Google wins adult photos appeal

A US federal appeal court has overturned a ruling preventing Google's image-search displaying small versions of photos from an adult website.
Perfect 10, which publishes a pornographic magazine and website, launched its case against Google in November 2004.


It later added the Amazon.com site to its complaint.

Google said the thumbnail images were "fair use" and the court agreed they were "highly transformative" work.

The original ruling had said that Google's thumbnails could undermine Perfect 10's efforts to sell small images to mobile phone users.

"We are delighted that the court affirmed long-standing principles of fair use," said Google General Counsel Kent Walker.

"Google services respect intellectual property and help people around the world find what they're looking for," he added.

'Might be liable'

Perfect 10 also said that the thumbnail pictures on Google were helping users to find other websites that were using the full-sized images without permission.

On that claim, the court said: "There is no dispute that Google... assists a worldwide audience of users to access infringing materials."

It ruled that Google might be liable if it could have taken "simple measures to prevent further damage to Perfect 10's copyrighted works and failed to take such steps".

The case reflects the growing discrepancy between technological change and the legal system, in particular over copyright and fair use.

(BBC.co.uk)

2006 FIFA World Player of the Year

Fabio Cannavaro, defensive artist

Some players are born to dribble past opponents and score goals. Others, like the recently crowned European player of the year Fabio Cannavaro, were put on this earth to stop them. The young Fabio grew up in the bustling Neapolitan suburb of Fuorigrotta, a stone's throw from San Paolo Stadium, and learnt his trade marshalling defences in the fiercely contested street games that were an everyday part of his childhood. Not surprisingly for someone with 394 Serie A appearances under his belt, Cannavaro has gone on to become an imposing defensive general with an instinctive ability to anticipate play and time tackles to perfection.

A product of the land of catenaccio, he is quite simply one of the world's finest exponents of the defensive arts and the latest in a long line of gifted Italian defenders. Should he claim the coveted prize, he will owe a small debt of gratitude to illustrious predecessors such as the elegant Giacinto Facchetti, who sadly died recently, the incombustible Franco Baresi and the evergreen Paolo Maldini.
Born on 13 September 1973, Cannavaro began his career in Napoli's youth teams at the same time as his hometown club rose to domestic and European prominence. Like his fellow ball boys at the San Paolo, he marvelled at the exploits of Diego Maradona in his pomp. But it was also the ever-dependable Ciro Ferrara, seven years his senior, who Cannavaro looked up to, and before long they would become team-mates and mentor and protege.Debut for NapoliCannavaro made his Serie A bow on 7 March 1993 at the Stade delle Alpi against Juventus, whose famous colours he would one day wear. A 4-3 defeat proved a painful introduction to top-flight football and with Napoli in gradual decline, the fledgling defender had every opportunity to hone his famed mental toughness. With the trophy-laden Maradona era at an end, the southern upstarts were eventually forced to sell their crop of talented youngsters to survive, Cannavaro among them.
And so in 1995 the 22-year-old headed north to join Parma, where he quickly cemented his place in the first team, forming a formidable defensive partnership with fellow new arrival Lilian Thuram.
In a highly successful seven-year sojourn in Emilia-Romagna, the commanding centre-half was an integral part of the side that lifted the Italian Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Italian Super Cup and went so close to claiming the Scudetto. Club success was soon rewarded with international recognition, and he made his Italy debut on 22 January 1997.
He was an ever-present for the Azzurri at the 1998 FIFA World Cup France™ and the 2000 UEFA European Championship, with eventual champions France ending Italian hopes on both occasions. After Italy's unfortunate campaign at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™, he left the fading Parma for Inter Milan, where, in a creditable first season, he helped the Nerazzurri to second place in Serie A and the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. His increasingly impressive career was put on hold in 2003-04, however, when he fractured his tibia, and it was while recovering from that injury that he decided to join Juventus. He spent two successful seasons with the Turin giants before packing his bags again in the summer of 2006 and heading for Real Madrid, where he followed in the footsteps of the newly retired Zinedine Zidane by slipping on the fabled No5 jersey.
Cannavaro's 2006Cannavaro's performance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ was nothing short of spectacular. With the seemingly indestructible Paolo Maldini having retired from international football, he was handed the captain's armband. Few were surprised by the choice. As well as being the oldest player in the side, coach Marcelo Lippi knew full well that Cannavaro had the charisma and force of personality to inspire his team-mates.
He certainly needed to draw on those qualities in Germany when news of the Calcio scandal broke. At the height of the storm the captain stood tall, handling the criticism with aplomb while also reassuring his troops. The players responded by closing ranks around their skipper and the rest, as they say, is history.
Italy's triumphant campaign saw Cannavaro perform at the peak of his physical and mental powers. An example of his character and confidence came in the wake of the disappointing 1-1 draw with the USA, when he urged Lippi to revert to the traditional Italian defensive approach. The coach heeded his captain's advice, sacrificing one of his forwards for an extra defender against the Czech Republic.
The switch paid off. Italy advanced inexorably to the Final with a record goal difference, scoring a 11 goals and conceding just one en route, and even that was an own goal - Cristian Zaccardo's scuffed clearance against the USA. A stylish performer throughout, Cannavaro completed a century of caps in the Final against France, a feat he celebrated in the best possible style. "I knew it could be my last World Cup," recalls the smiling champion, "so I asked my team-mates to give me one last present."

