Supershorts: Short-changed

The London 2012 50 pence Football coin. Photo / Supplied

Just in time for the London Olympics starting in July, the Brits have released a new soccer-themed 50 pence coin which carries a handy explanation of the offside law.

Problem: it doesn't take into account the new interpretation which allows referees to decide whether or not a player is "involved in the play".

FA Referees' Association member Mal Davies reckons it's a recipe for referee abuse. "Sadly it's totally out of date," he says. "And it will just encourage players to keep pressurising officials to blow the whistle immediately any time a player is in an offside position - and to abuse them when they don't."

Susannah Lee, of the Royal Mint, gets in Davies' face, prods him in the chest and says he doesn't know what he's doing - sort of.

"There are clearly space limitations on the coinface so it was obviously impossible to go into the finer details of the offside rule."

Cutting costs I

We all know what those British soccer players are like - self-centred, greedy brats with no thought for anyone other than themselves, right?

Enter Gregg Wylde, a midfielder who accepted redundancy from Scottish club Rangers, which has gone into administration, but declined a lucrative payout from the club.

"I volunteered to walk with no redundancy package today to help the other people in the club who have families, like the kitchen staff," he said.

"At the moment I have nowhere to go and I don't have another club.

"I don't know what is going to happen next, but I thought it was important to play my part in saving Rangers."

That's that pigeon hole scuppered.

Cutting costs II

Over in Cyprus, club side Olympiakos Nicosia is also in a drive to save cash. Midfielder Cesar Castro's dispute for unpaid wages from the club took a lively turn last week when he told police that two "buffed up men" arrived at his house and held a gun to his head to get his signature on a waiver.

"They had an additional page from his previous contract bearing his signature so they could verify it was the right one," said a police spokesman.

Club president Petros Savva says they'll help the investigation: "We'll help them solve this mystery. I'm not worried, we're clean. Everyone knows what sort of person I am."

Pussyfooting around

In Brazil, soccer players at Sao Jose-RS have found a novel solution to athletes foot. "The guys put wet pantyliners in their boots," says coach Agenor Piccinin. "Some have sensitive feet."

"Fans were delighted," observed one local reporter. "[They] immediately created new nicknames."

Race is on

The battle against racism in Uruguayan club soccer goes on. Fans from Central Espanol threw bananas at Progreso's Jorge Rodriguez and chanted "f***ing black monkey" last week.

Central Espanol were outraged by their fans' behaviour - but not outraged enough to avoid insinuating that it might have somehow all been Rodriguez's fault. "His confrontational style, shown in his unsporting behaviour when he deliberately provoked Central fans, as he did earlier this season, and in the physical aggression against our player Souza, in no way justifies such insults."