Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:

#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds: ##Those connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Included are inter-basin canals, such as the Suez Canal, Erie Canal, and the Panama Canal. ##Those connected in a city network: such as the ''Canal Grande'' and others of Venice Italy; the ''gracht'' of Amsterdam, and the waterways of Bangkok. #Aqueducts: water supply canals that are used for the conveyance and delivery of potable water for human consumption, municipal uses, and agriculture irrigation. Rills and acequias are small versions.

Types of artificial waterways

Canals are created in one of three ways, or a combination of the three, depending on available water and available path:

A canal can be created where no stream presently exists. Either the body of the canal is dug or the sides of the canal are created by piling dirt, stone, concrete, or other building materials. The water for the canal must be provided from an external source like other streams or reservoirs. Examples include canals that connect valleys over a higher body of land, like Canal du Midi and Canal de Briare.

A stream can be ''canalized'' to make its navigable path more predictable and easier to maneuver. Canalization modifies the stream to more safely carry traffic by controlling the flow of the stream with dredging, damming, and modifying its path. Examples include Basse Saône, Canal de Mines de Fer de la Moselle, and Aisne River. Riparian zone restoration may be required.

When a stream is too difficult to modify with ''canalization'', a second stream can be created next to the existing stream. This is called a ''lateral canal''. The existing stream usually acts as the water source and its banks provide a path for the new body. Examples include the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Canal latéral à la Loire, Garonne Lateral Canal, and Canal latéral à l'Aisne.

Smaller transportation canals can carry barges or narrowboats, while ship canals allow seagoing ships to travel to an inland port (e.g., Manchester Ship Canal), or from one sea or ocean to another (e.g., Caledonian Canal, Panama Canal).

Features

At their simplest, canals consist of a trench filled with water. Depending on the stratum the canal passes through, it may be necessary to line the cut with some form of watertight material such as clay or concrete. When this is done with clay it is known as puddling.

Canals need to be level, and, while small irregularities in the lie of the land can be dealt with through cuttings and embankments, for larger deviations, other approaches have been adopted. The most common is the pound lock, which consists of a chamber within which the water level can be raised or lowered connecting either two pieces of canal at a different level or the canal with a river or the sea. When there is a hill to be climbed, flights of many locks in short succession may be used.

Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo and later in Europe in the 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change level. Flash locks were only practical where there was plenty of water available.

Locks use a lot of water, so builders have adopted other approaches. These include boat lifts, such as the Falkirk wheel, which use a caisson of water in which boats float while being moved between two levels; and inclined planes where a caisson is hauled up a steep railway.

To cross a stream or road, the solution is usually to bridge with an aqueduct. To cross a wide valley (where the journey delay caused by a flight of locks at either side would be unacceptable) the centre of the valley can be spanned by an aqueduct - a famous example in Wales is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct across the valley of the River Dee.

Another option for dealing with hills is to tunnel through them. An example of this approach is the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal. Tunnels are only practical for smaller canals.

Some canals attempted to keep changes in level down to a minimum. These canals known as contour canals would take longer winding routes, along which the land was a uniform altitude. Other generally later canals took more direct routes requiring the use of various methods to deal with the change in level.

Canals have various features to tackle the problem of water supply. In some cases such as the Suez Canal the canal is simply open to the sea. Where the canal is not at sea level a number of approaches have been adopted. Taking water from existing rivers or springs was an option in some cases, sometimes supplemented by other methods to deal with seasonal variations in flow. Where such sources were unavailable, reservoirs - either separate from the canal or built into its course - and back pumping were used to provide the required water. In other cases, water pumped from mines was used to feed the canal. In certain cases, extensive "feeder canals" were built to bring water from sources located far from the canal.

Where large amounts of goods are loaded or unloaded such as at the end of a canal a canal basin may be built. This would normally be a section of water wider than the general canal. In some cases, the canal basins contain wharfs and cranes to assist with movement of goods.

When a section of the canal needs to be sealed off so it can be drained for maintenance stop planks are frequently used. These consist of planks of wood placed across the canal to form a dam. They are generally placed in pre existing grooves in the canal bank. On more modern canals, "guard locks" or gates were sometimes placed to allow a section of canal to be quickly closed off, either for maintenance, or to prevent a major loss of water due to a canal breach.