History of the FIFA World Cup ™

No other sporting event captures the world's imagination like the FIFA World Cup ™. Ever since the first tentative competition in Uruguay in 1930, FIFA's flagship has constantly grown in popularity and prestige.

Jules Rimet

A group of visionary French football administrators, led in the 1920s by the innovative Jules Rimet, are credited with the original idea of bringing the world's strongest national football teams together to compete for the title of World Champions. The original gold trophy bore Jules Rimet's name and was contested three times in the 1930s, before the Second World War put a 12-year stop to the competition.
When it resumed, the FIFA World Cup™ rapidly advanced to its undisputed status as the greatest single sporting event of the modern world. Held since 1958 alternately in Europe and the Americas, the World Cup broke new ground with the Executive Committee's decision in May 1996 to select Korea and Japan as co-hosts for the 2002 edition.
Since 1930, the 16 tournaments have seen only seven different winners. However, the FIFA World Cup™ has also been punctuated by dramatic upsets that have helped create footballing history - the United States defeating England in 1950, North Korea's defeat of Italy in 1966, Cameroon's emergence in the 1980s and their opening match defeat of the Argentinean cup-holders in 1990....
Today, the FIFA World Cup™ holds the entire global public under its spell. An accumulated audience of over 37 billion people watched the France 98 tournament, including approximately 1.3 billion for the final alone, while over 2.7 million people flocked to watch the 64 matches in the French stadia.
After all these years and so many changes, however, the main focus of the FIFA World Cup™ remains the same - the glistening golden trophy, which is the embodiment of every footballer's ambition

Q&A: Bird flu

Q&A: Bird flu
Tests have confirmed that the avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm is the H5N1 Asian virus. The virus can cause illness and death in humans, but the chances of being infected are extremely low.
The only people who have developed symptoms are poultry workers, mainly in south-east Asia, who have come into intimate contact with infected birds.
What is bird flu?
Like humans and other species, birds are susceptible to flu.
There are many types of bird, or avian, flu.
The most contagious strains, which are usually fatal in birds, are H5 and H7.
There are nine different types of H5. The nine all take different forms - some are highly pathogenic, while some are pretty harmless.
The type currently causing concern is the "highly pathogenic" Asian strain of the H5N1 virus.
Scientists have discovered four different subtypes of H5N1, and there could well be more. However, all are deadly to birds, and can cause disease - and death - in humans.
However, it is important to stress that H5N1 is overwhelmingly a disease that affects birds - and not humans.
It is true that humans have been infected, but almost all have been poultry workers who have come into intimate contact with birds. H5N1 cannot pass easily from human to human.
Migratory wildfowl, notably wild ducks, are natural carriers of the viruses, but are unlikely to actually develop an infection.
The risk is that they pass it on to domestic birds, who are much more susceptible to the virus.
How do humans catch bird flu?
Bird flu was thought only to infect birds until the first human cases were seen in Hong Kong in 1997.

Humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds.
Birds excrete the virus in their faeces, which dry and become pulverised, and are then inhaled.
Symptoms are similar to other types of flu - fever, malaise, sore throats and coughs. People can also develop conjunctivitis.
Researchers are now concerned because scientists studying a case in Vietnam found the virus can affect all parts of the body, not just the lungs.
This could mean that many illnesses, and even deaths, thought to have been caused by something else, may have been due to the bird flu virus.
Is it possible to stop bird flu coming into a country?
There is no failsafe way of preventing its spread.
Experts say proper poultry controls - such as preventing wild birds getting in to poultry houses - are vital.
In addition, they say monitoring of the migratory patterns of wild birds should provide early alerts of the arrival of infected flocks - meaning they could be targeted on arrival.
How many people have been affected?
As of January 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) had confirmed 270 cases of H5N1 in humans in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, leading to 164 deaths.
For the latest WHO information on the numbers of humans infected and killed by avian flu, see related internet links section on right of page.
How quickly is the disease spreading?
After bird flu claimed its first human victim - a three-year-old boy in Hong Kong in May 1997 - the disease was not detected again until February 2003, when a father and son were diagnosed with H5N1, again in Hong Kong.
Since then it has spread westwards through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Despite mass culls, exclusion zones and other measures put in place to prevent its spread, the H5N1 virus has continued to travel.
In one week in February 2006, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, France, Slovenia, India, Iran and Egypt confirmed their first cases of H5N1 in wild birds.
In April 2005, a dead swan in Scotland was found to have the strain.
But it can't yet be passed from person to person?
For the most part, humans have contracted the virus following very close contact with sick birds.
There may have been examples of human-to-human transmission, but so far not in the form which could fuel a pandemic.
A case in Thailand indicated the probable transmission of the virus from a girl who had the disease to her mother, who also died.
The girl's aunt, who was also infected, survived the virus.
UK virology expert Professor John Oxford said these cases indicated the basic virus could be passed between humans, and predicted similar small clusters of cases would be seen again.
It is not the only instance where it has been thought bird flu has been passed between humans.
In 2004, two sisters died in Vietnam after possibly contracting bird flu from their brother who had died from an unidentified respiratory illness.
In a similar case in Hong Kong in 1997, a doctor possibly caught the disease from a patient with the H5N1 virus - but it was never conclusively proved.
What would the consequences of a mass outbreak be?
If the virus gained the ability to pass easily between humans the results could be catastrophic.
Worldwide, experts predict anything between two million and 50 million deaths.
However the mortality rate - which presently stands at around 50% of confirmed cases - could decline as it mutates, they say.
Is there a vaccine?
There is not yet a definitive vaccine, but prototypes which offer protection against the H5N1 strain are being produced.
But antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu which are already available and being stockpiled by countries such as the UK, may help limit symptoms and reduce the chances the disease will spread.
Concerns have been prompted by news that patients in Vietnam have become partially resistant to the Tamiflu, the drug that doctors plan to use to tackle a human bird flu outbreak.
Scientists say it may be helpful to have stocks of other drugs from the same family such as Relenza (zanamivir).
Can I continue to eat chicken?
Yes. Experts say avian flu is not a food-borne virus, so eating chicken is safe.
The only people thought to be at risk are those involved in the slaughter and preparation of meat that may be infected.
However, the Who recommends, to be absolutely safe all meat should be cooked to a temperature of at least 70C. Eggs should also be thoroughly cooked.
Professor Hugh Pennington of Aberdeen University underlined the negligible risk to consumers: "The virus is carried in the chicken's gut.
"A person would have to dry out the chicken meat and would have to sniff the carcass to be at any risk. But even then, it would be very hard to become infected."
What is being done to contain the virus in the countries affected?
Steps have been taken to try to stop the disease spreading among birds.
Millions of farmyard birds have been culled, while millions more have been vaccinated and confined indoors.
Areas where the disease has been found have been isolated and some countries have banned imports of live birds and poultry products.
In January 2006 international donors pledged $1.9bn (£1.1bn) in the fight against bird flu, while the World Health Organization has devised a rapid-response plan to detect and contain a global flu pandemic.
There are also measures recommended when a wild infected bird is found, including protection and surveillance zones.

