French racial quotas for black and Arab football players

A news report that top French soccer officials were considering racial quotas to limit the number of black and Arab players in national training programs has set off a furor in France. Officials have denied the report by investigative news site Mediapart, which quoted what it said were minutes from a Nov. 8 meeting that discussed setting a limit of 30 percent on nonwhite players.

The technical director of the French Football Federation has been suspended by the sports ministry pending an investigation.

The national team coach, Laurent Blanc, who played on France's 1998 World Cup champions, has denied that quotas were being considered. That team was called "black, beurre, blanc" for its successful racial mix of black, Arab and white players -- and led to some criticism from right-winger Jean-Marie Le Pen that it did not represent France.

The racial issue surfaced again last year when France crashed out of the World Cup tournament in South Africa after a training field strike. Black players and a white convert to Islam were blamed as the ringleaders and suspended from the national team. They were heavily criticized as unpatriotic and ungrateful.

Some of the alleged discussion at the November meeting centered on assuring that players shared the same "values" and avoiding investing in players with dual nationality who might go play for their parents' homelands. Read the full story at TheRoot

Dutch football player Clarence Seedorf receives royal decoration in the presence of Berlusconi

AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf has been named a Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau, bestowed by the Netherlands for his services to football and charity work.

Alphonsus Staelinga, the Dutch ambassador to Italy, presented Seedorf, who is born in Suriname, with the honor in a ceremony on Thursday that was also attended by Milan president and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi (photo AP).

"If he is the coach of AC Milan, he can bring his brother and cousin immediately, we don't mind a little nepotism,” joked Silvio Berlusconi.

Seedorf is the only player to have won the Champions League with three different clubs—Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998 and Milan in 2003 and 2007.

In 2005, Seedorf founded the "Champions for Children foundation". He also owns an Italian football club in the serie C.

Asked if he might retire at the end of this season, the 35-year-old Seedorf declined, saying he remains motivated and fit.

Although Seedorf is a hero in Italy he is not very popular in the Netherlands. Although he is regarded as one of the most successful Dutch football players.

The reason why is not very popular is because of his role in a conflict in the Dutch national team during the European football championship in 1996, which eventually led to a dramatic performance in the tournament.

The media saw it as conflict between the black (Surinamese) and the white Dutch players, but it actually was a power struggle over salary within in their club team Ajax.

World Fencing Champion Maureen Nisima joins the champion supporters backing Annecy Olympics Bid 2018 (France)

Following on from her first individual world Epée title at the World Championships held in November at the Grand Palais in Paris, French fencer Maureen Nisima has come out behind the French bid to host the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, reports Around the Rings.

This new title adds to Maureen Nisima's already impressive record, with 2 world team titles in 2008 and 2008. The champion, already a figurehead in the fencing world, adds her name to the list of sports champions backing Annecy's bid for 2018.

Video of Nisima giving fencing lessons to a journalist


Maureen Nisima was born in Bondy France (1981) and is of Martinique origin. The French national fencing team has many fencers from the Caribbean and French Guiana.

Russia won the 2018 World Cup! But ...

Russia has been chosen to host the 2018 World Cup, but the country still has a slight diversity problem. Or better it has some problems with ethic diversity.

On the Dutch 8 O'clock news the reporter in Russia expressed her concern about the safety of African teams and their supporters. She noted the widespread racism in Russia towards people from different ethnic origins.

It appears drunken Russian football fans attack people from the Asian republic Uzbekistan after a football match. Uzbekistan is a former Sovjet republic.

But I am sure Poetin wants so show a Russia that can not only build stadiums for the World Cup, but also a Russia that can handle a World Cup audience.

Who will host the FIFA World Cup in 2018?

The Fifa World Cup 2018 hosting ballot will be on Thursday December 2nd. But after the latest revelations of corruption it's not clear if it will be a fair race.

Former international football star Ruud Gullit, who is the president of Holland and Belgium's joint bid, says in an interview (Dutch) in Football International today that the scandals create an advantage for the candidacy of the Netherlands and Belgium.

The Fifa World Cup race 2018 is between England, Russia, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium.

I think Spain/Portugal will get the Prize.

Rama Yade: "Too Many Blacks In French Sports? Perhaps Alain Finkielkraut Had 'A Point'"

From the US political blog Booker Rising. A translation of Rama Yade's comments about the overrepresentation of black players in the national French football team.

