Ancient Italian football, famously known as Calcio Storico Fiorentino, is a brutal, traditional team sport combining rugby, soccer, and wrestling. Originating in 16th-century Florence with roots in Roman military games like harpastum, it features two teams of 27 players clashing on a sand-covered piazza.
Punching, tackling, wrestling, and headbutting are fully allowed, though sucker punches and kicks to the head are banned.
Objective: Score a caccia (goal) by getting the ball into the opponent's net running the entire width of the field's end 🇮🇹👊
17th July 1798 - The Martyrdom of Henry Joy McCracken
Born into one of Belfast's most prominent Presbyterian merchant families, Henry Joy McCracken turned from comfort and prosperity to the cause of Irish liberty.
As the United Irish movement took shape in Belfast, he worked to overcome the divisions that had kept Ireland weak, striving to unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter in a common struggle against foreign rule.
When caution and hesitation overcame many of the movement's leaders in 1798, McCracken accepted command of the United Irishmen of County Antrim. At the Battle of Antrim, he stood at the head of those who were prepared to risk everything rather than submit without resistance.
Following their defeat, he took refuge in the Belfast Hills before being captured while attempting to escape to America. Offered his life and exile in return for betraying his comrades, he refused.
McCracken was court martialled and hanged at the Market House in Belfast's High Street, only a short distance from where he had been born. His sister Mary Ann accompanied him towards the gallows, displaying a courage scarcely less remarkable than his own.
His life stands not only as an example of true heroism and unwavering commitment to Irish freedom, but also as a lasting answer to those who would reduce Irish nationality to a matter of creed. McCracken was a Belfast Presbyterian, an Ulsterman and an Irish Republican, seeing no contradiction between these identities and surrendering none of them.
His cause ended in military defeat, but his conduct in defeat ensured that his example survived. When others hesitated, he acted. When offered safety through betrayal, he chose loyalty. When brought face to face with death, he remained faithful to the last.
“Of my death, tell him I have done my duty.”
- Henry Joy McCracken's final message to Thomas Russell
An Phoblacht Abú!
Astonishingly the Alliance Party, supported by Sinn Fein and the SDLP, tried to change the law in a way that would have prevented the PSNI even investigating a suspect aged below 14.
After this interview, I was threatened with legal action and told my career would be ruined if I published it.
So here it is.
The public deserves to hear the conversation and judge it for themselves.
This little guy knows he’s basically Neo in the Matrix. He’s just casually dodging death, looking around at the crowd like, "What?"
To a cat, a cobra strikes in slow motion. A snake lunges at 50 milliseconds, but a cat's neuro-reflexes are twice as fast.
At the end the Cobra leaves annoyed.😏
A Russian soldier training on a YakB-12.7 machine gun nearly takes out his instructor. The weapon was never designed to be mounted like this! Inches away from disaster.
It's the 12th of July 🍊but sure I've had my favourite Celtic Punk band on the past few hours! Mickey Rickshaw would be up there too.
https://t.co/FGc64i9lJS
En EEUU, unos turistas molestaron a un bisonte en época de celo en el parque natural de Yellowstone, desobedeciendo las órdenes de los guardas de no acercarse mucho al animal y no bajar del coche.
El búfalo pilló al turista y lo hizo volar, dejen a los animales en paz y libres.
@KTHopkins@SadiqKhan This woman is an English nutcase and should be banned from Northern Ireland! I agree with the banner statements but the Mosque on top of the Bonfire should be removed.
"Hello, 999? Send an ambulance, a journalist has just murdered our First Minister Live on TV."
First rule of living in a glass house? Don't throw stones 😅
Trump on Balogun: "I saw the play, and I'm a person that loves sports ... that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction ... this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past. He made a call that nobody could believe ... he's our best player, or one of our best players. And he gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant ... yes, I asked for a review by FIFA."