Australia

Wigan 1-0 Man City: Will Grigg scores late FA Cup winner

Will Grigg scored on 79 minutes as League One Wigan overcame Premier League leaders Manchester City
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Published

6 years ago

February 20, 2018

Europe Disk

Will Grigg scored on 79 minutes as League One Wigan overcame Premier League leaders Manchester City
The striker raced through on goal and fired past Caludio Bravo after a blunder by City defender Kyle Walker
Fabian Delph was shown a straight red card during first-half stoppage time after a nasty sliding challenge
The two managers, Pep Guardiola and Paul Cook, became embroiled in angry exchanges after the red card
The fall-out from Delph's sending off continued into the tunnel at half-time before the teams were separated
City missed a number of second-half chances but it is Wigan who now face Southampton in the last-eight

By Ian Ladyman for the Daily Mail

Published: 21:48 GMT, 19 February 2018 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 19 February 2018

Pep Guardiola has said repeatedly his team could not win four trophies this season. Never did he think he would be proved right in circumstances quite like this.

Guardiola’s Manchester City were downed here by Irishman Will Grigg 10 minutes from the end. Previously Grigg was known only for a song written and sang in his honour by Northern Ireland fans during the European Championship of 2016.

He barely played in that tournament but now he has become the second Wigan player to end City’s FA Cup hopes in the space of five years. Ben Watson’s goal won Wigan the cup in a memorable final in 2013 but they were a Premier League club back then. Now they play in League One.

Will Grigg (left) scored a dramatic late winner as Wigan beat Manchester City in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday night

The Northern Ireland forward curled the ball past Claudio Bravo following a blunder by City and England defender Kyle Walker

The Wigan players swarm Grigg after he settled a dramatic FA Cup tie with a fine finish from the edge of the penalty area

Latics boss Paul Cook celebrates the opening and only goal of a famous victory for his side at the DW Stadium on Monday

MATCH FACTS, RATINGS, DRAW AND MATCH ZONE

Wigan (4-5-1):

Wigan (4-5-1): Walton 7; Byrne 8, Dunkley 8, Burn 8, Elder 8; Massey 6.5 (Colclough 77), Powell 6.5 (Fulton 27, 7), Perkins 8, Power 8, Roberts 6.5 (Jacobs 55, 7); Grigg 8.5

Subs not used: Jones, Bruce, Hunt, James

Manager: Paul Cook 8

Goals: Grigg 79

Bookings: Massey 59, Fulton 69, Elder 71, Walton 84, Power 90

Manchester City (4-3-3):

Bravo 6.5; Danilo 6, Stones 5.5, Laporte 6, Delph 4; Fernandinho 7, D Silva 6 (De Bruyne 65, 7), Gundogan 6; B Silva 6, Aguero 6, Sane 6 (Walker 46, 5.5)

Subs not used: Ederson, Kompany, Zinchenko, Foden, Diaz

Manager: Pep Guardiola 6

Red cards: Delph 45

Referee: Anthony Taylor

RATINGS BY JACK GAUGHAN

FA Cup quarter-final draw:

Leicester v Chelsea

Manchester United v Brighton

Sheffield Wednesday or Swansea v Rochdale or Tottenham

Wigan v Southampton

*Ties take place from March 16-19

Will Grigg fired home from the edge of the box to secure Wigan victory. For more graphics and statistics, see Sportsmail's briiliant Match Zone feature here.

So Grigg was the hero but much of the real story was written here in the last minute of the first half when City midfielder Fabian Delph was sent off for tackle on Max Power.

It was a poor tackle and worthy of a red card. Delph was not in control.

But Guardiola was incensed by the fact that referee Anthony Taylor appeared ready to show only a yellow card before pressure seemed to arrive from Wigan players and coaching staff.

That simply proved too much for Guardiola. The City manager has recently campaigned for an end to bad tackles but here he was moved to argue with Wigan coach Leam Richardson on the touchline before clashing with opposite number Paul Cook in the tunnel.

