It’s Sunday and I was just watching the sports reports while surfing financial crises. A trivia question only for people who do not know the answer and PROMISE to simply guess. The answer is easy if you know it and equally easy to find if you research it, so please don’t spoil the guesses.
What corporate logo is on the front of the jerseys of Cristiano Ronaldo and the other Manchester United players? (Yes, we get European soccer on many Toronto sports news reports.)
Climate Audit 
66 Comments
Me, me, me! 😉
snip – how hard is it to read my request not to answer it if you know the answer.
LUKOIL !
Well, if not, it soon will be – they own everything else!
BP? Just a SWAG.
I hope they don’t have the misfortune (or maybe I should say tacky fortune) of the golfer Phil Mickelson, who walks around with the large letters S-A-P on his clothing.
AIG?
I have no idea of this! May be it is IPCC!
Why do you say European Soccer when you mean English football? Please be precise or should I say ‘say what you mean’? Everyone who saw Man U lose 2-1 to Liverpool knows the answer. I’ll not say the name of the flop adverised so as to not spoil it for others.
Regards
This is English Football. Soccer is that other game.
It should be admitted that I only read that in the paper five seconds begfore I read your post so it was a guess when I logged on…sorry
Tony Brown
I saw the name written on the ribbons that we decorating a championship cup. So it isn’t only their jerseys that they sell. I can only say I was very surprised that they would agree to adorn their championship with a commercial name
AGW?
The US taxpayer?
Are they going to be changing it to “US Treasury”?
This was an easy question for readers of the Telegraph on September 16th, article titled:
Manchester United confident XXXXXX sponsorship deal will survive Wall Street uncertainty
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Moptop
I’m English, the language you speak is named after me. What ever I call something is English because I’m English. If you want to call it something else thats fine but its not English. Also liverpool beat Everton 2-0.
Regards
I’m betting on AIG; Fannie and Freddie only do business in the U.S., AFAIK.
AIG sounds good to me…
Morgan Stanley
Never mind all that rubbish – wasn’t it a travesty of a penalty decision when Ronaldo fell in the penalty box after a great tackle from a Bolton United Player?
Anyway, I also know the answer, but to throw you off the scent I’ll say NOAA :-). ManU – a team of 11 whirlwinds…
Rich.
West Ham United had the logo XL on the front of their shirts. XL were a cheap holiday airline that went belly up a few weeks ago in one of the early manifestations of the credit crunch. They had to hastily patch their shirts.
Newcastle United are sponsored by Northern Rock. One of the first banks nationalised in the current crisis over here.
Clubs make a lot of money selling this season’s shirts to their supporters, so followers of some clubs could be paying out a bit this season.
#15 Ron B
English. “the language you speak is named after me”. Eh? I thocht is wis named efter the Angles.
[The name of England is derived from the names of early German tribes who invaded England. They were known as the Angles and the Saxons. Over time, the land became known as the land of the Angles or Angleland — England.]
Re: Red Etin (#21),
No, it’s cos we always had an angle. That’s why Yanks say “putting some English on it”.
#15 Ron B
English. “the language you speak is named after me”. Eh? I thocht it wis named efter the Angles.
[The name of England is derived from the names of early German tribes who invaded England. They were known as the Angles and the Saxons. Over time, the land became known as the land of the Angles or Angleland — England.]
US taxpayer and US treasury are good answers.
But to keep it local, I’d suggest NIC. Familiar to everybody in paid employment in the UK as National Insurance Contributions (to keep it short … another tax).
What is soccer and why would anyone think it important?
I am told that Man Utd are playing Newcastle Utd in the final of the Free Riders Cup.
…I’ll get my coat…
“All Is Greed”
There’s no such thing as English Football, that’s called Rugby and the other is just football, soccer is hardly used.
Re: Hoi Polloi (#26),
Association Football known as football or sometimes soccer.
Rugby Football known as Rugger or Rugby and occasionally as football.
No! Really?
Apologies for giving the right answer (#2). I didn’t read it properly. But anyway, you’re asking a question to solicit wrong answers? That is the opposite of what this blog is about: taking wrong answers and asking the right questions….
#29, to us Rugby fans, soccer is known as “kiss-ball” or “wendy-ball”, not football ;). Rugby Union is NEVER football, but Rugby League is sometimes Rugby Football.
I hope that’s cleared things up.
I guess Barclays Capital.
‘Rugby Union’ was ALWAYS just called ‘football’ (or rugger) when I went to school, but then I did go to Rugby School….
