Modern Health and Spirituality

I like most of the country saw the world cup qualifier against Kazakhstan. We saw Wayne Rooney strike twice as England went through a stiff test before beating Kazakhstan 5-1 in their World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Saturday.  It was not a vintage performance by our boys in white, but we got the win.

A spirited display from the visitors saw England jeered off at half-time before Capello introduced Shaun Wright-Phillips for Barry in a bid to inject some more dynamism. England doubled their advantage as Kuchma headed a Frank Lampard free kick into his own net, then came the talking point from the game, sloppy play from Ashley Cole gifted Zhambyl Kukeyev a reply in the 68th minutes, prompting boos from the stands.

Capello went to Cole’s defense after the match and pleaded with fans to be more patient in future. 

“I didn’t like the booing, especially as it was targeted at one player,” he said. 

“It is always possible to make a mistake and after an error has been made we need to support the player, not the opposite. 

“I ask the crowd, when we have problems you have to help us - booing is no good for anybody.” he said.

I think it’s disgraceful behaviour from that section of the crowd, it simply is unnecessary, everyone out there is giving their best, trying to win something after all is just a game. Yes we pay good money to see a game, it does not give us the right to jeer the players, yes as we pay our money so we should get value for money, in the case of yesterdays game, it was wrong to single out one person for the jeers, everyone is allowed to make mistakes and when one does it should there be encouragement and not condemned.

In contrast, when Chris Iwelumo the Scottish forward missed an open goal when it was easier to score, it was unbelievable, the Scottish crowd did not boo or jeer him, the crowd showed maturity and continued to get behind the team, must admit, I have never seen the Scottish fans ever boo or jeer a player, may have jeered the team or a manager for not performing but never singled out a single player.

Needles to say the Wolves striker’s dream debut turned into a nightmare when he missed that glaring sitter in front of goal which would have secured victory in the World Cup qualifier, but ended goalless.

I think the supporters who turned on Ashley Cole should “be ashamed of themselves”.

Everyone is human, and people make mistakes. The players should big enough to hold their hands up when they have made a mistake, but it is not made any easier when you have got your own fans booing you.

I hope people on reflection will make sure they don’t do that again. A lot of the fans did try to clap Ashley, and I think you’ve got to rally round as players and supporters when anyone makes a mistake.

Let’s get behind the team, let’s be the extra player all teams fear when they come to Wembley.

There has been some very controversial decisions that has been made over the past few weeks in the premiership, in fact it has been happening for a number of years. Is it not time that we look at using video playbacks during matches to help referees make the correct decision?

Controversy

Over the past few weeks we have seen penalties and goals given wrongly, the fact these decisions cost the clubs point and money it get highlighted, the amount of money involved in the game is astronomical, one wonders if all the money invested is justified when you see what is happening in the rest of the world, after all it is just meant to be a game, right !!!

Over the years referees were revered, they had more respect of the players and managers alike. Since the big money being invested by TV for live football coverage the pressure on clubs, managers, players and referees is immense. The fact that when you watch live TV there are so many cameras on the match they seem to get every angle covered, this was always going to undermine the referees decisions somewhat, they can only make a decision based on what they see and their interpretation of that particular incident.  

I am not trying to side with referees, we have to appreciate the difficult job they have now especially with all the scrutiny they are having to face.

To a certain extent the media has had a huge influence in what I say is undermining of the officials. The media seemed to highlight and criticise every decision a referee makes, I feel that the media has been instrumental in encouraging the lack of respect that the referees and officials have been facing. Having said that this season in terms of respect for the officials it appears to have improved.

There has also been certain changes in the rules and laws of the game, the interpretation of these changes has caused an inconsistency amongst the referees.

Video Technology

There are other sports who use video technology very effectively and with the minimum of disruption to the game. The use of video technology is wide spread in Rugby, Cricket and in American Sports like Basketball and American Football. There is an argument that these other sports have natural breaks in their game which allows and encourages the use of technology to be able to make informed decision.

In football the referee has the power to stop the game and go back to the incident, this in my view allows the 4th official to playback and view the incident, invariably when there is an incident during the game and at that point there is some form of protest, during this short period it can quite easily be conceived there is enough time to see the playback of the incident and relay this to the referee.

A few years ago it was muted that goal line technology based on the cyclops used in tennis would be used, had that been used then the Pedro Mendes goal for Spurs against Manchester United would have stood, that was the most obvious goal not to have stood, it was absolutely shocking.

Recently it had been reported that the use of goal line technology was actually stopped by none other than Michel Platini and unfortunately the individual football associations cannot bring in the technology without the agreement of FIFA.

