more than a game issue 3

About the Editor

More Than a Game is a brand new publication created to provide a

platform for young and upcoming sport writers. We aim to cover a

variety of sports, some that may not get the coverage they deserve.

We have big plans for More Than a Game in the future and aim to

provide readers with great features.

Check out the brand new website

www.morethanagamemagazine.co.uk

If you would like to get involved we would love to hear from you.

Please fill out the enquiry form on the website and we will be in

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http://www.morethanagamemagazine.co.uk/

In this issue

The foreign invasion –

The trend of buying English Football clubs and a exclusive interview with Susan Maskell from Portsmouth Football Club – Pg 3

Ben Lawson – Meet the 6 foot 11 English Basketball player who is turning heads in West Kentucky – Pg 11

Wimbledon Hockey Club-

Catch up with one of the top Premiership clubs in England – pg 13

1 www.morethanagamemagazine.co.uk

Why do the Brits love NFL?

We speak with British

supporter clubs who follow

American Football – Pg 17

Kieron Achara – The GB

international back for his 3rd

spell at the club – Pg 21

(Photo courtesy of Glasgow

Rocks)

Who is the best Ice Hockey

player to play in the UK? We

asked fans who they thought! –

Pg 24

Interview with Braehead Clan

star Scott Pitt – Pg 26


English Football – The foreign

invasion

Buying a private plan or a new super yacht is no longer enough for

some wealthy business people, who now decide to invest their

millions/billions into Football clubs. Out of the current 20 Premier

League clubs, 11 are owned by foreigners. Now buying a Football club

certainly hasn’t shown to be a money making exercise, so why do these

mega rich men invest in Football clubs?

Buying a Football club is seen as a status symbol to some people.

Owners get to sit in their heated seats, in their corporate boxes

watching their investment on a Football pitch. I suppose the question

they ask, why not buy a Football club as my new toy?

Roman Abramovich – the original sugar daddy

Some clubs have done very well when they have received huge

investment. The original multi billionaire sugar daddy is Roman

Abramovich who bought the companies that own Chelsea Football

Club in 2003. This is when the fun began for the west London outfit,

who quickly found their club spend huge money on big players such as

Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Claude Makalele.


Chelsea transformed into a team who were in the outskirts of the

Champions League to competing for the league title every season. They

have won 11 trophies since the Russians reign, however 8 managers

have been moved on when they didn’t met the huge expectations.

Roman continues to put his money where his mouth is with recent

high end signings including Eden Hazard for £32 million and not so

successful Fernando Torres for a staggering £50 million. The amount

of money he has spent is creeping up to an eye watering £1 billion.

Play up Pompey – 6 years of hell for the south coast outfit

On the other end of the spectrum are Portsmouth FC and their bad

experience with foreign owners. Portsmouth were competing in the

Premier league gaining FA cup success as well as a decent Europe

league campaign in 2008. Currently they are in league 2 struggling to

claw their way up the table. How can this happen you may ask? A series

of bad decisions followed such as a businessman called Al al-Faraj

taking over the club in 2009 and grossly under estimating the capital

required to take the club. The next stage for fans was seeing their

beloved club sink the club into administration and key assets being sold

off. It has been a desperate few years for the south coast outfit which

has seen a huge turnaround of players leaving the club as well as having

to shell out big pay packets to former players. Things got so bad in

2010 that the website was even taken down due to arrears on the

account.


2013 saw the fans get their wish and the club became fan owned putting an end to the foreign ownership misery. The reality is a lot of damage has been done to the historic club, however at least now they can progress and re -build the club. Later on in the article we dig deeper into the Portsmouth scandal when we speak with a member of the team that uncovered the regime.

The fit and proper test

In 2004 the FA introduced a ‘fit and proper’ test to stop ex criminals taking over Football clubs. The test certainly hasn’t had the greatest record. Birmingham’s owner Carsen Yeung passed the test although he was later imprisoned for money laundering in his homeland Hong Kong. One example of the fit and proper test rejecting a club owner is recently is Leeds United stake holder Massimo Cellino after it came to light his tax invasion times back in his homeland Italy.

Vincent Tan – turning the blue birds red

One quite bizarre situation of a foreign owner dipping into English Football is Vincent Tan and his investment in Cardiff in 2010. Tan took action and brought in hometown hero Craig Bellamy and Cardiff managed to reach the play off final.

The club did manage to gain promotion in 2013 and fans were in wonderland. This is when the strange changes happened, including Tan changing the clubs home colours from blue to red which is a symbol of good luck in Asia. This decision didn’t go down well as fans saw their famous blue bird crest change to a dragon. In 2014, fans got their wish and the blue kit was back with the traditional blue bird crest on the badge.


