THE FENIX TROPHY

The first Fenix (invitational) European Trophy, an annual tournament, was held during the 2021-22 season. There were 2 pools with 4 teams each chosen from semi-pro and amateur clubs. Afterwards, the clubs played against each other in Rimini, Italy, according to their final position.

The competition was founded in 2021 by the Italian football club Brera Calcio. The competition is officially recognized by UEFA. (By the way!! Calcio is the "Roman" name for football)

The word FENIX is an acronym: Friendly - European - Non professional - Innovative - Xenial (From the ancient Greek xenos, the word examined for an attitude of resistance to strangers, with maintaining mutual respect for cultural differences).

The following teams participated in 2022:

•  HFC Falke: Hamburg 
•  AS Lodigiani: Rome
•  CD Cuenca-Mestallistes: Valencia
•  Prague Raptors
•  Brera Calcio: Milan
•  FC United of Manchester
•  AFC DWS: Amsterdam
•  AKS Zly Warsaw
• Prague Raptors and FC United of Manchester, winners of their group, played the Final on June 11, in the Stadio Romeo Neri, which was won by Manchester 0-2.

The following teams took part in 2023, the third season: you can see more from the Fenix Website.

•  KSK Beveren (Beveren)
•  BK Skjold (Copenhagen)
•  Prague Raptors (Prague)
•  Krakow Dragoons FC (Krakow)
•  FC Venus București (Bucharest)
•  Vinsky FC (Paris)
•  FC Oslo (Oslo)
•  Gilla FC (Helsinki)
•  FC United of Manchester (Manchester)
•  Enfield Town FC (Bishop's Stortford)
•  Lewes FC (Lewes)
•  Llantwit Major FC (Llantwit Major) 
• THESE LAST FOUR British clubs are an attractive inclusion. We all know about FC of Manchester.....Then there is Lewes FC from East Sussex (my old club) that plays in the Isthmian League. Enfield Town FC is also Isthmian and previously existed as Enfield FC . Llantwit Major AFC, is a Welsh football club, founded in 1962 and based in the Vale of Glamorgan, South East Wales. The club currently plays in the Cymru South, and in 2021–22 finished as league champions.

JAMAICA SUCCESS AT LAST

 Historic victory for Jamaica in the FIFA World Cup.

AND MORE GOOD NEWS... Jamaica, Sunshine Girls secure 2nd game with a 75 - 40 victory over Wales Netball World Cup 2023!

The Reggae Girlz have created history at the World Cup again, winning their first ever match at the summit of football. We believe the entire nation of Jamaica is jumping and shouting at this historic victory by the Girls over Panama following their draw with France.

THE LINK SHOULD WORK, IF NOT GET ON THE www.

https://onefootball.com/en/match/2266748 or

https://onefootball.com/en/video/all-you-need-to-know-panama-vs-jamaica-37932909

• Next up? August 2nd BRAZIL.....NOTE...same colours! and then CONCACAF v Canada at home 18th September.

• Football in Jamaica has been a CASUAL pastime since the 1890s, when men's football was introduced by settlers. Since then, football has flourished due to the suitable climate as well as the numerous teams that play. The first women's football match in Jamaica was on 29 November 1935 in Kingston, held to raise funds for the Jubilee Memorial Fund. Further charitable matches followed, with regular coverage in local newspapers by 1936 and the first tournament between women's teams reported on 18 November 1936. In 1987, the women's national team was founded, with Andrea Lewis as its first president.

  In February 1990, a regional league in the Kingston and St. James region crowned a club named the Boogie Girls as its first champions. The league was disbanded in 1998 in favor of a national league founded in 1999, first won by the Portmore Strikers.

  In 2011, $33 million was spent on the women's youth development.

• The Jamaican national team played their first international match in 1991.

  In 2008 the national team was disbanded, and revived in 2014 due to the fundraising efforts and advocacy of Cedella Marleyt The federation disbanded the team in 2015 after it failed to qualify for the 2015 FIFA World Cup, then revived it briefly before suspending it again for a lack of budget in 2016. During this period the team raised its own funds for training camps and travel, used borrowed uniforms, and were coached by volunteer Hue Menzies.

• The national women's team qualified for the 2019 World Cup, its first such qualification and the first for any Caribbean nation. While Jamaica did not win a match at the tournament, Havana Solaun scored the nation's first goal at a Women's World Cup against Australia. Following Jamaica's success, Menzies was named the 2018 Womens' coach of the year by CONCACAF. However, the players and Menzies raised several mabour disputes over unpaid wages, eventually resulting in a player strike and Menzies' resignation. In July 2022, Jamaica qualified for their second World Cup, an historic feat considering Jamaica's men's counterparts have been unable to do the same.

