General Football Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

FAO GoGo:

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/877158-kasey-keller-gets-corn-maze-tribute-from-farm-in-washington

Brilliant!

It's so awesome. I should really find a way to travel out to it at some point.

[Lineker]

I've got some bad news for you Sky fans!

A pub landlady has won the latest stage of her fight to air Premier League games using a foreign TV decoder.

Karen Murphy had to pay nearly £8,000 in fines and costs for using a cheaper Greek decoder in her Portsmouth pub to bypass controls over match screening.

But she took her case to the European Court of Justice.

The ECJ now says national laws which prohibit the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards are contrary to the freedom to provide services.

It said national legislation, which banned the use of overseas decoders, could not "be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums".

"I'm relieved, very relieved," Mrs Murphy told BBC Radio 5 live.

"It has been a rollercoaster, highs and lows, nerves... It has been a strange time and I am glad it is coming to an end."

She added: "I feel I have taken on the Premier League and Sky."

Mrs Murphy said she no longer had a decoder box in her Red, White and Blue pub and would wait for the "stamp of approval" from the High Court before reinstating it.

The ECJ findings will now go to the High Court in London, which had sent the matter to the ECJ for guidance, for a final ruling.

However, it is unusual for a member state High Court to pass a different judgement from one provided by the ECJ.

The decision could trigger a major shake-up for the Premier League and its current exclusive agreements with Sky Sports and ESPN, and pave the way to cheaper viewing of foreign broadcasts for fans of top-flight English games.

"In practical terms, the Premier League will now have to decide how it wishes to re-tender its rights," said sports media lawyer Daniel Geey of Field Fisher Waterhouse solicitors.

"There can be little doubt it will have contingency plans ready to go and has various options available.

"Be it a pan-EU tender, selling in only certain EU member states or devising a plan to start its own channel, they will be deciding how best to maximise the value of their product to ensure any revenue shortfall is minimised."

The judges said the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches as they could not considered to be an author's own "intellectual creation" and, therefore, to be "works" for the purposes of EU copyright law.

However, the ECJ did add that while live matches were not protected by copyright, any surrounding media, such as any opening video sequence, the Premier League anthem, pre-recorded films showing highlights of recent Premier League matches and various graphics, were "works" protected by copyright.

To use any of these extra parts associated of a broadcast, a pub would need the permission of the Premier League.

It remains to be seen whether pubs could broadcast match action without using any of these Premier League "extras" and thus breaching the league's copyright.

By ensuring that its branding was on screen all the time, the league may be able to claim pubs were in breach of this ECJ ruling on copyright.

"It's not a decision that the Premier League or its clubs wanted," Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey told BBC Radio WM after the ECJ ruling was made.

"The Premier League have been aware of the situation and the possibility of the judgement going against them for some time now and have been assessing how it will sell TV rights going forward.

"Football has shown itself to be a resilient business."

He said the Premier's League's financial model had been challenged by the ECJ ruling, and any future sales would need to take the court's decision into account.

"On the face of it, it looks like a blow for the Premier League and... broadcasters Sky and ESPN," said BBC sport editor David Bond.

But he said the Premier League had faced many regulatory challenges in the past and would find ways to get round the new situation.

"The League insists the ruling is not clear cut, pointing to a part of the judgment which appears to offer them copyright protection and requiring pubs to seek their permission if they wish to use foreign decoders," added our correspondent.

"It is a confused picture and it is now up to the High Court to try and interpret the judgment. Whatever happens the league is confident it is not about to suffer a major loss in TV income."

Sky has pumped billions into top flight English football since the league was founded in 1992, with the money given to clubs allowing them to buy some of the top names in the world.

The Premier League's television income from mainland Europe is about £130m, less than 10% of their total £1.4bn overseas rights deal.

However, the court decision could have a significant repercussions for other rights holders outside of sport, with life potentially getting more difficult for the film industry, which also sells its product on an country-by-country basis.

Smithfield Partners is a law firm which represents David Richardson of QC Leisure (a digital box supplier), and SR Leisure Limited (a publican), all of whom were defendants to a civil action brought by the Premier League.

"We consider this ruling to be a significant step in creating fair competition across the internal market, reducing artificially inflated prices which vary across member states," said the firm's Martin Ochs.

"It also provides some clarity in relation to the rights of businesses within the EU to broadcast live football. In fact this decision is likely to have far reaching implications beyond that of football."

