FOOTY FAIR

Back from the Brink: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Parma FC (Video)

2015-09-08T16:00:00.000-04:00

Growing up, Italian side Parma FC was one of the clubs I enjoyed watching. A club of ups and downs, Parma suffered bankruptcy after enjoying success domestically and in European football. This video from Copa90 covers the rise and for a lack of a better word "demise" of this storied Italian team and how they are now heading back up the ranks of Italian football. This is Back from the Brink: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Parma FC.

Five Fastest Red Cards in Football History

2015-09-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

When Steven Gerrard was sent off after only 38 seconds of coming onto the pitch for Liverpool against Manchester United last season, United fans laughed in derision at the now departed Anfield legend.

But incredibly that doesn't even come close to cracking the top five for the fastest sendings off in football history.

The following five professional players that were sent to an early bath even sooner than Gerrard:

5) Mark Smith, Crewe Alexandra vs Darlington in 1994 (19 seconds)

With his defense parting like the Red Sea and a Darlington striker baring down on him straight from the kickoff, Mark Smith of Crewe Alexandra did what any self respecting nutjob goalkeeper would do and took the attackers legs out from under him. Smith saw a straight red for his efforts and Darlington scored from the spot kick. "CRASH!"

4) Kevin Pressman, Sheffield Wednesday vs Wolves in 2000 (13 seconds)

Straight from the kickoff Wolves put a hopeful ball up towards the edge of Sheffield Wednesday's box and incredibly their hapless keeper Kevin Pressman rushed out to touch with his hand. As he was outside of his area Pressman saw a straight red. "THUMP!"

3) Giuseppe Lorenzo, Bologna vs Parma in 1990 (10 seconds)

Giuseppe Lorenzo wasn't no time in getting the referee to show him a red in a Serie A match back in 1990. He simply walked on the pitch and punched an opponent in the face. "BAM!"

T-1) Walter Boyd, Swansea vs Darlington in 2000 (0 seconds)

Entering a match against Darlington as a substitute, Swansea's Walter Boyd got involved in a brawl before play resumed for a free kick and elbowed a Darlington player in the head. The official time of his sending off was zero seconds. "CRACK!"

T-1) Keith Gillespie, Sheffield United vs Reading in 2007 (0 seconds)

Former Manchester United and Newcastle United winger Keith Gillespie was always known as a fiery character and so he proved when he was subbed on for Sheffield United while Reading were trying to take a throw on. Before the ball could be thrown though he got into a brawl with Stephen Hunt and was sent off with zero seconds of live match action being played. "SMASH!"

5 Great Football Stars That Played for Parma

2015-06-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

With today's news of Italian side Parma FC declaring bankruptcy, I couldn't help but think of how wonderful the club was in the 1990's and early 2000's. In that short span Parma was able to capture the Coppa Italia title on three occasions, finish in a club record runner-up position in Serie A, win the UEFA Cup twice, and once win the European Cup Winners' Cup and European Super Cup.

Now, the 101 year old club will have to restart its life in Serie D; the amateur level. But instead of dwelling on the sad news I decided to celebrate the club's history a bit, taking a look at 5 incredible footballers that once wore the shirt of Parma Football Club.

Faustino Asprilla

Colombian forward Faustino Asprilla played in over 100 matches for Parma FC in his two stints at the club. In 1992 Parma became Asprilla's first club outside of Colombia when they outbid other Italian clubs to sign him from Colombian side Atlético Nacional for almost $11 million. After leaving for England in 1996 and spending two seasons with Newcastle United, Asprilla returned to Parma for another year.

Gianfranco Zola

Italian international Zola was part of Parma FC between 1993 and 1996, scoring 49 times in 102 appearances for the club before signing for London club Chelsea FC.

Fabio Cannavaro

The face of the 2006 World Cup winning Italy national team, star center-back Fabio Cannavaro spent a good majority of his career with Parma. A member of the club between 1995 and 2002, Cannavaro made over 200 appearances for the club before moving on to Inter, Juventus and Real Madrid.

Gianluigi Buffon

A fact that still manages to surprise football fans around the world; Parma FC was Gianluigi Buffon's first professional club. Coming up the ranks from its youth side, "Gigi" put in just under 200 appearances for Parma before moving on to Juventus where he became a legend between the posts.

Hernán Crespo

Argentine striker Hernán Crespo was signed by Parma in 1996 from his native and first professional club River Plate. In his five years with the club, Crespo made over 100 appearances, scoring 62 goals, averaging more than half a goal per game. Crespo's career would take him to various other clubs, but the Argentine returned to Parma once more in 2010 and retired from football in 2012 with Parma FC officially being the last professional club he had played for.

Any Given Sunday: Parma Needs to Pay up… Sucka!!!!

2014-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

I know that it sounds like I channeled my inner Booker T on this one, a bit of a wrestling reference for those that enjoy that kind of sports and entertainment, but I am sure that is exactly how it sounded to Parma when the Italian FA deducted points for failing to pay player wages.

