Mediaboss Marketing

TODAY. EACH GOT ABOUT 50 POUNDS OF FOOD TO HELP THEIR FAMILIES. A GRAND OPENING TODAY FOR PITTSBURGHS NEWEST PLACE TO PLAY, AND ITS NOT JUST FOR KIDS. A RIBBON CUTTING THIS MORNING SIGNALED THE OPENING OF FINEVIEW PARK. THE PARK NOT ONLY INCLUDES A PLAYGROUND, BUT ALSO A WALKING TRACK, ADULT FITNESS EQUIPMENT, A PICNIC SHELTER, AND PLENTY OF SPACE FOR PEOPLE TO ENJOY THE OUTDOORS. THE PARK IS A LABOR OF LOVE FOR NEARBY COMMUNITIES AND VOLUNTEERS WHO WORKED HARD TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. >> IT WAS EMPTY. NOBODY USING IT. TODAY, LOOK AROUND. EVERYBODYS HERE. >> RIGOROUS DISCUSSIONS AND PLANNING, AND JUST TO SEE THE VISION COME TO LIFE JUST MAKES THIS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY AND SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PARK. BRITTANY: IT COST ABOUT $430,000 TO GIVE THE PARK A MAKEOVER. ORGANIZERS SAY IT JUST GOES TO SHOW WHAT COMMUNITIES CAN DO WHEN THEY WORK TOGET

Fineview Park opens to the public

Updated: 7:09 PM EDT Jun 27, 2020

Mayor William Peduto, State Rep. Jake Wheatley and others including the Fineview cut the ribbon earlier today, signaling the opening of Fineview Park.The $430,000 reconstruction of Fineview included adult fitness equipment, a new walking track, reconfigured sports courts, a renovated picnic shelter and a new playground.The Saturday event included a golden basketball knockout game, a pickleball competition and a game of capture the flag.

Mayor William Peduto, State Rep. Jake Wheatley and others including the Fineview cut the ribbon earlier today, signaling the opening of Fineview Park.

The $430,000 reconstruction of Fineview included adult fitness equipment, a new walking track, reconfigured sports courts, a renovated picnic shelter and a new playground.

The Saturday event included a golden basketball knockout game, a pickleball competition and a game of capture the flag.

Read this article:
Fineview Park opens to the public - WTAE Pittsburgh

Scottish Premiership side Celtic FC will have to play in the Champions League qualifiers next season but with a slight difference.

Instead of the usual two-legged tie, UEFA have decided that the qualifiers will be playing in a one-game knockout fashion in order to safe time. And speaking on this topic, Celtic FC manager Neil Lennon admitted that the governing body of football has made the right decision.

Lennon said, as reported by the Daily Record: Its like everything at the moment you need to adapt.

But UEFA have come to a decision and its probably the right one in trying to condense it all. If the games are behind closed doors then home advantage is not a massive difference.

Weve seen it with the results in the Bundesliga where a lot of the home teams havent won. Well get them on the pitch and get them adapted to playing at Celtic Park with no fans which is going to be really strange for them.

It works both ways. Home advantage is a huge plus for us because of the support we have. I wouldnt say well be disadvantaged as such but players love to play in front of big crowds.

While many fans think Celtic FC will have a better chance of qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League but according to former Hoops striker Frank McAvennie, the Parkhead outfit could be in for a tough time in the next couple of months.

Regardless of whether they are home or away, Lenny will have them ready, he told Football Insider.

Over two legs Celtic should beat the so-called lesser teams but anyone in football will tell you that in a one-off match anyone can win.

If they go away and they are not up for it you can rectify it when they come back to Celtic Park so that would be a bit dangerous. Anything can happen so it is risky.

But I just think it is terrible that a team who wins the league in Scotland should be playing that many qualifiers. It is not right. It really is not.

Playing a knockout game certainly have its downsides but Lennon is clearly looking at the positives of this temporary format.

Go here to read the rest:
Why Celtic could struggle in Europe once again this year: Agree or not? - The Football Fan Base

AFTER the Cork hurlers won their epic All-Ireland semi-final with Waterford in 2006, Brian Corcoran took manager, John Allen, aside in the dressing room.

