From the Wall Street Journal:

For years, the roughneck fans of the Huracán soccer club often put on more of a show than the players did. Boasting in a fight song that they “root with wine and drugs,” they battled police with rocks, fought rival fans with chains and vandalized everything from cars to bleachers.

But at a recent Huracán game, the tough guys were kept in check by a woman sporting a Chanel handbag. Fabiana Rubeo, a 5-foot-3-inch lawyer, is crusading to teach sportsmanship to the barras bravas, gangs of soccer hooligans who have fueled a culture of violence in Argentina’s national sport…

…But Ms. Rubeo’s hooligan rehab group, called New Horizon for the World, is sparking skepticism, and some ridicule, in this fútbol-mad country…

Liverpool fans will use Anfield’s most volatile fixture of the season Saturday to renew their struggle to oust the club’s American owners.With Anfield in the spotlight for the Premier League match against Manchester United, disgruntled fans will march outside the ground before kickoff to show their continued fury at Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.

Image via Life

Any fans in Chicago or travelling in for the US v Trinidad Tobago game this Wednesday should swing by The Globe Pub in the afternoon. There will be an afternoon pre-game party plus a bus (w/keg) that will take us out to Bridgeview and back after the game. Yours truly will be coming in for this. Hope to see you there!

The very Toulouse-Lautrec style image taken at The Globe Pub and provided by Flickr

Rival groups of birds behave like soccer fans, shouting chants at each other and commiserating with each other after a loss, research from England’s University of Bristol revealed Wednesday. Green woodhoopoes, a South African bird, live together in gangs of up to 12 and “rival groups often engage in raucous vocal displays, akin to opposing football supporters chanting at one another”, the university in the west of England said.

The research by Dr Andy Radford, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, also revealed that the birds preen each other after a conflict, particularly when they have just lost or the battle lasted a long time. “Just as football fans commiserate with their friends in the pub when their team loses a match… birds support one another following contests with their rivals,” the university said in a statement.

Image via Zoomr

A court in Naples recently ordered Inter to pay a Napoli fan €1,500 compensation for “existential damage” caused by banners displayed during a match. The banners described Naples as the “sewer of Italy”, an insult referring to a chronic refuse crisis that had left rubbish rotting in the streets of Naples.

Provocative abuse was displayed on other banners at the match, which Inter won 2-1, including “Ciao cholera sufferers!” and “Neapolitans have tuberculosis”. Inter fans also sang offensive chants. Raffaele Di Monda, representing the Napoli fan (identified only as GDB), argued that the concerted and vindictive abuse made his client feel “indignant and deeply hurt”. In addition to damages, the court ordered Inter to pay Mr GDB’s costs, making the courtroom contest 2-0 to Napoli.

Image via Flickr

The Olympic Games have shown that sports and national pride are still tightly intertwined, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the minds of Chinese leaders. Now, the government is taking a step to shore up the reputation of that most dubious of national sports icons: the men’s soccer team….After the Chinese team lost its final match on Aug. 13 to Brazil 3-0, the Propaganda Department apparently got fed up with all the jokes about the men’s team.

One major newspaper received an order to stop criticizing the men’s team, a reporter for the newspaper said. Another Chinese journalist confirmed on Wednesday night that a general order along those lines had been issued by the government.

The journalists spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.

Image via Daylife

I’m pretty sure that this will offend A LOT of people, but lighten up and look at it from the creative side of things.

My boy Ian just sent this over from one of his mates.  They were at the Welling United v Maidstone match last Saturday when the goalie let in a soft one.

WARNING - Creative Language through a Picture after the Jump… 

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The Red Patch Boys have got this right, bottom line. If there was ever a group that has consistently shown up, represented and earned the respect of every fan in this league, it’s Toronto FC supporters.

I’m a big fan of what you guys are doing and I truly hope that BMO Field stays soccer specific.

Big thanks to RSF who sent in his own view from behind Matt Reis’ goal as Houston’s Corey Ashe hit the crossbar to give the Revolution the 2008 SuperLiga title.

If you’ve been to a Revs game and have never experienced this group of supporters before, highly suggest it.

Check this video after the Jump when Revs supporters headed down I-95…

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