Football Notes: Fans Of Iranian Football Club Esteghlal Banned After Insulting Referee

Fans of Iranian football club Esteghlal "have been banned from attending a home game in the Iranian Professional League after insulting the referee during" the Esteghlal and Traktor Sazi match (TEHRAN TIMES, 3/11). ... Northern Ireland's football body, the Irish FA, announced that the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has made an award of funding to the association to assist in delivering the "Promoting Equality, Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion through Sport" program until March '15. The program aims to deliver sporting interventions that can: promote equality, tackle poverty, tackle social exclusion and provide opportunities to realize wider socio-economic returns. The award from DCAL is up to £1.5M ($2.23M), spread as £500,000 ($745,000) per year (Irish FA).