Football Ferns fall to England

Three unanswered second half goals have given England a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over New Zealand’s Football Ferns at the Cyprus Cup and a place in the tournament final.

Two goals in two minutes midway through the second half set up the victory, with the result leaving New Zealand to contest the match for third place against the Group B runners up to round out their campaign.

England has proved to be New Zealand’s bogey side in recent times with the Football Ferns losing 2-1 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany in 2011 and 1-0 at the London Olympics against Great Britain - a squad which featured 16 English players and two Scots.

Despite the loss, coach Tony Readings was pleased with the performance as New Zealand continues to close the gap on the best sides in the women’s game in the lead up to the Football Ferns pinnacle events.

"The game was another step on our journey to 2015 and 2016, we’ll take a lot of positives from the match, but at the end of the day we’ve conceded three and lost the game.

"There’s not much between the two sides. It’s typically a physical, high-tempo match but today we dominated possession and we’ve never done that before and we were able slow the game down.

"We proved we can play good football against top-10 opposition and that’s a good place to start building from heading into the next World Cup and Olympic Games," Readings said.

In a first half of few chances, Amber Hearn gave New Zealand a seventh minute lead after robbing an England player of possession in their defensive third beating another and smashing home from the edge of the box to give the Football Ferns a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

England were ‘knocking on the door’ before substitute Ellen White equalised a minute after coming on as a substitute, firing home an angled drive from the edge of the box. Eniola Aluko edged England ahead two minutes later getting the decisive touch from a lofted a free kick into the Football Ferns penalty area.

Hearn came close to equalising with two minutes remaining as New Zealand pushed forward for a draw. With caution thrown to the wind, Toni Duggan sealed the win in the final minute of regulation when she beat Erin Nayler to the ball and passed into an empty net to complete the 3-1 defeat.

England will face Canada in the Cyprus Cup final with New Zealand awaiting the Group B results to find their opponent from Finland, Netherlands or Switzerland in the match for third place.

"We’ve got no preference on our opponent for our last match, the three sides all play a similar style," Readings said.

The match for third place will be played in Larnaca at 1.30am on Thursday morning (NZT).

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Rape trial of football heroes brings scrutiny on Ohio town

By Drew Singer

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) - Two high school football players accused of raping a girl will face trial in Steubenville, Ohio, on Wednesday in a case that has become a national example of social media's powerful influence in modern society.

Quarterback Trent Mays and wide receiver Ma'Lik Richmond, both 16, are charged with raping their classmate, whose name has been withheld by Reuters, at a teammate's house after a night of drinking on August 11.

Prosecutors say Richmond and Mays sexually assaulted their classmate as she lay naked on the basement floor, too drunk to move or speak. The girl told police she did not remember what happened, but reported the incident the next day once she heard about it from her friends.

The case might have never been known outside the local area, like thousands of sexual assault cases in the United States each year. But after the party, a photograph began circulating on Twitter of two people carrying a passed-out girl by her arms and legs. Along with the photo, graphic banter on social media among people who had attended the party suggested that a rape had occurred and that more than two players were involved.

Local prosecutors charged the two players on August 22.

The case went viral on social media, and the town was accused of wrapping a cone of silence around the team to shield other players from prosecution.

The global computer hacking network Anonymous got involved. It obtained and publicized a video that it said showed several Steubenville players joking about a rape, and organized protests on the steps of the county courthouse in Steubenville which drew people from out of state.

A women's rights group presented a petition to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine demanding prosecution of more players.

The pressure from outside Steubenville shows how social media are transforming society, said Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia University's chief digital officer, who teaches social media.

"Things which used to happen in private settings now happen publicly and have much longer legs than they've had in the past," he said. "In this case, social media has been integral to both the legal case and how the story has affected the community, for better and for worse."

The criticism has stunned this economically depressed steel town of 19,000 which reveres its perennial powerhouse "Big Red" football team and legendary coach Reno Saccoccia.

Saccoccia, 63, has coached at Steubenville for 35 years, winning three state titles through a regime of hard work and tough discipline. He was inducted into the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 2007, and the school's stadium bears his name.

