Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Cleats.
Stirrings in Murton
In East Durham, football is escaping from its ‘black hole’. After seeing Saturday football in Shotton once again, another trip brought more Wearside League action, this time in Murton. Once a Northern League ground, Welfare Park suffered more than most from vandalism but even as the off-field facilities disappeared, it retained its impressively large playing surface. And, with Ryhope CW U23s playing there this season, it’s hosting games once again.
Andy PottsPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
After the final whistle
For a football fan, there’s something irresistible about a stadium. Whether it’s the grandest of international arenas or the most primitive of fenced-off fields, the very grass seems to resonate with great goals and famous victories. No matter how modest the team, there’s always ‘that game’.
Andy PottsPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
Every aspiring Norwegian soccer player has a new Idol
Any young football player starting his career is always striving to resemble a star player. If you take such world-class players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who have dominated the football arena in the past decade also grew up on other players’ games and idolized them. Right now they are slowly becoming other young players’ favorites.
Giorgi MikhelidzePublished 3 years ago in Cleats
"There's no I in team.... But there's an I in quarantine!"
Everyone had something they missed during the enforced lock down earlier this year at the height of the pandemic. Not seeing friends and loved ones was something we could all relate to. For some it was going to the gym, visiting a library or museum, going to a concert or watching the latest blockbuster at the cinema. Don't get me wrong, I missed those things immensely. However, the thing I missed most (apart from my girlfriend!) was football.
Godfrey Love BerkoPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
Movie Review: 'The Keeper' Arrives at the Exact Wrong Time
Now is not the time for the movie The Keeper. A movie highlighting a story of reconciliation between victims of the Nazis and a Nazi soldier has no place in a world where Nazi propaganda and fascism is once again on the rise. Regardless of the good intentions at the heart of the movie and at the heart of the filmmakers, we need not demonstrate compassion or acceptance for people who fight on the side of Nazi ideology no matter how much they claim that they did so against their will.
Sean PatrickPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
A Look Back at Byram Hills Soccer loss to Greece-Athena in 2014 State Semifinals
On Saturday morning November 15, the Byram Hills soccer team traveled to Middletown High School to face Greece-Athena in the semifinals of the New York State High School Championship. Eighty minutes of grit and gut check had both teams squared off where they started. Sudden death overtime the forum, an unfriendly bounce could provide glory and misery in an instant. Unfortunately, a tough skip off the turf with 6:36 left in the extra period sunk the hearts of the Bobcats, and all the fans who made the three hour journey with them.
Rich MonettiPublished 3 years ago in CleatsFour goals and a beat down
The word “premier” in soccer means very different things in different places. In England, it’s the top flight of soccer. In the US, the word usually gets attached to amateur leagues. And by amateur, I mean both the quality of play and the way they are run. You’d think the English would sue over the damage to their reputation.
Ted PrezelskiPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
As Messi plans to leave, what should Barca look like?
With Messi’s departure from Barca looking more imminent by the second, here’s a list of Barca players who should be made second choice or showed the exit door for any chance for Barcelona to rebuild the club:
Barcelona’s Rot is too Deep for a Manager to fix
Barcelona’s worst nightmares came true on the night Bayern Munich’s attack, spearheaded by Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski, destroyed the blaugrana by smashing 8 goals past them. It was the second thrashing of the Catalans at the hands of the Germans after that famous 7–0 aggregate defeat in 2013.
PSG : Zlatan Era and Neymar Era
Recently PSG reached the finals of the UEFA champions league for the First Time in their History. Ever Since the Qatari overtake of the Club, champions League Glory had been the main objective of the Club owners and management.
Perfect start to Wales' Nations League campaign
Two goals, two clean sheets and two matches where Ryan Giggs’ young guns controlled proceedings for most of the 90 minutes saw Wales get their Nations League campaign off to a perfect start.
Steve HarrisonPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
Football comes back to Shotton
One of the unexpected side-effects of the coronavirus lockdown has been a groundswell of support for our local communities. And, in Shotton Colliery, an old pit village in East Durham, it’s been a trigger for a new football club aiming to bring the game back to town after 15 years without a team in the Saturday leagues.
Andy PottsPublished 3 years ago in Cleats