Caught on BBC camera, the two men were kept apart, to some degree by Peter Reid, coaching these days at Wigan on a voluntarily basis. If Reid’s blood was up in a manner reminiscent of his days haring around muddy English midfields then it is unlikely that he was alone.

Fabian Delph was shown a straight red card by Anthony Taylor after a nasty sliding tackle on Max Power late in the first half

The England international's dismissal prompted furious complaints from his team-mates and the Manchester City bench

Taylor had to speak to Wigan boss Paul Cook as the FA Cup clash threatened to descend into chaos at the DW Stadium

Cook's opposite number, Pep Guardiola, was forced to come between the Wigan boss and an incandescent Sergio Aguero

The two managers argue in the dying moments of the first half after Delph's sending off lit the blue touch paper at Wigan

The fall-out continued in the tunnel at half-time as the two camps exchanged words before heading into the dressing rooms

The Premier League leaders were left to rue a number of missed second-half opportunities as they crashed out on Monday

GRAHAM POLL – VERDICT ON DELPH'S RED CARD

Manchester City’s Fabian Delph was sent off by referee Anthony Taylor despite the referee initially taking out his yellow card following Delph’s reckless tackle on Wigan’s Max Power.

The decision to dismiss the City player was not wrong but appeared to be influenced by a huge posse of Wigan players who surrounded the Manchester-based referee.

Appearances can be deceptive and it is far more likely that one of Taylor’s team of match officials was the one who communicated that the foul challenge warranted a red rather than the yellow he initially took out.

Whatever the reason for his change of heart it was poor practice. As for the decision itself, given the pace Delph went into the challenge and the fact that he had his studs raised well off the ground, I felt the red card was correct.

Pep Guardiola has been asking for players to be protected – meaning dismissals for these dangerous tackles – but he probably didn’t want the first to be for one of his players.

In the second half, City dominated but could not score. Wigan were heroic in defence. And, as dreams of a quadruple slipped away, the niggle on the touchline did not. Still the two benches exchanged words but on this occasion — as rare as it is — Guardiola’s team could not manage to have the last word on the field.

Wigan, backed by a decent crowd, had looked dangerous when they did move forwards after City had created an early chance in the second minute.

Key to their forward movements were the efforts of former Manchester United player Nick Powell. Tall and rangy, Powell troubled City when he got in to his stride in midfield and one run forward saw him drive a shot into a defender’s legs just as City defenders were starting to panic.

Not that Guardiola’s backline needed much encouragement to get themselves into a flap and the culprit on two early occasions was the Brazilian Danilo at right back.

First he let the ball dribble through his legs on his own six-yard line as Gary Roberts lurked and then, a few minutes later, he lost the ball to Will Grigg and, as John Stones backed off, the Irishman drove a left-foot shot high in to the side netting from an angle.

Aguero directs a header over the bar of Wigan goalkeeper Christian Walton as the visitors sought an opening goal

City and England star Delph, whose red card prompted arguments between the teams, dribbles with the ball in the first half

Will Grigg battles for possession with Aymeric Laporte, the defender who joined Manchester City in January for £57million

Aguero, who led the line for the away side in Monday's clash, fires a shot at goal as Chey Dunkley attempts a block

The Argentine forward tries to hold on to the ball under pressure from Wigan captain, 25-year-old defender Dan Burn

Before their heated exchange Guardiola (L) and Cook (R) watch on during the first half of the FA Cup fifth-round clash

Germany international Ikay Gundogan fires a right footed-shot in Monday's clash – but Wigan held firm in the opening stages

Stones looked briefly to have tweaked something and that would have been a blow for Guardiola ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. The City defender seemed to run that niggle off but Wigan’s Powell was less lucky midway through the half.