The French Secretary of State for Sport and moderate-conservative is uncomfortable with the high numbers of blacks and Arabs in French sport, arguing that it demonstrates lack of opportunity in France:

(commentary in French): "This week I participated in 'Diversity In Action,' a magnificent operation organized each year in Lyon with my friends Ali and Faisal Kismoune Douhane to promote diversity in French society. Around the debate 'Sport and Diversity"' which brought together Pascal Boniface, Olivia Cattan and Jean-Michel Aulas, everyone, including me, was extolling the virtue of inclusive sports. It is true that Marcel Cerdan (French Algerian origin) and Michel Platini (of Italian origin) Yannick Noah (from Cameroon), Mehdi Baala (of North African origin), and the black-white-Arab team players of the 1998 French soccer team, are all children of immigrants who passed through sport and show our young people today who identify themselves, they can escape through sport."

She continues her commentary: "At a point in the debate, I felt a slight discomfort. This relentless promotion of sport as a means of social success struck me as suspicious. Is it not somewhere a symptom of a failed society? As if sport is asked to manage those it no longer wants or has failed to integrate at school or the workforce. As if other than sports, these young immigrant could not do anything else. The legs yes, but not the head. They run so fast....But our young people from immigrant backgrounds would to become a Zidane or Noah, given a high chance of failure because not everyone has the capacity to become a world champion or to win Roland Garros! In short, these young people, could they not also entitled to medical professions, journalists or lawyers? However, it is as if these trades are considered inaccessible, we choose to ghettoize youth of immigrant origin. Without solving the problems of access to the labor market because one cannot remain a top sportsman all his life, who must think of a time or another in his retraining. The labor market always eventually catches up with you, with its problems of discrimination that thought away, turning to the sport."

Secretary Yade brings up Alain Finkielkraut, a conservative French essayist who in 2005 commented that the French soccer team was "black, black, black" (as opposed to black, white, Arab: "Result: young aspiring athletes have never been numerous. Moreover, there is no problem of diversity on the field and in stadiums (in leadership, however, it's tragic!). Quite the reverse. The France soccer team, they say, has eventually become....black, black, black! Damn, is it possible that Alain Finkielkraut has been misunderstood?"

Read original French article here

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Will Holland win the World Cup?

23rd JUNE 1988. European Championships Final. Holland 2 v USSR 0. Holland's captain Ruud Gullit
Will Holland win the World Cup? Somehow most of the Dutch critics believe Spain will win. One critic said: "Lets be honest, we aren't really that good."

Even Dutch legend Ruud Gullit had his doubts about this team. Ruud Gullit, who scored the opener in the 1988 European Championship final triumph against the USSR and also coined the phrase "sexy football", believes that to make an impact in South Africa, the Netherlands may have to sacrifice style for substance and abandon their traditional 'total football' approach.

"I have my doubts about whether Holland can win it, simply because we need to play well in all the games," he said. "The opposition seem to have sussed us out at the last few tournaments, which makes it difficult to play our game, but I hope we will do well. There is a great possibility to get through our group but it's going to be hard. I always hope that, when we get through our group, we can win games ugly - that would be a turning point." (source ESPN)

But although Spain has a great competition, they have never won the World Cup. It's fifty/fifty.

Brazil Lost 2010 FIFA World cup Quarter Finals against Netherlands

The five times world cup champion Brazil lost their quarter finals match against Netherlands (1-2) in the FIFA World cup 2010 at Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth. The Brazilian player Felipe Melo helped Netherlands triumph by scoring in own goal. 

The first half of the match, Brazil got the early lead after Robinho scored before the ten minute. Brazil was capable to hold on to that lead and it seems like they are way on Semi-finals. But, in the 53 minute of the match, Wesley Sneijder got a free kick. Felipe Melo tried to head the ball away; unluckily it went into the rival goal, tying the score. In 67 minute, Sneijder made one more goal giving the lead to Netherlands.

The coach of Brazilian team Dunga took over on a 4 year contract from Carlos Alberto Parreira after Brazil lost to France at the similar stage in 2006 and even before this loss he had specified that he wasn’t predictable to persist no matter the outcome at the tournament.The Dutch team started the match playing the ball fine and stopping the attacks Brazilians with a tough mark. The temperature goes up when Robben and Van Bommel also suffered shortages in the midfield. Robinho came to argue harshly with the Dutch.

The Brazilian lost his title. Felipe Melo was sent off. Holland played the ball and they used to supervise the anxiety Brazilian advantage. It was not until the end. After 2 outs in World Cups for Brazil, the Netherlands reached rank.

PR: wait...  I: wait...  L: wait...  LD: wait...  I: wait... wait...  Rank: wait...  Traffic: wait...  Price: wait...  C: wait...

Funny Dutch World Cup commercial

A great beer commercial. A video with Diego Maradona (Argentina-England), Saeed el Oweian (Saudi Arabia-Belgium) and Augustine "Jay=Jay" Okocha (Nigeria- Germany) and Ari Haan (Netherlands-Italy).