Last month the Italian FA charged the Serie A club for not paying player wages dating back to November of 2013. A decision has been made now to fine the club President and director 5,000 euros each and deducting one point from the team.

As far as the point goes, it hurts the club since they are dead last in the league, but I wonder how able to pay these fines will these two gentlemen be. They can’t pay the salaries and you expect them to pay fines? Unless they start collecting money at the door of the stadium during home games, I can see this fine having very little effect on how they conduct business. The fine should have been larger and the money from the fine should have been used by the Italian FA to pay some of the salaries owed, not to line the treasury of the league.

Reports suggest that Parma is on the brink of being bought by a Russian-Cypriot conglomerate, making it the third Serie A club to have foreign owners.

This could be the lifeline that Parma needs. A quick injection of capital would help normalize the financial situation of the club and perhaps instill some level of confidence and hope in the players. Being last is no fluke and when your salaries are not paid on time how motivated are you to give 110% on the field every weekend. Perhaps as motivated as the guys running the club are to pay the salaries of the players.

Asprilla Strikes Back with Fruity Condom Business

2014-09-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

The former Parma and Newcastle United striker Faustino Asprilla is entering a new world when it comes to a career path. The former Colombian international is launching a line of flavored condoms that he has designed, in his native Colombia.

He was known for scoring during his playing days, but he is now looking at helping those scoring in their love life. Asprilla has negotiated a contract with a Chinese manufacture, which will be making, distributing and selling his flavored condoms. He has also confirmed that the condoms will come in different sizes and flavors, in hopes to attract a wide customer base.

There is no word from Asprilla or his representatives if an “Asprilla” size will be also added to the collection. He did confirm however that his favorite flavor is guava, the main reason being that he had a guava tree outside the house in which he grew up in. Let us all get our collective minds out of the gutter on this one, and just say that he likes guava, as a fruit.

“It’s a good idea, and it is cool to contribute to safe sex campaigns,” he told Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper. “I hope people like them, buy them and have fun with them.”

Good for Asprilla to take on such noble endeavor and what better product for a striker to get behind than condoms. I am waiting for Schmeichel to get behind a maxi pad product. Since he was a goal stopper perhaps the Schmeichel pads could stop even the heaviest of flows. If he does get the maxi pad product I want some royalties

5 Players Who Retired too Early

2014-09-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

The saying "it's better to burn out than fade away" is often quoted when a rock star drinks, drugs or shags him or herself to death.

Although some footballers are not immune to those three particular vices themselves, this phrase can more typically applied to players who shone brightly for a few moments, but left football and their fans behind prematurely.

The following are a few examples of players whose time in the spotlight was up sooner than expected.

George Best

There's a saying in parts of Ireland that "Pele good, Maradona better, George Best". That's the esteem in which many people who grew up in the '60s and early '70s hold Best. Bestie was a bright flame who burned out too quickly for Manchester United and Northern Ireland fans though. After two league titles, a European Cup and a Ballon D'or trophy, his wild lifestyle and the decline of a post Matt Busby United led to his departure from top flight football at only 27. He tried several comebacks in the following years, but it was always a case of what might have been for the boy from Belfast.

Marco van Basten

Although the great Dutch striker officially hung up his boots at the age of 31, he was effectively finished at only 29 after a crippling ankle injury. Van Basten though had a sparkling career at both club and international level, helping the Dutch to their only major trophy at Euro '88 and was a part of the brilliant AC Milan side of the late '80s. However, his early departure from the game was desperately sad to witness.

Peter Knowles

A talented midfielder for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1960's, Knowles had the misfortune of joining the club just after their glorious heyday under legendary manager Stan Cullis. Wolves were relegated from the top flight in the mid-60's and as they struggled to get out of the Second Division the young Knowles, who was on the fringes of the England side, repeatedly pushed for a move. Although the club refused, he did eventually leave the Midlands side, but not in the way expected. While in Kansas City on a pre-season tour, Knowles became a Jehovah's Witness and said he no longer had any interest in football, but would see out his contract. However only eight matches into the 1969/1970 season the 24 year old Wolves midfielder decided that he would prefer to devote himself to spreading the good word, rather than chase around the Molineux, and promptly called it a day.

Carlos Roa

Staying with the topic of religion as a reason for players to retire prematurely, you would struggle to find a stranger case than Carlos Roa. After some strong performances for Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, the Mallorca keeper walked out on his contract with the Spanish club a year later to prepare for the end of the world with his Seventh Day Adventist church. Unfortunately for the 30 year old keeper, but fortunately for the rest of us, the world didn't explode on January 1, 2000. Roa eventually came out of retirement, but was never able to get his career back on track.

