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Football used to be a winter sport. It brought to mind images of freezing footballers hoofing an orange ball around a frozen pitch and fans keeping warm with their brand new Christmas scarf and gloves.

When this clip begins you’ll feel a little disorientated due to the NFL-style grid markings (although not as disorientated as the linesman will by the end). Ball gets kicked out and knocks official over, so far so good, and it gets better. Is it just us or does the fall actually knock the ref’s toupée off? Brilliant. We have a theory though, after Pierluigi Collina’s mandatory retirement we reckon he’s making a secret comeback via US collegiate football. He just can’t shake the refereeing bug. Sussed!

The No Team GB campaign has accused British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Lord Moynihan of putting the future of the England team in “jeopardy”. Moynihan yesterday warned that picking English players only for Team GB might lead to legal challenges from non-English players.

FSF chair Malcolm Clarke will tomorrow present sports finance expert Dr John Beech with the FSF’s Football Writer of the Year award for the 2009/10 season. John is author of the ever-informative Football Management blog which analyses the fiscal fortunes of clubs throughout the football pyramid.

Last month Spurs and West Ham were named as the “preferred bidders” by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) to take over London’s Olympic Stadium after the Games in 2012. But what do fans make of the move?

School kids can be cruel. We’re not condoning it but there can’t be a school in the country that doesn’t have its share of bullies and innocent victims. But when these victims grow up, what becomes of them? They become refs and the bullying continues – check out this clip from the Argentinean league for proof. Ref walks backwards, player bends over to tie laces, ref topples over him. One of the oldest tricks in the school bully’s book, that.

FSF Cymru secretary Paul Corkrey, along with Neil Dymock, met with the Welsh FA and South Wales police representatives on Wednesday 8th December. Meeting such as this, between fans, the football, and policing authorities aim to highlight any future, potential problems at games and identify solutions. Prevention is better than cure, after all.

Don Foster MP, former Liberal Democrats sports spokesman, has launched a bid to allow safe standing to be introduced into football grounds in England and Wales. Speaking yesterday the Bath MP launched his Safe Standing Bill by telling Parliament that there was no evidence to show that properly designed standing areas were inherently unsafe.

Should football fans boycott Qatar 2022 on humanitarian grounds? News that the Gay Football Supporters’ Network (GFSN) has condemned FIFA’s decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and called on all gay fans to boycott “all activities associated with World Cup 2022” has focused the spotlight onto the emirate’s laws and punishments.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has today announced it is launching a new inquiry into the governance of professional football clubs.

One of the more niggling annoyances at a game is the guy (or gal) who sits behind us and bemoans every last offside decision given. Yeah, we’d like to think our star striker wasn’t really offside for the 38th time this half but how can you possibly tell when it’s that tight and you’re sitting behind the goal. At the wrong end. Cleverly these fans from, we think, Spain have found a solution to this problem – dozens of supporters all run up and down the touchline after the linesman (yes, we said linesman).

England will not host the 2018 World Cup after Russia won the race to hold sport’s biggest event. FIFA chose Russia ahead of bids by Belgium and the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, and England.

Arrests for football-related disorder fell by 10% last season, according to the latest Home Office statistics. The figures for the 2009-10 season include all football specific offences, such as pitch encroachment, and more general offences committed inside or outside stadiums.

Every now and then a clip lands in our laps that makes us think how haven’t we seen this before? This spectacular own goal, an overhead kick by River Plate’s Facundo Hernán Quiroga is a perfect example. Mark Hughes in his prime would have been proud of that one. Although he’d have at least scored it at the right end.

Milton Keynes Dons fans who made the journey north for their team’s Tuesday night League One game against Huddersfield Town have been given a £14 refund thanks to the work of MK Dons Supporters’ Association (MKDSA) and the FSF.

More than 30 teams from the Premier League and Football League have joined up with Show Racism the Red Card and produced special 2010/11 team posters that are now available to download for free from the charity’s website. Copies of the posters are also available by post.

Arsenal supporters have the chance to make history in 2011 – and it’s not exactly the type of history that they will welcome. They look like becoming the first fans in Premier League history to fork out more than £100 per game for the privilege of non-hospitality seats.

You think England’s performance on Wednesday was shaky? Check out this week’s And Finally… showcasing a comedy of errors. The first few seconds are bad enough as Uzbekistan’s full-back sends a short back pass in the vague direction of his keeper. Qatar’s speedy striker is on to it like a shot forcing the keeper into an appallingly disguised step-over and leaving the striker an absolute tap-in which he then misses. International football at its finest, this isn’t.

Fans at Torquay United have persuaded the club to stop playing “celebratory” music after every goal “in an attempt to encourage even more of an atmosphere at Plainmoor”. Supporters were taken by surprise on Saturday when Elliot Benyon’s 11th minute opener was followed by the indie-pop strains of The Fratellis’ Chelsea Dagger.If fans were to draw up a list of pet hates there’s little doubt that post-goal music, piped through a club’s loudspeakers, would be high on the list. Despite this a surprising number of clubs seem to think this is actually a great idea. After all, American sports do it – so what’s not to love? However, the overwhelming majority of fans think it’s a terrible idea.

The FSF’s Southern and Yorkshire Divisions both meet this Sunday 21st November – get yourself along if you’re in the area.  The Southern Division meeting kicks off at noon and takes place at Sutton United while the Yorkshire Division’s meeting takes place at the Bay Horse pub (Marygate, York) and starts at 1pm. More details on both meetings below: