Sejarah Liga Sepak Bola Inggris

Mendengar nama Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, tentulah sudah tidak asing lagi bagi telinga orang kebanyakan, belum lagi para supporter atau maniac bola. Memang sederatan nama tadi adalah nama klub sepakbola yang popular dari daratan Inggris. Untuk menambah wawasan tentang sepakbola Inggris maka berikut ini ulasan mengenai Sejarah Liga Sepak Bola Inggris.

Pada tahun100-500 masehi beberapa komunitas orang Romawi menyebarkan permainan harpastrum ke wilayah Eropa. Hal ini ditandai dengan kejadian penting yaitu pertandingan antara tentara Inggris yang berhasil mengalahkan tentara Roma. Catatan sejarah lainnya menunjukkan bahwa tahun 1100 permainan sepak bola di daratan Inggris dilakukan dengan brutal dan tanpa aturan yang tertata sehingga pada tahun 1314 Raja Edward II melarang sepakbola dan larangan ini sampai berlanjut oleh Raja Edward III pada tahun 1369.

Pada tahun 1500 Italia menemukan calcio lalu tahun 1561 seorang bernama Richard Mulcaster mengadopsi calcio dari Florence ini dan dijadikan mata pelajaran di sekolah-sekolah dasar dan menengah di Inggris. Pada tahun 1572 kembali Ratu Elizabeth I melarang sepakbola kembali, bahkan mengancam rakyatnya yang memaksa bermain dengan hukuman penjara.

Sekitar dua ratus tahun kemudian, Joseph Strutt (1700 masehi) menulis buku The Sports and Pastimes of The People England. Buku ini menjelaskan mengenai aturan sepak bola yang harus terdiri dari dua tim dengan jumlah pemain masing-masing sama. Kedua tim harus berebut bola untuk dapat memasukkannya ke gawang lawan. Seorang bernama Mulcaster mengkampanyekan permainan sepak bola yang tidak brutal. Permainan bahkan bisa dimainkan oleh perempuan dan anak-anak karena berguna untuk menambah kekuatan dan kebugaran tubuh.

Konsep dari buku Strutt lalu dijadikan acuan dalam penyusunan peraturan sepak bola modern dan mampu mendasari lahirnya Football Association di Inggris pada tanggal 26 Oktober 1863 oleh sejumlah 11 klub sepak bola. Dari organisasi ini lahir istilah soccer, dari singkatan kata association. Charles Wreford Brown, mahasiswa Universitas Oxford, menemukan tak sengaja istilah ini ketika ditanya orang apakah ia seorang pemain rugbi (rugger), olahraga yang lebih terkenal di sana. Brown menjawab, “No, I’am soccer.”

Sedangkan istilah football pertama kali disebut dalam larangan- larangan para raja pada abad 17 dengan sebutan fute-ball, dan kemudian dipopulerkan pula oleh dramawan Inggris yang terkenal, William Shakespeare. Permainan ini kemudian menyebar ke beberapa negara jajahan Inggris dan berkembang pesat pada massa abad modern.

Seolah tidak ada yang membantah bahwa Liga Utama Inggris merupakan salah satu kompetisi liga yang terbaik dimuka bumi untuk era sekarang. Tentu bersaing ketat dengan popularitas liga Italia, Spanyol dan jerman. Dalam Liga Inggris dihuni oleh pemain-pemain sepak bola kelas dunia dunia yang dianugrahi talenta dan popularitas, meskipun sebagian besar bukan berasal dari Inggris asli.

Liga primer sepakbola Inggris diikuti oleh sejumlah 20 klub sepak bola terkemuka di pelataran liga sepak bola Inggris. Dari catatan sejarah maka liga ini didirikan pada tahun 1992, saat itu sejumlah klub sepak bola papan atas memisahkan diri dari liga sepak bola dengan membuat kontrak yang menguntungkan dengan beberapa stasiun televisi.

Liga Primer Inggris (Premier League, nama lama F.A. Premier League) oleh khalayak umum juga disebut dengan Barclays Premiership di Britania Raya dan Barclays English Premier League secara internasional. Liga ini merupakan kompetisi antara klub sepak bola Inggris yang berada kelas utama dari sekian struktur liga sepak bola Inggris, sehingga karenanya maka menjadi kompetisi sepak bola primer di Inggris.

