As the fourth annual Palestine Marathon was held this year, it highlighted again Palestinians’ lack of right to movement, as over 100 runners from Gaza were not allowed to participate. Still, its rapid growth and popularity among especially Palestinian women also tell a different story.

Words fail when describing the performance and behavior of the French players during the World Cup. It is not sufficient to blame the coach - who was voted the worst coach since King Louis XVI of France. The players behaved like medieval fools. Now I suggest they go to Gaza to get rid of their reputation as national fools and contribute to the solution of a tense, international conflict.

The organisation Sport et Citoyenneté has published a special edition of their scientific journal Sport and Citizenship. This Special Edition covers a subject with inevitable media hype from different angles. Sport and Citizenship wishes to take advantage of this unique occasion and the media’s attention to raise this question: “Is this really Africa’s hour?”.

Friday's opening match against Mexico at Soccer City stadium is undoubtedly an important game for the Rainbow Nation and Bafana Bafana. For the first time an African team will kick off the World Cup on home ground. But the most important football game in South Africa was played in 1976 at another stadium in Soweto – Rand Stadium.

UK-based football fans group Supporters Direct (SD) is setting up a European-wide network of football fans seeking to take ownership of their clubs with the backing of the sports’ governing body, UEFA.

The German sport and development agency streetfootballworld has relaunched its website, www.streetfootballworld.org. The website has been redesigned to make it easier for journalists and stakeholders to gain an overview of the streetfootballworld network, as well as to provide a platform for individual network members to tell the world directly about their development work.

Following the disputed outcome of the presidential election held on the 27 December 2007, Kenya has been beset by a rash of violence along political, tribal and ethnic lines. Sport too has been a victim, though once the violence recedes, it is hoped that sport will be able to play a major role in reunifying the nation.

The first International Seminar on Sport in Post-Disaster Intervention is to be held in Berlin, Germany from the 4th to the 9th November 2007, organised by International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE/CIEPSS).