Rooney tipped for Hollywood career

Soccer Extreme : Mexican movie director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is eager to see British soccer star Wayne Rooney swap the pitch for the big screen, insisting the sports star will "have a good Hollywood career" once he hangs up his boots.

The Biutiful filmmaker worked alongside the English national player on a Nike commercial as part of last year's (10) World Cup tournament.

He reckons Rooney could follow the path of Vinnie Jones and Eric Cantona into movies once his playing days are over.

In the series of clips, Rooney had to take on several different roles and Inarritu was so impressed with the 25 year old's acting abilities he wants to help him launch a film career once he quits soccer.

The Oscar-nominated director tells Britain's The Sun, "Wayne Rooney was super-comfortable with the camera. I said to him, 'I will offer you a role once you are a little older and you are done with football.' He will have a good Hollywood career, I'm sure.

"Wayne is a natural. He's from the streets and has a warrior appeal that could serve him well in movies." (thesun)

Wayne Rooney back in Manchester to film Street Striker

Soccer Extreme : As his England team-mates prepare to take on France at Wembley, Wayne Rooney was instead on the streets of Manchester back from his week-long jaunt in the US.

The Manchester United star was filming the latest scenes from the third series of his Street Striker TV series, where he searches for the nation’s most skilful street footballer.

The 25-year-old appeared in good spirits as he signed autographs and posed for photographs with fans.

Rooney took time away from filming to greet fans and sign autographs

Rooney was not selected in Fabio Capello's England squad for Wednesday's sold-out international against France having been sidelined for the past month due to injury.

Old Trafford chief Sir Alex Ferguson opted to send Rooney to Portland for a week-long conditioning course at the world HQ of club sponsor's Nike where he engaged in an intense SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness) training programme.

Ferguson now looks set to call upon Rooney for the visit to Ibrox next week when United take on Scottish champions Rangers in the Champions League after revealing the striker had made excellent progress during his brief time in the States. (dailymail)

Harry Potter is dead

Soccer Extreme : Not the bespectacled teenage wizard created by author J.K. Rowling. This deceased Potter was a British soldier killed in 1939, and his grave is helping draw tourists to the backwater Israeli town of Ramle.

Ramle does not keep numbers on how many tourists flock to the grave in the town's British military cemetery, but tour guides and the municipality say the tombstone has become a popular attraction, largely for domestic travelers.

"There is no connection with the Harry Potter we know from literature, but the name sells, the name is marketable," said Ron Peled, a tour guide who said he has brought dozens of groups to the grave.

Pvt. Harry Potter was born near Birmingham, England, and joined the British military in 1938. According to his regiment's website, he arrived to British mandate Palestine later that year, where he was killed in battle with an armed band in 1939. He was 18.

The tombstone says, incorrectly, that he died at 19 — a result of him having lied about his age so he could enlist.

The municipality said people began inquiring about the grave about five years ago, and the city listed it on its tourism website at the start of the year.

On a recent afternoon, a group of Israeli visitors, led by a microphone-wielding tour guide, scoured the manicured cemetery, looking for Potter's tombstone. Once they found it among the 4,500 graves, they huddled behind it and snapped photos.

"It's a type of pilgrimage for some man whose name stands out. If you didn't say that Harry Potter was buried here, no one would come here," said Josef Peretz, 76, from Tel Aviv .

Thousands of tourists visit Ramle, a drab, working-class town in central Israel , every year, in large part because of its many archaeological ruins and convenient location, according to the municipality. (AP)

I did some quick research on Pvt Potter. Interesting history
http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/potter_palestine1939