The colourful history of a fascinating game

More than 2000 Years of Football By Dr. Wilfried GerhardtPress Officer for the German Football Association, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. The contemporary history of football spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the world's first football association was founded - The Football Association in England. Both forms of football stemmed from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. Their early history reveals at least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees and to which the historical development of football is related and has actually been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is disputable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that playing a ball with the feet has been going on for thousands of years and there is absolutely no reason to believe that it is an aberration of the more "natural" form of playing a ball with the hands.On the contrary, apart from the absolute necessity to employ the legs and feet in such a tough bodily tussle for the ball, often without any laws for protection, it was no doubt recognised right at the outset that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was extremely difficult and, as such, it required special technique and talent. The very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China. A military manual dating from the period of the Han Dynasty includes among the physical education exercises, the "Tsu'Chu". This consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only 30 - 40 cm in width, into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes - a feat which obviously demanded great skill and excellent technique. A variation of this exercise also existed, whereby the player was not permitted to aim at his target unimpeded, but had to use his feet, chest, back and shoulders whilst trying to withstand the attacks of his opponents. Use of the hands was not permitted. The ball artistry of today's top players is therefore not quite as new as some people may assume.
Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese Kemari, which dates from about 500 to 600 years later and is still played today. This is a type of circular football game, far less spectacular, but, for that reason, a 'more dignified and ceremonious experience, requiring certain skills, but not competitive ' in the way the Chinese game was, nor is there the slightest sign of struggle for possession of the ball. The players had to pass the ball to each other, in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.
The Greek game "episkyros", relatively little of which has been handed down, was much livelier, as was the Roman game "Harpastum". The latter was played with a smaller ball with two teams contesting the game on a rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a centre-line. The object was to get the ball over the opponents' boundary lines. The ball was passed between players and trickery was the order of the day. Each team member had his own specific tactical assignment and the spectators took a vociferous interest in the proceedings and the score. The role of the feet in this game was so small as scarcely to be of consequence. This game remained popular for 700 or 800 years, but, although the Romans took it to England with them, it is doubtful whether it can be considered as a forerunner of contemporary football. The same applies for hurling, a popular game with the Celtic population, which is played to this very day in Cornwall and Ireland. lt is possible that influences were asserted, but it is certain that the decisive development of the game of football with which we are now familiar took place in England and Scotland.
The game that flourished in the British Isles from the 8th to the 19th centuries had a considerable variety of local and regional versions - which were subsequently smoothed down and smartened up to form the present day sports of association football and rugby football. - They were substantially different from all the previously known forms - more disorganised, more violent, more spontaneous and usually played by an indefinite number of players. Frequently, the games took the form of a heated contest between whole village communities or townships - through streets, village squares, across fields, hedges, fences and streams. Kicking was allowed, as in fact was almost everything else. However, in some of these games kicking was out of the question due to the size and weight of the ball being used. In such cases, kicking was instead employed to fell opponents. Incidentally, it was not until nine years after the football rules had been established for the first time in 1863 that the size and weight of the ball were finally standardised. Up to that time, agreement on this point had usually been reached by the parties concerned when they were arranging the match, as was the case for the game between London and Sheffield in 1866. This match was also the first where the duration of the game was prearranged for one and a half hours.
Shrovetide football, as it was called, belonged in the "mob football" category, where the number of players was unlimited and the rules were fairly vague (for example, according to an ancient handbook from Workington in England, any means could be employed to get the ball to its target with the exception of murder and manslaughter). Shrovetide football is still played today on Shrove Tuesday in some areas, for example, Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Needless to say, it is no longer so riotous as it used to be, nor are such extensive casualties suffered as was probably the case centuries ago.
-->This game is reputedly Anglo-Saxon in origin and there are many legends concerning its first appearance. For example, in both Kingston-on-Thames and Chester, the story goes that the game was played for the very first time with the severed head of a vanquished Danish prince. In Derby, it is said to have originated far earlier, in the 3rd century, during the victory celebrations that followed a battle against the Romans.
Despite the legends of Kingston and Chester, certain facts appear to contradict the Anglo-Saxon theory. Namely that there is no evidence of it having been played at this time in Saxon areas or on the continent, nor is the game mentioned in early Anglo-Saxon literature. Prior to the Norman Conquest, the only trace found of any such ball game comes from a Celtic source.
One other possible theory regarding its origin is that when the aforementioned "mob football" was being played in the British Isles in the early centuries A.D., a very similar game was thriving in France, particularly in Normandy and Brittany. So it is quite feasible that the Normans brought this form of the game to England with them.