Even though Mays and Richmond did not play last year, the team posted a record of nine wins and three losses.

"In a depressed area, the public seems to rally around something that's been good and successful, something that puts the city out in a positive way," said Jerry Barilla, who owns a furniture store in Steubenville, where he was born and raised.

With football so ingrained in the town, a trial of its players proved difficult. The county prosecutor and the juvenile judge both removed themselves from the case because they had ties to the team. A judge from a neighboring county was brought in and Attorney General DeWine's office took over the probe.

In October, the new prosecutors sent letters to three more football players - Evan Westlake, Anthony Craig and Mark Cole - promising they would not be charged for their actions on the night of the rape, according to copies of the letter given to Reuters by people directly involved. Days later, they testified at a preliminary hearing against their teammates.

Defense lawyers call the exchange an immunity deal, but prosecutors deny making any commitments.

The three were the only people who attended the party to come forward, and their accounts gave prosecutors enough evidence to proceed to trial. Prosecutors say they do not have enough evidence to charge other players.

Mays and Richmond will be tried as juveniles. The proceedings could last through Friday.

Attorneys for the players say that there is more to the story than social media have said and that there has been a rush to judgment that the two are guilty.

The sex with the girl was "consensual," according to a court filing provided to Reuters outlining the case defense lawyers plan to pursue in the trial. The girl also told friends before the incident that she wanted to have sex with players, the filing says.

Prosecutors declined to comment until the trial begins.

Richmond's grandmother, Linda Wheat, said she received a telephone threat as a result of the attention focused on the case.

"I thought these guys were innocent until proven guilty, but they're not," she told Reuters. "These people online have made them guilty. Why have they ruined them?"

(Reporting by Drew Singer; Additional reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Greg McCune and Jim Marshall)

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Football coach stands by road with ‘Will Work for Helmets’ sign, donations and work orders flood in

North Marion football coach Doug Bilodeau and his dog Sally will work for new helmets — Facebook

The Aurora (Ore.) North Marion High school district is in the midst of a budget crunch, so they certainly didn’t have the funds needed to ramp up its stock of football helmets. That was a big problem for the North Marion football team, which didn’t have enough safe helmets to complete a full set.

While bemoaning this shortage of safe equipment, North Marion coach Doug Bilodeau joked that he was so desperate for new gear for his team that he would stand alongside a highway with a sign that reads “Will work for new helmets.” His daughter thought the idea was so funny that she actually made the sign, and Bilodeau was so touched by that gesture that he, in turn, took the sign out to the street and took a photo with it.

The now famed “Will Work for Helmets” photo landed on Facebook, and that in turn started what may be the most unusual fundraising drive for sports equipment in history. As reported by the Oregonian and Portland TV network KATU, no sooner than the coach had posted the photo than he was inundated by both donations and, fittingly, work orders from those who wanted to contribute to the program.

Hey, he did say “Will work for helmets,” right?

So far, the manual labor chores have only amounted to raking leaves at a number of apartments in exchange for one landlord’s donation of the money for one helmet, but Bilodeau and his players will take on all tasks if it helps them get the money they need to field a new squad’s worth of helmets in 2013.

“If someone has a project, we’ll get a group of kids to go do it,” Bilodeau told the Oregonian. “‘Work for helmets’ isn’t just a slogan. We put it into practice."

The team has already raised enough funds for five new helmets, with a goal of 30 by August. While he had no idea how it would happen just a month ago, Bilodeau now sounds confident that the team can reach its fundraising goal.

“I’ve got to find a way. Collect cans if I have to. I don’t want a kid not playing football because we don’t have the helmets,” Bilodeau said.

If Facebook has anything to do with it, Bilodeau won’t face that gut wrenching dilemma, all thanks to a familial joke about just how desperate he was to get new gear for his players.

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Doc Five: Best two-sport college football /basketball players – No. 5, Jackie Robinson

(Associated Press)

This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

THE BEST TWO-SPORT COLLEGE FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL PLAYERS

NO. 5, JACKIE ROBINSON

If our first entry on the list has you scratching your head, gather around for a history lesson on the great Jackie Robinson.