Corcoran explained that there was a month to get things right for a potential three-in-a-row and the club games fixed for the following weekend would have to be called off. Allen was unsure, but Corcoran spoke to the players and Donal g Cusack called a vote. All the players agreed that they needed a clean run at the All-Ireland final: The clubs could wait. By the following day, Allen was pleading the case for the games to go, for the good of Cork hurling.

The club games werent played; there were no quarter-finals until the last week of September. Cork lost the final and some players admitted theyd had too long a lead-in. Corcoran and Cusack played the senior county final against each other that October. Everybody thought they were doing the right thing and everybody was in some form.

If theres a tendency to simplify the club-county conundrum as some kind of battle for the soul of GAA, this is just one of hundreds of examples that show its too nuanced and complex for that. Its possible to want to do the best by clubsmake the county team as good as it can be, but, and heres the killer, its very difficult to achieve.

The populist call has been for club action to take priority this year, that its the time for some reckoning on the inter-county scene, amid some nostalgic ideal of knockout club championships and the glory days. Theres the opposite idea, blamed on Davy Fitz, of playing club championship as a kind of two- or three-week blitz to allow the county team more time and priority.

In the middle, any thoughts of trying to cram a season of games into an already bursting calendar have quickly evaporated into logistical issues. Especially in Cork, where an inter-county player is going to face a fairly hectic schedule of games from August onwards, and where an inter-county player who also plays dual might want to cancel any outside plans.

Clubs need games: More than one, but maybe not four in three weeks. County teams need collective time together, but itll be like an international team gathering before a Fifa World Cup, trying to freshen up players after an intense end of season.

This isnt an easy fix and Anthony Daly, a pure GAA man, explained the difference in focus and analysis between the club and county games. Its grand to wonder at the point of all this inter-county preparation and make suggestions about not needing weeks or months to be ready, but then theres someone picking apart the lack of a puck-out strategy on , or calling out some poor full-back line for getting the runaround in the papers on Monday morning thats the reality of the inter-county expectation of consistent excellence now.

Another reality? The GAA needs the inter-county scene for finances, for the sponsorship and TV money that filters down to the county boards and clubs.

Another reality? The inter-county is important in winning hearts and minds. It might be a wonderful thought that the club is where it all begins, but for an awful lot of children, their first real love of the game will come from watching Munster finals and wanting to wear the county jersey.

Ronan McCarthy has said that itd be unfair on clubs to get only one knockout game after a summer of waiting and a year of being promised more games. Its hardly the right timing for a statement for the future with a grand gesture on the club/county scene, and even if theres a sense that something new is needed for them to work together, its almost impossible to meet club and county needs when both are competing for the same time.

A new and separate calendar might come into conversations again.

For now, compromise will have to do, along with the understanding that everybody players, clubs, inter-county managers is looking for the same basic needs to be met: Everyone wants games. Everyone wants the best chance to win.

Were still worlds away from providing everyone with that.

See more here:
Cork GAA forever struggles to find the balance between club and county - Echo Live

Caitlin Foord was just 16 years and eight months old when she had her first taste of World Cup football, a one-nil loss to Brazil in the first round of the 2011 women's World Cup in Germany.

Today the 25-year-old from the NSW south coast is a veteran of three World Cups and believes hosting the tournament in Australia and New Zealand would be a game-changer for the sport domestically.

"To have any major football tournament in Australia let alone a World Cup is something Australia has never seen before," Foord said.

"I think it will do massive things for the game in Australia for both girls and boys growing up playing football.

"It gives younger generations and upcoming footballers a chance to see what they can strive to be and drive towards.

Australia will learn at 2:00am AEST on Friday whether it will be hosting the women's FIFA 2023 World Cup alongside New Zealand with Colombia remaining the only rival bid after Japan withdrew from contention.

With the memories of Australia's unsuccessful bid for the 2022 men's competition lingering, the FFA will be reluctant to count its chickens before they hatch.