Where some businessmen may enjoy playing chairman at a Football

club, there are some out there who have been prudent with their

purchase. The much publicised takeover of Manchester United by

the Glazer group saw a backlash from some fans. The takeover saw

protests before games, a group wearing green and yellow scarfs to

matches (the original colours of United) and also a fan group

started a new club called United of Manchester FC. The takeover

put the club in around £500 million worth of debt, the next step

for the Glazers was to float the club on the stock market which

reportedly earned them a tidy £75 million.

More than a game spoke with Susan Maskell; who was part of the

research and writing team that uncovered the Portsmouth owner Al

Fahim in 2009.

After having a great era under Milan, how difficult for fans was it

to see the club go from competing in Europe and winning FA cups

to falling down the English tiers?

Bit difficult to quantify that one.

Not all our PL glory was under Milan of course. We were floundering in the

PL when he sold the club to Sacha Gaydamak in 2006.


Gaydamak took a 50% share in Jan 2006 (co-incidentally just after

Redknapp returned) and funded three players - including Pedro Mendes - who

helped the club survive and then go on to their best ever season in the PL,

2007/8. Gaydamak took 100% of the club in Summer 2006 and Harry

Redknapp seemed to have a pretty free rein in developing his squad. Money

was poured into the player budget but little was done to improve the club's

infrastructure, Fratton Park saw no improvements despite many promises of a

new stadium and the club had no training facilities of its own.

This matters little when you are at Wembley though. And the consequent visit

of AC Milan to Fratton Park in the UEFA cup is still one of the most

atmospheric and memorable nights in Pompey history.

We are paying the price now, with fans impatient for the club to rise again.

Many think the glory was worth the consequent pain. What we do know is

that the years of neglect and financial mismanagement are going to take more

than a couple of seasons to recover from.

What was suspicious about the takeover in 2009? do you feel that

the FA could have done more?

The FA were pretty powerless in the face of the PL in 2009. What we did

learn in 2010, after we went into administration and had discovered a great

deal of inter-connections between our various owners, particularly Gaydamak

and Chainrai, was that the PL knew even more about this connectedness than

we did. Yet they did nothing.


In October 2009 they had OKed an owner from his passport details. It was

the PL that administered the Fit and Proper Test, not the FA.

Suspicions were raised by the failure of Al Fahim and the very rapid

replacement of him by Falcondrone in October 2009, thought at the time to be

owned by Ali Al Farage, the fake sheikh, who did exist but was a pretty lowly

clerk in some obscure Saudi Office. His brother, Ahmed, however was friendly

with the real people behind Falcondrone - Balram Chainrai, Levi Kushnir.

with their associates Ron Maneh and Yoram Yossiffof.

What alerted us to the fact that they were not in it for the long haul as owners

was the fact that they had not negotiated the sale of the land around Fratton

Park from Sacha Gaydamak - land that was needed if there was to be any

proper infrastructure development at Pompey. From then on, the lack of the

promised investment was pretty much conclusive. Stories from inside the club

told of assets disappearing and chaotic and restrictive management.

Falcondrone bought in their own financial 'expert', Daniel Azougy, who

turned out to be a convicted fraudster from Israel. It seemed that the football

authorities could do nothing about this as he held no official position at the

club, yet he had the owners authority to manage the club's finances.

In January 2010 two players were sold and the fees salted away by the owners

despite the club being under an HMRC winding up order.


In February Balram Chainrai seized ownership of the club via his company

Portpin due to non-payment of debts. He thus became owner without any

recourse to the Fit and Proper Test. By the end of February he had put the

club into administration.

How much of a big day was it for you when the club became

supporter owned?

It was an immense relief. Up to the very evening before the court case which

removed Portipn's charge on the ground we did not know whether it would be

liquidation or liberation.

How can you help clubs in the future?

Our Supporters Trust has given advice to many other clubs' Trusts and is

represented on the new Government Committee looking into enabling supporter

ownership. Those of us whose research and writing discovered and exposed the

detail of our owners' behaviour are in the process of forming a Company, The

Veqias Institute, to provide a similar research and analysis service to other

clubs in trouble.


We hope to provide information that will help encourage sustainable business

practices in football to any interested party; the football authorities, supporters

groups, media and the government. Information such as that in the key article

that showed Portpin to be not as 'Fit and Proper' as they could have been:

Pompey: The Hiroshima Files - Twohundredpercent

The Veqias Institute is Nick Bain, John Lish and SJ Maskell.

