TR EMERITUS

[email protected] This week, TR notes that with the La Liga El Classico showdown in a fortnight’s time, the world will be interested to see if Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo or Barcelona’s Lionel Messi will come up tops. As a tribute to 22-year-old Lionel Messi, the editorial team has decided to pick the top 8 pint-sized heroes of all-time. To qualify for this list, the criteria are simple – the footballer has to be below the height of 1.73m (global average male height[1]) and have contributed significantly to a club or country (or both). _______________________________________________________________________________________ 100% Opinion – More weight will be attached to a player if he has contributed at international level _______________________________________________________________________________________ 8 ) Andrei Arshavin (Russia, 1.72m) Arshavin’s reputation as an intelligent play-maker (and price-tag) was cemented by the little Russian’s performances under Guus Hiddink in Euro 2008. Because of suspension, he missed the first two games but was sensational against both Sweden and the Netherlands. Six months later, he moved to Arsenal in an undisclosed deal. He settled immediately with the London team and scored four times against Liverpool at Anfield in April 2009. However, he will be starring in the 2010 FIFA World Cup as Russia had failed to make it past the play-offs. 7) Juninho Paulista (Brazil, 1.67m) At the ripe of 37, Juninho is still active with club side Ituano in Brazil. However, he will be best remembered by Middlesbrough fans for his three separate spells with the unfashionable North-East side. While playing for Boro, he was second in the Player of the Year award and in his third spell, helped the club win the English League Cup. In 2007, his cult hero status with the club was confirmed, when he was voted as the club’s greatest ever player. For Brazil, Juninho won 50 caps and was part of the nation’s 2002 World Cup winning squad, though he was a bit-part player in the team. 6) Archie Gemmill (Scotland, 1.65m) Many young footballs will not remember this legend but Gemmill is an all-round popular figure in both Scotland and England. His club career spanned several midlands clubs including Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Birmingham City. Under the legendary Brian Clough, Gemmill was part of the Derby team which won two league titles in the 1970s. Gemmill was immortalised in the 1995 film Trainspotting, when Renton (Ewan McGregor) said, “I haven’t felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978”. 5) Gianfranco Zola (Italy, 1.69m) Current West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola may be struggling now, but as a player, he was an absolute legend. He won the Serie A title and the UEFA Cup (with Napoli and Parma respectively) before embarking on memorable seven-year career at Stamford Bridge. He won the hearts of the Chelsea fans with his smooth displays on the pitch and being a nice guy off it. He won numerous trophies with the club and was voted the club’s best player ever in 2003. For the national team, Zola had won 35 caps and was part of the squad that finished runners-up in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 4) Lionel Messi (Argentina, 1.69m) At the tender age of 22, Messi already has a sensational life story to tell. Born to poor migrant parents, Messi was diagnosed of growth hormone deficiency at 11 but could not afford the treatment. Barcelona came to know of his talents, gave him a trial and the rest they say, is history. Messi is now widely recognised as one of the best, in not the best footballer on the planet. He has already won every trophy there is to win at club level since making his Barcelona debut at 17. However, Messi has often failed to deliver for his national team, though it could all change if he could help Argentina shine in the upcoming World Cup. Messi has at least ten more years of football to make himself a bigger legend anyone has ever seen. 3) Zico (Brazil, 1.72m) Legendary striker Pele often described Zico as the second best player in the history of time (second to himself). As a national team player, he scored an amazing 52 goals in just 72 appearances, but had unfortunately never won the World Cup. At club level, his scoring ratio is simply astonishing. His tally of 508 goals in 731 games for Flamengo (0.69 goals per game) will be a very difficult record to break, though he tasted only relative success in a short stint with Udinese in Italy. 