Latest News

Supporters blamed for causing a worrying crush at Fulham before Monday’s Brazil-Ghana friendly have hit back and pinned the blame firmly on the door of the Premier League club. Thousands of people queued outside Craven Cottage to pick up tickets pre-match but the situation soon descended into chaos.

Across to north Africa for this week’s clip with Amir Sayoud of Egypt’s most successful club side Al-Ahly making a name for himself with a shocker of a penalty. He gets booked in the process too, just to add insult to injury. But what’s so bad about it? 

The next meeting of the Football Supporters’ Federation’s Yorkshire Division will take place on Sunday 18th September (12 noon for 12.30pm start) at Club Thirty Nine, Doncaster (College Road, DN1 3JH). Click here for directions.

The next meeting of the Football Supporters’ Federation’s North Wales and North West Division will take place on Wednesday 21st September (7pm) at Hyde FC’s Ewen Fields (SK14 2SB). Further directions are available on Hyde FC’s website.

The next meeting of the Football Supporters’ Federation’s Yorkshire Division will take place on Sunday 18th September (12 noon for 12.30pm start) at Club Thirty Nine, Doncaster (College Road, DN1 3JH). Click here for directions.

Disabled fans from across Europe will meet next month at Wembley (24th-25th September) to discuss improving access to football stadiums for disabled people. Supporters’ groups will be joined by representatives from the likes of UEFA and EURO 2012. Various football associations, clubs, and leagues will be represented.The event is organised by the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE) and will provide an opportunity to share good practice, discuss inclusive stadium design, and look at solutions for improving existing facilities and services. One of CAFE’s principle aims is to promote and deliver accessible football stadiums across Europe.

The next meeting of the Football Supporters’ Federation’s Southern Division will take place on Sunday 18th September (arrival 11.30am, starts 12 noon) at the Amex Stadium, Brighton and Hove Albion, BN1 9BL (Dick’s Bar, North Stand). A stadium tour will also be given to FSF members on the day.

England’s players have this morning (5th September) reiterated their support to Kick It Out by donning the campaign’s wristbands at the squad’s open training session at Wembley. The move comes on the back of alleged racist chanting aimed at them by a section of Bulgarian supporters in Friday’s European Championship qualifying match in Sofia.

We’ve got some sad news for you. As you know, Free Lions is produced by the Football Supporters’ Federation, and distributed free of charge to England fans. This is made possible by the generous support of the government, and over the years also of commercial sponsors and advertisers, for which we’ve been very grateful.

Over to Thailand for an odd tribute to Celtic and Wales’ Joe Ledley. A class of Thai school kids sing along to their teacher’s acoustic guitar belting out the immortal lines: “Joe is a midfield king, and he makes us want to sing… and Joe burns, burns, burns.” We’re saying nothing.

This article first appeared in the Football Supporters’ Federation’s official magazine The Football Supporter (tfs) 027.

Bet now at BLUESQ.COMThe Football Supporters’ Federation’s official betting partners Blue Square have announced details of their “Ground Hop” to coincide with Non-League Day (Saturday 3rd September). For a small £5 donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care fans can catch three games in one day all courtesy of coaches provided by Blue Square.

On Saturday 3rd September there will be more than half-a-million fans without a game to watch because of internationals. “Non-League Day” urges fans to explore their local clubs, providing a much needed financial boost to grassroots football. James Doe and Mike Bayly, the men behind Non-League Day, have seen a simple idea snowball into one of, if not the, biggest non-league football event of the year within just 12 months.

We’ve gone a bit overhead kick crazy lately but couldn’t resist this clip featuring Napoli’s Edinson Cavani scoring an unbelievable goal against Barcelona earlier this week. We love the fact the ball bounces in off the bar, slams into the ground, then rockets into the roof of the net. Love it. However, it all goes horribly wrong for Cavani (and Napoli).

Would you like to become a trained legal observer? The Football Supporters’ Federation is setting up legal observer training sessions similar to those run by civil rights organisations at large political demonstrations and protests. The FSF hopes to hold these sessions across the country and there will be no cost to FSF members – join here for free.

The FA’s shareholders have approved a proposal regarding the introduction of two independent non-executive directors to the FA Board. An overwhelming 97 per cent of shareholders were in favour of the proposal – less than a year after the Football Supporters’ Federation had suggested they do just that.

Hundreds of Huddersfield Town fans look likely to boycott their side’s derby at Sheffield United in protest at the cost of their match ticket. The Terriers are due to visit Bramall Lane on Tuesday 13th September 2011 for the Npower League One clash but might find themselves playing in front of an emptier away end than expected.

The Government is appealing a ruling by information commissioner Christopher Graham ordering them to release cabinet discussions held in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster. 96 Liverpool fans died following a crush at an FA Cup semi-final in April 1989.

And Finally… heads to the unlikely location of Lithuania for this week’s clip featuring a player so unknown, he doesn’t even have his own Wikipedia page. Imagine that. Gocha Tvildiani of FK Šiauliai grabs his 15 minutes of fame thanks to an exquisite piece of quick thinking and ingenuity.

The Football Supporter 027 is out now and, as ever, brings you all the best news, views, and entertaining nonsense from our top team of contributors. Do you want to read the best in fans’ writing?