---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: D.O.C 107 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Dec 19, 2006 12:48 PM Subject: Fwd: Holy Smoke! Vatican Football Team To Challenge Inter Milan? To: 1M-Inter Mania <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-internistina < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-Inter Club Indonesia < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-Interisti Indonesia < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-wahyuhendra < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-FC-Internazionale-Milano < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-Inter Rocks < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-Internisti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-Inter FC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1MF-Francesco-Toldo < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1M-Nerazzurro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 1MF-Cannavaro_MaterazziFc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: D.O.C 107 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Dec 19, 2006 12:45 PM Subject: Holy Smoke! Vatican Football Team To Challenge Inter Milan? To: 1M-Riot Blood Of Inter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> A Vatican football team could one day challenge the likes of Roma and Inter Milan for the Serie A title, and - why not? - Barcelona or Liverpool for the Champions League. The idea of equipping the world's smallest sovereign state with a competitive football club is the brainchild of one of its most influential officials: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Recently appointed as the Holy See's new Secretary of State, the highest Vatican posting after the pope, Bertone is an enthusiastic football fan. Speaking on Sunday, Bertone said: "I do not rule out that the Vatican could in the future set up a competitive football team that could play on the same level as the likes of Roma, Inter, Genoa and Sampdoria." Italian football federation (FIGC) officials, as well as their colleagues at Europe's governing body, UEFA, are not taking the matter lightly and are ready to welcome the white-and-yellow jerseys with open arms. "We would not have a problem admitting a team from the Vatican, all they would have to do is apply," a FIGC spokesperson told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa on Monday. It would probably take years before the Vatican could ever challenge Italy's greatest, however. Officials at the FIGC noted that while they already have a team from the tiny enclave of San Marino playing in their third division, the Vatican team would have to start from its lowest amateur league and work its way up the ranks. As far as UEFA membership is concerned, things could prove a little more tricky. "The Vatican is a sovereign state that is recognised by the United Nations, so we would have no problem accepting it as one of our members, as long as certain conditions are fulfilled," William Gaillard, UEFA's director of communications and public affairs, told dpa. This would mean proving to UEFA that the Vatican has the facilities and organizational skills worthy of other national associations. The first problem would be finding a decent stadium, given that the total area of Vatican City totals less than half of one square kilometre. "I doubt they could build a stadium inside the Vatican, but they might be able to use Rome's Flaminio stadium," Gaillard suggested. Gaillard said that if the Vatican were to apply to UEFA, they could initially be accepted as provisional members and could even try to field a team in next season's UEFA Cup. While a Vatican club would have to field at least three homegrown footballers in order to compete in the tournament, a national team would have to be totally made up of Vatican citizens. And given that the pool of potential football players is limited - the Vatican's official population totals less than 1,000, most of them priests - Bertone would probably have to content himself with putting together a team at club level for the time being. This is not be as far-fetched as it may sound. As Bertone said shortly after his appointment as Secretary of State: "If we were to pick all of the Brazilians studying in Church-run universities, we could put together a magnificent team." Football and the Vatican may seem like an odd-sounding pair, but it is only natural that some of Italy's football-mania should spread beyond the Holy See's walls. In fact, the Vatican has had its own five-a-side football league since 1972. Today, the league is composed of 17 teams, including teams from Vatican Radio, the Sistine Chapel Choir and the pope's personal army, the Swiss Guards. Some of the league's teams have in the past even found themselves famous retired players as coaches - such as Dino Da Costa, a Brazilian star who used to play for Roma during the 1950s, or Benedetto De Angelis, once at AC Milan. Apart from the occasional arguments, the matches are generally played in a climate of good, brotherly spirits, in Rome's Pius XII sports centre. One behaviour that is absolutely not tolerated, as might be expected, is blasphemous language. The Vatican "scudetto" (shield) is in trademark yellow and white, with the Holy See's own emblem of the crossed keys surmounted by the "tiara" - the three crowns symbolizing the triple power of the pope as father of kings, governor of the world and Vicar of Christ. Bertone, who as Archbishop of Genoa even provided television commentaries to several Serie A games, once revealed that German-born Pope Benedict XVI is a competent football expert and could also be a great coach. "He is like a (former Italy coach Giovanni) Trapattoni: Always able to dominate and control any situation inside the Church", Bertone once remarked. An unofficial Vatican "national team" already exist and plays occasional friendly matches against teams of pilgrims from Poland and other countries. By Nicholas Rigillo (c) 2006 DPA -- INTER TIAMO! Don't Forget To Visited: www.interclub.or.id ; www.crystal-liu.com ; www.crystalliuyifei.com ; www.edison-liu.com ; www.topica.com ; www.crystal-yifei.net ; www.chinaview.cn ; www.bloomberg.com ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ciao... CENTENARY... 9 March 2008!!! -- INTER TIAMO! Don't Forget To Visited: www.interclub.or.id ; www.crystal-liu.com ; www.crystalliuyifei.com ; www.edison-liu.com ; www.topica.com ; www.crystal-yifei.net ; www.chinaview.cn ; www.bloomberg.com ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ciao... CENTENARY... 9 March 2008!!! -- INTER TIAMO! Don't Forget To Visited: www.interclub.or.id ; www.crystal-liu.com ; www.crystalliuyifei.com ; www.edison-liu.com ; www.topica.com ; www.crystal-yifei.net ; www.chinaview.cn ; www.bloomberg.com ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ciao... CENTENARY... 9 March 2008!!! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
