Ladies & Gentlemen, presenting the 2010 AFR Website Awards!

Hosted by Neil Patrick Harris (articulated by Eric Beard and Darshan Joshi)

“Good evening and welcome to the 2010 AFR Website Award ceremony. Granted, it’s not an actual ceremony - we don’t have the financial finesse of an injured striker picking up £150,000-a-week for holidaying in the United States, and so the idea of renting a hall, hiring a DJ, and providing drinks and food sends shivers through our pockets. Seeing as AFR is indeed a relatively young site, it has undeniably gained some inspiration from witnessing the exponential growth of other such sites, and so, this inaugural event looks to put our fellow football bloggers in their rightful cyber-classes. Without them, I definitely would not be where I am today! Sites have been categorised into the following list:

- Most Entertaining Football Websites

- Best Football Videos Websites

- Best Club/Country Sites

- Best Football Podcasts

- Best Football Bloggers

- Best Niche Websites

- Best Football Websites

As with any award ceremony (the Oscars, the VMAs et al), those standing alone onstage waffling on about the history and prestige of being the ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ would be more than likely to end up with a fair few hypothetical tomatoes on his, or her, well-nourished voguish fluff and so, we will swiftly move on with this… post.

We start off the part with the party with the "Most Entertaining Football Websites”:
Dirty Tackle, Who Ate All The Pies, The Football Ramble, The Third Kit

I have to admit that I was skeptical when Brooks Peck moved Dirty Tackle to Yahoo.com as I thought he would have to ease up on the amazingly out of control pieces such as Artur Boruc’s Rage List, Dimitar Berbatov as “The Continental”, and Landon Donovan’s Adventure of Epic Broportions. But he didn’t. Yahoo wasn’t ready for Brooks, but he’s been like a entertaining pyromaniac keeping us coming back after each and every match.

Ollie Irish is the man that operates Who Ate All The Pies, a site that I love for its own nonchalant yet bipolar “this is why we love and hate football” attitude towards the game. Ollie doesn’t hold back on Pies, and the distinct character is why we love it.

The Football Ramble are the best blogging quartet in the world (see below), but they’ve recently hit the blogging scene in a more formal fashion with a site redesign. With constant guest posts and amazing videos such as Rio Ferdinand’s Street Soccer Enthusiast, the lads have done a great job transitioning their entertaining podcast into a hands on experience. Well done.

The Third Kit are new on the football blogging scene, but these students that attend(ed) Emerson College in Boston flaunt their creative side on the regular. With posts such as “The Special One’s Death List” and “The Champions League Retro Dictionary” what’s not to love?

And now we’ll transition to Zlatan Ibrahimvovic getting a blackbelt… Oh that’s right, it’s time for the “Best Football Videos Websites”:

Footytube, The Offside, Off The Post

Footytube stands alone here because I still don’t really understand how the Zeitgeist technology works all I know is that it changed the life of a football fan forever. The Offside and Off The Post also make the list because their ability to find videos filled with hilarity is unrivaled.

Where do we go from the Ibra? Right, the best Club/Country Sites:

The Yanks Are Coming, Arseblog, The Shin Guardian, Juventus Offside, Match Fit USA

Arseblog, like Who Ate All The Pies, has an ethos that you either love or hate. It’s usually brutally honest, which can tend to offend but can also tend to entertain those willing to laugh at Spurs. But beyond a veil of animosity is a man who knows his football and loves his club like one could only dream of loving their significant other.

Juventus Offside has risen to prominence this past year despite Juve’s tough season, but these Serie A supporters always keep their heads held high at talk everything about the bianconeri.

The trio that is The Yanks Are Coming, The Shin Guardian, and Match Fit USA makes me think of the American Pie movies because all the characters are so incredibly unique yet have one mutual goal. However, instead of trying to get some on prom night these guys want to see US Soccer rise to prominence in the states and all invariably support their Stars & Stripes. More importantly, all have their distinct voices courtesy of editors Neil W. Blackmon & Dan Seco (TYAC), Matthew Tomas (TSG), and Jason Davis (MFUSA). Though if I’m maintaining the American Pie analogy then it has to be said that The Yanks Are Coming has a true Stifler in “Puck.” That’s not an insult at all Puck, you’re a legend.

I know you want to search up Stifler’s one-liners of Youtube, but now we have some of the wittiest on the web! Here are the Best Football Podcasts:
The Football Ramble, EPL Talk, twofootedtackle. Extraaaaaaaaa inclusion: The Guardian Weekly.

Though both “The Gaffer” (EPL Talk) and Chris Nee and Gary Andrews (TFT) are absolute class acts that provide consistent high class commentary, The Football Ramble stands alone with sheer brilliance that makes “hump day” that much easier to get through. If podcasting chemistry could be equated to football cohesiveness on the pitch, then Marcus Speller, Luke Moore, Jim Campbell, and Pete Donaldson would quite simply be the essence of Joga Bonito.

