Last year Arsenal won everything in sight, a clean sweep of domestic and European trophies. Manager Vic Akers was delighted to secure four triumphs from four competitions. We are, of course, talking about the Ladies team who tonight take on Everton at Leyton Orient's Matchroom Stadium to defend the first of that quartet of titles, in the FA Tesco Women's Premier League Cup Final, kick off 7:35pm. The game is also live on Sky......

This is what we have learned this weekend whilst you’ve been indulging those spring-time DIY pangs: LU has become very censorious of late. What’s to offend about a photo of a fat, pink-boxer-shorted Christ on the cross? A couple of shoppers were so worried about being caught for card fraud that they ran out of a Bromley store leaving their baby behind. High jinx in High Wycombe. Actually a bit more serious than that......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 30th July 1966: England defeat West Germany in the FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, claiming the Jules Rimet Trophy (and, of course, the status of Football World Champions for the next four years). Tuesday – 31st July 1962: Violence erupts at a rally of the Union Movement (formerly known as the British Union of Fascists) in Dalston, East London. Sir Oswald Mosely, leader of the......

After two successful public test events the new Wembley has been granted its test certificate by Brent Council and the FA has wasted no time in announcing the stadium as the venue for May 19th's FA Cup Final which could yet feature the dream final of Chelsea v Watford, though it might just as well see Blackburn facing Manchester United. The FA also confirmed that the players of Stevenage Borough and Kidderminster Harriers (FA......

Same as the old Wembley? Several bloggers were fortunate enough to be among the 60,000 Brent residents to be invited to the first public event at the new stadium and their first impressions sound a strangely familiar note. Rascal Houdi on The National Midday Sun message board concludes: Stadium, superb.....signage, catering & transport, must do better. In fairness, the new owners have only had the keys for a week and are working like crazy......

Once it was a name that evoked magic, dreams and destiny. In recent years it's taken on connotations of folly, nightmare and derision, but now it looks finally as if Wembley might be ready to resume its place at the very top of the pantheon of British sporting venues. The troubled new stadium has been granted its fire alarm safety certificate, the first tangible evidence that it might really be ready to hold all......

Just because Liverpool have won their last 11 games, beaten West Ham twice this season, not lost to them at all for seven years, finished 27 points ahead of them in the league and have kept 33 clean sheets in the last nine months some people think they’ll win the FA Cup final in Cardiff tomorrow. However, Londonist is undaunted in our belief that the spirit of Sir Trevor’s head will see the Hammers......

While the Football League and Premiership big boys continue their high profile campaigns the Londonist spotlight falls this weekend on two battles for non-league cup glory. Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park ground hosts Woking in the first leg of their FA Trophy semi-final on Saturday at 3pm. The remarkable thing about this fixture is that, while Woking currently lie 10th in the Nationwide Conference, Boreham Wood are nine points clear at the top of the......

In last week's edition of the FPP, John Hirst excelled himself with a score of 4 out of 5, only missing out on the full 100% through a flippant proclamation that Wigan would overturn Man U in the League Cup Final. So close to perfection! Truly thrilling stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. Even more thrilling was the fact that two people, real living people, not just Londonist writers pretending to be other people, actually......

Last week , our American visitor Barry Petchesky crashed and burned with a half-hearted 2 out of 5 correct predictions. It was painful stuff, especially after 'guaranteeing' a score of at least 4 and we hope that Barry has been able to spend the last week slowly mending his crushed ego, piece by piece, step by step. We also made an attempt in our last edition, to reach out to YOU, the reader and......

Hacks across the nation were gearing up today to shout a group "Ha Ha!" in a Nelson from the Simpsons stylee, as they anticpated the announcement from Multiplex, Australian constructors of the new Wembley, that the stadium was NOT going to be ready for the FA Cup Final in May. Our sporting scribes have had to put the schadenfreude on hold however, as the Aussies have instead proclaimed that they will be able to......

The other Wembley story to appear over the past few days comes courtesy of another red top: The Mirror. Apparently a Mirror journalist managed to get access to the new Wembley turf which is currently being "developed amid astonishing secrecy north of London." We know what you're thinking: it's grass, why does grass need to be secret? Well according to the rather over-excited Mirror correspondent 'Wembley chiefs' are worried that the turf could be......

Here is a quote from the sports commentator Sid Waddell, speaking about darts legend Eric Bristow, which you may well have read before somewhere.... "When Alexander the Great was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer. Bristow is only 27." Michael Owen is 25. Most of us mere mortals reach our quarter-century mark looking forwards rather than back. There will of course be plenty of memories and milestones......

This Saturday, if you're lucky enough to have a ticket, you can watch our national rugby team take on a splendid All Blacks outfit at Twickenham. You can guarantee that it will be a fantastic spectacle, with the reigning world champions taking on the team currently rated number one, in what is possibly the greatest rugby stadium on the planet. England versus New Zealand, the tradition, the fervour, the grandeur. Perfect. Long may it......

Wow, that didn't take long did it? After yesterday's stories about construction firm Multiplex's losses over the Wembley reconstruction project, The Times has wasted no time in pouring salt on the wound: Construction industry experts have cast doubt on whether Wembley Stadium would be completed in time to host the 2006 FA Cup Final even as Multiplex, the Australian builder, pledged to get the job done. It's all very mysterious but these 'experts' seem......

The quest to name the Wembley Stadium Bridge has finally come an end. Just to remind you, the names which were in the running were: Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Geoff Hurst, Live Aid...and Billy: the white horse who helped to restore order at the FA Cup Final of 1923 (Bolton beat West Ham 2-0). So guess who won. Yep the bridge will now be known as the White Horse Bridge (or just......

"Zzzzzz... What? Eh? What have I missed?" If you've just woken up from Saturday's coma-inducing FA Cup Final, you've missed entirely nothing. One hundred and twenty minutes of the most turgid football ever witnessed at an FA Cup Final was followed by a penalty shoot-out which Arsenal won. There's not really a lot more to be said. On the balance of play Arsenal didn't deserve to win. They brought absolutely nothing to the game......

Who is that man? Why is he sitting in the middle of a stream? Doesn't he know that he could catch a nasty chill if he's not careful? Perhaps he's got a lot on his mind. Perhaps he's wondering how he's going to stop Wayne Rooney on Saturday....that's right! It's none other than Sol Campbell! And this another tenuous (tedious?) Cup Final link! Actually, it's a quick plug for 'The Other Side Of Football',......

To be honest, the build-up to the FA Cup Final on Saturday hasn't quite reached 'frenzy' status yet, but at least it seems to be progressing beyond 'mildly agitated' and 'a bit miffed'. Sigh....how Londonist yearns for the 'good old days', when the whole country seemed to be holding its collective breath waiting for the big event and every other programme on the telly included the words 'cup final special' in their title. The......

London football is flying. Chelsea are going to win the Premiership and Arsenal are going to win the FA Cup (which will act as the catalyst for Emperor Ferg to lose his job). John Terry has just been voted PFA Player of the Year and there were seven (count 'em) players from London clubs in the PFA's team of the season. To top it off, for the very first time a London club has......

Saturday 21st May....put that date in your diary. We've got the FA Cup Final we wanted, so now we feel perfectly within our rights to demand that the game itself should be a classic , with Arsenal winning and for it to be sunny so we can have a BBQ and sit outside with plenty of those little stubby bottles of french beer that you get from the supermarket. Olé! Unfortunately, just like the......

The Zurich Premiership is heading into it's penultimate round of fixtures this weekend, with a decidely mixed outlook for the four London sides. Wasps, who have just announced the appointment of Scots and Lions legend Ian McGeechan as their new coach, are at home to Worcester and are hoping that Saracens can do them a favour in their home fixture against table -toppers Leicester. The status-quo is unlikely to be threatened however, as Saracens......

The squad for this year's British Lions tour to New Zealand has just been announced , and five London-based players have made the cut. Josh Lewesy, Matt Dawson and Lawrence Dallaglio of Wasps, Richard Hill of Saracens and Will Greenwood of Harlequins will all be very happy to learn that they are going to be gettin' on that plane and heading to the land of the long white cloud. Notice anything in common about......

One would imagine that a good few pub conversations on Saturday night might have gone a little bit like this : Bloke A - "Did you see today's results?" Bloke B - "Yeah. Henry got a hat-trick against Norwich didn't he?!" Bloke A - "Uhuh. Never does it against the big boys though does he?" Bloke B - "Nah. Hey, did you see Bowyer lamp Dyer?" Etc etc, repeat ad nauseum from Shepherds Bush......

José Mourinho won his first tournament as Chelsea boss yesterday, but lost a few friends and supporters in the process. After his petulant outbursts before the Barça game, followed by the silly accusations after that game, he was sent off during the Carling Cup Final for taunting the Liverpool fans after Chelsea equalised. On the pitch, the game was a much more tame affair. Liverpool scored after about 40 seconds, after which Chelsea dominated......

Saturday sees London versus Ex-London, as Brentford take on the club formerly known as Wimbledon. Or to put it another way, the club that was awarded Wimbledon's place in the Football League. Or to put it another way, a completely despicable franchise that should be hounded out of existence by every right-minded football fan in the country. Yes, it may well have happened over two years ago, when a panel of three decided 2-1......

Before footballers earned millions, before they dated pop stars, and before they dared have long hair. The year is 1966 and England stand a chance. If you fancy reliving it all, if you've never seen it before, or if you want to introduce your innocent offspring to the delights of the England glory days then the place to be (however unlikely it sounds) is the Battersea Arts centre. As of today BAC is putting......