I think the message is: why do it the hard way, if you can do it easy.

What’s R. Kelly doing at the World Cup?

What’s R. Kelly doing at the World Cup? This is one of the biggest world events and they let R. Kelly perform?

R. Kelly’s new song “Sign of a Victory” is chosen as one of the three official 2010 FIFA World Cup anthems. Kelly and the South African group the Soweto Spiritual Singers, will perform “Victory” at the June 11 opening ceremony in Johannesburg.

I know Mr Kelly was never convicted of having, how shall I put it .., "indecent video material", but I when I heard of it I never listened to his music again.

Couldn’t they have chosen someone who is more ..., how shall I put it, in line with modern international Black standards.

World Cup Opening Ceremony Without Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening World Cup match as his family grieved the death of great grandchild Zenani, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Friday.

The statesman said that it would be "inappropriate" to be present after Zenani Mandela, 13, was killed in a car accident in the early hours of Friday morning as she returned home from a World cup concert near Johannesburg. Read full story here

Video: South African World Cup 2010 and Nelson Mandela.

German bobsledder Richard Adjei wins silver at Winter Games

Germany's gold-silver finish in Sunday's two-man bobsleigh only reinforced the perception that the country dominates sliding sports.

Silver medal-winning brakeman Richard Adjei hopes his skin colour helps to change a different perception.

"I want to show people, hey, Germany changed," said Adjei, the 27-year-old son of a German father and Ghanaian mother. "A lot of people still think Germany's mean and bad, you know? I'm half white, half black, I'm at the Games, representing my country and I'm proud.

"When I do sport, and compete well, they say, 'Germany's changed.'"

The Dusseldorf-raised brakeman is in his first Olympics. He's a former linebacker for the Berlin Thunder in the now-defunct NFL Europe and shifted to bobsleigh in 2007. Despite having played in front of 50,000 football fans, he said seeing the crowd and all the German flags made him nervous Sunday.

Read full story at The Vancouver Sun

Black athlete carries Dutch flag in Olympic procession Winter Games

Dutch bobsledder Timothy Beck carried the Dutch flag in the Olympic procession at Winter Games in Vancouver. He was chosen for his achievements as a team builder. It’s Beck’s third Olympics.

For Dutch flag bearer Timothy Beck the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Vancouver became a special night with many emotions.

When the French Canadian musician Garou played the song "Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin", (A little higher, a little further) Beck’s thoughts were with his deceased parents for a moment. Beck: "I thought: you have done well, that your son is now standing here".

Moments earlier there was a one minute silence for the Georgian luger Norad Koemaritasjvili, who crashed earlier that day.

"This is of awful of course. It already casts a shadow over the Olympics."

For Beck the lugar accident is an extra warning, because he will also start on this track with his bobsled team.


Afro-Europe

Black Europeans competing at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver

The black European athletes at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver 2010

France

Vanessa James - Figure skating
James (22) is a French-British figure skater who has competed internationally as both a single skater and pair skater. She has competed internationally for Great Britain as a single skater and for France as a pair skater. James is born in Bermuda.

Yannick Bonheur - Figure skating
Bonheur (27) is a French pair skater. He competes with Vanessa James, with whom he teamed up in 2007. They are the 2010 French national champions. He is born in France and is from Martiniquean descent .



The Netherlands

Timothy Beck - Bobsleigh
Beck (33) is a Dutch sprinter. He won a bronze medal in 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. Beck also competed as a bobsledder Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the 2002. He is Dutch born from Surinamese descent.



Urta Rozenstruik - Bobsleigh
Rozenstruik (34) is a former sprinter who reached the finals at the indoor Dutch Championships in 1999. She was born in Surinam and raised in the Netherlands.





Great Britain

Henry Nwume - Bobsleigh
Nwume (33), doctor in the armed forces, has been selected to represent Team GB in the four-man bobsleigh. Nwume got involved in bobsleigh via the Army Novice Ice Camp where he took a trial. He was born in Great Britain to a Nigerian father.




Sweden

Johnny Oduya - Ishockey
Oduya (28) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman of partial Kenyan descent who plays for the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League.

Football: African Cup Supporter Wear (France)

Although the African Cup is almost over you can still get some stylish T-shirts of the French label Support Wear. The T-shirts were created by Stéphane Ndjigui, who also created the famous French Hip-Hop label “Première Classe” .

Stéphane Ndjigui is no stranger to football. He picked up his love for football from his father, who is a retired player from the famous football club Caiman De Douala of Cameroon.