10

http://twohundredpercent.net/?p=21791




More than a game spoke with 6 foot 11 English

Basketball player Ben Lawson who is currently in

his 2nd year at West Kentucky.

You are in your second year at Western Kentucky. How has

your second year differed from your first year?

The first year was very challenging, I wasn’t prepared physically and with

the speed of the game it was a rough transition. This year I was and am

ready for the competition and please to say I’m thriving.

It must have been a big step leaving the

UK for America. How was you feeling

when you first arrived?

Strangely comfortable, I was apprehensive leaving my family but coming to

a city so welcoming and the support I got right away from coaches and my

teammates made me feel at home.

How much have you learnt from your coach Ray Harper?


Too much to even comprehend! He pushes me everyday in practice to be the best

of myself and I know I’ve developed as a greater individual from his guidance.

He teaches me more than just on the court, he teaches life skills, morals and

concepts that prepare all of us for life after WKU basketball.

The number of young English players going to America to play

college Basketball is growing. Do you get surprised people when

you tell them you’re English and you play Basketball?

Honestly they don’t know anything about GB basketball, but they are always

surprised with the accent and have a ton of generic questions for me (laughs).

They are used to international players so I’m just another one to fit that

category.

What NBA player(s) do you admire the most?

When I was in England I always envied Antony Davis as a late developing

big man I could relate to. I to this day still try to emulate him to an extent.

Ben have represented Great Britain at under 18 level where he

played at the FIBA European Basketball Championship.


Wimbledon Hockey Club –

the 7 year project

Wimbledon Hockey club was established in 1883 making them one of the oldest clubs in the country. In recent years the club have embarked on tremendous success and find themselves in the Premiership competing against the likes of Surbiton and East Grinstead. Currently they have 4 internationals in their team as well as a former international in Ben Marsden who is the director of Hockey. Ben Marsden has played a big part in the success of the club in recent years.

“It has been a 7 year project really; we have enjoyed 4 promotions through the leagues. Our 2 seasons in the Premier League have been very exciting. Last season we consolidated and this year we have really kicked on, so to be in the 2nd season in the Premiership in our 103 year history is a big deal”

The success of the club has had a lot to do with the big support the club has as well as the amount of both senior and junior teams which make Wimbledon the 3rd biggest club in the country.

“We have a lot of supporters behind us, we have 600 juniors now who really get behind the first team. The first team do junior coaching too so it is great for the younger players. It really has got a great community feel about the place”


Wimbledon currently have internationals Henry Weir, Michael Hoare, James Bailey and Phil Roper playing for the club who play a big part in the current success of the club.

“The internationals are absolutely key, they are full time athletes and get exposed to the best coaching around. When they come back to the club they bring a lot of knowledge, and the guys are lucky that they are very open and really believe in what the club are trying to achieve. They are key on the field as well as off the field and I can whole heartedly say we wouldn’t be where we are without them”

Wimbledon are now 4th in the league and have won 5 out of the last 6 games and are just 5 points off top team East Grinstead. They have beaten top 2 teams already in the league this season so are confident going into the latter part of the season.

“The challenge will be keeping sharp for the post season. We have beaten East Grinstead as well as Surbiton. Anything can happen in the playoffs but first things first we need to make sure we get into the playoff spots”

Henry Weir has 70 caps for England and GB and is playing in his second season for Wimbledon. Henry is enjoying the current run that Wimbledon are on.

“I have played for a lot of teams that have worked very hard and not won. Playing for a team that are confident that if we do put in a good performance we can win is great”

Henry has played for Wimbledon in their 2 seasons in the Premiership and is enjoying playing for a up and coming team.


“They are certainly an ambitious club and in terms of what the

club have achieved in the last 6 years

“In terms of staying in shape, you don’t have a choice you must

keep up. The key is to have a good relationship with your club. We

are lucky enough to play for a club with some great people in

charge such as Ben Marsden who know exactly what it is like to

play international Hockey”

Phil Roper is just 22 and already has 36 caps for his country. Like

Henry, Phil graduated University and turned professional.

“Since I have joined 2 years ago we have progressed no end with

the appointment of head coach David Bunyan as well as the hard

work from director of Hockey Ben Marsden. After finishing 6th last

year we have really pushed on this year and worked hard in the

Summer to aim to get to that top 4 finish”

East Grinstead and Surbiton have dropped points in recent weeks,

giving the clubs below them a real opportunity to push them until

the very last game. Phil believes it is important to take every game

as they come.

“You never know really in this league. It is important for us to take

every game as it comes and keep winning our games. We do have

competition for that 4th place but we are looking forwards to trying

to win the championship”


Wimbledon has a very experienced defender in Michael Hoare who

is a championship winner with Beeston in 2012/13. Michael is

currently injured after breaking a bone in his hand playing for

England in India before Christmas. He is confident he will be back

in the fold soon.