All these theories produce a picture quite bewildering in its complexity - far more complex than the simple rules that governed this form of the game, if we dare even to call them rules.
Quite apart from man's natural impulse to demonstrate his strength and skill, even in this chaotic and turbulent fashion, it is certain that in many cases, pagan customs, especially fertility rites, played a major role. The ball symbolised the sun, which had to be conquered in order to secure a bountiful harvest. The ball had to be propelled around, or across, a field so that the crops would flourish and the attacks of the opponents had to be warded off.
A similar significance was attached to the games between married men and bachelors that prevailed for centuries in some parts of England, and, likewise, to the famous game between married and unmarried women in the Scottish town of Inveresk at the end of the 17th century which, perhaps by design, was regularly won by the married women. Women's football is obviously not so new as some people think.
Scholars might have conflicting views on the origins of the game and the influences that certain cults may have had on its evolution, but one thing is incontestable: football has flourished for over a thousand years in diverse rudimentary forms, in the very region which we describe as its home, England and the British Isles. The chain of prohibitions and censures, sometimes harsh, sometimes mild, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt what tremendous enthusiasm there was for football, even though it was so often frowned upon by the authorities. The repeated unsuccessful intervention of the authorities and high offices of the land shows how powerless they were to restrict it, in spite of their condemnation and threats of severe punishment.
As long ago as 1314 the Lord Mayor of London saw fit to issue a proclamation forbidding football within the city due to the rumpus it usually caused. Infringement of this law meant imprisonment. King Edward III passed extremely harsh measures in 1331 to suppress football, which was regarded as a public nuisance. At the same time, similar measures were also introduced in France.
During the 100 years' war between England and France from 1338 to 1453 the court was also unfavourably disposed towards football, albeit for different reasons. Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V made football punishable by law because the well-loved recreation prevented their subjects from practising more useful military disciplines, particularly archery, which played an important and valuable role in the English army at that time.
All the Scottish kings of the 15th Century also deemed it necessary to censure and prohibit football. Particularly famous amongst these was the decree proclaimed by the Parliament convened by James I in 1424: "That na man play at the Fute-ball". None of these efforts had much effect. The popularity of the game amongst the people and their obvious delight in the rough and tumble for the ball went far too deep to be uprooted.
The passion for football was particularly exuberant in Elizabethan times. An influence that most likely played a part in intensifying the native popularity for the game came from Renaissance Italy, particularly from Florence, but also from Venice and other cities that had produced their own brand of football known as "Calcio". lt was certainly more organised than the English equivalent and was played by teams dressed in coloured livery at the important gala events held on certain holidays in Florence. It was a truly splendid spectacle. In England the game was still as rough and ungracious and lacking in refinement as ever, but it did at this time find a prominent supporter who commended if for other reasons when he saw the simple joy of the players romping after the ball. This supporter was Richard Mulcaster, the great pedagogue, head of the famous schools of Merchant Taylor's and St. Paul's. He pointed out that the game had positive educational value and it promoted health and strength. He claimed that all that was needed was to refine it a little and give it better manners. His notion was that the game would benefit most if the number of participants in each team were limited and, more importantly, there were a stricter referee.
Resentment of football up to this time had been mainly for practical reasons. The game had been regarded as a public disturbance that resulted in damage to property, for example, in Manchester in 1608, football was banned again because so many windows had been smashed.
In the course of the 16th century a quite new type of attack was launched against football. With the spread of Puritanism, the cry went up against "frivolous" amusements, and sport happened to be classified as such, football in particular. The main objection was that it supposedly constituted a violation of peace on the Sabbath. Similar attacks were made against the theatre, which strait-laced Puritans regarded as a source of idleness and iniquity. This laid the foundations for the entertainment ban on English Sundays, which would later become a permanent feature during the Commonwealth and Puritanical eras (even though it is said that Oliver Cromwell himself was a keen footballer in his youth). From then on football on Sundays was taboo. It remained so for some 300 years, until the ban was lifted once again, at first unofficially and ultimately with the formal consent of The Football Association, albeit on a rather small scale.
However, none of these obstacles could eradicate football. Take Derby as an example. Between 1731 and 1841, the town's authorities made continual attempts to ban football from the streets. In the end, they had to resort to riot laws before there was any effect at all.
All told there was scarcely any progress at all in the development of football for hundreds of years. But, although the game was persistently forbidden for 500 years, it was never completely suppressed. As a consequence, it remained essentially rough, violent and disorganised. A change did not come about until the beginning of the 19th century when school football became the custom, particularly in the famous public schools. This was the turning point. In this new environment, it was possible to make innovations and refinements to the game.
