Extreme Fans Would Give Up A Body Part For Their Team To Win The World Cup
A survey reveals that some soccer fans are so eager to see their national team win at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa that they’d give up a body part to make it happen. I really want England to win, but I’m not sure I’d go that far … would you? Reported by Reuters:
Fifty-one percent of respondents to the tongue-in-cheek survey of 20,000 people, who live in North America but hail from countries with teams in the June 11-July 11 World Cup, said they would starve themselves for a week if that would bring victory to their national squad.
More than 40 percent offered to give up dating for a year, while seven percent said they would gladly give up their job to see their country win the title.
A further four percent were willing to give away a body part.
The survey was conducted by U.S.-based international calling firm VIP…
Did Corruption Bring The World Cup To Africa?
FIFA, the soccer world’s governing body, has been accused of various corrupt practices, as has its controversial president, Sepp Blatter, who engineered the selection of South Africa for the 2010 edition of the event, which takes place every four years, like the Olympics. Rumors of bribery amongst African nations swirled at the time of Blatter’s election as FIFA president. The upcoming disinformation® documentary World Cup Soccer in Africa: Who Really Wins? also questions FIFA’s motives and whether the event will really benefit Africa. Now William Watts asks some tough questions of FIFA, at Marketwatch:
It may carry a lower profile than the International Olympic Committee, another controversial, Swiss-based international sports body. And to many Americans, Fifa, which stands for Federation Internationale de Football Association, means nothing alongside the likes of the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.
But the overseer of international soccer captained by Joseph “Sepp” Blatter has repeatedly shaken off allegations of corruption and regional in-fighting as well as a global recession to become arguably the most powerful sports organization on the planet.
It’s all down to the World Cup — the quadrennial extravaganza that crowns the world’s soccer champion and is rivaled only by the Olympics as the most watched sporting event around the globe.
Blatter last month was able to brag that Fifa’s annual 2009 revenues passed the $1 billion level for the first time in its history, leaving the organization with a $196 million surplus…
Al-Qaeda Targets Soccer World Cup
Somehow the authors of this story focused on the bad guys of the Algerian branch of Al-Qaeda wanting to strike a blow against the infidels of England and the USA when the soccer teams of those two countries play each other in South Africa on June 13, 2010, but I think it’s more likely that the Algerians want to improve their chances of making it to the knockout stage of the competition. Group C comprises, perhaps to the surprise only of the journalists at the Press Association: England, USA, Slovenia and, yes, Algeria.
FIFA are aware of fresh threats made by al-Qaeda to target this summer’s World Cup, but insist nothing will prevent the tournament from being staged in South Africa.
An Algerian wing of the group has claimed they will carry out attacks on England’s Group C match against the United States on June 12 in Rustenberg, prompting new security fears…
South Africa Imports 42 Million Condoms For World Cup Soccer
Perhaps taking a cue from the emergency shipment of condoms sent to Vancouver after the Olympic village exhausted supplies, soccer’s World Cup in South Africa, coming up in June, is making sure that the AIDS-ravaged nation has ample supplies, as reported in the Guardian:
Britain is to give 42m condoms to South Africa in response to a request for an extra billion as part of an HIV prevention drive before the World Cup, the government will announce today.
The request for British help in stockpiling sufficient condoms for the expected influx of thousands of football supporters in three months’ time was made during President Jacob Zuma’s recent visit to the UK to meet the Queen.
“Obviously there’s a big focus on the World Cup coming up and a huge increase in the number of people coming into South Africa,” said the international development minister, Gareth Thomas, who will announce the £1m funding today at…
