Sports Then and Now

As the football kits get tighter and the pay packages get heavier a perpetually bamboozling question arises in one’s mind; will the Football fever ever die down? Will the apparent craze and demand for the product ever be fulfilled? Will the media giants ever be satiated from making money out of selling live action? Will the ever increasing viewership ever die down? Ever since its launch in 1992, the Premier League has turned into an ever inflating balloon which makes you think; will the balloon ever burst?

Make an appointment or watch matches on demand?

There has always been a non-ending competition between TV channels and service providers, all trying desperately for the customers i.e. you and others like yourself as a bait to win the largest customer viewership. Likewise TheVang TV and BT have been trying to venture into other methods for customers to view their content, other than merely through a television service. You must know that now the smart phone/ tablets have become very much part and parcel of our life, and this is what the media giants and service provider are after, they are targeting growing number of audience shifting to smart devices. And at most of the times these devices are not included in the headline rating figures. Even more you will agree over the past years, the way people watch entertainment has changed altogether. Viewers no longer feel they should wait for a show or episode to come on. People are streaming matches, seasons, and binge watching TV shows after TV shows. Customers are no longer afraid of missing matches, because they know they can easily catch it on demand. Cable subscriptions rates are sky rocketing, with the availability of cheap internet unlimited packages; it is certainly starting to feel like a luxury you can no longer afford.

Roman Abramovich brought Chelsea for £140 million in 2003, but by no means was that the end to his spending. Over the last 16 years, the Russian has spent over £1.5 billion on new players, with not all of those being of the caliber needed to compete for honors.

The Abramovich era has seen a trophy haul of 13 major trophies; including five Premier League titles, five FA Cups and one Champions League success. The 2009/10 campaign also saw the Blues complete their first FA Cup and Premier League double.

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1.            Adrian Mutu (£16 Million from Parma)

Things started very well for Mutu following his big-money move from Italy. He scored four goals in his opening three matches and was shaping up to be a top quality signing. However, things quickly turned sour for the Romanian international.

Chelsea signed the former Series A star in 2003, and he was quick to fall out with new manager José Mourinho who arrived the following season due to questions about the Romanian’s attitude. Read the rest of this entry →

Line Marking

Football is one of the most internationally popular sports, being played in over 200 countries. It is one of the oldest sports with a rich history dating all the way back to 1863, where its official beginning is believed to be. Throughout history there are various citations of a sport similar to modern day football, from Italy to France; many European countries claim to have played a form of football, but its most noted birthplace is of course England.

Dimensions

Football’s iconic pitch is renowned all over the world, but it didn’t always have the same universal look, some pitches were almost 200m in length! The rectangular pitch is now 90-120m long and 45-90m wide. Originally line markings were much more speculative than format, too. Pitches now have pristine white lines marked onto the ground to show the full boundaries of the game, along with netted goals as opposed to what their predecessor had, which was two bushes placed to mark the goal line. Matching line markings, goal posts must be white and made of wood, metal or other approved materials, but the goal posts didn’t develop the classic ‘crossbar’ until 1875.

Area markings have also changed shape over the years with the goal and penalty areas marked as half circles until 1902. With the boom of football’s adoration, the demand for accurate and pristine pitches has grown. Lines are painted with expert line marking equipment, as the turf itself is kept to exceptional standards under the watchful eyes of qualified groundskeepers. Read the rest of this entry →

Every couple of years the MLS grabs worldwide attention with the signings of some major stars.

That started with David Beckham and since then, big names like Thierry Henry, Steven Gerrard, David Villa and Kaka have made the journey across from Europe.

This year has welcomed two of the world’s biggest names in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney, which begs the question, has the MLS re-found its mojo and can it close the gap on Europe in terms of quality?

More attention is on the league than ever before and with the season currently at the MLS Cup phase it’s grabbing headlines worldwide and being bet on more than ever before.

There are new betting offers every day at the moment with Atlanta current 1-4 favorites with bookie Betfair to earn their first, ahead of the Portland Timbers who they’ll take on who are priced at a generous 11/4.

This attention is only good for the league and will encourage more players to make the switch to the USA. Read the rest of this entry →

The English Premier League is the most intensive internal championship in the world. In the current season, the championship has already shown some surprises and records and now we are waiting for the future rounds that will finally clean the air.

Football fans will certainly remember the current season of the EPL, as “Manchester City” led by Josep Guardiola showed a record winning series and disengaged from its competitors already in the first half of the championship. Remarkably, the “citizens” confidently disposed of their main rivals who could have competed with them during the season. The rivals were:

• “Manchester United”;

• “Arsenal”;

• “Chelsea”;

• “Tottenham”;

• “Liverpool”.

By the way, the first and the latter took revenge in the second half of the season. The home failure of “United” deprived Guardiola’s team of the championship trophy in the home stadium. However, they won the title in the next round.

The Premier League standings are traditionally a major topic of both fans and experts’ discussion. In this season, teams’ positions are quite equal, so much depends on the outcomes of the last rounds. The EPL fixtures are intriguing confrontations where competitors have absolutely no margin for error. Read the rest of this entry →

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The latter is especially important, because one bet is enough to make you rich quickly. Today, betting is also available to users of mobile devices, which allows you to save time and make forecasts regardless of where you are geographically.

Naturally, despite the huge variety of sports, the most popular one among fans is football. This becomes especially noticeable when European championships begin. You can follow the results of the competitions and make profitable forecasts at our Internet portal. It has an excellent functionality and thought-out user interface that will allow you not to waste time and immediately receive the necessary information.

The broadcast provided by 1xbet.com — live football stream — offers a huge variety of competitions from all around the world. The European Cups that have already started caused an unprecedented stir among users; however, they are not the only ones to deal with. Here, attention is also paid to dozens of live matches so that you can find the most interesting confrontations that will definitely not leave you indifferent. Read the rest of this entry →