The rules were still relatively free and easy as there was still no standard, organised form of the game. Each school in fact developed its own adaptation and, at times, these varied considerably. The traditional aspects of the game remained but innovations depended for the most part on the playing ground available. If use had to be made of a paved school playground, surrounded by a brick wall, then there was simply not enough space for the old hurly-burly mob football. Circumstances such as these made schools like Charterhouse, Westminster, Eton and Harrow give birth to the type of game in which more depended on the players' dribbling virtuosity than the robust energy required in a scrum. On the other hand, schools such as Cheltenham and Rugby were more inclined towards the more rugged game in which the ball could be touched with the hands or even carried. All these early styles were given a great boost when it was recognised in educational circles that football was not merely an excuse to indulge in a childish romp, but could actually be beneficial educationally. What is more it was accepted that it also constituted a useful distraction from less desirable occupations, such as heavy drinking and gambling. A new attitude began to permeate the game, eventually leading to a "games cult" in public schools. This materialised when it was observed how well the team game served to encourage such fine qualities as loyalty, selflessness, cooperation, subordination and deference to the team spirit. Games became an integral part of the school curriculum and participation in football became compulsory. Dr. Thomas Arnold, the head of Rugby school, made further advances in this direction, when in 1846 in Rugby the first truly standardised rules for an organised game were laid down. These were in any event quite rough enough, for example, they permitted kicking an opponent's legs below the knees, with the reserve that he should not be held still whilst his shins were being worked on. Handling the ball was also allowed and ever since the memorable occasion in 1823 when William Webb Ellis, to the amazement of his own team and his opponents, made a run with the ball tucked under his arm, carrying the ball has been permitted. Many schools followed suit and adopted the rules laid down in Rugby, others, such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester, rejected this form of football, and gave preference to kicking the ball and carrying it was forbidden. Charterhouse and Westminster were also against handling the ball. However, they did not isolate their style as some schools did, instead they formed a nucleus from which this style of game began to spread.
Finally, in 1863, developments reached a climax. At Cambridge University, where in 1848 attempts had already been made by former pupils from the various schools to find a common denominator for all the different adaptations of the game, a fresh initiative began to establish some uniform standards and rules that would be accepted by everyone. It was at this point that the majority spoke out against such rough customs as tripping, shin-kicking and so on. As it happened, the majority also expressed disapproval at carrying the ball. It was this that caused the Rugby group to withdraw. They would probably have agreed to refrain from shin-kicking, which was in fact later banned in the Rugby regulations, but they were reluctant to relinquish carrying the ball.
This Cambridge action was an endeavour to sort out the utter confusion surrounding the rules. The decisive initiative, however, was taken after a series of meetings organised at the end of the same year (1863) in London. On 26 October 1863, eleven London clubs and schools sent their representatives to the Freemason's Tavern. These representatives were intent on clarifying the muddle by establishing a set of fundamental rules, acceptable to all parties, to govern the matches played amongst them. This meeting marked the birth of The Football Association. The eternal dispute concerning shin-kicking, tripping and carrying the ball was discussed thoroughly at this and consecutive meetings until eventually on 8 December the die-hard exponents of the Rugby style took their final leave. They were in the minority anyway. They wanted no part in a game that forbade tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball. A stage had been reached where the ideals were no longer compatible. On 8 December 1863, football and rugby finally split. Their separation became totally irreconcilable six years hence when a provision was included in the football rules forbidding any handling of the ball (not only carrying it).
Only eight years after its foundation, The Football Association already had 50 member clubs. The first football competition in the world was started in the same year - the FA Cup, which preceded the League Championship by 17 years.
International matches were being staged in Great Britain before football had hardly been heard of in Europe. The first was played in 1872 and was contested by England and Scotland. This sudden boom of organised football accompanied by staggering crowds of spectators brought with it certain problems with which other countries were not confronted until much later on. Professionalism was one of them. The first moves in this direction came in 1879, when Darwin, a small Lancashire club, twice managed to draw against the supposedly invincible Old Etonians in the FA Cup, before the famous team of London amateurs finally scraped through to win at the third attempt. Two Darwin players, the Scots John Love and Fergus Suter, are reported as being the first players ever to receive remuneration for their football talent. This practice grew rapidly and the Football Association found itself obliged to legalise professionalism as early as 1885. This development predated the formation of any national association outside of Great Britain (namely, in the Netherlands and Denmark) by exactly four years.
After the English Football Association, the next oldest are the Scottish FA (1873), the FA of Wales (1875) and the Irish FA (1880). Strictly speaking, at the time of the first international match, England had no other partner association against which to play. When Scotland played England in Glasgow on 30 November 1872, the Scottish FA did not even exist - it was not founded for another three months. The team England played that day was actually the oldest Scottish club team, Queen's Park.
The spread of football outside of Great Britain, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world. The next countries to form football associations after the Netherlands and Denmark in 1889 were New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile (1895), Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (both in 1900), Hungary (1901) and Finland (1907). When FIFA was founded in Paris in May 1904 it had seven founder members: France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by the Madrid FC), Sweden and Switzerland. The German Football Federation cabled its intention to join on the same day.
This international football community grew steadily, although it sometimes met with obstacles and setbacks. In 1912, 21 national associations were already affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). By 1925, the number had increased to 36, in 1930 - the year of the first World Cup - it was 41, in 1938, 51 and in 1950, after the interval caused by the Second World War, the number had reached 73. At present, after the 2000 Ordinary FIFA Congress, FIFA has 204 members in every part of the world.

