Current News Articles for Extensive Reading BOOK IV

Unit One Football

Unit One I. Overview In this unit, you will read 3 passages about football as an international sport, but from unusual perspectives.

Unit One Structure This unit will give you a glimpse of the game of football (soccer) with special focus on womens football, World Cup and Cuju in ancient China.

Unit One Text A Womens Football Popularity on the Rise Football has now replaced netball as the most popular female sport in England.

Unit One Text B Officials for World Cup 2006 had made a mess of the job of officiating the game, giving rise to squabbles between the teams and officials and making footballers leave for home with grudges and complaints. Officially Wrong

Unit One Text C Centuries before football appeared in Europe, the Chinese had been practicing kicking balls with their feet to score points in organized matches. Ancient Chinese Football

Unit One Focus of this session

Unit One II. Text A Womens Football Popularity on the Rise Main Idea of the Text This article mainly talks about the view of Britons about British women footballers. The author asks why US women players are more revered than British players. Although the quality and quantity of players are undoubtedly rising, the spectators are unfortunately not.

Unit One Background Information Author Jaskirt Dhaliwal Jaskirt works as a freelance photographer and journalist, including work for BBC Asian Network and BBC Birmingham. She specialises in portraiture and telling stories through her images and bodies of work, such as the Award winning Womens Football body of work which focuses on the identity of womens football and female footballers.

Unit One Background Information Source The British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC) is the worlds largest broadcaster. Incorporated in the UK by government charter, it employs 28,500 people in that country alone and has an annual budget of more than £4 billion. The BBC is a quasi- autonomous statutory corporation as a public service broadcaster and is run by the BBC Trust; it is, per its charter, supposed to be free from both political and commercial influence and answer only to its viewers and listeners. BBC Newsgathering is the largest news system through its regional offices, foreign correspondents and agreements with other news services. BBC/Birmingham is one of the production centres of the BBC.

Unit One Cultural Notes The phrase The Beautiful Game as a synonym for football was first coined by Didi, a Brazilian superstar footballer. In 1977 Pelé, one of footballs greatest superstars, named his autobiography My Life and the Beautiful Game. The books dedication read I dedicate this book to all the people who have made this great game the Beautiful Game.

Unit One Cultural Notes The phrase has now entered the language as a colourful description for association football and as such was used as part of the title for the 13-part series charting the history of the game: History of Football: The Beautiful Game.

Unit One Cultural Notes The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The FA has a unique place in the history of football. The FA is a member of UEFA and FIFA, and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB). Unlike other national football associations, it does not take the national name (ie. English) in its title (compared to the Scottish Football Association, for example).

Unit One Cultural Notes Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Womens Championship, also referred to as WOMENS EURO 2005 (trademark of UEFA), was a football tournament for women held from June 5 to June 19, 2005 in Lancashire, England. The UEFA Womens Championship is a regular tournament involving European national teams from countries affiliated to UEFA, the European governing body, who have qualified for the competition. The competition aims to determine which national womens team is the best in Europe.

Unit One Cultural Notes Birmingham City Ladies= BCLFC Womens football.Birmingham City Ladies FC were formed in 1968 by female supporters of Birmingham City FC who wanted to play themselves. Initially the team played only friendlies but in 1970 they joined the newly formed Heart of England League. In 1972 the club won that league and in 1974 they joined the West Midland Regional League. Birmingham City Ladies were champions of that league on five occassions (1975,77,88,89 and 94). They also made it to two FA Womens Cup semi finals (1974 and 88). The club had begun to struggle by the early 1990s but the establishment of a junior set up helped them continue and then flourish.

Unit One Cultural Notes 2005: The miracle of Istanbul There was a surprise in It involved two of Europes most successful clubs. Six-time European Champions A.C. Milan faced four-time winners Liverpool in what could be considered one of the most dramatic finals in the competitions history. Milan were the overwhelming favourites, having claimed the crown two years previously and boasting a star-studded lineup that included the ageless Paolo Maldini and Ukraines Andriy Shevchenko along with a new threat in the form of the Brazilian attacking midfielder Kaká.

Unit One Cultural Notes Chelsea Football Club (pronounced /t ʃɛ lsi ː /, also known as The Blues or previously The Pensioners) are a professional English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions three times, and have won the FA Cup four times, the League Cup four times and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup twice.

Unit One Cultural Notes The National Premier Division The FA Womens Premier League National Division is at the top of the English womens football league pyramid. Below it are simultaneously the Northern and Southern divisions. The league is played on a home and away basis, with each team playing each other twice, and points being awarded in the standard football format.

Unit One Cultural Notes Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands of England. Usually referred to by a shortened version of its name, Wolves, the club is known for its distinctive team colours and long history. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has been based at Molineux Stadium.

Unit One Cultural Notes Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they celebrated their 125th anniversary in 2004, and they are in the top tier of English football, the FA Premier League. Fulham are the oldest professional football team in London, usually considered to have been founded in 1879.

Unit One Cultural Notes Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. They play in the Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles and ten FA Cups, and hold the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the English top flight.

Unit One Cultural Notes Charlton Athletic Football Club (also known as The Addicks) is a professional association football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. Charlton was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the South-East London area, including both East Street Mission and Blundell Mission, combined to form Charlton Athletic Football Club.

Unit One Cultural Notes Everton Football Club is an English football club located in the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League and has contested more seasons in the top flight of English football than any other. Currently managed by David Moyes, Everton have won the League Championship nine times the fourth highest of any team. Additionally, they have won the FA Cup five times and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup once. The clubs most recent major trophy was the 1995 FA Cup.

Unit One Language Points Key Words & Expressions take over (para. 1): –to accept responsibility for; to gain control of. ; ; e.g. –The strikers took over the factories. e.g. –He took over my debts. e.g. –To take over a company/business

Unit One Language Points array of (para. 3): –a group of people or things, especially one that is large or impressive. e.g. –A bewildering array of options e.g. –There was an impressive array of film stars at the premiere.

Unit One Language Points a/one hell of a sth. (para. 13): –to improve your skill at doing something, especially when you are already very good at it spoken not polite) used to emphasize the idea that something is very big, very good, very bad etc e.g. –Ive come one hell of a long way to get here. e.g. –Envy like yours is a hell of a good motive for murder.

Unit One Language Points Difficult Sentences Under representation of women in sport, and football, is by no means an uncommon thing, you only have to look at the back pages of any newspaper to realise that, but after the success of Euro 2005, the times may be changing. (para. 3) Under representation back pages of any newspaper

Unit One Language Points Only the dramatic plight of Birmingham City Ladies caught the public eye, after they were saved from imminent collapse and financial ruin in the 11th hour, proving miracles dont just happen in Istanbul! (para.4) miracles in Istanbul

Unit One Language Points When I first started here there were only two teams, and now we have a centre of excellence and four full teams from under 10s and upwards, with the senior side competing in the highest womens football league. (para. 6) a centre of excellence four full teams from under 10s and upwards 10

Unit One Language Points The progression of the womens game did see one team, Fulham, go professional for a season whilst under the financial wing of its male counterparts. (para. 9)