Robinson's legend for what he did to integrate baseball is well known and deserved. So are his achievements on the diamond for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It's an absolute shame that Robinson's legend for what he did strictly on the field (or, better yet, fields ... and court, too) at UCLA isn't celebrated enough.

Consider this: While Robinson was a Bruin, baseball might have been his fourth best sport. Many people know about Robinson's four-sport ability, but it's a little surprising everybody doesn't.

In 1939 and 1940, Robinson led college football in punt return average. If you look at the 2012 NCAA football record book, and dig really deep to the punt returns section, you'll still find this:

No other members of the Baseball Hall of Fame appear on that list of best career punt return average, if you were wondering.

In Robinson's final football season at UCLA he led the Bruins in rushing (383 yards), passing (444 yards), total offense (827 yards), scoring (36 points) and punt return average (21 yards). He averaged 5.9 yards per carry in his career.

(Associated Press)Of the players who have tried two sports in college, most are very good in one and a role player in the other. That's still impressive, but typically it's impossible for a college student to be a legitimate star in more than one sport. Robinson wasn't a role player in basketball, though.

Robinson led the Southern Division of the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring in 1940 (averaged 12.4 points in 12 league games) and 1941 (averaged 11.1 points in 12 league games). Oh, and after that Robinson moonlighted on the track team, when he could get away from baseball, and won the NCAA title in the broad jump with a mark of 24 feet, and 10 1/4 inches.

This would be comparable to Shabazz Muhammad being the best punt returner in FBS before he filled it up for the Bruins' basketball team, then in the spring he played baseball and also won an individual NCAA track title. There wouldn't be enough bandwidth on the Internet to handle all of the hype an athlete like that would get. When various outlets counted down the greatest athletes of the 20th century, Jackie Robinson was criminally underrated. If social impact was counted (as it presumably was for Muhammad Ali) and multi-sport talent was counted (as it was for Bo Jackson) then an argument could be made for Jackie Robinson being No. 1 on those lists.

One of the greatest second basemen in baseball history was also one of the best college football/basketball players of all time. That is unlikely to ever be repeated.

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Doc Five: The best two-sport college football /basketball players – No. 4 Tony Gonzalez

(USA Today Sports Images)This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.

THE BEST TWO-SPORT COLLEGE FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL PLAYERS

NO. 4, TONY GONZALEZ

This list of greatest players who played both football and basketball in college is surprisingly strong. Donovan McNabb, Julius Peppers and Chris Chambers are three NFL Pro Bowlers who didn't make it. Neither did Super Bowl champion Antwaan Randle El or NBA slam dunk champion Nate Robinson.

The greatest tight end who has ever lived was a key part of a Cal basketball team that made the NCAA tournament sweet 16, and he can't even crack the top three.

(USA Today Sports Images)Since Tony Gonzalez has set every major NFL tight end receiving record, and pretty much lapped the field in the process, it's almost like his college basketball career is an urban legend kept alive by his goalpost dunk touchdown celebration. But it was real, and at times spectacular.

Gonzalez shot better than 50 percent from the field in his three hoops seasons and averaged 6.4 points. That might not sound like much, but it likely would have been much better had football not gotten in the way.

His biggest basketball moment came against Villanova freshman Tim Thomas in the 1997 NCAA tournament. Gonzalez scored 23 points and was matched up most of the time by Cal coach Ben Braun on Thomas, a 6-10 future NBA lottery pick who scored 9,454 points in 13 NBA seasons. Thomas scored 11 points, and was held scoreless in the second half as Cal won and moved on to the sweet 16.

"I remember telling people, 'That guy's not going to be able to do anything against Gonzalez,'" Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a longtime NBA veteran who played with Gonzalez at Cal told Bay Area News Group. "People thought I was crazy, but I said, 'Gonzalez is going to dominate him.'

"I knew because I had faced him every day in practice. He was so much stronger than me, there was nothing I could do."

Gonzalez averaged 14.6 points per game over the final six games of that season. Again, that was the greatest tight end in NFL history just dabbling after football season was done.

Gonzalez, who played some NBA summer league ball in 2002, is just 6-5 so he was not ideal size to play down low in the NBA. But with his athletic ability and strength, it's not unfathomable that if had he concentrated on basketball at Cal he could have made the NBA.

No big deal. Gonzalez did fine with his career choice (and we're glad he's coming back for another year).

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Football - Croatia's Suker asks fans to respect Serbian rivals

"We will be treated the same way in Belgrade as the way they are treated here and I wish I had a magic wand to make sure that Serbia's national anthem is not jeered," the former Real Madrid striker told Serbia's state Tanjug news agency on Tuesday.

"Serbia's Football Association chief Tomislav Karadzic and general secretary Zoran Lakovic are my friends, we are on the same mission of crushing hooliganism in our two countries and a sportsmanlike atmosphere in our two qualifiers would be very welcome," he said.

The comments by Suker, who won the 1998 Champions League with Real and reached the World Cup semi-finals with Croatia the same year, came on the back of efforts by Serbia coach Sinisa Mihajlovic to defuse tension ahead of the potentially explosive Group A clash.

Having included applauding the opposition's national anthem in the Serbian players' code of conduct when he took over in May, Mihajlovic said last month the bitter memories of Balkan conflicts that tore apart the former Yugoslavia should take a back seat to football.

In a bid to allay fears of crowd trouble, the two federations have agreed not to ask for tickets for away fans at the qualifier and the reverse fixture on Sept. 6 in Serbia's capital.

Croatia top the group alongside Belgium with 10 points from four games, six more than third-placed Serbia, and Suker acknowledged that a win would be a big step towards next year's finals in Brazil.

"We are the favourites but have to prove it on the pitch as we want to seal a berth in next year's tournament as soon as possible," he said.

"Of course, Serbia have a talented team trying to get back into the hunt and we are aware of the threat they can pose on the pitch."

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Setting the market for hypothetical college football free agency 2013 - SB Nation

We're all familiar with NFL free agency by now, but what if college football had the same system?

With NFL free agency upon us, it got us thinking about which college football players would command the most attention if college football had a free agency system. Assuming no one would have to sit out a season after transferring (because wouldn't that be silly), we compiled a list of players that would be among those setting the price in the marketplace.

Remaining years of eligibility would have to be a major consideration in college football free agency, as a player with two or more years left would obviously be more desirable than a player with only one year remaining. However, as we saw with Russell Wilson at Wisconsin in 2011, a one-year player can make a huge impact.

So, for now, let's ignore free agent budgets and the like, and take a look at which players would be the most sought-after if college football players could become free agents. This is hardly a comprehensive list, so feel free to suggest more in the comments.

Quarterback: Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M redshirt sophomore), Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville junior), Braxton Miller (Ohio State junior), Christian Hackenberg (Penn State freshman)
Running back: Todd Gurley (Georgia sophomore), Lache Seastrunk (Baylor redshirt junior), T.J. Yeldon (Alabama sophomore)
Wide receiver: Marqise Lee (USC junior), Amari Cooper (Alabama sophomore)
Tight end: Austin Seferian-Jenkins (Washington junior), O.J. Howard (Alabama freshman)
Offensive line: Cyrus Kouandjio (Alabama redshirt junior), Jake Matthews (Texas A&M senior), Laremy Tunsil (Ole Miss freshman)

Defensive line: Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina junior), Devonte Fields (TCU sophomore), Robert Nkemdiche (Ole Miss freshman), Will Sutton (Arizona State senior)
Outside linebacker: Ryan Shazier (Ohio State junior), Adrian Hubbard (Alabama redshirt junior), Kyle Van Noy (BYU senior)
Inside linebacker: A.J. Johnson (Tennessee junior), Eric Kendricks (UCLA redshirt junior)
Defensive back: Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (Oregon junior), Bradley Roby (Ohio State redshirt junior), Vernon Hargreaves III (Florida freshman), Shaq Thompson (Washington sophomore)

Special teams: Stefon Diggs (Maryland sophomore), Dri Archer (Kent State redshirt senior), Venric Mark (Northwestern senior)

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