Madeira News Blog

(28th May). The main news headline of the day : ‘Records Of The Crisis’. ‘Yesterday, there were 81 jobs on offer for almost 12 thousand unemployed. 10 vacancies were filled. Cooks are the workers most sought after. The economic and social rut gets deeper. The income of 1,599 rich families is worth as much as that earned by the 32,813 poor families’. (These headlines seem to get longer and longer!). Employers apparently are fairly undemanding on qualifications for the few jobs on offer, with just 81 registered vacancies listed on Thursday, and those vacancies are very quickly filled. Most of the positions are in Funchal, but some of those advertised go as far as the Azores.

"If We Had New Jobs, The Youngsters Wouldn’t Leave the Parish" – The lack of work and the low wages put the youth of Seixal on the path of emigration. Yet another one of the Diário’s feature articles on Seixal makes the headlines. The quote comes from Rosária Andrade, who says that the parish is clean, with an excellent beach, and full of beautiful landscapes. Nancy Nicola, who runs a local family owned café agrees that the low salaries are the reason why the young emigrate "It is difficult to live on 400 or 500 Euros," she says "The cost of living increases and the wages remain the same". The UK is where most people want to go, and Nancy worked there 3 years, in London, working 12 hours a day. 

The big picture on the front page shows a celebrating crowd of claret and blue shirts over a group of dejected white shirts : ‘Barcelona Make Manchester United And Ronaldo Look Ordinary – Cristiano Ronaldo only managed to overcome the stars of Barcelona during the first ten minutes. Then came the party of Iniesta, Xavi, Messi and company until the end of the victory (2 – 0) without a challenge’.

Madeira now has the best facilities for carrying out veterinary type monitoring, and food safety and water checks, with the new Regional Veterinary Laboratory in São Martinho, inaugurated yesterday by the President of the Government of Madeira. The four storey building cost €8.2 million. President Jardim stressed the quality of the laboratory, proven by "the requests for proposals to work with the outside, including the continent and the Azores", and the importance of such a facility for the future, dubbing it a "weapon of peace". 

A building that was originally intended for the laboratory (above) in Poço Barral, also in São Martinho, will now be converted into a home for the elderly. The building will consist of 36 units of accommodation with 50 beds, distributed between single and double rooms. There will be a wing of 10 homes to accommodate people with mobility difficulties or disabilities.

(23rd May). Marítimo lost 1 – 0 at Leixões Saturday afternoon. That’s five consecutive defeats, and gives them a final ranking of 9th place.

(24th May). Nacional played away at Sporting in Lisbon and lost 3 – 1. They stay and finish in the very respectable fourth position, with a place in the EUFA Cup later in the year. 

Nenê of Nacional (above) ended up as top scorer in the Portugal premier league winning the ‘Silver Ball’. He scored in the game, bringing his total for the season to 20. It’s pretty certain he won’t be on Madeira for the start of the next football season.

(24th May). Cristiano Ronaldo of Madeira, having won yet another league winners medal for this season with Manchester United, just missed out as the English Premier League’s highest goal scorer with 18 goals, after some bloke at Chelsea managed a goal in yesterday’s final game. 

  This is Cristiano in his famous funky chicken pose.

(23rd May). ‘Madeira League With Predefined Support’. We are still awaiting the confirmation of the creation of the football league ‘Série Madeira’ for 2009 / 2010, but the monetary assistance to be given to all the clubs involved has been announced. Those who play in the current Madeira league will get €25,000 each from the regional government. Those teams who will drop out of the national leagues to join the 7 regional teams will receive much higher amounts (cushion payments). Porto Santo (Portosantense) will receive €280,000, Ribeira Brava €200,000, Machico €197,000, Caniçal €166,000, and Câmara de Lobos €90,000. The support is largely based on €750 to organise each match, but the Porto Santo team gets more because of it’s inflated travel expenses. NEWS UPDATE SUNDAY 24th May – The new ‘Série Madeira’ has now been approved to run for a minimum of two years.

(22nd May). ‘Injury Slows The Departure For Chelsea – Danny is on Madeira preparing himself for an operation to his knee. It delays his dream transfer’. Injury ended his season and postponed his opportunity to go to England. He claims to have had a call from Chelsea to go and join them, but meanwhile the rumours are stronger that José Mourinho wants him at Inter Milan. Danny used to live up near me, and although he was not born on Madeira, in footballing terms he is currently Madeira’s second son.

Boa Vista got relegated again yesterday, this time through a poor season on the pitch, and although that has nothing to do with Madeira, it’s a right tale of woe. Accused of attempted match fixing, with a story like that of Porto, they were demoted after an enquiry, unlike Porto who got away with a fine. It just goes to show that the rich and powerful in football get away with murder, whilst the little fish get fried and eaten.

That’s the football league season over then … have a nice Summer!

(17^th May) Cristiano Ronaldo picked up another league winners medal after his team Manchester United drew 0 – 0 on Saturday, enough to give them the one point needed to secure their third consecutive title. Most of the front page of the Diário was given over to a picture of CR7 holding the English premierships trophy … ‘Ronaldo Triple-Champion Admits To Leaving – Crack Madeiran celebrated the title on the pitch at Old Trafford with the family’. He says he is happy at Manchester United, but the future is unknown. “This club is a family. That’s why we all love Manchester United, and me too. I don’t know what lies ahead, but I am happy here,” said Ronaldo, who continues to be connected with Real Madrid. “The atmosphere is incredible. We must enjoy this moment, but within two or three days we have to concentrate on the Champions League final”.

Marítimo lost 1 – 2 to Sporting of Lisbon on Saturday night, Nacional beat Paços de Ferreira 1 – 0 last night. That doesn’t change anything for either team, but should confirm Nacional in 4^th place after the final game next week.  With just one match left this season now, and no world cup or Euro, what will I do for the Summer?