Powell seemed to injure his hamstring during one sprint forwards and his night was to end in the 26th minute. That was a really big setback for Wigan and it robbed them of some of their impetus.

Paul Cook’s team still had their moments but City dominated the later stages of the first half. The closest they came to scoring came on the half hour when Stones headed down a deep cross intelligently and Fernandinho somehow lashed the ball high into the crowd from no more than 10 yards.

There were other moments for City, too, and Walton saved brilliantly from Aguero in the 45th minute, diving high to his right to touch a rising drive over.

That was only a prelude to real drama of the half, though, and Delph’s red card for a lunge on Power meant that Wigan began the second half with a greater chance to win this game than they ever may have dreamed of.

The shenanigans in the tunnel as the players disappeared for half-time were caught on camera and served to underline just how aggrieved Guardiola felt. When the second period began, he merely had to focus on ensuring his team did not lose.

Wigan central midfielder David Perkins climbs above Gundogan to win a header during a goalless but dramatic first-half

Nathan Byrne slides in on Manchester City's captain on the night David Silva to win back possession for the home side

Attacking midfielder Gary Roberts climbs above Fernandinho to win an aerial challenge during the first half on Monday

Bernardo Silva, who moved to the Etihad from Monaco in the summer, looks to bring the ball down under pressure from Burn

Kyle Walker replaced Leroy Sane to add some security to City and the hour mark came and went without their goal coming under undue threat.

City continued to dominate the ball despite their numerical disdavantage even if, as in the first half, they struggled to create chances. David Silva did play Aguero through in the 63rd minute but the City striker could not control the ball and the opportunity passed.

Soon Silva departed — no doubt with Sunday’s meeting with Arsenal in mind — and was replaced by Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian’s first contribution was to flash a low cross towards Aguero but Dan Burn cleared.

With 20 minutes to go, the game was being played almost entirely in Wigan’s half. It was they, not their opponents, who looked a man light.

Nevertheless, with 10 minutes left, Walker inexplicably let the ball run under his foot and turned to see Grigg running away from him. Grigg’s finish across Claudio Bravo with his right foot was superb.

Guardiola introduced the likes of Kevin De Bruyne during the second-half as City sought to avoid a replay with Wigan

A young Wigan supporter holds up a sign, taunting Manchester City with a reminder of the Latics' 2013 FA Cup final victory

Latics' chairman David Sharpe, 26, claps along with the rest of the crowd ahead of kick-off at the DW Stadium on Monday

Original Article

Daily Mail

Australia

Ben Roberts-Smith: Top soldier won’t apologise for alleged war crimes

Published

3 months ago

June 22, 2023

Europe Disk

Ben Roberts-Smith is proud of his actions in Afghanistan, the former Australian soldier said in his first comments since a judge ruled claims he committed war crimes were true.

A landmark defamation case this month found Mr Roberts-Smith was responsible for the murders of four Afghans.

The Victoria Cross recipient says he is innocent and will consider an appeal.

“I’m devastated… It’s a terrible outcome and it’s the incorrect outcome,” he said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters from Nine as he returned to Australia for the first time since the judgement was delivered, Mr Roberts-Smith also said he would not apologise to those affected by his alleged crimes.

“We haven’t done anything wrong, so we won’t be making any apologies,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith sued three Australian newspapers over a series of articles alleging he had carried out unlawful killings and bullied fellow soldiers while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009-2012.

But Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko threw out the former special forces corporal’s case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Canberra Times, ruling it was “substantially true” that Mr Roberts-Smith had murdered unarmed Afghan prisoners and civilians, and bullied peers.

The 44-year-old, who remains Australia’s most-decorated living soldier, was not present for the civil court ruling, having spent the days leading up to it on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who left the defence force in 2013, has not been charged over any of the claims in a criminal court, where there is a higher burden of proof.

None of the evidence presented in the civil defamation case against Mr Roberts-Smith can be used in any criminal proceedings, meaning investigators must gather their own independently.

