Sports Then and Now

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 →

You love football, but do not always have time to follow all the results? Then the Internet portal of 1xBet company is exactly what you need. Here, users are provided with unique broadcasts, as well as the opportunity to place bets live.

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 →

Each sport has its own personal risk of injury, even the sports where you may think a problem is highly unlikely.

Darts, for example, is not exactly what you may call ‘high intensity’ but players often fear the dreaded Dartitis which is when the players lose the ability to allow the dart to leave the fingers effectively. This is also known in other sports, especially golf, as the ‘Yips’. It is essentially the loss of fine motor skills in athletes and can occur completely at random.

Dartitis is a psychological disorder and very real, but there are sports injuries and sayings that need dispelling as pure fantasy as we look at cracking some of the myths surrounding sports injuries.

No Pain No Gain

Let’s start with a famous saying that is repeated in every single gym around the world. However, strictly speaking, no pain no gain is the opposite of the words uttered.

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Continuing through sores or cramp is not an immediate problem but if there is acute pain (something sharp and severe) or a clear indication that something is not right (a sprain for example) then it is time to stop immediately and seek medical advice.

Injuries heal fastest when rested

Football injuries cost clubs millions of pounds a year by having to pay injured players and in some cases, when key players are absent, it has a direct impact on a team’s ability on and off the pitch. Read the rest of this entry →

There is a lot of leadership that goes into the successful running of a football club. While the strategic direction of the club is often determined by the club manager, much of the strategic decisions remain in the hands of the directors. And the manager has to have enough justification for every approach he takes because at the end, results are the true measure of success. The very survival of the club depends upon these results.

In order to guarantee the desired results, there are certain fundamental principles that should guide the leadership of any club. Here’s a rundown of four of these guidelines.

Have a philosophy

Coaches are known to bring specific styles and approaches to the football teams that they manage. However, managers come and go, and the club should be able to retain some kind of identity even in the absence of these important individuals and their distinctive styles.

It is the club’s way of doing things that gives it its identity. It is imperative therefore to have a club philosophy; a vision, a set of values which clearly define the way of doing things within that particular club.

Once you develop a solid club philosophy, the next important phase of things is to see to its survival. Make your players develop an understanding of how things are done in the club. Every new sign-on needs to be properly onboarded and absorbed into this culture. Similarly, every new manager should abide by the club’s philosophy even as they play around with it to develop a winning style.  Read the rest of this entry →