Dari sejumlah 20 klub peserta liga yang berkompetisi di Liga Utama Inggris maka dalam satu putaran musim kompetisi setiap klub melakukan pertandingan melawan klub lain sebanyak dua kali pertandingan. Yaitu sekali di stadion mereka (home base stadium) dan sekali lagi di tempat lawannya (away).

Dengan jumlah pertandingan sebanyak 38 maka untuk seluruh klub peserta menghasilkan jumlah total 380 pertandingan. Pada setiap akhir musim kompetisi, sejumlah tiga klub urutan terbawah akan terkena aturan degradasi, sedangkan empat klub teratas akan masuk zona kompetisi Liga Champions untuk memperebutkan Piala Champions.

Untuk tiga klub peringkat teratas masuk langsung, sedangkan klub urutan ke-4 dan 5 masuk melalui babak pendahuluan (play-off). Untuk klub rangking ke-5 liga utama akan langsung masuk kompetisi untuk memperebutkan Piala UEFA. Untuk klub urutan ke 18-20 akan terdegradasi ke divisi Championship dan posisinya akan digantikan oleh klub peringkat 1-2 dari Divisi Championship yang mendapatkan promosi ke liga primer Inggris.

South Africans rally for runner in gender debate

JOHANNESBURG – Mobbed by a singing, dancing and horn-blowing crowd of supporters at Johannesburg's airport, South African runner Caster Semenya looked overwhelmed and a little terrified.

The gold-medal-winning teenager at the center of an international controversy over her gender cried "Mama! Mama!" and reached out for her mother as police tried to clear a path through the throngs at the welcoming ceremony in the arrival area.

South Africans rallied around their 800-meter world champion as she returned home Tuesday from Berlin, and even President Jacob Zuma vowed that he would not permit her gold medal to be taken away, no matter what gender tests say.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation has initiated the tests on Semenya, who stunned the world championships last week by her decisive win but whose muscular build and deep voice sparked questions about whether she is a woman.

There was no doubt among the thousands of supporters who greeted the 18-year-old at the airport with posters reading: "Caster You Go Girl!" "Our First Lady of Sport," and "Caster You Beaut."

The crowd cheered wildly as she tentatively made her way onto a small stage in a parking lot, but slowly she relaxed, gave a thumbs-up and, breaking into a broad grin, said: "Hi, everybody!"

Clad in the team's yellow and green team tracksuit with her gold medal dangling from her neck, Semenya even tried a few dance moves.

"She has lifted our hearts," said Semenya's mother, Dorcus, wearing a traditional headdress. "We feel powerful because of her."

She then attended a parade through the capital Pretoria and met with Zuma, displaying the remarkable poise that helped her easily win the 800 hours after world track officials went public with her gender tests.

When asked what he would do if the IAAF revoked the medal, Zuma said: "They're not going to remove the gold medal. She won it. So that question does not arise."

The president advised Semenya: "Continue to walk tall."

"We are proud of you. We love you. These events should not distract us from celebrating your outstanding achievement on the track."

Semenya strode confidently to the podium and for the first time described the race that won her the gold and the world's attention.

She said that before the 800-meter final, her coach told her that in the last 200 meters, "'Kill them.' I did what he said, but I took a lead in the last 400. I celebrated the last 200.

"It was great," she said as her teammates stood to applaud.

Semenya, who grew up in deep poverty in South Africa's rural hinterland, seemed shy and tomboyish but completely at ease with herself.

It was only during a news conference after her arrival — when politicians and sports officials went on a tirade against the IAAF, the media and the West in general — that Semenya seemed to wish she was elsewhere. Semenya never spoke at the news conference and showed little emotion as politicians and sports officials spoke of the humiliation she has suffered.

Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa, said Semenya was too traumatized to speak at the news conference. "She's only 18. I'm traumatized myself," he said.

At one point, her grandmother, in the traditional wide-skirted outfit of their Pedi tribe, pushed through the thicket of TV cameras to ululate praise. That drew a smile from Semenya.

A full-throated laugh from Semenya came at a question about whether she had received hormone injections from Ekkart Arbeit, head coach of the South African team. Arbeit was accused of steroid abuse when he coached in East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. Chuene said Arbeit had had no direct contact with Semenya.

