Beckham's penalty shot ball lands in Canada eh
| quote: | TORONTO (AFP) - The ball David Beckham's expensive boot kicked over the crossbar and into footballing infamy in a Euro 2004 shootout has landed in the hands of a Canadian-registered online casino.
GoldenPalace.com, renowned for publicity stunts which have included sending a streaker onto the field of the Superbowl, paid 35,000 US dollars for the ball in an auction on the eBay Internet site.
The final price tag was well below a sheaf of fake bids which at one stage reached 10 million dollars.
"We plan on raising a lot more money for charity than we did paying for this ball," said GoldenPalace.com CEO Richard Rowe.
"Expect to see the ball traveling around the world in an effort to raise money for charitable organizations."
Beckham booted the ball into the crowd during England's penalty loss to hosts Portugal, after their quarter-final clash had ended in a 2-2 draw.
Spanish fan Pablo Carral caught the ball and smuggled it out of the stadium and put it up for sale on the Internet.
Beckham blamed the poor state of the penalty spot for his miss, which saw Portugal into the semi-finals in a championship run which ended in defeat in the final to Greece.
GoldenPalace.com is registered in the native Canadian Kahnawake Mohawk territory near Montreal, and is a part sponsor of the Minardi Formula One team.
It has also partnered with outrageous former NBA star Dennis Rodman, and sent a streaker onto the field at this year's Superbowl, naked except for a football covering his private parts, with the company's website address emblazoned on a tattoo across his chest.
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Last edited by starsearcher on Aug-04-2004 at 15:07
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