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West Ham cup trouble condemned

Author: Rose Young
Date: 27/08/2009
Football betting

Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has branded the violence which marred Tuesday's Carling Cup clash between West Ham United and Millwall as 'a disgrace to football'.

The 3-1 second-round win for the Premier League side was overshadowed by clashes involving large groups of rival fans outside Upton Park before the game.

At least ten people were arrested as violence erupted on surrounding streets and a 44-year-old man is currently stable in hospital after being stabbed.

The match itself was held up by several pitch invasions as the ugly scenes continued inside the stadium and Sutcliffe has endorsed the Football Association's call for harsh punishments.

"I completely back the FA's call for any person identified as involved to be banned for life," he said. "The scenes last night were a disgrace to football."

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Meanwhile on the pitch, Manchester City have completed the signing of Joleon Lescott for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £24million.

The 27-year-old England defender had been at the centre of a protracted transfer saga after Everton initially refused to sell him.

But after Lescott was dropped by the Toffees amid suggestions that he was not focused on life at Goodison Park, his move to Eastlands has now been pushed through.

Elsewhere, Sulaiman Al Fahim claims to be the new owner of Portsmouth in the latest twist to the takeover saga which has followed the Fratton Park club throughout the summer.

Last week it appeared that current club chief executive Peter Storrie was the frontrunner to buy the club from current owner Alexandre Gaydamak.

However, Al Fahim's spokesperson Ivo Ilic Gabara now claims the Dubai-based property tycoon has completed a buyout at the south coast club.

In cricket, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has been ruled out of Australia's one-day series against England following surgery on a broken finger.

Haddin returned to Australia on Monday following the end of the Ashes Test series for scans on a finger he injured last month.

He missed just one of the five games against England - the third Test at Edgbaston - but had been named in the side for two Twenty20 internationals and seven one-day games starting at Old Trafford on Sunday.

But following further tests on the injured finger, Haddin has undergone surgery and will miss the forthcoming games against slight online betting favourites England.

In rugby union, Harlequins wing Tom Williams has spoken for the first time about the pressure he felt under at the centre of the fake blood injury controversy.

Williams left last season's Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Leinster with fake blood streaming from his mouth, allowing specialist goal kicker Nick Evans to return to the field.

Head coach Dean Richards and physio Steph Brennan were handed three-year and two-year bans respectively for their parts in the incident, while the club were hit with a £261,000 fine.

Williams saw an original one-year ban reduced to four months after co-operating fully with the investigation and has now revealed that the club offered him a number of incentives for his silence, including a job after his playing career.

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