English clubs, through their ability to negotiate ever increasing commercial revenues have created a global sports brand that allows them to dominate European club soccer. In the last four seasons, an English team has reached the final of the Champions League.

However, the impact of this success at the top of the English soccer league is having a detrimental effect on the teams at the lower scale of the league system. Many teams are struggling to survive financially and there is much criticism and concern that the concentration of wealth and power in a small group of teams may have long term negative consequences for the future of the game.


Author: Daniel Millions

Diego Maradona- Falling From Grace

Diego Armando Maradona was without doubt one of the best footballers the world has ever seen. A controversial character that oozed undisputable talent. On the pitch he displayed a will to win and had the ability to change the game single handedly- a true footballing genius. Yet, off the field he was often troubled and caught up in wrong-doing.

Maradona started his international career at the tender age of 16. He played 91 times for his country and scored 34 goals. He competed in four World Cups, the first in 1982. He played every game and scored twice but was sent off against Brazil as they were defeated in the second round.

He returned to captain the national team in the 1986 World Cup. He was the most dynamic player of the tournament and led Argentina to victory, playing every game and scoring five goals whilst making five assists. The two goals he scored against England depicted the best and worst of the midfield magician. The first goal was scored with his hand, the 'Hand of God', and the second goal has been voted Goal of the Century. He managed to dominate the tournament in a way no player has ever done before.

Maradona played with an injury in the 1990 World Cup. He captained the team with less influence than in the previous years. He missed a penalty in the quarter final but Argentina advanced to the semi-final against Italy. This game was also decided on penalties with Maradona scoring in the shoot out. Although the team had fought their way to the final, they were edged out by West Germany.

In the World Cup in the United States in 1994 was set to be his international swan-song. Argentina's hero played in the first two games of the tournament, scoring an excellent goal against Greece. In celebration Maradona exhibited a maniacal full-face goal celebration into a telvision camera

. Unfortunately for Diego, his international career ended in disgrace when he failed a drugs test. Maradona tested positive for ephedrene, a banned stimulant, and without their talisman Argentina were knocked out in the second round.

The modern day Maradona is a sad parody of the snake-hipped, mercury-heeled star who astonished the globe back in the 1986 Mexico World Cup. While it is hard to sympathise with somebody whose problems have been largely self-inflicted, Diego Maradona has rarely had help when he needed it. Such was his stature, that the unscrupulous were all too ready to use him for their ends, and he became a political pawn.


Author: Patrick Omari

World Cup Qualifiers: Uefa Previews for the Next Round

Several European teams are getting prepared for the next qualifying round which is going to be held this next weekend. Portugal and Sweden are going to play this Saturday October 11th and while Portugal recovers their all star player Cristiano Ronaldo, Sweden on the other hand, has lost almost half of their top players because of injuries.

The match is going to be held at the Rasunda Stadium, in Sweden, where the local team has only lost one game in 10 years.

Portugal, which is part of the UEFA Group 1, currently is at the 4th place of the group with three points after beating Malta 4-0. However, after that they were beaten at home by Denmark 3-2. The 3 teams in the group placed above Portugal are Denmark, Albania and Sweden, all of them with four points after two games.

"From here on in it's going to be difficult and we can't lose any more games like we did against Denmark," said Ronaldo "I can assure you we'll be looking for three points in Sweden," he added. "I want us to play our usual game and make the Swedes defend and cause them headaches...".

Ronaldo was a doubt since he underwent an ankle surgery after the Euro 2008. In Portugal lineup, there are some important players missing too. Deco, who plays with Chelsea, has a torn muscle and cannot play. Midfielder Maniche, winger Simao Sabrosa and central defender Ricardo Carvalho are also sidelined with injuries.

However, for Sweden the picture is even worse, Strikers Henrik Larsson and Markus Rosenberg, defender Olof Mellberg, and midfielders Christian Wilhelmsson, Tobias Linderoth and Anders Svensson are out of the team due to injuries as well.

On the other hand, for UEFA Group 5 in the qualifying round, there are a lot of concerns about injuries too for the games of this weekend. For the Spanish coach, Vicente del Bosque, the mayor concerns are Sergio Ramos and Andres Iniesta who had both leg injuries. Nevertheless, there are also some good news for the team, some of the players that were injured are now back, such as Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena and Raul Albiol, and some others are expected to be back later.

Del Bosque is considering on making some other changes in the midfield since two of the players are sidelined. But after all, they are very confident with the work that the team has been doing since they consider that they cannot be playing better than right now and that they are targeting the most important title. Spain is facing Estonia this coming Saturday and they are planning to do their best at this game.

Xavi Hernandez also expressed that he is pleased with the team, "Without a doubt, we all feel more appreciated, more important across the world. We just needed to win something," Xavi said. "Myself, personally, I feel better prepared, stronger."

Some other teams are getting prepared as well, since most of the second round qualification matches are going to be held during the weekend. Certainly this will be a very exciting weekend and we will be anxious to see the results.

Author: Audrey Nolan