Should Video Technology be used?

In my opinion video technology should be used, the use can be for many aspects of the game, not just for the obvious incidents such as penalty decisions, controversial goals but also for player discipline, catching the cheaters and simulators, I think video technology should be used retrospectively and the player punishment should be much harsher.

The fines being passed out to players are ridiculous especially with the amount money they are being paid, in most cases the fines should be supplemented by longer suspensions.

Let’s clean up the game, let’s help the referees to make correct decisions and play the game fairly.

I am a huge sports fan, I tend to follow most sports but have a greater passion for Football, the biggest sport on the planet as well as now being big big business.

The Premier League

The English premier league is probably the most richest league in the world, most definitely in Europe. Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992/1993 season there has only ever been four winners, Manchester United 10 times, Arsenal 3 times, Chelsea twice and Blackburn once.

The premier league became rich mainly due to television revenue, money put into it by SKY TV, a satellite television company, this took the game away from terrestrial TV. There was a huge demand for live football on TV and SKY captured the market and made it their own. This has now changed, there is no longer the domination by SKY due to new regulations. The rights for the premiership has been sold all over the world and no matter where you go you will see young children wearing replica shirts of their favourite premiership teams. 

There has been talk of there being a break away group which they are calling the big four, since 2003/2004 season the top four has been the same, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, just the positions have changed at the end of the season. Why have these four clubs been so dominant? The top four can attract any palyer they want, they have the financial backing and therby keep strengthening their team season after season. However, it’s not simply about buying new players all the time, it is the team, the coach and new players to improve on the previous season.

The Wealthy Clubs

The top four as described above are the wealthiest clubs in England and represent a majority in Europe and the world, the top four premiership clubs occupy 4 of the top 10 spots, English clubs have a high representation in the overall top 25, see below:

This is a list of the richest football clubs in the world in April 2008 as ranked by Forbes magazine on their worth in US dollars.^[1]

Rank	Team	Country	Value ($m)[2]	Debt as %of value[3]	% change on year	Revenue ($m)	Operating income($m)[4]
1	Manchester United	England	1,800	60	24	394	111
2	Real Madrid	Spain	1,285	27	24	474	112
3	Arsenal	England	1,200	43	31	329	77
4	Liverpool	England	1,050	65	131	269	60
5	Bayern Munich	Germany	917	0	9	302	72
6	AC Milan	Italy	798	0	-3	307	54
7	FC Barcelona	Spain	784	7	47	392	92
8	Chelsea	England	764	0	42	382	-5
9	Juventus	Italy	510	5	-10	196	35
10	Schalke 04	Germany	470	48	0	154	36
11	AS Roma	Italy	434	12	94	213	48
12	Tottenham Hotspur	England	414	15	70	207	64
13	Olympique Lyonnais	France	408	7	19	190	15
14	Internazionale	Italy	403	0	-27	207	21
15	Borussia Dortmund	Germany	323	57	63	122	31
16	Newcastle United	England	300	43	16	175	12
17	Hamburger SV	Germany	293	0	32	163	41
18	Werder Bremen	Germany	262	0	n/a	131	11
19	Valencia	Spain	254	159	31	145	-45
20	Celtic	Scotland	227	11	23	151	48
21	Everton	England	197	30	24	103	-1
22	West Ham United	England	195	23	25	115	-22
23	Manchester City	England	191	63	-8	114	27
24	Aston Villa	England	190	12	36	106	-40
25	Olympique Marseille	France	187	0	19	134	13

• Deloitte Football Money League
• List of Premier League football club owners

Notes

There is now a new player in the game, most recently Manchester City changed ownership and is now reportedly the richest club in the world, taking over the mantle from Chelsea, they are now owned by a Sheik from the emirate state of Abu Dhabi.

Manchester City have already flexed their financial muscle by spending heavily on players during the Transfer window.

Foreign Investment

The premier league as far as I am aware is the only league which has a foreign investment in terms of club ownership. There many foreign players here and high percentage of players make up the first eleven whereas in the other European leagues majority of the first team is made up of indigenous players.  I think this is good for the clubs but probably has an overall detriment to the fortunes of the national team.

There are a number of clubs who now have rich foreign owners, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all benefiting from foreign ownership, and now we are seeing the other Manchester club gatecrashing the party.

There is talk that due to the investment in these clubs it is an unfair advantage to the smaller lesser known clubs as they cannot compete with the big boys, they cannot attract the best players from around the world, they cannot afford either the transfer fee or players wage demands. This is true and there is a gulf developing, however, the smaller clubs can do better by better management on and of the field. It has been shown that a smaller team with less money can succeed, Portuguese club Porto, French club Monaco both proved with good management on the field all is possible.