But Foord said if the bid was successful, hosting the tournament would be a testament to the growing popularity of the Matildas.

"As the years have gone on you can feel Australia has grown to love the Matildas as a team," she said.

"You see that when we have games at home and we get 18,000 to 20,000 people showing up."

Stepping onto the field in Mnchengladbach in 2011, Caitlin Foord became the youngest player, male or female, to play at a World Cup and was determined to make the most of her chance.

"I just grabbed it with two hands as I didn't want to miss my opportunity," Foord said.

"I was converted to a right back and the national team needed a right back at that time and it opened the door for me to start my international career."

Foord quickly locked down a place in the Matildas starting line-up and featured in all Australia's games.

Despite the Matildas exiting the competition in their first knockout game, Foord's performances in Germany turned heads and earned her the inaugural best young player accolade.

Nine years later her performances both domestically and abroad, she caught the eye of one of the biggest clubs in world football.

Foord signed with Arsenal in January this year but was only able to play a handful of games before COVID-19 prematurely ended the season.

"It was obviously not the start I wanted. I guess that's what happens."

"I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else when the lockdown hit, just because how the club looked after us and everyone was so positive it felt like you were still part of the team.

"It gave me an opportunity to get to know some of the players as well, so I think that's only going to help when we go back for next season."

Foord also said she was looking forward to working with highly regarded Australian coach Joe Montemurro when training resumed in July.

"I didn't know Joe before, but I'd only heard good things and after my first conversation I was sold.

"I haven't really got the chance to work with him that much yet so definitely looking forward to that when the season starts."

Read the original post:
FIFA 2023 World Cup for Australia-New Zealand will uncover next generation of Matildas says Caitlin Foord - ABC News

It would take some extremely blue-tinted glasses to argue that Manchester City deserve to win the Premier League this season ahead of Liverpool, yet there may still be a world where they remain reigning champions heading into next season.

It is far-fetched, but the longer the Premier League is suspended, the stronger the calls will be to cancel the remaining fixtures and use an alternative method to decide how - or if - the final league standings are decided.

This week France joined the Netherlands in ending their football seasons early after government directives banning sporting events before September. The Eredivisie opted to void the season and not elect a champion, with Ajax and AZ Alkmaar level on points at the top. Ligue 1 are yet to decide how to determine final standings, although PSG were 12 points clear at the top before the season was suspended so there is more justification to awarding the title.

Premier League clubs will hold a conference call later this week to discuss the next steps for finishing their own season, with the hope that it will be possible to complete the remaining 92 fixtures and finish the season through sporting merit.

However, that decision may be taken out of their hands and the decision will have to be made to void the season or decide the final standings another way.

On the face of it, voiding the season would spare City losing their status as Premier League champions and allow them to put their failed title defence behind them. The extra time to prepare for next season would also be more beneficial than a condensed run-in with nothing to play for followed by a reduced pre-season for 2020/21.

But voiding the season would likely see City's Carabao Cup and Community Shield titles scrubbed off, as well as denying them one of their main motivations for next season: a point to prove.

If Liverpool, deservedly, win the Premier League this season, City will be able to use the pain of seeing their rivals take their trophy to fuel the 2021 title challenge.

After Liverpool knocked City out of the Champions League in 2018 so emphatically, Pep Guardiola's men won two and drew one of the next three meetings with the Reds. They were stronger after the experience of seeing Liverpool succeed at their expense.

Another Champions League disappointment followed last season against Tottenham, and there was a noticeable change in determination when the next knockout game came around in March at the Bernabeu. That tie isn't finished, but City produced one of their best-ever European performances to put themselves in pole position to progress.

This is a side who do not like losing, and they rarely make the same mistakes twice.

So in order for the team to be in the right frame of mind to win back their Premier League crown, they need a trophy to win back. And that means Liverpool winning the title this season.

The alternative could be a scorned, trophy-less Liverpool side with a bigger point to prove than City could ever compete with.

Read the original post:
Man City need Liverpool FC to win Premier League to boost 2021 challenge - Manchester Evening News