The Daily Telegraph in London reported that tests done before the world championships indicated that Semenya had three times the normal female level of testosterone in her body, although that does not necessarily mean she was doping. Chuene refused to comment on the report.

"I stand firm. Yes, indeed, she's a girl," Chuene said. "We are not going to allow Europeans to describe and define our children."

Also at Semenya's side was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela, who hit out at the athlete's detractors.

"To the world out there, who conducted those pseudo-tests to test our gender, they can stuff their insult," she said. "This is our little girl, and nobody is going to perform any tests on her. We have defeated difficult situations in the history of this country. Don't touch us."

South Africans of all races have rallied behind Semenya and many say the allegations against her are motivated by envy and show racial discrimination against Africans.

"There are those that are just jealous. She must ignore them," said Paisley Sebata, a former schoolmate of Semenya who made a three-hour journey to the airport. "She has showed that South Africa has talent."

Zuma said South Africa's minister of sport and recreation has written to the IAAF to express "our disappointment and the manner in which the body has dealt with the matter," he said.

"It is one thing to seek to ascertain whether or not an athlete has an unfair advantage over others, but it is another to publicly humiliate an honest professional and competent athlete."

The IAAF, track and field's governing body, will decide Semenya's case according to whether her "conditions ... accord no advantage over other females" after consulting a gynecologist, an endocrinologist, a psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and a gender expert. The test takes weeks to complete.
source. news.yahoo.com

S.Williams No. 2 to Safina in US Open seedings

Defending champion Serena Williams was seeded No. 2 for the U.S. Open on Tuesday, behind Dinara Safina, because the tournament stuck to its policy of strictly following the rankings.

Roger Federer was seeded No. 1 for the fifth time at the year's last Grand Slam tournament. He is ranked No. 1 and has won the U.S. Open five years in a row.

Safina is No. 1 in the WTA computer, which calculates rankings based on performances across tournaments over the preceding 52 weeks. The younger sister of former men's No. 1 Marat Safin is still seeking her first Grand Slam title. She is 0-3 in major finals, including a loss to Williams at the Australian Open in January.

Williams has won three of the past four Grand Slam singles championships and 11 overall, the most among active women. She will be seeking her fourth U.S. Open title.

Tournament director Jim Curley said the U.S. Tennis Association did discuss the possibility of moving Williams ahead of Safina.

"The U.S. Open has the prerogative of altering its seedings; it's something we have not availed ourselves of in quite some time," Curley said in a telephone interview. "We certainly spoke about it, but it never got to the point where we were seriously intending to not follow the rankings."

Since 1997, the USTA has matched its seedings to the ATP and WTA rankings.

"The players do earn their rankings over a 12-mointh period, both at Grand Slams and non-Grand Slam events. At the end of the day, whether you're seeded No. 1 or seeded No. 2 at the U.S. Open, it really doesn't matter. You're either at the top of the draw or the bottom of the draw, and the rest of the draw is determined by a coin toss," Curley said. "From a competition perspective, there really isn't any difference being seeded 1 or 2."

The draw will be announced Thursday, and the tournament begins Monday.

After the top two women, two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams is No. 3, followed by Beijing Olympics gold medalist Elena Dementieva and 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic.

Maria Sharapova is No. 29 — barely earning one of the 32 seedings after rising from No. 49 in the rankings last week. She won the 2006 U.S. Open for one of her three major titles but missed the tournament last year because of a right shoulder injury. The Russian had surgery in October and a long absence from the tour dropped her ranking.

Sharapova is among a dozen Grand Slam singles champions seeded at this year's U.S. Open. One major champion in the field but not seeded is 2005 U.S. Open winner Kim Clijsters, who recently came out of retirement and received a wild card from the USTA.

"This year was very interesting because not only did you have the Dinara-Serena situation but you also had ... Maria Sharapova, a former champion here, who might have been unseeded, and then you also had Kim Clijsters, who only has two tournaments on the computer and therefore doesn't even have a ranking," Curley said. "We looked at those two, as well, and still ultimately decided to continue to follow the rankings."

After Federer in the men's seedings are 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray, six-time major champion Rafael Nadal, 2007 U.S. Open runner-up Novak Djokovic and 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick.
source. news.yahoo.com