NO HEADING ON THE GREEN RUG: DODGEY DEALING TOO:DICK KERR TOO

 

Badge of the week ~ Equatorial Guinea In Equatorial Guinea, children are often warned off dangerous projects by parents referencing the "Headless Woman Who Holds Aloft The Green Rug" (or, in Spanish, "Mujer Caramba!"). According to national fable, a poor woman, who made a poor living polishing glass eyes, encountered an old hag in the forest near her village. Often when encountering an old hag near one’s village, it amounts to nothing much more than a quick hello and a whiff of alcohol, but on this occasion the poor woman saved the hag from choking on an nut and was promised riches by the hag, beyond earthly compare, as long as she never uttered the words "I’m not sure that rug is malachite green, dear". Yes...curious isn't it? But after only ten days enjoying sudden and incredible wealth, the woman used this exact sentence at a house-warming party and her head fell off.  Subsequently she was reported wandering the hills in a white robe, headless, holding aloft a malachite green rug. Seeing this is said to predict a death in the family............ The county's Football Association, nicknamed Nzalang Nacional (National Thunder), is controlled by the Equato Guinean Football Federation, a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Equatorial Guinea men played its first official match on 23 May 1975 against China in a friendly, losing 6–2.  The team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup, but has qualified for the African Cup of Nations on three occasions, the first two times as hosts (in 2012 and 2015). They reached the quarter-finals in 2012 and finished in fourth place in 2015. Equatorial Guinea continued to fail in every qualification in AFCON, as the team did not qualify for the 2017 and 2019  editions. Likewise, the team had also failed to qualify for the World Cup! and was BANNED in 2019 for playing ineligible players and have been banned from the 2019 World Cup and 2020 Olympic competitions by playing "naturalised" players from Brazil. In recent years, Equatorial Guinea has courted controversy by recruiting foreign players and giving them citizenship despite having little or no ties to the country. In 2009, it was noted that this was undermining the integrity of African football. In late 2005, and at the request of Ruslán Obiang Nsue, a son of President, Brazilian coach Antonia Dumas, recruited several Brazilian players to represent the Equatorial Guinea and the CAF and FIFA turned a blind eye, despite complaints from other nations. In 2012, having lost the first leg of a 2013 African Cup of Nations round 4–0 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea recruited nine Brazilian players to help overturn the deficit for the second leg. The team did manage to win the match 2–1, but it was not enough to overturn the aggregate and Equatorial Guinea were eliminated from the tournament. DR Congo head coach complained that the Equatorial Guinea were acting like the "United Nations of football". Before the arrival of a new coach in March 2013, the Equatoguinean football board selected the squad for the 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Cape Verde and again called-up nine Brazilian players!!!! Did they really need that investment against Cape Verde? In the World Cup qualifiers, in a series of ties played against Mauritania, the Nzalang Nacional lost 1–0 away and won 3–0 in Malabo, qualifying to the next round to face Uganda. However, the Mauritanian Football Federation submitted a complaint to CAF about the inclusion of ineligible players by Equatorial Guinea (Some with fake passports and false names), resulting in the expulsion of the Equatorial Guinean team. Problems with naturalised players (mainly from Brazil) caused a ban from the 2020 Women's World Cup and the 2019 World Cup. Between 2006 and 2010, Bilguissa and Salimata Simpore, a sibling duo from Burkina Faso, used to play for Equatorial Guinea - the first as a central defender and the latter as a centre forward. Beyond the mechanism by which they were naturalized (similar to the Brazilians), which was "legal", the main controversy about the Simporés arose regarding whether they were actually two men.  Around April 2011, they were removed from the national team by the Italian-born Brazilian coach Marcelo Frigerio, just a few months before participating in the World Cup. Since then, the Simporé siblings have never been called-up. In 2015, Frigerio, now a former national team coach, told the Brazilian press they are men. On another issue..women's football at Stalybridge......all confirmed female..... The Bower Fold has been the home ground of Stalybridge Celtic since the club’s formation in 1909. Despite having been members of the Football League for a couple of seasons the highest attendance for a Stalybridge Celtic fixture at the ground was in the FA Cup - 9,753 were present to see them lose 2-0 to West Bromwich Albion in a First Round replay back on 17th January 1923. That wasn't the biggest crowd at the ground though. That was recorded on 8th February 1921 for a friendly match – between the Dick, Kerr Ladies' team and a Rest of Lancashire XI. The official attendance was 10,400 but it was estimated that over 13,000 were present. Women’s football had become incredibly popular during the First World War with the Preston works side – Dick, Kerr Ladies – being the most popular of the lot. In the match at Stalybridge Dick, Kerr Ladies beat the Rest of Lancashire 10-1 with £600 being raised for the Ashton-under-Lyne Infirmary. Later in 1921 the Football Association banned clubs under their control from staging women’s matches at their grounds – for the safety of women they said! AND eventually......everyone is involved! The Equatorial Guinea women's national football team, nicknamed the Nzalang Femenino, has represented the nation in international women's competitions since 2000. It is controlled by the national governing body...(see above) In the 2008 African Womens' Football competition, they defeated the seven-time champions, Nigeria, 1–0 in the semi-final and went on to win the championship beating South Africa 2–1. They became the first nation, other than Nigeria, to win the competition. Equatorial Guinea also played at the 2011 Women's World Cup. The team then won the 2012 Women's Championship again, winning 4–0 in the final against South Africa. Equatorial Guinea is one of six from the Confederation of African Football, to qualify for a FIFA Womens' World Cup  (Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa being the others). Gender check?? Passports??