What other games are there?
Nike? Because it’s a hockey stick?
Fortis?
I’m looking forward to the US Treasury vs UK Treasury game next time AIG play Newcastle.
Actually, to be totally honest, I’m not; as football is a game played by overpaid girls.
Now rugby – that is the game of the gods (and proper rugby at that – not the strange game they play up North.
I’m looking forward to the US Treasury vs UK Treasury game next time AIG play Newcastle.
Actually, to be totally honest, I’m not; as football is a game played by overpaid girls.
Now rugby – that is the game of the gods (and proper rugby at that – not the strange game they play up North).
please!!!! it is not soccer ¡¡¡it is football!!!! only in U.S.A. (and now in Canada too??) is called soccer… for the rest of the known world (99%)IS FOOTBALL!!!!!!!
That’s right.It is football.Only in the USA it is call soccer.The English football is the most spectacular football.
IPCC=AIG
Must be some international organization related to finance that’s having problems.
It’s not just financial mishaps hitting football:
Premier League – Lawrence injured by dog
Eurosport – Mon, 29 Sep 15:28:00 2008
Stoke’s Liam Lawrence is an injury doubt for his side’s weekend meeting with Portsmouth after tripping over his pet dog.
Some more freak footballing injuries:
– Milan Rapaic missed several games for Hajduk Split after sticking a boarding pass in his eye at the airport.
– Dave Beasant was kept out by a foot injury caused by a falling jar of salad cream.
– Darren Barnard injured a knee ligament after slipping on an errant pee left by his dog on the kitchen floor.
TEAMtalk / Eurosport
I guessed Northern Rock.
“please!!!! it is not soccer ¡¡¡it is football!!!! ”
Whatever. I suggest you get used to it, as there was a war fought over the right of the English to dictate to the Americans that settled the issue once and for all some time ago, the war of 1812.
In Italy it is all much more simple: Football is football (in Italian it is “giuoco calcio”, meaning “kicking game”); the one played in America is American football (“football americano”); and Rugby Union is rugby (Rugby League is not played here – anyway they are called respectively: rugby or “rugby a 15”, XV players rugby; and “rugby a 13”, XIII players rugby).
Other kinds of football, from Gaelic to Australian one, are hardly even known here.
I do not know who started to call it “soccer”: who knows? Anyway the right name is Football, as the first association was the F.A.=Football Association (England), and the World association is F.I.F.A.=Federation Internationale de Football Association.
Re: Filippo Turturici (#44),
Oxford student slang for Association (similarly rugger for rugby).
Re: Moptop (#43),
In which case you should call it ‘football’!
Guys,
It is of course AIG (previoulsy Vodafone, previously Sharp).
But as a Man U fan, I’m forever jealous of Barca who don’t have a shirt sponsor (except UNICEF this year – fantastic gesture).
Now it is a lot of questions in the football world
nerdy fact of the day:
the cleverclogs amongst you will probably know that the word “soccer” actually isn’t an American term. It originated here in the UK as an abbreviation of “association football”.
Man U forever!
How the heck does one get “soccer” from that?? Crazy Brits! 😉 About as bad as Oz, where “afternoon” becomes “arvo”. And people say Americans are lazy…
Re: Jeff Alberts (#49),
Yes, the Brits are very lazy with long words. For example, “Cholmondly” is pronounced “Chumly”, “Magdelen College” is pronounced “Maudlin…”, and Lindum Colinium” (latin for tree-covered hill) became “Lincoln”.
Tim Daw (#49)
Of course, football is the oldest of these sports. “Rugger” is a derivative game, called Rugby Football to differentiate it from regular football. American Football is a derivative of Rugger (ever wondered why the score is called a “touchdown”?), with the forward pass added. Then again, I believe that “Canadian Football” is a derivative of American Football.
Re: Pat Keating (#51),
A slight correction: The forward pass is about the fourth most important distinction between American football and Rugby. Quoting from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
“American Rugby [i.e., football] differs from the English game, because in the scrimmage the men are lined up opposite each other, and, although separated by the length of the ball, are engaged in a constant man-to-man contest, and also in that a system of “interference” is allowed. Furthermore, a player in the American game is put “on side” when a kicked ball strikes the ground; and forward passing, i.e. throwing the ball toward the opponents’ goal, is permissible under certain restrictions.”
[This article gives a truly marvelous depiction of the early years of college football. Unfortunately, the free on-line version at http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Football seems to be missing the diagrams.]