This week it was confirmed that the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) – which is responsible for addressing criminal matters related to the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan – would work alongside Australian Federal Police (AFP) to examine three alleged murders local media say involve the former soldier.

The killings allegedly took place at a compound codenamed Whiskey 108 and in the southern Afghan village of Darwan.

The OSI was set up following a landmark inquiry in 2020, known as the Brereton Inquiry, which found “credible evidence” that Australia’s special forces unlawfully killed 39 people in Afghanistan.

There are currently 40 matters that are being jointly investigated by the OSI and the AFP.

Earlier this year former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz became the first Australian defence force member to ever be charged by police with the war crime of murder.

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65911638

Australia

Why Australia decided to quit its vaping habit

Published

4 months ago

May 28, 2023

Europe Disk

He’s talking about students in his class, teenagers, who can’t stop vaping.

He sees the effect of the candy-flavoured, nicotine-packed e-cigarettes on young minds every day, with children even vaping in class.

“The ones who are deepest into it will just get up out of their seat, or they’ll be fidgeting or nervous. The worst offenders will just walk out because they’re literally in withdrawal.”

Those who are most addicted need nicotine patches or rehabilitation, he says, talking about 13 and 14-year-olds.

is enough and introduced a range of new restrictions. Despite vapes already being illegal for many, under new legislation they will become available by prescription only.

The number of vaping teenagers in Australia has soared in recent years and authorities say it is the “number one behavioural issue” in schools across the country.

And they blame disposable vapes – which some experts say could be more addictive than heroin and cocaine – but for now are available in Australia in every convenience store, next to the chocolate bars at the counter.

For concerned teachers like Chris, their hands have been tied.

“If we suspect they have a vape, all we can really do is tell them to go to the principal’s office.

“At my old school, my head teacher told me he wanted to install vape detector alarms in the toilet, but apparently we weren’t allowed to because that would be an invasion of privacy.”

E-cigarettes have been sold as a safer alternative to tobacco, as they do not produce tar – the primary cause of lung cancer.

Some countries continue to promote them with public health initiatives to help cigarette smokers switch to a less deadly habit.

Last month, the UK government announced plans to hand out free vaping starter kits to one million smokers in England to get smoking rates below 5% by 2030.

But Australia’s government says that evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers quit is insufficient for now. Instead, research shows it may push young vapers into taking up smoking later in life.

‘Generation Vape’

Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are lithium battery-powered devices that have cartridges filled with liquids containing nicotine, artificial flavourings, and other chemicals.

The liquid is heated and turned into a vapour and inhaled into the user’s lungs.

Vaping took off from the mid-2000s and there were some 81 million vapers worldwide in 2021, according to the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction group.

Fuelling the rise is the mushrooming popularity of flavoured vapes designed to appeal to the young.

These products can contain far higher volumes of nicotine than regular cigarettes, while some devices sold as ‘nicotine-free’ can actually hold large amounts.

The chemical cocktail also contains formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde – which have been linked to lung disease, heart disease, and cancer.

There’s also a suggestion of an increased risk of stroke, respiratory infection, and impaired lung function.

Experts warn not enough is known about the long-term health effects. But some alarming data has already been drawn out.

In 2020, US health authorities identified more than 2,800 cases of e-cigarette or vaping-related lung injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 68 deaths attributed to that injury.

In Australia, a major study by leading charity The Cancer Council found more than half of all children who had ever vaped had used an e-cigarette they knew contained nicotine and thought that vaping was a socially acceptable behaviour.

School-age children were being supplied with e-cigarettes through friends or “dealers” inside and outside school, or from convenience stores and tobacconists, the report said.

Teens also reported purchasing vapes through social media, websites and at pop-up vape stores, the Generation Vape project found.

“Whichever way teenagers obtain e-cigarettes, they are all illegal, yet it’s happening under the noses of federal and state authorities”, report author and Cancer Council chair Anita Dessaix said.