2) Roberto Carlos (Brazil, 1.68m) Roberto Carlos shot to instant fame after scoring a physics-defying free kick against France in 1997. Since then, he had played 125 times for his country and scored 11 times. He played every game as a member of the 2002 World Cup winning team. At club level, he had also won numerous trophies both in Europe (mainly with Real Madrid) and back home in Brazil. At 36, he is still playing regular first team football with Brazilian club side Corinthians. 1) Maradona (Argentina, 1.65m) What Diego Maradona had achieved during his playing career is quite hard to put to words. Ten years of his club career was spent in Europe, where he won two Serie A titles with Napoli (their only two titles in their history). His legacy will be best remembered for his exploits in the World Cup with Argentina in 1986. Many pundits had claimed that that tournament is literally owned by Maradona, for his displays had single-handedly helped Argentina bulldoze the way to the World Cup trophy on home soil. His second goal against England in the said tournament was voted by FIFA as the greatest World Cup goal ever scored. [1] http://www.ehow.com/about_5439342_average-height-man.html  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent YPAP member Mark Chow has astonishingly managed to escape a jail term after being convicted of molesting a woman by touching her breasts, buttocks and calves. According to information posted on his blog, Mark is a YPAP member of Pasir Ris-Punggol South and was nominated for Spirit of Enterprise Awards. Mark’s YPAP membership was not reported in the press. He was only fined $6,000 for his crime, the Straits Times reported. District Judge Sarjit Singh said in his verdict the touch of the chest was a "fleeting" one, and a "stiff" fine would do. Chow was captured on the pub's CCTV tickling the woman's palm, stroking her cheek and patting her butt when she was asleep on the sofa. In a similar case earlier this year, a 27 year old clerk Hairul Rahman was jailed six weeks for putting his hand on the right breast of a girl on a train journey. (Straits Times, 30 January 2010) It is not known if Mark's involvement in YPAP and grassroots activities is a "mitigating" factor for the lenient sentence. Last year, a Kovan grassroots leader was let off with only a $2,000 fine for molesting a 14 year old girl in a hotel lobby. He was the Vice Chairman of Paya Lebar Kovan Community Club Youth Executive Committee. Pleading for leniency, his lawyer, Mr Chung Ping Shen, told District Judge Roy Neighbour that the incident was not planned, and the solitary act was minor. Mr Chung urged the court to consider his client’s “excellent record in community service as well as grassroots activities.”  Read More →

Chosun Ilbo, 1 April 2010 Defense Minister Kim Tae-young on Monday suggested that the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan may have hit an old North Korean mine before it sank in waters near the de-facto maritime border in the West Sea on Friday night. "Neither the government nor the Defense Ministry has said that there is no possibility of North Korean involvement," Kim told the National Assembly's Defense Committee. "We need to reach a conclusion after looking at all possibilities." Kim said one of them is that an old North Korean sea mine drifted into the area. "North Korea brought in about 4,000 sea mines from the Soviet Union during the Korean War and placed about 3,000 of them in the West Sea and the East Sea. We searched for and removed them in 1959 and 1984, but it would have been impossible to retrieve all of them." He said the South Korean Navy placed no mines in the West Sea although some depth charges were modified and placed there in the past, "but they were all retrieved in 2008." The minister added there would be no way to prevent a mine from being planted by other means. An external explosion looks more likely than an internal accident since, according to Kim, rescued sailors suffered no burns but spinal trauma associated with an external shock. But Kim said there were no signs of a torpedo attack ahead of the explosion according to accounts of a rescued sailor who handled the ship's radar. "North Korean semi-submersible vessels can carry two torpedoes and could launch attacks. We are investigating that possibility." Search and salvage teams on Monday night found the stern of the ship, but unquiet, murky waters did not allow them to investigate the hull and establish whether torn metal was blown inward or outward in the explosion. The minister ruled out that the corvette hit a reef. "Before it sank, the Cheonan navigated through those waters around 15 times, while the depth of 20 m there is enough for the vessel to maneuver freely," he said. - Chosun Ilbo  Read More →