The legal battle kicked off six years ago, when Ms Murphy was taken to court for using the Nova firm to show matches at the Red, White and Blue pub.

Using the Greek service, she had paid £118 a month, rather than £480 a month with the official broadcaster.

Licensed broadcasters encrypt satellite signals, with subscribers needing a decoder card to access them.

Mrs Murphy took advantage of an offer to UK pubs to use imported cards.

In February, an ECJ advocate general said this was in line with the aims of the EU single market - a border-free zone for goods and services.

The Premier League has already taken action against two suppliers of foreign satellite equipment and a group of pub landlords who used imported decoding equipment to show English Premier League games and avoided the commercial premises subscription fees for Sky.

[MDK]

But the poor Premier League and Sky need that money! My heart bleeds for them.

[Colly]

Interesting to see where this goes really, I've heard all the theories and I don't have a clue. If it means my subscription and season ticket prices drop cool, if not I'm scared...

[TCO]

It pisses me off that we don't get every game live over here anyway, I mean we're a dfferent fucking country so it wouldn't affect ticket prices at all.

[IAceI]

This will be good for the Man Utd fans who have to suffer the nightmare of playing at 3pm on a Saturday about three times a season.

[Hobo]

It pisses me off that we don't get every game live over here anyway, I mean we're a dfferent fucking country so it wouldn't affect ticket prices at all.

We get Sky Sports and ESPN, but Setanta, which shows usually a 3 o'clock Saturday match a week, remains a an extra subscription channel. It's weird how that worked out.

[-A-]

Apparently it'll hardly make a difference for a couple of reasons. Firstly, residential prices aren't all that different. The Greek company the landlady in the court case was using charges almost identical prices to Sky when it comes to households. Of course, if Greece leave the euro then the New Drachma (or whatever) will probably tank to the point where it becomes much cheaper.

Second is that the PL logo, their theme tune and any replays Sky provide can still be copyrighted, so they'd just start featuring those more often as a way of stopping UK pubs from showing foreign broadcasts. Not exactly sure how the legality of that works :/

[Cymbols]

Wales are 1 up against Switzerland. Aaron Ramsey penno.

[Cymbols]

Tidy 2-0 win for Wales. Bale getting the second.

[Lineker]

Former Manchester United and Scotland defender Gordon McQueen is to undergo treatment for cancer of the larynx.

The 59-year-old, who more recently worked as a coach and scout for Middlesbrough, will be treated at a hospital in the town.

He currently works as a television pundit with Sky Sports, for whom his daughter Hayley works as a presenter.

McQueen will receive treatment at the James Cook University Hospital, close to his North Yorkshire home.

Ayrshire-born McQueen made his name as a player with Leeds after signing for Don Revie's team from St Mirren as a teenager in 1972.

He was part of the famous Elland Road side of the 1970s which won the league title and reached the final of the European Cup.

He then travelled to Old Trafford, where he became friends with Bryan Robson, who later recruited him to the coaching staff during his spell as Middlesbrough boss.

[Matt]

Hope he pulls through, got a lot of respect for all of the Revie boys.

[Lineker]

Paolo di Canio unwittingly completed the town's half marathon after losing his bearings on the fun run course.

The 43-year-old Swindon Town manager was supposed to sound the horn to start Sunday's main race before completing the two-mile short course.

But the Italian took a wrong turn and ended up finishing the full 13.1 miles in one hour 49 minutes - 36 minutes behind race winner Dave Roper.

"I couldn't stop, there was a challenge," he told BBC Wiltshire.

"There were three options, I thought I should start with the fun [run] marathon but unfortunately we changed direction, kept going and followed the first group.

"Unfortunately I ended up doing a full half marathon plus 800 metres.

"At the end I was very happy because I finished without stopping, even for one second. I wasn't ready but I never stopped running.

"I'm very happy but it was very tough."

[Hobo]

Armenian goalkeeper has been sent off after 27 mins against Ireland. However replays show he hadn't handled it!

[TCO]

Add to that the most hilarious of OGs you'll see in a long time and we're going to the playoffs!

[Lineker]

What a brilliant sequence of events

Now, to watch Spain crush some Scottish dreams.

[Lineker]

That did not take long at all.

[Cadj]

Everything that could go wrong tonight went wrong in the space of a minute.

Brilliant.

[Lineker]

That's a bit harsh.

It was actually six minutes.

[Cadj]

2-0 to the Czechs so we need to win now.

That probably wont happen.