“All Australian governments say they’re committed to ensuring e-cigarettes are only accessed by smokers with a prescription trying to quit – yet a crisis in youth e-cigarette use is unfolding in plain view.”

In addition to the government’s move to ban the import of all non-pharmaceutical vaping products – meaning they can now only be bought with a prescription – all single-use disposable vapes will be made illegal.

The volume and concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes will also be restricted, and both flavours and packaging must be plain and carrying warning labels.

But these new measures are not actually all that drastic, says public health physician Professor Emily Banks from the Australian National University.

“Australia is not an outlier. It is unique to have a prescription-only model, but other places actually ban them completely, and that includes almost all of Latin America, India, Thailand and Japan.”

‘We have been duped’

Health Minister Mark Butler said the new vaping regulations will close the “biggest loophole in Australian healthcare history”.

“Just like they did with smoking… ‘Big Tobacco’ has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added sweet flavours to create a new generation of nicotine addicts.”

“We have been duped”, he said.

Medical experts agree. Prof Banks argues that the promotion of e-cigarettes as a “healthier” alternative was a classic “sleight-of-hand” from the tobacco industry.

As such vaping has become “normalised” in Australia, and in the UK too.

“There’s over 17,000 flavours, and the majority of use is not for smoking cessation”, she tells the BBC.

“They’re being heavily marketed towards children and adolescents. People who are smoking and using e-cigarettes – that’s the most common pattern of use, dual use.”

Professor Banks says authorities need to “de-normalise” vaping among teenagers and make vapes much harder to get hold of.

“Kids are interpreting the fact that they can very easily get hold of [vapes] as evidence [they’re safe], and they’re actually saying, ‘well, if they were that unsafe, I wouldn’t be able to buy one at the coffee shop’.

But could stricter controls make it harder for people who do turn to vapes hoping to quit or cut down on tobacco?

“It is important to bear in mind that for some people, e-cigarettes have really helped. But we shouldn’t say ‘this is great for smokers to quit’, says Prof Banks.

“We know from

Australia, from the US, from Europe, that two-thirds to three-quarters of people who quit smoking successfully, do so unaided.”

“You’re trying to bring these [vapes] in saying they’re a great way to quit smoking, but actually we’ve got bubble gum flavoured vapes being used by 13-year-olds in the school toilets. That is not what the community signed up for.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65522841

Australia

Australia: Scott Morrison saga casts scrutiny on Queen’s representative

Published

1 year ago

August 27, 2022

Europe Disk

In the past fortnight, Australia has been gripped by revelations that former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to several additional ministries.

The move has been labelled a “power grab” by his successor as prime minister, and Mr Morrison has been scolded by many – even his own colleagues.

But the scandal has also dragged Australia’s governor-general into the fray – sparking one of the biggest controversies involving the Queen’s representative in Australia in 50 years.

So does Governor-General David Hurley have questions to answer, or is he just collateral damage?

‘Just paperwork’

Governors-general have fulfilled the practical duties as Australia’s head of state since the country’s 1901 federation.

Candidates for the role were initially chosen by the monarch but are now recommended by the Australian government.

The job is largely ceremonial – a governor-general in almost every circumstance must act on the advice of the government of the day. But conventions allow them the right to “encourage” and “warn” politicians.

Key duties include signing bills into law, issuing writs for elections, and swearing in ministers.

Mr Hurley has run into trouble on the latter. At Mr Morrison’s request, he swore the prime minister in as joint minister for health in March 2020, in case the existing minister became incapacitated by Covid.

Over the next 14 months, he also signed off Mr Morrison as an additional minister in the finance, treasury, home affairs and resources portfolios.

Mr Morrison already had ministerial powers, so Mr Hurley was basically just giving him authority over extra departments.

It’s a request the governor-general “would not have any kind of power to override or reject”, constitutional law professor Anne Twomey tells the BBC.