History

Ancient canals

The oldest known canals were irrigation canals, built in Mesopotamia circa 4000 BC, in what is now modern day Iraq and Syria. The Indus Valley Civilization, in Pakistan and North India, (circa 2600 BC) had sophisticated irrigation and storage systems developed, including the reservoirs built at Girnar in 3000 BC. In Egypt, canals date back at least to the time of Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332–2283 BC), who ordered a canal built to bypass the cataract on the Nile near Aswan.

In ancient China, large canals for river transport were established as far back as the Warring States (481–221 BC), the longest one of that period being the Hong Gou (Canal of the Wild Geese), which according to the ancient historian Sima Qian connected the old states of Song, Zhang, Chen, Cai, Cao, and Wei. By far the longest canal was the Grand Canal of China, still the longest canal in the world today. It is long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Beijing and Hangzhou. The project began in 605 and was completed in 609, although much of the work combined older canals, the oldest section of the canal existing since at least 486 BC. Even in its narrowest urban sections it is rarely less than wide.

Greek engineers were the first to use canal locks, by which they regulated the water flow in the Ancient Suez Canal as early as the 3rd century BC.

Canals in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, water transport was cheaper and faster than transport overland. This was because roads were unpaved and in poor condition and greater amounts could be transported by ship. The first artificial canal in Christian Europe was the Fossa Carolina built at the end of the 8th Century under personal supervision of Charlemagne. More lasting and of more economic impact were canals like the Naviglio Grande built between 1127 and 1257, the most important of the lombard “navigli”, Later, canals were built in the Netherlands and Flanders to drain the polders and assist the transportation of goods.

Canal building was revived in this age because of commercial expansion from the 12th century AD. River navigations were improved progressively by the use of single, or flash locks. Taking boats through these used large amounts of water leading to conflicts with watermill owners and to correct this, the pound or chamber lock first appeared, in 10th century AD in China and in Europe in 1373 in Vreeswijk, Netherlands. Another important development was the mitre gate, which was, it is presumed, introduced in Italy by Bertola da Novate in the 16th century. This allowed wider gates and also removed the height restriction of guillotine locks.

To break out of the limitations caused by river valleys, the first summit level canals were developed with the Grand Canal of China in 581–617 AD whilst in Europe the first, also using single locks, was the Stecknitz Canal in Germany in 1398. The first to use pound locks was the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine (1642), followed by the more ambitious Canal du Midi (1683) connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This included a staircase of 8 locks at Béziers, a tunnel and three major aqueducts.

Canal building progressed steadily in Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries with three great rivers, the Elbe, Oder and Weser being linked by canals. In post-Roman Britain, the first canal built appears to have been the Exeter Canal, which opened in 1563. The oldest canal built for industrial purposes in North America is Mother Brook in Dedham, MA. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills. In Russia, the Volga-Baltic Waterway, a nationwide canal system connecting the Baltic and Caspian seas via the Neva and Volga rivers, was opened in 1718.

Industrial revolution

: Canals were important for industrial development. The greatest stimulus to canal system building came from the Industrial Revolution with its need for cheap transport of unprecedented quantities of raw materials and manufactured items.

In Europe, particularly Britain and Ireland, and then in the young United States and the Canadian colonies, inland canals preceded the development of railroads during the earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution. The opening of the Sankey Canal in 1757, followed by the Bridgewater Canal in 1761, which halved the price of coal in Liverpool and Manchester, respectively, triggered a period of "canal mania" in Britain so that between 1760 and 1820 over one hundred canals were built.

As well as industrial uses, the Royal Military Canal on the Romney Marsh was built so as create a barrier against invading troops, and hiding places for British troops during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Blackstone Canal in Massachusetts and Rhode Island fulfilled a similar role in the early industrial revolution between 1828–48. The Blackstone Valley was a major contributor of the American Industrial Revolution where Samuel Slater built his first mill.

In addition to their transportation purposes, parts of the United States, particularly in the Northeast, had enough fast-flowing rivers that water power was the primary means of powering factories (usually textile mills) until after the American Civil War. For example, Lowell, Massachusetts, considered to be "The Cradle of the American Industrial Revolution," has of canals, built from around 1790 to 1850, that provided water power and a means of transportation for the city. The output of the system is estimated at 10,000 horsepower. Other cities with extensive power canal systems include Lawrence, Massachusetts, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Augusta, Georgia.

