This article was originally published on December 20th, 2019.
Here is this week's dose of “5-Point Friday”. A weekly round-up of the sports news and stories that I find most interesting and enjoyable.
Darts story I'm excited by -
Fallon Sherrock (@Fsherrock) became the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship by coming back from behind to stun Ted Evetts (@SuperTed180) 3-2 in London. Sherrock, the BDO Women's World Championship runner-up in 2015, fell 2-1 behind but rallied to make history.
Mascot I am enjoying -
Japan is a country where mascots are very common for a number of different things. The J-League, Japan's premier soccer league, is no different. However, the league's mascot Mr. Pitch, is a walking chunk of the playing field.
Soccer news I am following -
Serie A has apologized after it launched a bizarre anti-racism campaign using three paintings of different colored monkeys to show that "we are all the same race." The league has received heavy criticism from AC Milan and Roma as well as anti-discrimination organizations for the posters. The issue comes fewer than three weeks after clubs pledged to combat Italian football's "serious problem".
Milan said they "strongly disagree" with the use of monkeys, while Roma expressed their "surprise", adding: "We understand the league wants to tackle racism but we don't believe this is the right way to do it."
Anti-discriminatory body Fare said it was left "speechless" and the campaign looked like a "sick joke", while Kick It Out added the use of monkeys was "completely inappropriate".
Football news I am learning about -
Ten former NFL players have been charged with defrauding the league’s health care benefit program. They include five former Washington players, including Clinton Portis and Carlos Rogers.
Prosecutors allege the players targeted the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan, which was established as part of a collective bargaining agreement in 2006. It provides tax-free reimbursement of out-of-pocket medical care expenses that were not covered by insurance and that were incurred by former players, their spouses, and dependents. The Justice Department alleges the players submitted nearly $4m in false claims to the plan, resulting in over $3.4m being paid out between June 2017 and December 2018.
Sports broadcasting news I am following -
Russia's third-largest internet company is suing streaming service Twitch for 180bn roubles ($2.75bn) over pirate broadcasts of English Premier League games. Rambler Group alleges its exclusive broadcasting rights were breached by the service more than 36,000 times between August and November. It is seeking to permanently ban the Amazon-owned platform in Russia.
Have a wonderful weekend, all!
Jonathan