“The injury isn’t too bad now, hoping to be back by the end of the

month. It has been frustrating but just one of those things”

The team have been getting the job done despite Michael’s absence.

Michael has been pivotal to the team’s development bringing

championship pedigree.

“We are getting better all the time, last year being our first season in

the Premier League and a lot of people would be happy finishing

mid table but we are an ambitious club. We are looking to get into

the playoffs and once you make the playoffs you have a chance to

win it. We are looking for a strong finish. We haven’t played too

well the last couple of games but still winning, it hasn’t been ideal

with the weather and switching from indoor to outdoor”

Wimbledon are certainly a team on the up thanks to some solid

foundation work by the senior members as well as hard work by

the team. Currently they sit 4th in the league and coming into the

closing stages of the season, it will no doubt be an interesting and

exciting end to the season.


Why the UK have fallen

in love with the NFL The sight of big shoulder pads, cheerleaders and American flags is

becoming a regular occurrence at Wembley stadium. The last 8

years have seen an increasing amount of NFL games being played

at Wembley which has been met with great enthusiasm from the

English fans.

It does beg the question, for a country that’s national sport is

Football (or Soccer to our American friends), why has the NFL

taken off over here?

English Football and American Football couldn’t be more different.

• The ball is a different shape

• The markings are different

• One group wear helmets and pads while the others wear shin

pads and bright footwear

• One half time break includes dancers and a t- shirt give away

and the other includes finishing a pint of beer in 10 minutes

flat before the second half kicks off.


We spoke with a UK Dallas Cowboy supporters club to find out a

bit more, and asked them 3 questions:

How did you get involved with the Cowboys?

What does American Football give you what English sport may not?

Can you see the game continuing to grow over her?

Here are some of the responses:

Muhammad Haneef Aswwat – While studying in USA, me and my

friends would support the cowboys and watch the games.

Steve Ciuffini – World of Sport showed the 79 Super Bowl

highlights and I fell under the spell of the Cowboys! C4 then

started showing coverage in the 80s.

Aaron Winland – The opening credits of Dallas showed the

stadium in their opening credits.

So it looks like the opening credits of Dallas generated interested

over here as well as the classic sport show “World of Sport”.


And what does American Football give fans what English

sports may not?

Will Pearce – it is unpredictable as most teams have a shot at the

Playoffs, unlike the Premier League!

Aaron Winland – Teams start on a level playing field as the worse

performing teams get to pick the brightest young player in the next

draft.

Steve Barker- Mountford – Love how much of a game tactically it

is. Love the salary cap making the game a juggling act for teams,

enabling a fairer set up than UK Football.

The American sports created the draft system to encourage a level

playing field within the league so no players are purchased. It is

very different from European Football and the eye watering

transfer fees.

What is the future of American Football over here?

Ian Broad – A huge task with a country which is obsessed with

Soccer. If it was to be marketed properly, why not? Whilst the

NFL games over here are huge it does need investment at grass

root levels.

Karl Wells – It is already big here. It can be huge if we do get a

franchise over here.


Phil Lucas – Yes it will grow, Wembley will help that. Will it

peak though? Possibly. But other Euro Centric sport seems like

they want to self –destruct under wage/ business demands vs

fan needs/accessibility.

It seems that the NFL has been over here for longer than we

thought. From C4 coverage in the 80s to Dallas opening credits,

some fans have been enjoying the NFL for a number of years.

It seems the NFL have big plans for England and don’t be

surprised to see a NFL team over here in London in the near

future.


Interview with GB and

Glasgow Rocks player

Kieron Achara

GB international and Glasgow Rocks player Kieron Achara has become an instant hit with Rocks fans since returning in the summer. More Than a Game caught up with Kieron after the Rocks beat the Lions at the Copper Box on the 25th February.

You are with the Rocks for the 3rd time of your career now. Are you enjoying being home?

It is always a pleasure to be back home, I love being in Scotland near my family particularly with my daughter being born 5 months ago. It has been life changing but it is great to go home every night and see familiar faces and people. The Rocks organisation have been so helpful, they have been doing a great job there. We have been building for the future and that’s what I want to be a part of.


You have made quite the impact since being back in Glasgow. How

much potential do you see in this team?

I think the sky is the limit for these players. We have been focusing on our

defence in the last few games. The thing I have noticed about the league is teams

like Eagles , Riders and the teams that win they play defence. We can score

with the best of them but the worse team can put up 100 points on any given

night but they can’t keep teams under 50 points. We have to keep that focus

defensively and if we keep on working on that I think we can make a good

playoff push and a good run in the playoffs.