  
  
  

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CHARITY AND HISTORY

July 28th 1985, just two days short of its 19th anniversary, the players from the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany played against each other again, to raise money for the Bradford Fire Disaster Fund. England ran out winners - or strolled out winners was perhaps a more accurate description of the speed of play - this time 6-4 with Geoff Hurst again hitting a coincidental hat-trick. A crowd of 19.496 at Elland Road, Leeds, contributed nearly £50,000 towards the appeal. Can you name the players above?

 

and on the same date, in 2007, moving north of the border, Heart of Midlothian have had their home at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh since 1866. The record attendance at that ground was set back on 13th February 1932 when 53,396 were present for a Scottish Cup tie against Rangers. In more recent years though the Tynecastle capacity has been as low as under 20,000 so when mighty Barcelona visited the Scottish capital for a pre-season  friendly against Hearts the venue was switched to the nearby Murrayfield Stadium, the home of the Scottish Rugby Union. And after over 150 years at Tynecastle that match on Murrayfield - played on Saturday 28th July 2007 - saw a new home record attendance for a Hearts match being set.....57,857. 

It wasn't the first time that Hearts had temporarily moved "home" to Murrayfield. In the 2000s they played six home Champions League/UEFA Cup matches at Murrayfield as Tynecastle wasn't up to UEFA standards - top crowd 32,459 v AEK Athens. 

Later, in 2017/18, they played their first four home League matches of the season at Murrayfield due to building work at Tynecastle - top crowd 32,852 v Rangers. And in the match against Barcelona - Ronaldinho gave the visitors the lead from a 21st minute penalty, Juho Makela equalised, Ronaldinho restored the Barca lead before sub Thierry Henry set up Giovanni Dos Santos to score the final goal in the Spaniards 3-1 victory.

BY THE WAY, in 1962 on this day, the German football association decided to modernised their national fooball by launching a new "National League" to replace the "regional" Oberliga which had regional champions towards the end of their season and then play offs between the top teams. Players would have to be licensed and therefore could earn a "capped" salary. One club, Bayern Munich didn't make the "cut" of 16 and complained bitterly. For the first 8 seasons, 8 different clubs won the championship. With West Germany's relatoive success in European club and national competitions and in the FIFA World Cup, the new plan seemed to have improved the standard of German football.

ZLATAN-ETO'O:DUEL?

 On 27 July 2009, Inter and Barcelona confirmed a transfer in which striker Zlatan Ibrahimović moved to Camp Nou in exchange for Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, a season-long loan of midfielder Alexander Hleb, and €46 million.

With Eto'o valued at €20 million, the total value given for the Swedish striker was reported as €66 million, making him the third most expensive footballer in history (at the time), behind Zindine Zidane (€76 million in 2001) and Cristiano Ronaldo (€94 million in 2009), both of whom went to Real Madrid. After the deal was announced, Hleb refused to move to Inter, so Barcelona sent him on loan to Stuttgart and paid Inter an additional €3 million, raising the total value to €69 million.

The deal had been rumoured for weeks, fueled primarily by Eto'o's reported dissatisfaction at Barça. With Eto'o unsettled, the Catalan side turned their eyes to Ibrahimović, who was coming off his best season ever. He had scored 25 goals in 35 league appearances for Inter, winning his third consecutive Scudetto. Eto'o had performed even better, however, scoring 36 goals in all competitions as Barça won a Spanish-record six trophies, including La Liga and the Champions League.

After the transfer, Eto'o again got the better of Ibrahimović, as Inter went on to win Serie A, the Coppa Italia, and the Champions League with a total of 16 goals from the Cameroon international, while Barcelona had to content themselves by winning La Liga and 10 goals from Ibrahimović in all competitions. Fatefully, the teams met three times in the Champions League, with Barça earning a win and a draw in the group stage, but getting eliminated by a 3-2 aggregate loss to Inter in the semi-final.

Oh yes....Blackburn Rovers signed Alan Shearer on this day in 1992-£3.3m (only) from Southampton

SEASIDE DERBY

Yesterday Blackpool and Morecambe, seaside rivals met, as local rivals, in a pre-season friendly and honours were even (1-1). On 26 July 1887, Blackpool F.C. was founded in the "seaside" town in Lancashire and first played in the Football League, Division Two, from September 1896. They now are in Football League One having just been relegated from the Championship.

The club was created after a group of five individuals split from St. John's F.C., another club that had been in Blackpool for almost ten years. During a meeting of the St. John's players, the five argued that the club's name should be changed to reflect the name of the town. When the other members remained unconvinced, the five left the meeting and immediately formed Blackpool F.C. Shortly after, the remaining members of St. John's left that club to join Blackpool and St. John's shut down.