Aspirin 'cuts pre-eclampsia risk'

Pre-eclampsia can be symptomlessTaking aspirin throughout pregnancy could reduce the risk of the potentially dangerous condition pre-eclampsia, a major study suggests.
A University of Sydney team analysed data on more than 32,000 women for a study published in The Lancet.
The results suggested cases of pre-eclampsia, which is caused by a defect in the placenta, could fall by 10% if aspirin was taken widely.
Experts urged caution, given the small risks linked to long-term aspirin use.
It is a moderate reduction of around 10% but given that pre-eclampsia is potentially serious for some women and their babies, this is an important finding.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Pre-eclampsia can trigger high blood pressure and kidney problems.
It affects approximately 7% of pregnancies, and, if uncontrolled, can increase the chances of both mother and baby dying.
Although up to 35% of premature births in the UK are connected to the condition, the precise reason it develops is unknown.
Bleeding
Pre-eclampsia is known to cause excessive blood clotting in the placenta, which supplies nutrients and oxygen to the foetus, and various experts have suggested that aspirin, which inhibits clotting, could counter this.
The latest research used information gathered by dozens of smaller research projects to try to come up with a reliable verdict on the risks and benefits of the treatment.
It found that taking "low-dose aspirin" during pregnancy reduced the risk not only of pre-eclampsia, but also premature birth, and of "poor pregnancy outcome" in general.
The main health risk found by other studies to be associated with aspirin is an increased chance of bleeding, which is potentially a serious issue within pregnancy and birth.
However, the study found no evidence that taking aspirin long term might be linked to bleeding problems at any stage, although the researchers said that their evidence was not strong enough to rule this out entirely.
Overall, they said, the potential benefits of taking the drug might outweigh the risks, particularly in women at higher risk of pre-eclampsia, such as overweight or older mothers, or those with a previous or family history of the condition.
They wrote: "From a public-health perspective, especially for populations with a high risk of pre-eclampsia, even these moderate benefits could make more widespread use of anti-platelet agents (aspirin) worthwhile."
Concerns remain
US experts James Roberts and Janet Catov, from the University of Pittsburgh, said that while some women were so obviously at high risk that aspirin was justified, it was harder to balance whether the potential harm caused by aspirin was a price worth paying in pregnancies where pre-eclampsia was less likely.
Under no circumstances should pregnant women self-medicate with aspirin
Mike Rich, Action on Pre-eclampsia
They wrote: "Is treating 50 women to prevent one case of pre-eclampsia or one pre-term birth worthwhile?"
This was echoed by Mike Rich, chief executive of charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia, who said the study would help spread the message about the potential benefits of aspirin to a wider audience of doctors.
He said: "Under no circumstances should pregnant women self-medicate with aspirin. While this study suggests that aspirin can have benefits to women at high risk, the decision to use aspirin should only be made in consultation with your doctor."
A spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists added: "It is a moderate reduction of around 10% but given that pre-eclampsia is potentially serious for some women and their babies, this is an important finding.
"No single sub-group of women seems to benefit particularly from low-dose aspirin.
"The decision on whether to take it in pregnancy should be made following discussion between the woman and her obstetrician, taking into account her individual risk of developing the condition." (BBC.co.uk)