Women’s World Cup 2015 bid could get boost from the 2011 draw 29 Nov 2010 The Canadian women’s team has been drawn into the Group of Death. And it might be the best possible boost this country’s bid to host the 2015 Women’s World Cup could have hoped for. The World Cup draw, held Monday in Germany, saw the Canadians grouped with the hosts, Nigeria and France, which is ranked in the top 10 on the planet. The opening game of the tournament will see the Germans face Canada on June 26.
Scottish referees standing up for themselves — and they’re right to do so 27 Nov 2010 The referees are on strike in Scotland. They have had it. They’ve had it with the criticisms of coaches and players. They’re tired of being made the scapegoats whenever a close decision goes against a fiery manager with an axe to grind. Good for them. They’ve gone on strike, leaving the Scottish FA scrambling to find refs for this week’s matches. Polish and Portuguese refs who the SFA thought it had secured to officiate this weekend’s games have gone back home. Scotland did find enough foreign refs to keep the Premier League going, so fans could be treated another weekly instalment of Rangers, Celtic and Everybody Else.