You have played in Europe for several years. How does the British

game compare?

I feel like the game here but it has a lot to learn from over in Europe. With

Europe especially the likes of Spain, Italy and Greece their Basketball IQs

are on another level. They may not be blessed with the athleticism of teams in

this league but they are smart and smart trumps athleticism all day if it is ran

the correct way. I feel that it isn’t as system ran over here it is more 1 on 1 but

there are definitely improvements. There has been an improvement with the

grassroots level and people really trying to encourage a more European style of

Basketball over here especially from what I have seen in Scotland. I believe that

the BBL will get to the European style of Basketball and attract a lot better

players too.


How was it playing against your GB captain Drew Sullivan?

It is always great playing against Drew. I respect him so much, he has done a

lot for me and my career. I played with him for 8 or 9 years and it is great to

see him still playing. He is back in his hometown and I am sure he wants to

turn this programme around. He is a veteran and a winner and London are

very lucky to have him.

Kieron is the youngest Scottish player to ever represent at national

level and represented GB at the London Olympics 2012.


Who is the best Ice Hockey

player to ever play in the

UK?

We asked the Ice Hockey fans from the number 1 forum who they felt was the best player to ever grace the British Ice. Some big names were thrown out there and here are the top 5:

5. Wade Belak (Coventry Blaze) – During the 2004 -05 NHL lock-out, like a number of players Belak decided to play overseas to maintain fitness much to the delight of the Coventry Blaze. He became a fan favourite and played 42 times for the Blaze and was part of the infamous brawl with fellow NHL player Eric Cairns when Blaze played London Racers.

4. Tony Hand (Murrayfield Racers) – Hand was one of only 2 Brits to be drafted in the NHL draft back in the 80s.He became a legend at boyhood club Murrayfield Racers after making his debut at just 14 due to player shortages. He is currently player coach for the British club Manchester Phoenix.

3.Doug Smail ( Fife Flyers and Cardiff Devils) – Smail came to Britain after a 13 year NHL career; as well as setting the record for the quickest goal in NHL history when he joined Scottish outfit Fife Flyers. He notched an impressive 74 goals in 56 games in the first year to cement himself as a fan favourite. He bounced between Fife and Cardiff for 4 years before retiring from Ice Hockey.


2. Gary Unger ( Dundee Rockets and Peterborough Pirates) the

1974 NHL all-star game MVP Unger spent 3 seasons in Britain

towards the end of his career. He played for the Dundee Rockets

for 1 season before joining Peterborough Pirates for 2 seasons

where he scored over 100 goals. Like Smail, Unger set a NHL

record for playing the most consecutive games played (916) in a 10

year period with 4 different teams. This record has since been

broken by Doug Jarvis.

1. Theo Fluery (Belfast Giants) The Olympian Gold medallist with

Canada played for the Belfast Giants for one season in 2005 during

the lockout. He made quite the impression over these shores as he

helped them the Giants win the regular season championship as

well as getting named the player of the year.

Theo Fluery famous for his

great skills as well as fiery

personality during his 1

year spell with Belfast

Giants

Photo courtesy of

Belfastgiants.com


Interview with Braehead Clan

star Scott Pitt

Braehead Clan ace Scott Pitt has had a great start to life in the Elite

League since coming over to Scotland in August. More Than a

Game spoke with Scott to find out how he is getting on over here.

How are you finding your first season in the UK?

It has been great for me, I love the country already. My girlfriend moved over

with me so that has helped.

Is the league different to how you expected it?

To be honest I didn’t know what to expect when coming here. I spoke to a few

friends that have played here but like 6 years ago but obviously things change. I

sort of came in blind but I have been impressed with the standard and happy

to be here.


You have had a great season so far and currently Braehead are top

by a couple of points. How much is the pressure on you guys?

It is really tight and every game is super important. We lost recently to Cardiff

Devils which was a downer for the guys however we have rebounded really well

winning our last 2 games. The guys have been dealing with the pressure really

well and we are looking forward to finishing the season.

Do you have any tips for young Ice Hockey players on how to

break into the game?

Being from Canada I was skating at the age of four so it is second nature to

me. Growing up I used to spend hours in the basement practising and trying to

get better. My advice is to really keep training and working hard.

Braehead Clan have just 8 games left of the regular season to keep

hold of top spot before the playoffs.


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more than a game issue 3

Documents

portsmouth football

english football clubs

chelsea football club

american football pg

football pitch

premier league clubs

england pg

premiership clubs