Iwan Roberts

Iwan Wyn Roberts (born 26 June 1968) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a striker from 1986 to 2005. Since retiring, he has worked as a sports commentator.

Roberts notably played in the Premier League for Leicester City and Norwich City, as well as earning 15 caps for Wales. He also played in the Football League for Watford, Huddersfield Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Gillingham and Cambridge United. Local Norwich football newspaper The Pink'un described him as "one of the greatest goal scorers ever to pull on a Norwich City shirt" and he was elected to the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

Since retiring as a player, Roberts, who speaks fluent Welsh, has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports, Radio Cymru and BBC Wales. His book, All I Want for Christmas..., a reference to his gap-toothed appearance, prompted both controversy and praise when it was published in 2004.

Early life

Roberts was born in Bangor, Gwynedd and grew up in Dyffryn Ardudwy, Gwynedd. He played schoolboy football for his school and local side Caernarfon Town. He lost his front teeth following an elbow to the mouth when he was 18.

Norwich City F.C.

Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or City) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. Norwich returned to the Premier League in 2015, having first been promoted to the top flight in 1972. Norwich have won the League Cup twice, in 1962 and 1985. The club has never won the top flight, but finished third in 1993.

The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their home games at Carrow Road and have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town, with whom they have contested the East Anglian Derby 134 times since 1902.

The fans' song "On the Ball, City" is regarded as being the oldest football song in the world which is still in use. The club plays in characteristic yellow and green kits and are affectionally known as The Canaries as a reference to their colours and club badge.

History

Early years

Norwich City F.C. was formed following a meeting at the Criterion Cafe in Norwich on 17 June 1902 and played their first competitive match against Harwich & Parkeston, at Newmarket Road on 6 September 1902. Following a FA Commission, the club was ousted from the amateur game in 1905, deemed a professional organisation. Later that year Norwich were elected to play in the Southern League and with increasing crowds, they were forced to leave Newmarket Road in 1908, moving to The Nest, a disused chalk pit. The club's original nickname was the Citizens, although this was superseded by 1907 by the more familiar Canaries after the club's chairman (who was a keen breeder of canaries) dubbed his boys 'The Canaries' and changing their strip to yellow and green. During the First World War, with football suspended and facing spiralling debts, City went into voluntary liquidation on 10 December 1917.

Iwan

An iwan (Persian: ایوان eyvān, Arabic: إيوان‎ Iwan, also spelled ivan, Turkish: eyvan) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called pishtaq, a Persian term for a portal projecting from the facade of a building, usually decorated with calligraphy bands, glazed tilework, and geometric designs. Since the definition allows for some interpretation, the overall forms and characteristics can vary greatly in terms of scale, material, or decoration. Iwans are most commonly associated with Islamic architecture; however, the form was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia, around the third century CE during the Parthian period.

Etymology

The root for this term is Old Persian 'apadana' (see Apadana palace at Persepolis) where king Darius I declares in an inscription, "I Darius,........ had this 'apadana' constructed.." This is a name given to this particular palace in modern literature, although the name simply implies a type of structure—the iwan, not a particular palace. The term in Old Persian stand for "unprotected" (a-pâd-ana), since the design allows for the structure to be open to the elements on one side, whence the term. At Persepolis, however, the 'apadana' takes the form of a veranda, where instead of a vaulted hall, there is a flat roof held up by columns—but still, open to the elements on only one side. A comparable structure would be found 2000 years later in Isfahan at the Palace of Chehel Sotoun. By the time of the Parthian and the Sasanian dynasties, iwan had emerged as two types of structure: the old columned one, and a newer vaulted structure—both, however, carrying the same native name of apadana/iwan, because both types are "unprotected" (open on one side to the elements).

Roberts

Roberts may refer to:

People

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See also