Lee Wellings: Balotelli lies a crying shame

Do you want to find racism from football fans? Do you want to find racism from football fans in Italy specifically? It won’t take you long.

So no need to invent stories on the subject. Claims that Mario Balotelli was reduced to tears after being racially abused in Naples appear dangerous and counter-productive. Misguided and premature. This subject is too important to treat with such a lack of care.

One of the first things I was taught in journalism by the legendary Reg Hayter was ‘fact is sacred,

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Futsal EUROs close with broken records and the passing of an era

Futsal Euros

By Paul Nicholson
February 12 – UEFA closed its most successful Futsal EUROs to date on Sunday night with Italy beating Russia in the final in front of a near-capacity 12,000 spectators in Antwerp’s Sportpaleis. The match ended Spain’s recent dominance of the Championship that has now been held nine times and move on to Serbia in 2016. Football’s small sided game is finding its place on a bigger stage.

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Matt Scott: Drifting into a storm? How football must manage its divergence in riches

globalincomechart

“Riches, one may say, are like sea-water; the more you drink, the thirstier you become.” Arthur Schopenhauer, Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit

It was in 1851 that the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote his Wisdom of Life. At the time European empires bestrode the globe and an upper class of landowners and industrialists dominated the social landscape within nations. A militaristic thirst for still more riches brought about the conflict of the Great War,

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