Re: jc-at-play (#52),
Hardly the fourth most-important, just because it was mentioned fourth. The forward pass is clearly the most significant difference between the games, as is immediately apparent in watching the two games. It has become the primary method of gaining significant yardage.
The blocking by linemen is a change, but not so very different from the scrum of forwards (or the loose ruck) in Rugby, and who has ever heard of a case where the onside mechanism you quote has played any role in the American game?
Interestingly, the drop-kick goal used in Rugby is still on the books in the American game, but is hardly ever used.
Re: Pat Keating (#53),
I was thinking primarily of how American football historically developed from Rugby, rather than comparing the nature of the two as they are today. The very earliest versions of American football essentially were basically just Rugby, with blocking and interference made legal – already a major distinction between the two games, which made the American game much more violent than Rugby. The next major development (due primarily to Walter Camp) was the “principle of possession of the ball” (rather than having a scrum), which quickly led to the idea of a line of scrimmage to separate offense from defense before the snap. It was these three changes from Rugby that led to a distinctive American game – the forward pass played little role until decades later.
Re: jc-at-play (#58), and Stan Palmer’s (56,57)
That’s very interesting — a rivalry between “soccer” and “rugger” already here in N. America in 1873.
It makes me wonder about where Rugby League fits in with the N. American experience. R. League is/was played with 13 men (I think) and has/had a restart after a tackle like American football (tho, without a huddle). I wonder if the Rugby played by McGill was more like R. League than R. Union. The League/Union (pro/amateur) schism in England seems to have occurred around 1890 or so, after the McGill/Harvard game you discuss.
Re: jc-at-play (#58),
This feature is also present in Rugby League, without a huddle. The ‘snap’ or restart is just the man last in possession heeling the ball back to a teammate. It is interesting to speculate whether the RL Brits got it from the US or vice-versa.
Re: Pat Keating (#63),
At http://www.rl1908.com/History/1906.htm they say “Aptly, the decision by the Northern Union (English Rugby League) in 1906 to introduce the 13-a-side and play-the-ball rules, …”
This is some 25-30 years after American football had adopted “possession of the ball”.
Re: jc-at-play (#65),
Interesting.
According to your cited source:
This suggests the change was almost complete elimination of the tight scrum due to the NZ influences, but there may have been influence from N. America not mentioned in that article.
By the way have you seen the gritty movie This Sporting Life with Richard Harris? Some good scenes of RL there.
Re: Pat Keating (#51),
It is the otehr way round – in a way
From Wikipedia — Harvard imports the Canadian game from McGill
Re: Stan Palmer (#56),
More on McGill and Harvard’s acceptance of the Canadian game to create the modern American football
from
The Oxford -er is to blame.
#53. The most recent use of a drop kick was by Doug Flutie, playing for Bill Belichek of the New England Patriots a few years ago – as a somewhat unexpected bit of dry humor from the dour Belichek.
Re: Steve McIntyre (#54),
You remind me of a Goldsmith poem:
Still they gazed and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could contain all he knew…
Your AIG-sponsored team plays West Bromwich Albion this Saturday, I believe.
The original British football game is more like Rugby than the effete Soccer – in places such as Hallaton small barrels, called bottles just to confuse, are fought over in ancient games.
Now that is the sort of game that Empire builders should play, not prancing around manicured lawns in polyester shirts falling screaming to the ground anytime someone touches their precious locks….
I would be curious to know, from Steve or another, why Canada teams were never successfull in football nor rugby: let’s take USA and Australia; main US sports are American football, baseball (softball), basketball, hockey and maybe volleyball, but they got good level (on a World average) football and rugby team; Australia always had one of the best Rugby teams of the entire World, and in the last years they have a good football team too, despite having their own national games like Australian football.
Anyway, all the World should be gratefull to Anglosaxons countries for having invented almost all modern team sports (is anyone here who plays cricket and can explain me its score rules?).
Re: Filippo Turturici (#61),
A run is scored when both batsmen out on the field safely swap places. A ground ball over the boundary (‘ground-rule double’ in baseball) is 4 runs, and a fly ball over the boundary (‘home run’) is 6 runs. Either batsman can be thrown out when trying to score a run, but they don’t have to run after the ball is hit, unlike baseball. The one actually batting can be caught out, bowled out (ball hits his wicket), or LBW (protecting his wicket with his leg, instead of his bat). Ten outs complete an inning.
Is that more than enough?
Re: Filippo Turturici (#61),
Principally because their national sport is ice hockey.