Weirdest Goal Celebrations

Back flips, power slides, poorly choreographed but thoroughly entertaining dance routines, thumb sucking, fist pumps, kneeling down and pretending to shine the goal scorer's boots, yes we have seen it all. These days the goal celebrations just keep getting weirder and weirder, however in "ye olden days" when the art of football was only practiced by a handful of nations, goal celebrations were limited to "a round of handshakes" (how exciting). But times have changed. Google is ruling the world, toys are replaced by overpriced cell phones known as iPhones, and apparently Rooney and Fabiano are considered to be attractive (what is wrong with people these days?). The "round of handshakes" are now nonexistent in the footballing world, and players are coming up with preposterous, but creative ways to celebrate their goals. So here's a list of the good, the bad and the ugly of goal celebrations.

The nutter with the putter: Die hard Liverpool fans will know which goal celebration I am talking about. If you guessed Michael Owen you are wrong, the man is not creative enough to come up with such an awesome celebration. I am talking about the bad boy of English football, the man everyone just loves to hate, Craig Bellamy.

Now back in February 2007 a drunken Craig Bellamy attacked his Liverpool teammate John Arne Riise with a golf club (sigh, boys will be boys). After scoring a goal against Catalan Giants Barcelona, just after the incident with Riise, Bellamy celebrated his goal by pretending to do a golf stroke, sending a message to his dear friend John Arne Riise. This is how he got the nickname "the nutter with the putter".

Dentists and Alcohol: After scoring a goal against arch nemesis Scotland in Euro 96, an Englishman named Paul Gascogine made headlines across British newspapers for his goal celebration. Paul celebrated his goal by lying on his back, while his teammates poured water down his throat. The celebration was actually a witty re-enactment of an incident in which English players were spotted sitting on a dentist's chair while alcohol was poured into their mouths. So much for the British being sophisticated.

The crackpot: Another former Liverpool man manages a spot on the much-coveted list of weirdest goal celebrations. After scoring a goal against derby rivals Everton, Robbie Fowler got down on his hands and knees and mimicked the act of snorting cocaine, using the white touchline as the line of cocaine. Needless to say the authorities were furious and Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier tried to cover up Fowler's act by saying that "the Liverpool front man was doing a Cameroonian grass eating celebration". No one believed the him of course and Fowler was fined 60,000 pounds. This celebration might just go down in history as Maradona's favourite goal celebrations ('cause of, you know... Maradona's love affair with cocaine).

Other memorable celebrations include Finidi George acting like a urinating dog, Newcastle's Temuri Ketsbaia celebrating by ripping off his jersey and Roger Milla's iconic dance moves that revolutionised the way of celebrating goals.
Reference: Google and Wikipedia

By Alvi Ahmed

Football Fever

The FIFA World Cup has caught the world by a storm and Bangladesh is most certainly no exception. This football frenzy inspired various programmes, and one of them was the Youth Underground Showdown 2010, organised by Sakib Mahmud and Syed Emanual of Pulse Events in association with Raiyan Rahman.

This Under-18 tournament took place from the 18th to the 20th of June at the Chairmanbari field in Uttara. The format of the competition was just like that of the World Cup with 32 participating teams, and just 16 surviving the first phase. Among the teams that had qualified for the Round of 16, Chairmanbari FC, Inferno FC, FC Jabulani and FC Kaantas were the top contenders for the trophy.

Upsets are always a crucial part of football and this tournament saw Inferno FC crash out at the hands of Arselona via penalty shootout. This round also saw the match of the tournament featuring Chairmanbari FC and FC Kaantas where Faizan Salam scored a brilliant goal to secure FC Kaantas' route to the following round. FC Jabulani, a team from International School Dhaka, made their presence known by knocking out defending champions Club United. Mystic, FC Cougars, FC Blazers, Platoon X and the surprise of the tournament, FC Freebird were the teams to join the "big guns" in the last eight.

In an evenly contested Quarter Final game, FC Cougars got the edge over fellow contenders Mystic thanks to some fantastic saves by keeper Ridwan, who had constantly displayed his brilliance throughout the entire tournament. FC Blazers and FC Kaantas also emerged triumphant, both by penalty shootouts, defeating Platoon X and Freebird respectively to join Cougars in the semi finals. It was FC Jabulani who got the most convincing victory, as they thrashed Arselona 3-0 to march into the semis.

The semis saw FC Cougars facing FC Kaantas, along with FC Jabulani from ISD facing the relatively unknown FC Blazers. FC Kaantas edged past Cougars by a single goal and in the other fixture, FC Jabulani ended Blazers' dream run by netting three goals to nought.

The final was an intense game, despite the players being exhausted. Neither team could score at half time, but right after the break Saim Faisal of FC Jabulani broke the deadlock by scoring one of the best goals of the tournament. This landed FC Jabulani the title, although FC Kaantas had shown that they were equally deserving.

Saim Faisal of FC Jabulani got the "Player of the Tournament" award due to his fantastic goal scoring performance, being top scorer as well. Mushfiq (FC Kaantas) got the title of "Best Goalkeeper" while the title of "Best Defender" went to Armahn Hamid also of FC Jabulani. Adib Sajjad of FC Kaantas won the "Best Under-16 Player" award.

According to co-organiser Raiyan Rahman, "This tournament was organised so that young talented footballers could showcase their talent on a bigger stage, as well as to give everyone a fun time." He also thanked his fellow organisers Sakib Mahmud and Syed Emanual along with the sponsors Royal Resorts.

The tournament was definitely a success and with this kind of talent and breeding, perhaps we will see Bangladesh at the grandest stage of football someday!

By Padya Paramita