Blackpool were founding members of the Lancashire League, which played its first season in 1889-90. Blackpool won the league title in 1894, but soon after began to struggle and, in 1896, switched its membership to the competing Football League. They have remained in the Football League ever since, with the only exception being a return to the Lancashire League for the 1899-1900 season.

Blackpool were readmitted to the Football League in 1900 as a member of Division Two. Despite flirtations with relegation in the following years, they won the division in 1930 and were promoted to England's First Division over second-place finishers Chelsea. They lasted three seasons in the top flight before being relegated after the 1932-33 season.

Blackpool enjoyed their most successful period in the years following World War II, when they spent 21 consecutive seasons in the top flight from 1946 to 1967, finishing second in 1956 and third in 1951. It was during this period that they attained their greatest achievement to date, winning the FA Cup in 1953 with a 4-3 win over Bolton after being down 1-3. It was known as the Stanley Matthews Final, following his history with the Cup (two previous finals and two defeats) and his performance on that day, which turned out to be almost a one man show, as he laid on goals for hat trick hero, Stanley Mortenson!! Blackpool won 4-3, coming from 1-3 down, beating Bolton Wanderers.

The club began a slow decline in the 1970s and '80s, getting relegated to the Fourth Division from 1981 to 1985, then again from 1990 to 1992. They are currently enjoying an upswing in fortune and are playing in the Championship, England's second tier, after being promoted from League One in 2007.

Recent matches, remarkably only a handful, with Blackpool winning 3 and losing 2, between the two are:

Date	Match	Result	Score	Competition
12 Aug 2012	Blackpool v Morecambe	L	1-2	League Cup
13 Aug 2016	Morecambe v Blackpool	L	2-1	League Two
04 Mar 2017	Blackpool v Morecambe	W	3-1	League Two
03 Sep 2019	Blackpool v Morecambe	W	5-1	Football League Trophy
09 Nov 2019	Blackpool v Morecambe	W	4-1	FA Cup

As a youngster, Stanley, still playing, was my favourite footballer and eventually I met him at a football match that I played in for a Charterhouse team against the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Stanley came along with a colleague in our team and acted as "Match Manager". Stanley was a delighful man, very modest and full of history of Stoke City His "home team", Blackpool and England.

Try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBuI8ubzAO4

or have a look on You Tube.

BRITS AND FIFA

The British Football Associations did not join FIFA, when the international federation was founded in 1904. They initially took a year to reply to the invitation to join and then turned it down! What do you know about the FA at this time? The FA eventually deigned to join up and then were at loggerheads with the rest of the World. One issue was that England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland wanted to join as separate nations. The concept of the United Kingdom (Great Britain??) was ignored and the four nations were invited to join separately. The British associations refused to cooperate with their historic Great War enemies even after hostilities had finished. 

There was also the concept of "broken-time" payments, which was a means of compensating amateur players who represented their countries in the Olympics. FIFA agreed with this, but the British Associations did not, stating that players were either amateurs or paid professionals, with no middle ground. The decision to leave FIFA was costly, which meant that there was no invitation to the first three World Cup competitions. The English FA turned down the invitation to play in the 1938 tournament, as a non-FIFA nation, offered because Austria, a country "swallowed up" by Nazi Germany, had become unable to attend.

After the War, the British realised that the "world of football" was happy to move on without them. The four home nations were re-invited and given separate votes in "council". This was celebrated by a match at Hampden Park between Great Britain and The Rest of Europe, played at Hampden Park in May 1947. This raised £35,000 for the post-war FIFA and Britain won 6-1. 

The isolationist policy showed up however, with England humiliated in their first World Cup outing. In the 1950 Qualifying pool, hosted in Brazil, England lost 0-1 to The USA in Belo Hozizonte (June 29th); clearly not adjusted to post war international football

Before the qualification competition, George Graham (not the one we know!), chairman of the Scottish Football Association (SFA), had said that Scotland would only travel to Brazil as winners of the Home Championship (England, by contrast, had committed to attending, even if they finished in second place). After Scotland ended up in second place behind England, the Scottish captain George Young, encouraged by England captain Billy Wright, pleaded with the SFA to change its mind and accept the place in Brazil; however, Graham refused to change his position and so Scotland withdrew from the tournament.

