Soccer Shorts: Sport Against Racism in Ireland (Sari) will stage its 10th annual Soccerfest tournament this weekend at the Garda Sports Grounds in the Phoenix Park where 48 men's and eight women's teams will compete over Saturday and Sunday, writes Emmet Malone.
The aim of the competition is to encourage participation in sport by members of Ireland's various ethnic minorities. Previous winners include teams representing the Roma, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the first time that there has been a women's event and, due to the competition's growth, it will be the last year in which the entire event will be staged at the one venue.
"We've already had to move it to the Phoenix Park because there are so many teams involved," says Sari's international officer, Ken McCue, "but from next year there will have to be regional tournaments with the various winners coming to the finals."
The first tournament was staged a decade ago at the Law Society, Blackhall Place, when 20 sides took part.
A number of players who have featured over the years have gone on to establish themselves with clubs in their local community
"Andrei Georgescu, who plays with Bray Wanderers, was in the Roma side that won the thing last year," says McCue, "and there's a great young Nigerian player, Emeka Onwubiko, who West Brom want to sign but they can't do because he's still waiting on a passport after nearly five years here. He is actually in the under-19 Irish squad but can't play yet in competitive internationals because of his situation."
Despite the good work, funding is a constant struggle and Sari depends on public donations for much of its revenue.
This year's competition kicks off at 10am tomorrow and the finals are scheduled for around 6pm on Sunday. To coincide with the tournament an exhibition of Steve De Paoire's photographs celebrating the event's first decade is running at the Central Library in the Ilac Centre, Dublin, until eptember 30th.
Barcelona charitable with shirt logo
Barcelona's players will wear the Unicef logo on their shirts this season after the club agreed a five-year co-operation with the children's charity.
Barca president Joan Laporta met representatives of Unicef at the United Nations headquarters in New York yesterday before signing a deal which will see the team sporting the charity's emblem.
The Primera Liga and Champions League title-holders are the biggest European club not to have a commercial shirt sponsorship deal.
Owen may be out for season
England striker Michael Owen has had a second knee operation in the United States and will start an intensive rehabilitation programme immediately, his club Newcastle United said yesterday.
Owen suffered a cruciate ligament injury during England's World Cup group match against Sweden in June and may be out for the rest of the season.
Newcastle coach Glenn Roeder said the operation went "extremely well".
The operation, to repair the cruciate ligament, followed surgery in July to fix damaged cartilage.
New inquiry facing Thatcher
Manchester City defender Ben Thatcher is facing a second police inquiry, it was confirmed yesterday. The Wales international already faces questions from Greater Manchester Police after they received complaints from the public over his challenge on Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes on August 23th.
Thatcher, who was banned for six games by City for the challenge which left Mendes unconscious, is now also being investigated over an incident during a reserve game earlier this year.
Ralph Welch, a 19-year-old who was playing for Blackburn reserves, has complained that he was elbowed in the face by Thatcher (30) during a match in February.
Cooke leaves it late for Ireland
The Republic of Ireland scored an injury-time equaliser through Seana Cooke to earn a 1-1 draw against Finland in a senior women's international friendly at the Lohija Stadium on yesterday.
The Raheny United player scored from the penalty spot after Michelle Glynn was fouled inside the box as she broke free on goal. Finland took the lead after 18 minutes and were the dominant side until the interval.
Murphy balances things up in Croatia
The Republic of Ireland under-16 side ended their double International friendly with Croatia in an exciting 2-2 encounter in Crikvenica yesterday.
The home side took the lead in the first half but Australian-born winger David O'Brien equalised in the 60th minute.
Three minutes later Croatia were back in the lead before David Cawley set Paul Murphy up for a deserved equaliser.
In brief . . .
Middlesbrough defender Chris Riggott has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with ankle ligament damage . . . Tottenham's new signing Steed Malbranque has undergone a hernia operation which will sideline him for two months . . . Hibernian manager Tony Mowbray has sign a new 12-month rolling contracts to take effect from July 2007 . . . Grimsby Town's Kilkenny-born striker Michael Reddy (26) is out for three months with a groin injury . . . League One side Bournemouth say they are about to sign former Spurs, Portsmouth and England midfielder Darren Anderton (34) to Dean Court.