Since we’re name dropping, how about we give recognition to some of the best in the biz. Here are the best Football Bloggers:
David Hunt (Brentford FC, Life of Another League), Brooks Peck (Dirty Tackle), Shawn Francis (The Offside Rules), Iain Macintosh

In an age filled with WAGS and £180,000-a-week salaries, it’s ineffably refreshing to see an intelligent professional footballer telling it how football really is for the footballers who don’t go by one name. David Hunt of Brentford FC chose to create his blog entitled, “Life of Another League” about the highs, lows, and most importantly the day-to-day life of a footballer.

Shawn Francis is a rarity. Not only has he made a living as the MLS Insider, but he also has a rather swag-filled personal blog (The Offsides Rules) where he talks the footy and also finds amazing remixes, such as this one of Ratatat & Biggy.

If you are looking for someone who writes like an angel; quite possibly the darling of football 'metaphoristry’, as it is, look no further than Iain Macintosh. When he’s not checking out the mothers of Manchester United starlets, his blog and Twitter page make for tremendous reading.

Now let’s take a moment to think outside the box! What is football’s purpose? Why don’t you go outside? Why am I here? Enough thinking.. it’s time to be eccentrically awesome! It’s time for the Best Niche Websites:
Never Captain Nicky Butt, Zonal Marking, Fútbolita, Life of Another League, Red Card Homophobia, The Beautiful Game Blog, From A Left Wing

Fantasy Premier League was a mystery I would give up on a month into the season every year. How on earth can someone make sense of a fantasy game involving the something that seems unpredictable? Well, Never Captain Nicky Butt has made some of us here at AFR among the 2.2 million addicted to the Fantasy Prem. It’s also made the mediocre Nicky Butt immortal, something I’ve been tempted to do with David Healy…

Zonal Marking’s tactical nous makes me wonder why still is blogging. A proper football club needs to hire him as soon as possible. If Big Sam is in the Premier League, then it’s a disgrace Zonal Marking is not in the Champions League.

Ash from Fútbolita is the female football voice, but more than that, a visit to her blog is like dancing with a samba queen. She covers the often under-appreciated Spanish & Portuguese-speaking world of football in a way that no one else could replicate.

Red Card Homophobia is an incredible initiative run by a few individuals with unparalleled inspiration to rid all traces of homophobia in the beautiful game. If homophobia were a footballer, RCH will give it a career-ending injury soon enough. These individuals gained support through various internet communities such as Tumblr and LiveJournal and have gained the support of a plethora of football blogs.

The Beautiful Game Blog, a subsidiary of World Soccer Reader is beautiful. It’s incredibly simple, yet undeniably quaint. The TBGB features the most stunning pictures from around the word of football.

For From a Left Wing, it’s the cultural politics of the sport that matter. For three years, Jennifer Doyle, a highly reputable LA-based football journo, has tackled everything from racism, homophobia and sexism in the sport, to the significance of soccer-related art, films and music in society, to grass-roots soccer in the USA, with a lot more in between in the three years of its existence. All of the truly juicy and often times controversial consequences that soccer provokes and the media tends to ignore.

And now… the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The Best Football Websites:
The Guardian, The Run of Play, The Original Winger

The Guardian may be a massive, established newspaper, however, it deserves a mention here because it is undeniably the most reliable online source for football news, especially in an era when News of the World-esque papers just try and make quick cash with flashy headlines. The Guardian keeps it classy. Well done to Jimbo and the rest of the crew.

The Run of Play gets on here because of a sublime standard of writing maintained by the dedication, brilliance, and slight madness of Brian Phillips. From Pelé week to a guide on how to win the World Cup, Run of Play did things right in 2010 and didn’t look back. Not that it needs to adhere to right or wrong, or any simplistic moral code for that matter.

The Original Winger was on a different wavelength of brilliance in 2010, focusing on football as a lifestyle. So whether it was the golasos they posted or the latest Lupe Fiasco song, TOW was second to none when it came to keeping the goodness surrounding football apparent with personality.

The closing speech

Well ladies and gentlemen, this has been a wonderful evening that I know I’ll never forget. Some go home winners, while others go home with the “don’t give up” medal. This has been an amazing event, and to help finance it we needed a sponsored message. So bear with us.

Sponsored message: A Football Report is only a little over a year old and we are trying to win the Soccerlens “Best New Football Website Award”. If you could take a moment to email nominate@soccerlensawards.com and tell them that we are like a young phoenix rising to fruition in the blogosphere, then that would be lovely. You can use whatever analogy you’d like. We would truly appreciate anything that your mind can conjure up. We’re also not like a phoenix at all; we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.