The 1954 World Cup tournament, used a unique format. The sixteen qualifying teams were divided into four groups of four teams each. Each group contained two seeded teams and two unseeded teams. Only four matches were scheduled for each group (heaven knows why!), each pitting a seeded team against an unseeded team. This contrasts with the usual "round-robin" in which every team plays every other team: six matches in each group. Scotland lost to Austria 0-1 in their first group match and then was thumped by Uruguay 7-0  England won their group, beating Switzerland 2-0, and drawing with Belgium 4-4. losing in the "Quarters" in Basle,  to Uruguay 4-2. It took a while for both countries to get back to some sort of normal globally.

TREVOR FRANCIS-A SAD DAY

NOTTINGHAM Forest star and England legend Trevor Francis has died, from a heart attack, aged 69, at his home in Marbella.

The icon was England's first-ever £1million player and was instrumental in helping Brian Clough's Forest win the European Cup in 1979. Francis was born in Plymouth and educated at Plymouth's Public Secondary School for Boys. He was an agile and skilful forward and joined Birmingham City as a schoolboy. Francis quickly rose in status, making his debut for Birmingham City's first team in 1970, aged just 16. His talent was noted when, before his 17th birthday, he scored four goals in a match against Bolton Wanderers. He ended his first season with 15 goals from just 22 games.

While recognised as the first British million-pound player, the actual transfer fee for the player was £1,150,000, including 15% commission to the Football League. Brian Clough wrote in his autobiography that the fee was £999,999, as he wanted to ensure the million-pound milestone did not go to the player's head, although Francis says that was a classic tongue in cheek remark by Clough.

Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1979	Birmingham City	280	(118)
1978	→ Detroit Express (loan)	19	(22)
1979–1981	Nottingham Forest	70	(28)
1979	→ Detroit Express (loan)	14	(14)
1981–1982	Manchester City	26	(12)
1982–1986	Sampdoria	67	(17)
1986–1987	Atalanta	21	(1)
1987–1988	Rangers	18	(0)
1988–1990	Queens Park Rangers	32	(12)
1988	→ Wollongong City (loan)	3	(2)
1990–1994	Sheffield Wednesday	76	(5)
Total		626	(231)
International career
1977–1986	England	52	(12)
Managerial career
1988–1989	Queens Park Rangers
1991–1995	Sheffield Wednesday
1996–2001	Birmingham City
2001–2003	Crystal Palace

FROM THE COMMUNITY PUTTING BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY

The Premier League has invested £2.6 billion in charitable projects, wider football support and good causes since Season 1998/99. Long-term Premier League investment has underpinned the development of two of the largest sports charities in the world. The independent Premier League Charitable Fund and Football Foundation charities receive Premier League investment to facilitate far reaching impact via community and facilities grants. 

The EFL Trust and National League Trust also receive support for core costs and grants for the charities of clubs in those leagues to invest in their structure and community delivery. Premier League support for the wider game ranges from solidarity and youth development payments to grants for fan initiatives, community programmes and grassroots facilities. Annual investment has continued to increase over the past decade.This world-leading level of support underpins delivery via clubs throughout the football pyramid, and in tens of thousands of community venues and schools across England and Wales. 

Spurs defender, Ben Davies learns how Spurs help local communities and their mental health. The defender visits Tottenham Hotspurs' Foundation Shape Up Programme...this video, below c/o Match of the Day.

https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/3347021?FOOTBALL_CLUBS=21

Davies was born in Neath, West Glamorgan. After spending time in the youth academy at Swansea City, he and his family moved to Viborg, Denmark, after his father accepted a job offer. They spent three years living in Denmark, where he played for Viborg FFs youth team before returning to Swansea. Davies is a fluent Welsh language speaker. On 23 November 2012, Davies signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Swansea.

Here is his club career:

Full name	Benjamin Thomas Davies
Date of birth	24 April 1993 (age 30)
Place of birth	Neath, Wales
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.81 m)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	33
Youth career
2000–2001	Swansea City
2001–2004	Viborg FF
2004–2012	Swansea City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2014	Swansea City	71	(3)
2014–	Tottenham Hotspur	208	(6)
International career‡
2009	Wales U17	1	(0)
2011	Wales U19	5	(0)
2012–	Wales	78	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:10, 28 May 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:10, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

In September 2012, Davies was selected for the Wales squad in September 2012. He replaced club team mate Neil Taylor, who had suffered a broken ankle in a Premier League match against Sunderland. Davies made his full international debut in the 2–1 win against Scotland on 12 October 2012. Davies signed 5-year contract with Tottenham on the 23rd July 2014, for an undisclosed fee.

In May 2021 he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. In November 2022 he was named in the Wales squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. 

In the summer of 2021, Davies was awarded a 2:1 degree in Economics and Business from the Open University, after balancing his studies with his job as a professional footballer over a period of five years.