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16 - 30 September 2002 15 September 2002 Slap My Bitch Up Brazilian striker Slowmario slapped Fluminese team-mate Andrei after the defender made a mistake during their team's crushing 6-0 defeat away to Sao Paulo. Slowmario has thus far refused to apologise for his latest display of petulance. 14 September 2002 La Liga To Test For EPO Players in La Liga will be tested for the banned performance enhancing drug EPO. 13 September 2002 Player Punished For Dribbling Referee Leonardo Gaciba Junior awarded a free kick against a player for dribbling in a between Coritiba and Santos. Coritiba striker Jaba had possession of the ball on the touchline and feigned to move with the ball when the referee awarded a free kick to the opposition. Gaciba claimed : "The rule says that a player cannot endanger an opponent or himself. He wasn't being objective so I awarded a free kick to protect him. If somebody had broken his leg they will say that I was not clamping down on violence." Former FIFA referee Jose Roberto Wright responded with : "What Leonardo Gaciba did was absurd, it can't happen. What he in fact did was to stamp out the skill of the player and not the violence of the opponents. Can you imagine what would have happened if the referee had given a free kick every time Garrincha lifted his foot over the ball? There wouldn't be any football left." Dodgy Referee Under Investigation Ecuador's Byron Moreno, who sent off Francesco Totti and disallowed a goal in extra time during Italy's infamous World Cup defeat against South Korea, has been given a 20 match suspension by the Ecuadorian FA for adding an incredible 13 minutes of injury time to a league match between Quito and Barcelona and not registering it. A statement by FIFA read : "As a result of a number of controversies regarding referee Byron Moreno in Japan, Italy and South America over the past few months, FIFA has decided to launch an investigation into the affair." Quito scored twice in the added time to win the match 4-3 and Moreno only reported the game as lasting 90 minutes. Moreno is running for city council, in Qutio! 12 September 2002 Record Losses For Scottish Clubs A report by accountants Price-Waterhouse Coopers found that the 12 Premier League clubs made a combined loss of £48 million with debts rising from £55 million pounds to £132 million pounds. Ronaldo Pays Inter €5 Million "In economic terms Inter came out of the whole deal very well because Ronaldo had to pay €5 million out of his own pocket in order to compensate us for lost sponsorship money." - Massimo Moratti Beckham Apologises For Bolton Loss "It was a mistake from me that lost us the game. When we push forward so much, we leave ourselves exposed sometimes. But Bolton wouldn't have scored if it wasn't for my mistake. We're not playing to our best, but we have to get to our best and quickly." - David Beckham Vieira Says He's Knackered Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira claims that he needs a rest after a gruelling two seasons with no rest. "I'm not just tired, I'm cooked. I can hardly stand up at times. My back hurts, my legs hurt, I hurt everywhere. I am going to see the manager because he must give me some rest. His club coach, Arsene Wenger, disagrees : "I looked at the statistics for Tuesday's game and, physically, Patrick was outstanding. He pushed himself very hard and that explains why he was so tired but I have no plans to rest him. I believe that he is a different physical shape now and he will be ready for Saturday's game." Celtic Defender Out For 3 Months Celtic's Swedish defender Johan Mjallby will miss the next three months of the season with a knee injury. Argentine Footballer Released Banfield's 27 year old Argentine footballer Jorge Cervera has been released by kidnappers following the payment of a ransom. Cervera was kidnapped in the early hours of Tuesday morning and released after the kidnappers accepted 4,000 pesos having originally demanded 20,000. Earlier in the year Christian Riquelme, brother of Barcelona midfielder Juan Carlo Riquelme. was released after his family paid $160,000 to kidnappers. 10 September 2002 Serie A TV Row Ends Following a meeting brokered by Minister of Cultural Resources and Affairs, Giuliano Urbani, the six big clubs i.e. Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio and Parma would make financial contributions to the eight clubs who had rejected the previous offers from the two pay TV operators, Stream and Tele+. Atalanta, Brescia, Chievo, Como, Empoli, Modena, Perugia and Piacenza had rejected an offer of €53 million for pay per view rights to all their league matches. It's not clear how much money the six big clubs will pay but the rebels had earlier claimed they would not accept anything less than a combined total of €65 million. 4 September 2002 Rai Get Their Highlights Rai have agreed a three year deal with Italian clubs deal to continue their 90 Minutes football highlights program. Serie A clubs will be paid a total of €62 million a year for three years. The fee includes live coverage of the Italian Cup. Jardel Walks Out On Sporting Lisbon Mario Jardel has walked out on Sporting Lisbon after they refused to let him play for another European club. Jardel has been suffering from depression following the break up of his marriage and has returned to Brazil to be near his two children, who are with his wife Karen in the city of Fortaleza. Eriksson Sacks England Doctors England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has sacked three members of his medical team, Doctors John Crane, Tim Sonnex and physiotherapist Alan Smith and hired Sweden's under-21 team doctor Leif Sward. 3 September 2002 Schafer Extends Contract With Cameroon Cameroon's German coach Winfired Schafer has signed a two year contract with the African Champions despite their poor showing at the World Cup. 2 September 2002 Charlton Captain Out For Six Months Charlton captain Graham Stuart will be out of action for six months after damaging a cruciate knee ligament when laying on the winning goal in the league match against Bolton. 1 September 2002 Romeo, Romeo, Why The **** Did You Call Him Romeo? David's Beckham's wife has given birth to her second child, a boy which has been named Romeo. Romeo weighed in at 7lbs 4 ounces and was delivered by caesarean section. Father David was once again present at the birth. |