“This wasn’t even a meeting between the prime minister and the governor-general, it was just paperwork.”

But Mr Morrison’s appointments were not publicly announced, disclosed to the parliament, or even communicated to most of the ministers he was job-sharing with.

Australia’s solicitor-general found Mr Morrison’s actions were not illegal but had “fundamentally undermined” responsible government.

But the governor-general had done the right thing, the solicitor-general said in his advice this week.

It would have been “a clear breach” for him to refuse the prime minister, regardless of whether he knew the appointments would be kept secret, Stephen Donaghue said.

Critics push for investigation

Ultimately, Mr Hurley had to sign off on Mr Morrison’s requests, but critics say he could have counselled him against it and he could have publicised it himself.

But representatives for the governor-general say these types of appointments – giving ministers the right to administer other departments – are not unusual.

And it falls to the government of the day to decide if they should be announced to the public. They often opt not to.

Mr Hurley himself announcing the appointments would be unprecedented. He had “no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated”, his spokesperson said.

Emeritus professor Jenny Hocking finds the suggestion Mr Hurley didn’t know the ministries had been kept secret “ridiculous”.

“The last of these bizarre, duplicated ministry appointments… were made more than a year after the first, so clearly by then the governor-general did know that they weren’t being made public,” she says.

“I don’t agree for a moment that the governor-general has a lot of things on his plate and might not have noticed.”

The historian says it’s one of the biggest controversies surrounding a governor-general since John Kerr caused a constitutional crisis by sacking Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975.

Prof Hocking famously fought for transparency around that matter – waging a lengthy and costly legal battle that culminated in the release of Mr Kerr’s correspondence with the Queen.

And she says the same transparency is needed here.

The Australian public need to know whether Mr Hurley counselled the prime minister against the moves, and why he didn’t disclose them

The government has already announced an inquiry into Mr Morrison’s actions, but she wants it to look at the governor-general and his office too.

“If the inquiry is to find out what happened in order to fix what happened, it would be extremely problematic to leave out a key part of that equation.”

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – Mr Morrison’s predecessor – has also voiced support for an inquiry.

“Something has gone seriously wrong at Government House,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It is the passive compliance along the chain… that did undermine our constitution and our democracy… that troubles me the most. This is how tyranny gets under way.”

PM defends governor-general

Prof Twomey says the criticism of Mr Hurley is unfair – there’s was no “conspiracy” on his part to keep things secret.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone to expect that he could have guessed that the prime minister was keeping things secret from his own ministers, for example.

“Nobody really thought that was a possibility until about two weeks ago.”

Even if he had taken the unprecedented step to publicise the appointments or to reject Mr Morrison’s request, he’d have been criticised, she says.

“There’d be even more people saying ‘how outrageous!'” she says. “The role of governor-general is awkward because people are going to attack you either way.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also defended Mr Hurley, saying he was just doing his job.

“I have no intention of undertaking any criticism of [him].”

A role fit for purpose?

Prof Hocking says it’s a timely moment to look at the role of the governor-general more broadly.

She points out it’s possible the Queen may have been informed about Mr Morrison’s extra ministries when Australia’s parliament and people were not.

“It does raise questions about whether this is fit for purpose, as we have for decades been a fully independent nation, but we still have… ‘the relics of colonialism’ alive and well.”

Momentum for a fresh referendum on an Australian republic has been growing and advocates have seized on the controversy.

“The idea that the Queen and her representative can be relied upon to uphold our system of government has been debunked once and for all,” the Australian Republic Movement’s Sandy Biar says.

“It’s time we had an Australian head of state, chosen by Australians and accountable to them to safeguard and uphold Australia’s constitution.”

But Prof Twomey says republicans are “clutching at straws” – under their proposals, the head of state would also have been bound to follow the prime minister’s advice.

“It wouldn’t result in any changes that would have made one iota of difference.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62683210