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November 11th 2009 @ 2:46am
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Hair-pulling defender becomes internet sensation
Once the darlings of American sport for their global success, women’s football players are now internet video hits thanks to a hair-pulling harridan and a set of US teen girls gone wild.
Highlights making the rounds on US television and with on-line video viewers now feature University of New Mexico defender Elizabeth Lambert pulling down an [...]
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![The Wellington Phoenix are kicking and screaming for their very existence, and doing a damn good job of it. A sell-out crowd of 32,792 watched them defeat Newcastle 3-1 in extra-time to book their place in the preliminary final against Sydney FC for the right to face Melbourne Victory in the Grand Final.
It was an [...] Adrian Musolino: Rise of the Phoenix gives us a true trans-Tasman rivalry](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/wellington-phoenix-tim-brown-th.jpg)
![Lance Armstrong and his lycra clad buddies are in Adelaide, Federer and co. are in Melbourne, the Aussie cricketers are touring the nation, as the A-League is coming down to a thrilling conclusion, and the AFL and rugby folk gear up for another season.
Plenty to keep us entertained. So is Australia the sporting capital [...] Adrian Musolino: Is Australia the sporting capital of the world?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ffa-crowds.jpg)
![Much has been written about the amazing, topsy-turvy Sydney Test, with a twist in its tail. Talking of tail, the man who saved Australia from defeat, and skipper Ricky Ponting from carping criticism, was the tail-ender, Peter Siddle.
The Test was exclusively Pakistan’s when Siddle, the wood-chopper, joined Mike Hussey, Mr Test cricket.
The score was then [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: How Test matches, ODIs and Twenty20s relate to love](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/australian-cricket-lumbers-james-hopes-th.jpg)
![If you can’t beat them, join them. So let’s have a Rugby Union Queensland Vs NSW State of Origin series. The notion was floated by John Connolly in his review of the upcoming Super 14 Waratahs-Reds match at the Sydney Football Stadium.
My original reaction that that Connolly was an old Queensland warhorse who was missing the [...] Spiro Zavos: Let’s have a Rugby Union State of Origin](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/union-state-of-origin-beale-horwill-th.jpg)
![The Brisbane Lions incensed their Fitzroy support base late last month when they revealed a new club logo which didn’t feature the traditional Fitzroy lion. And Brisbane seriously risk abandoning all links with the Roy boys with plans for a new guernsey.
This story has been big news up in Queensland but if you’re from another [...] Ben Somerford: Is Brisbane’s guernsey the last straw for Fitzroy?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/is-brisbane-guernsey-fitzroy-th.jpg)
![Last Friday, the Melbourne Knights announced Mark Viduka would be the team’s number one ticket holder for the new Victorian Premier League season.
In an article on the Knights’ website, the former NSL club also revealed that former Socceroo Danny Tiatto would be joining the club for two games as a guest player.
Interesting news that mostly [...] Davidde Corran: Viduka shows the way to embrace football’s roots](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ACT-government-shoots-viduka-th.jpg)
![The furore from the Sharks over the refereeing of the Australian referee, Paul Marks, in his handling of the match against the NSW Waratahs was always going to happen in Super Rugby, sooner or later.
The system of using local referees, instead of neutral referees, was brought in last year when the South African, Andre Watson, [...] Spiro Zavos: SANZAR should get rid of local referees system](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/waratahs-berrick-barnes-th.jpg)
![The chief executive of the ARU, John O’Neill, went out of his way to praise the efforts of Phil Coles, Kevan Gosper and John Coates in getting the IOC’s executive board to select Sevens Rugby as a new Olympic Sport, along with golf.
The implication in the praise is that Sevens Rugby will offer an opportunity [...] Spiro Zavos: Gold, gold for Australia with the new Olympic Sports](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/gold-australia-olympics-beijing-th.jpg)
![I was awoken rudely by the telephone at 6am Johannesburg time on Tuesday morning. Partially conscious and about to curse the hotel staff for an incorrect wake up time, it took a few moments to come to terms with the reality of the news that was being delivered.
I simply did not want to believe that [...] Geoff Lawson: Terror against sport in an unravelling nation](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/terror-against-sport-th.jpg)
![It’s time again to take off your club colours and slap on the green and gold. Another FIFA international date is upon us, and thankfully even the A-League is stepping aside for a week – though not the National Youth or Women’s Leagues.
There probably hasn’t been as important a FIFA international date since this [...] Davidde Corran: Verbeek experiments but Socceroos lack depth](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/verbeek-experiments-socceroos-th.jpg)
![It’s an issue that never seems to be far away, and never fails to polarise public opinion. Our country’s multicultural past has played a huge part in the state of football in Australia today, and players claiming different nationalities through ancestry has been a direct by-product.
But while it has allowed Australian players to more readily [...] Paddy Higgs: Dual nationality can be a double-edged sword](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dual-nationality-vince-grella-th.jpg)
![Gorden Tallis was a terrific rugby league player. His charges into opponents, with and without the ball, made you recoil even though you were watching on the television screen. He was handy with his fists, too.
There were any number of iconic moments in his career when he was captured on film smacking into his opponents, with [...] Spiro Zavos: Come on Gorden, stop biffing rugby union](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/gorden-tallis-th.jpg)



