Testimonial Match
A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for service to the club. These matches are always non-competitive. History The practice started at a time when player compensation, even those at top professional clubs, was at a level that made it difficult to maintain it as a primary form of employment therefore retirement savings might not exist. These matches are generally well-attended and the gesture by the club can give the honoree income that enables a retirement income base or enable the honoree an opportunity to establish themselves in other employment when they finished playing. This is still the main objective of testimonials in Australia, Ireland and some other countries. Clubs typically grant testimonials to players upon reaching ten years of service with a club, although in recent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Association Football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular field called a Football pitch, pitch. The objective of the game is to Scoring in association football, score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed Goal (sport), goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport. Association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the International Football Association Board, IFAB since 1886. The game is pla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. ''The Independent'' won the Brand of the Year Award in The Drum Awards for Online Media 2023. History 1980s Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330. It was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at ''The Daily Telegraph'' who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rugby Union Terminology
Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Touch rugby *** Tambo rugby ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Both codes *** Tag rugby * Rugby fives, a handball game, similar to squash, played in an enclosed court * Underwater rugby, an underwater sport played in a swimming pool and named after rugby football *Rugby ball, a ball for use in rugby football Arts and entertainment * '' Rugby'' (video game), the 2000 installment of Electronic Arts' Rugby video game series * ''Rugby'', second movement of ''Mouvements symphoniques'' by Arthur Honegger Brands and enterprises * Rugby (automobile), made by Durant Motors * Rugby Cement, a former UK PLC, no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rugby League Terminology
Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Touch rugby *** Tambo rugby ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Both codes *** Tag rugby * Rugby fives, a handball game, similar to squash, played in an enclosed court * Underwater rugby, an underwater sport played in a swimming pool and named after rugby football *Rugby ball, a ball for use in rugby football Arts and entertainment * '' Rugby'' (video game), the 2000 installment of Electronic Arts' Rugby video game series * ''Rugby'', second movement of ''Mouvements symphoniques'' by Arthur Honegger Brands and enterprises * Rugby (automobile), made by Durant Motors * Rugby Cement, a former UK PL ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Association Football Terminology
Association football (more commonly known as football or soccer) was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably earlier."History of the FA" . Archived fro the original on 7 April 2005. Retrieved 9 October 2007. A large number of football-related terms have since emerged to describe various aspects of the sport and its culture. The evolution of the sport has been ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Len Cantello Testimonial Match
The Len Cantello Testimonial Match, (West Bromwich Albion XI v Cyrille Regis & Laurie Cunningham XI), was a testimonial football match that took place in May 1979 to celebrate West Bromwich Albion player Len Cantello, who played for the club over 300 times between 1968 and 1979. The teams were selected based on the colour of the players' skin. The West Bromwich Albion XI was composed of White British and Irish players while the Cyrille Regis & Laurie Cunningham XI was composed of Black British players. The West Brom XI team featured Tony Godden, Paddy Mulligan, Derek Statham, Tony Brown, John Wile, Bryan Robson, Johnny Giles, John Trewick, Alistair Brown, Len Cantello, David Mills, David Stewart, Martyn Bennett and Kevin Summerfield. The Cyrille Regis & Laurie Cunningham XI featured Ian Benjamin (Sheffield United), Vernon Hodgson (West Bromwich Albion – a trialist), Brendon Batson (West Bromwich Albion), Derek Richardson (QPR), Stewart Phillips (Hereford Unite ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Benefit Season
A benefit season is a method of financially rewarding professional cricketers that is used by English county cricket teams to compensate long serving players. The system originated in the 19th century to help out professional cricketers who were paid low wages and generally could not play professional cricket much beyond the age of forty. Early "benefits" typically comprised the gate receipts of a designated match. Nowadays, a benefit season comprises a sequence of events such as dinners and auctions of memorabilia over the course of the summer cricket season or the whole year in which the relevant cricket season falls. In almost all cases only one player from a club is given a benefit in each season in order to avoid two or more players competing to attract money from the same people. Until recently, players with less service might sometimes be given a "Testimonial" season or match: the difference appears to have been largely semantic, but for almost half a century one of the less ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Benefit (sports)