As football has become big industry, the clubs can and should be run as a business, a well run club can survive and compete at a high level, the model used by the Dutch club Ajax worked very well for a very very long time, they were producing many local young players who were sold onto bigger leagues around Europe, the club was still able to compete with the so called the power leagues like “La Liga in spain” and “Serie A in Italy” to win the Champions League (European Cup). Why has Ajax the club other clubs were looking to emulate, gone backwards?

I think that foreign investment is good, as long as everyone is playing on a level playing field. The investment has to be for a long term strategy, and should include the development of the academy. Not just set it up and leave it to rot. Take proactive action to build and sustain it for the future.

I also feel that there should some form of salary structure or cap and a sensible price tags on players, this will help the clubs to operate like a business by re-investing back into the club after paying the players salaries and overheads etc., the profits will go into maintaining the academy. The structure will allow clubs to make better use players from the academy, at the moment I feel Arsenal are the only club  trying to run a club the way I think it should be run. This would stop the smaller clubs getting into financial difficulties.

What is the real significance of Martial Arts? Have we lost the original meaning and sense of this art form?

Martial Arts

There are so many forms of martial arts out there, they all have differing benefits. Someone once told me that martial art is any of the various forms of single combat pursued as a sport. Over the centuries they have become a sport and in some cases employed in an aggressive and confrontational manner.

In my experience many students have not realised the purity of the martial art form, in the sense that most people see it as a form of self defence and not seeing the health and spiritual benefits of these so called sports.

Practising martial arts is to take on a philosophy for life, a life filled with peace, joy and spiritualism. In the East where it originated, peoples mindset is different to that of the west. Here in the west we have taken this art form and have butchered it. Martial arts has been made popular by films, starring the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li to name a few, although they have brought it to the masses, I feel the meaning has been lost, I have heard people saying “I’m learning Taekwondo, with this I can kick ass” it was not meant for that purpose, yes you can kick ass, but as a last resort, I have seen many people bragging about having a black belt in this and that only to come unstuck when they really needed to use it to defend themselves, the reason for this in my opinion was their mentality and stupidity. 

A martial art can only help you if you have the right mindset when using the techniques you have learnt. In my opinion someone practising martial art should strife to for humility, health, peace, spirituality and to lose the ego.

In my early days growing up I had tried various styles of martial arts, I tried Taekwondo, Sam Tu Dang, Kempo and Shao lin. I wanted to know more about the cultural and historical philosophy, the messages passed down from generations of these styles, but as I was doing more and more the other students used it as a form of bravado which put me off, however, I still maintained an interest in it.

I now practice DhanMuDo, which I am enjoying far more than the martial arts I had practiced when I was younger, this is more of what I was looking for and expecting.

DhanMuDo

“Only those who find the centre in their bodies can balance the world”

DhanMuDo is a comprehensive system of healing and martial arts that came from 5 thousand year tradition of healing and martial art training of Korea. DhanMuDo includes principles and practices for the enhancement of life energy (Ki/Chi/Qi) and the development of the capability to use energy. With enhanced energy-awareness and ability to use the energy, we can heal ourselves and others physically and energetically.

In DhanMuDo training, we learn how to use our body to enhance our mental and spiritual strength and integrity also. The ultimate goal of DhanMuDo training is to awaken and develop the integrity and wholeness within us in order to attain mastership over the body, mind and spirit.

Dhan in DhanMuDo means pure energy, which is the essence of life, permeates our body, keeps our life functioning, and integrate our body and consciousness into a living awareness.

Mu in DhanMuDo means ‘martial’ and ‘limitless’ . DhanMuDo is a discipline both to develop power and find limitlessness in us the limitless energy and limitless creative power. Eventually DhanMuDo is the art to attain limitlessness in awareness and energy, which is truly the source of freedom and creation.

Do in DhanMuDo is Tao which means the way, the ultimate truth and reality. 

In brief, DhanMuDo is a training system that enables people to develop their energy to reach limitlessness within them.

Benefits of DhanMuDo Training

The benefits are as follows:

• Align and correct the muscles and bone structure
• Strengthen the natural healing power and the immune system
• Build the internal energy
• Prevent osteoporosis
• Help diet and weight control
• Helps normalize blood pressure
• Activates brain cells and the brain’s left and right hemispheres
• Strengthens the self-confidence and enhances the self-esteem
• Improves learning ability and work performance
• Strengthens the lower body

As an exponent of DhanMuDo for a few years I have certainly seen the changes in me. I also now instruct occasionally and can see the improvements, especially in the more elderly students in the class.