Hidetoshi Nakata

Arguably the most famous Japanese player ever, Hidetoshi Nakata made an impressive breakthrough into Italian football at a young age, spending time at Perugia, Roma, Fiorentina and Parma. Despite being only 29 years old during the 2006 World Cup, he announced his retirement after the finals. Besides taking up a new career, to quote Derek Zoolander, as a ridiculously, disgustingly good looking male model, he also said he wanted to "see what was going on in the world." Someone should have told him to open a newspaper occasionally and then book a week in Benidorm, but never mind.

Throwback Thursdays - My First Live Football Match (Benfica vs Parma 1994)

2014-07-31T15:00:00.000-04:00

Pedro's First Live Match Experience

On this week’s edition of Throwback Thursday I will be looking back at my first experience of watching a live football match. I will take some time to talk about the game itself but also my personal experience and what it meant to me.

I hope reading this will spark similar thoughts in you and bring back great memories from your past and possibly your youth. If you would like to share them with us, use the comment section below, I would love to hear your first game experiences.

My first live football game experience came in March 29th 1994. It was the first leg of the Cup Winners Cup and SL Benfica was hosting Parma in the old Estadio da Luz. I was 16 years old and I had never been to a football match so to go see my favorite team play at home in a semi-final of a European competition was not only a treat but a dream come true.

I grew up in Nazare, a small tourist town north of Lisbon but on the coast line of Portugal. My parents couldn’t go with me so I took the supporters bus from my town to Lisbon. The travel itself was an experience on its own. I went with 3 friends of mine who had been to several games before; I was the rookie of the group. The singing and drinking on the bus was something I hadn’t experienced before and it was a real life experience, being the youngest of the group.

Once we got to the stadium we immediately hit the food trailers. Let me tell you, there is no better food that the one being sold outside the stadium on game day from the local vendors. In the old stadium they had all these trailers’ and tents setup up for people to go and drink and eat before heading inside for the game. The food and drinks were very affordable and it was another chance to mingle with fellow supporters and eat some good food after a long drive to the game. I remember eating like a lord, because once I got inside I wanted to concentrate on the match and not spend time eating or doing anything else that would take away from my experience.

At that time the tickets were general admission, so you went in and could pretty much sit anywhere you wanted. There were no seats only concrete stands. People would take food inside in small coolers and even beer was brought in. You could almost have a picnic inside the stadium, imagine trying that now? We set ourselves on the north side by the corner flag, probably not the best place to watch a game, but it was very close to the fences and at least during the corners you could see your idols up close.

When the PA announced the teams, my heart almost stopped. Benfica had in the lineup Rui Costa, Mozer, Abel Xavier, Joao Pinto, Isaias and Veloso just to name some of the most recognizable ones, but Parma was a team full of stars as well, they had Sensini, Tomas Brolin, Zola, Asprilla & Benarrivo to also only name a few. That was one of the best Parma teams I have ever seen. At that time Brolin, Asprilla and Zola were three huge superstars. Rui Costa would become one, but at that time he was a young player still earning his way to the top.

The stress of playing a semifinal in a stadium that had around 80,000 in attendance was noticeable, and as a fan my heart was racing. I am not sure if I was nervous about the outcome of such important game or if the emotions of being there was just too much for me.

The game started in the best way possible; at the 8th minute mark Isaias scores the first goal to give Benfica the 1-0 lead in the game. The stadium went wild, and I almost fell down the steps. I couldn’t believe that I was there and they were beating this incredible Parma team. It was like a dream had come true. The happiness that I felt and that was shared by near 80,000 didn’t last long, six minutes later Zola scores and the game is tied at 1. I think the air came out of my lungs; it was like a stab in the back. A tie at home in a 2 leg affair is not good, but like everyone around me kept reminding me, it was only the 14th minute mark, so there was still a lot of game to be played.

It took Benfica until the 60th minute to regain the lead on a goal by Rui Costa that had already assisted on the first one. He was in my mind at that time the man of the match, and really became my favorite player of all time. Incredible how one game, one performance can leave those marks in one person. That day he became my idol.

When Benfica was already leading 2-1, Yuran was taken down in the box and Benfica was awarded a penalty. Vitor Paneira was the man given the task to score from the penalty spot. I remember like if it was today, turning to my friends and saying that if we score we will be in the final, but if we don’t we will go down to Italy with only 1 goal lead and we will end up losing in the last 10 minutes. Somehow I wish I hadn’t said that, it was almost like a curse, not of Bela Guttmann proportions but close. Paneira’s penalty kick was saved, and Benfica would finish the game with a 2-1 lead which eventually wasn’t enough since they lost in Italy 1-0 with a goal scored in the 75th minute.

In the end Benfica had won the match and Rui Costa had shown that he belonged among Europe’s best players. As a fan I couldn’t be happier, my first game ever was an European semi-final and my team had won. The memories of that match live with me for as long as I live and will never be replaced with anything else. It doesn’t matter how many games I attend in the future or have attended since, no game will ever match that game on March 29 1994.