A benefit is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question. However hosting one of these matches is a risk for the player in question as they are responsible for paying any relevant receipts and collects any excess income from the match, therefore income from such matches is more often than not reliant on attendance. Sometimes, the "beneficiary" can opt to give part or all of the money to charity. An example of this is Paul Collingwood's 2007 benefit with Durham County Cricket Club. This may also occur when sportsmen unite for a cause, for example the Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer "Match for Africa" (2010) where more than $2.6 million was raised for the Roger Federer Foundation, enabling children living in poverty to realise their potential. History Benefit matches originated in English county cricket ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tomáš Rosický
Tomáš Rosický (; born 4 October 1980) is a Czech former professional association football, footballer who was the Captain (association football), captain of the Czech Republic national football team, Czech Republic national team for a ten-year period. He played club football for AC Sparta Prague, Sparta Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal F.C., Arsenal. Currently, he serves as the sports director of Sparta Prague. A midfielder, he started his professional career at his hometown club Sparta Prague, playing three seasons in the Czech First League before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2001 for Deutsche Mark, DM 25 million (approximately Pound sterling, £8 million), at the time a record transfer fee paid by a Bundesliga club. In his first season in Germany, he helped his team win the league title and reach the 2002 UEFA Cup Final. Rosický joined Arsenal F.C., Arsenal in 2006, and made 247 appearances for the club, including appearing in their victory in the 2014 FA Cup Final ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gheorghe Hagi
Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in the world during the 1980s and '90s, and is regarded by many as the greatest Romanian footballer of all time. Fans of Turkish club Galatasaray, with whom Hagi ended his career, called him (" heCommander"), while he was known as ("The King") to Romanian supporters. Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he was a creative advanced playmaker renowned for his dribbling, technique, vision, passing and shooting. After starting his playing career in Romania, with FC Constanța, and subsequently featuring for Sportul Studențesc and Steaua București, he later also had spells in Spain with Real Madrid and Barcelona, Italy with Brescia, and Turkey, with Galatasaray. Hagi is one of the few footballers to have played for both Spanish ri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Match Against Poverty
The Match Against Poverty was a friendly football match that has taken place almost every year from 2003 until 2015 to raise funds to support specific development projects selected by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP organized the game with the help of UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo, is supported by both FIFA and UEFA, and raises awareness and mobilizes public opinion for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were created in 2000. Since 2003, 12 Matches against Poverty have raised nearly US $4 million to support UNDP's work, including that on post-earthquake reconstruction in Haiti and Pakistan, Typhoon recovery in the Philippines, post-famine relief in the Horn of Africa and anti-poverty projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. History Adopted in 2000 and reaffirmed by the leaders of 191 countries at the UN Summit in 2005, the Millennium Development Goals seek to halve world poverty by 2015 by setting ta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soccer Aid
Soccer Aid is an English annual charity event that has raised over £106 million in aid of UNICEF UK, through ticket sales and donations from the public. The televised event is an exhibition-style football match between two teams, England and the Soccer Aid World XI (formerly Rest of the World (ROW) until 2018), composed of celebrities and former professional players representing their countries. It is the only mixed-sex match officially sanctioned by The Football Association. Event details ''Soccer Aid'' was initiated in 2006 by Robbie Williams and Jonathan Wilkes. It initially took place every two years, but since the 2018 edition it is now held annually. The television broadcast is produced by Initial and distributed by Endemol Shine Sport, a Dutch company that distributes Dutch Eredivisie coverage. Television coverage began on ITV on 22 May 2006 in a show presented by Ant & Dec. Dermot O'Leary took over as main presenter in 2010. The ROW/World XI team narrowly leads ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |