Sport

Wayne Rooney’s 11-year-old son signs for Manchester United

14 years after making his debut, Wayne Rooney stood by his boy Kai as the 11-year-old put pen to paper to join the Man Utd academy.

The Manc The Manc - 18th December 2020
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Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney enjoyed a “proud day” on Thursday after watching his son join the same club where he established himself as one of the all-time footballing greats.

Rooney played at Old Trafford between 2004 and 2017 – becoming United’s all-time record goalscorer by hitting the back of the net 253 times in 559 matches.

14 years after making his debut (in which he scored hat-trick), Rooney stood by his boy Kai as the 11-year-old put pen to paper to join the Man Utd academy.

Rooner Snr posted a picture on Twitter with the caption: “Proud day. Kai signing for Man Utd. Keep up the hard work son.”

Rooney is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever grace the turf at OT – becoming the second top goalscorer in Premier League history.

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He departed United three years ago to re-join his boyhood club Everton, before heading overseas to spend two seasons in the MLS with D.C. United.

Rooney returned to English football in 2019 after signing for Championship side Derby County – where he is currently serving as interim manager.

Sport

An official Guinness Fan Zone is coming to Manchester for the Six Nations

Danny Jones Danny Jones Six Nations fan zone Manchester

One of the biggest Guinness Fan Zones in the UK is coming to Manchester city centre for the Six Nations this February and the best part of all is, it’s absolutely free.

With the beloved rugby union tournament kicking off on Saturday, 4 February, Guinness are bringing their popular fan zone to our lovely city and just in time for the Wales vs Ireland game, not to mention England vs Scotland later the same day.

Popping up on Baring Street, Mayfield, just round the corner from Piccadilly Station, the Six Nations fan zone will be the biggest outside of London and runs all the way until Saturday 18 March.

Transformed into a dedicated space for rugby lovers to watch the match and enjoy a
fresh pint of ice-cold Guinness, the fan zone festivities don’t stop there.

Credit: Supplied

To keep the party rolling, they will also be hosting a series of interactive shows, activities and live performances, including bagpipes, Irish dancers and more. There’s even an interactive beer wall – the first one to be available outside of rugby union’s historic home at Twickenham.

Once again, general admissions tickets to the fan zone are absolutely free, but you can bag yourself a table reservation for £10 per person. Better still, for super fans, you can even grab an exclusive Season Pass for a limited time only, granting you access to all five games in the competition.

This includes a special edition team jersey, access to the best seats in the house and the first 150 customers will also get a Guinness Six Nations tote bag filled with beanies, cushions and foam fingers, even temporary tattoos and face paints for you to get your full colours on.

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Last but not least, those who do grab a Season Pass will also be in with a chance to win one of Guinness’ exclusive ‘Money Can’t Buy Experiences‘, this year’s main prize being four tickets to a Six Nations match, a dressing room tour and being trusted with flag bearer duty before kick-off. Mint.

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You can even buy your own chilled Guinness MicroDraught at £10pp should you want to pour your own pint. Everyone fancies themselves an expert.

To grab yourself a spot at Guinness’s official Six Nations fan zone in Manchester, simply book via the website and we hope to see a few of you there!

Who do we reckon is taking home the trophy this year?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Image — Supplied

Sport

Russian supporters waving Putin flags and wearing ‘Z’ war symbols questioned by police at Australian Open

Danny Jones Danny Jones Russians Putin flags Z symbols Australian Open

A number of Russian supporters attending the Australian Open were spotted waving pro-Putin flags and wearing ‘Z’ war symbols during Novak Djokovic’s match on Wednesday evening.

Spotted in the crowd whilst watching Djokovic’s quarter-final tie against Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev, the group of fans cheering on Rublev are now said to have been questioned by local police following the stunt as a further investigation is expected to be carried out.

The nine-time tournament winner might have seen off the world number six seed in straight sets to progress to the penultimate round of the major, but the controversy that the pro-war display has caused is understandably all anyone can focus on.

You can see a significant number of Russian fans chanting “Putin!” with their flags in the stands below, as well as another man clearly flaunting the ‘Z’ symbol — synonymous with the invasion of Ukraine.

According to a statement issued by Tennis Australia, four men were questioned by local authorities in Melbourne after they revealed their pro-Putin emblems and reportedly threatened security guards inside the Rod Laver Arena then they were asked to remove them.

Victoria Police have now confirmed that while charges were made, the group of supporters were quickly ejected, with Australian Open organisers reassuring that they will “continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies.” 

To make matters worse, Djokovic’s father, Srđan, was later seen posing with what appears to be the same group of fans and images of Vladimir Putin outside the stadium.

The Serbian has not long put his own controversy behind him after being deported from the country due to covid regulations and his anti-vax stance last year. This surely won’t help.

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The Russian invasion has been an ongoing issue at the Open, with Russian and Belarusian players now having to compete under a neutral flag.

This comes after spectators had initially been allowed to bring any flag into the arena with them. However, following the incident, certain Russian flags are now prohibited and security guards have been provided with pamphlets in order for them to check for approved national emblems.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was both surprised and relieved to find out that Germany has confirmed they will be sending Leopard 2 tanks to bolster his country’s defences, which he only learned whilst in the middle of an interview with Sky News’ Kay Burley.

We are now approaching a year since the Russian invasion began, with Putin’s campaign having run for 11 months and 3 days.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Image — 7NEWSAustralia/@tumcarayol (via Twitter)

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