For Support Wear Ndjigui asked several personalities from the world of music, football and theatre to support his project. Celebrities like stand-up comedian Thomas Njigol, football player Souleymane Diawara from Olympique Lyonnais (photo), rapper Mac Tyer and Zouk singer Ben J from the group “les Nèg' Marrons” have lent their image to the brand.

Site Support Wear
Official site African Cup of Nations 2010

The African Cup of Nations is from 10th to 31st of January and his held in Angola.

Football: Mario Balotelli and the Race issue in Italy

African-Italian stiker Mario Balotelli (19) has a lot to endure in Italy. Read the very interesting post on the blog Myafroitalianlife (M.A.I.L)

Football player Mario Balotelli (19) aka Super Mario for the great Inter fans, was born on 12 August 1990 to Ghanaian immigrants Thomas and Rose Barwuah in the Italian city of Palermo. Up to here the story is boring without much adventure. However years passed, Mario has become a young man gifted with the ball on his foot. Great, he is a Ghanaian football hero now. Wrong, because he is the controversy of the Italian soccer game these days.
Let's go back few years.

In 1993 at the age of three Mario's parents entrusted the child to a white Italian family, the Balotelli. Mario remained with them and still sees them as his parents. For Italian bureaucracy he was not allowed an Italian citizenship until the age of eighteen, just less than two years ago.

Now he is an African-Italian, who has the desire to play for his beloved country Italy. However since last month (December 2009) he is in the Italian national news due to the racial abuse he receives whilst on the field.



Many spectators will agree that he is a good, excellent young footballer, but others blame the abuses on his arrogance and completely uncontrollable behaviour. For another party he is abused due to his colour. Read the full story here

Sports:Tallest Teen Basketball Player In The World

Call her Air Anderson.

This up-and-coming New Jersey high school basketball player is only 16, but Marvadene Anderson is already a giant on the court. At just under 6-foot-11 -- and still growing -- she's the world's tallest teenage girl.The Jamaican-born hoopster, who could tower over legendary ballplayers like Michael Jordan (6-6) and LeBron James (6-8), was the highest-scoring "netball" player in her country -- a sport similar to basketball.That on-court prowess earned her a scholarship to Rutgers Prep in Somerset, and for the last two months she's been hitting the hardwood to learn the rules of basketball.The Argonauts center was a standout with her teammates during a practice game Wednesday, where she played alongside pint-sized point guard Arielle Sherman, 15, who at 5-foot-2 barely reaches Anderson's elbow.Anderson uses her size to intimidate her opponents, block shots and make easy layups."Everyone has come up to me and asked if I play college basketball. I told them I'm only a sophomore in high school. They gasped when I told them," Anderson said.The gal giant, whose family remained in Jamaica, was taken in by Enid Angus, who discovered her talents.

"She's my heart. I committed to treating her like my own," she told the Asbury Park Press.Anderson said she got her nickname "Bubbles" because of her good humor."People are friendly with me because of my height and my personality. If I was tall and mean, I think I'd have a problem," she said.The biggest problem "Bubbles" seems to have is adjusting to the cold weather and finding clothes and shoes to fit her 210-pound frame and size-12 feet.As a schoolgirl back home, Marvadene confessed, she was teased a lot."They call me 'baby giant,' and my older sister Kimberly is 6-foot-4. They call us the Twin Towers," she said."The rudest thing anybody ever said about my height is that I'm not going to be able to find a husband."Rutgers coach Mary Coyle-Klinger and her sister, former WNBA coach Pat Coyle, have been working with their new star. Anderson picked up six points in her first game on Dec. 10 and Coyle-Klinger was not disappointed."Of course she is going to be a star," she said. "She's a natural. She's only been playing two months and it's amazing how well she's adapted."

Thierry Henry's Hand Of God (France)

A news report on France's controversial victory over Ireland in Paris that knocked the Irish out of the Football World Cup. Thierry Henry clearly handles the ball twice before he passes the ball to Gallas who scores France's crucial second goal

This was so obvious!

Muhammed Ali is Irish?

On September 1st 2009 boxing legend Muhammed Ali visited his ancestral home in Ireland. See the story and the pics here.

Muhammed Ali though he got his European blood due to slavery (see video), but it turned out he got it from his Irish great-grandfather Abe Grady, who settled in the United States in the 1860s and married a freed African-American slave. One of their grandchildren, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, was Ali’s mother.

Abe Grady lived in the Western Irish town Ennis, and Ali was honoured as the first Freeman of his ancestral home Ennis.

I don't know what "Freeman" means, but according to some people it means free drinks at the pub and free entrance to the disco.



In this interview Ali did know his ancestry, but still he thought his great grandfather was a slave owner. But listen to the mistake of interviewer!