The 19th century

Competition from the railway network from the 1830s, and in the 20th century the roads, made the smaller canals obsolete for most commercial transportation, and many of the British canals fell into decay. Only the Manchester Ship Canal and the Aire and Calder Canal bucked this trend. Yet in other countries canals grew in size as construction techniques improved. During the 19th century in the US, the length of canals grew from to over 4,000, with a complex network making the Great Lakes navigable, in conjunction with Canada, although some canals were later drained and used as railroad rights-of-way.

In the United States, navigable canals reached into isolated areas and brought them in touch with the world beyond. By 1825 the Erie Canal, long with 82 locks, opened up a connection from the populated Northeast to the Great Lakes. Settlers flooded into regions serviced by such canals, since access to markets was available. The Erie Canal (as well as other canals) was instrumental in lowering the differences in commodity prices between these various markets across America. The canals caused price convergence between different regions because of their reduction in transportation costs, which allowed Americans to ship and buy goods from farther distances for much lower prices compared to before. Ohio built many miles of canal, Indiana had working canals for a few decades, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system until replaced by a channelized river waterway.

Three major canals with very different purposes were built in what is now Canada. The first Welland Canal, which opened in 1829 between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, bypassing Niagara Falls and the Lachine Canal (1825), which allowed ships to skirt the nearly impassable rapids on the St. Lawrence River at Montreal were built for commerce. The Rideau Canal, completed in 1832, connects Ottawa, on the Ottawa River to Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The Rideau Canal was built as a result of the War of 1812 to provide military transportation between the British colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada as an alternative to part of the St. Lawrence River, which was susceptible to blockade by the United States.

In France, a steady linking of all the river systems—Rhine, Rhône, Saône, and Seine—and the North Sea was boosted in 1879 by the establishment of the Freycinet gauge, which specified the minimum size of locks so that canal traffic doubled in the first decades of the 20th century.

Many notable sea canals were completed in this period, starting with the Suez Canal (1869), and the Kiel Canal (1897), which carries tonnage many times that of most other canals, though the Panama Canal was not opened until 1914.

In the 19th century, a number of canals were built in Japan including the Biwako canal and the Tone canal. These canals were partially built with the help of engineers from the Netherlands and other countries.

Modern uses

Large-scale ship canals such as the Panama Canal and Suez Canal continue to operate for cargo transportation, as do European barge canals. Due to globalization, they are becoming increasingly important, resulting in expansion projects such as the Panama Canal expansion project.

The narrow early industrial canals, however, have ceased to carry significant amounts of trade and many have been abandoned to navigation, but may still be used as a system for transportation of untreated water. In some cases railways have been built along the canal route, an example being the Croydon Canal.

A movement that began in Britain and France to use the early industrial canals for pleasure boats, such as hotel barges, has spurred rehabilitation of stretches of historic canals. In some cases, abandoned canals such as the Kennet and Avon Canal have been restored and are now used by pleasure boaters. In Britain, canalside housing has also proven popular in recent years.

The Seine-Nord Europe Canal is being developed into a major transportation waterway, linking France with Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Canals have found another use in the 21st century, as easements for the installation of fibre optic telecommunications network cabling, avoiding having them buried in roadways while facilitating access and reducing the hazard of being damaged from digging equipment.

Canals are still used to provide water for agriculture. An extensive canal system exists within the Imperial Valley in the Southern California desert to provide irrigation to agriculture within the area.

Cities on water

Canals are so deeply identified with Venice that many canal cities have been nicknamed "the Venice of…". The city is built on marshy islands, with wooden piles supporting the buildings, so that the land is man-made rather than the waterways. The islands have a long history of settlement; by the 12th century, Venice was a powerful city state.

Amsterdam was built in a similar way, with buildings on wooden piles. It became a city around 1300.

Other cities with extensive canal networks include: Alkmaar, Amersfoort, Bolsward, Brielle, Delft, Den Bosch, Dokkum, Dordrecht, Enkhuizen, Franeker, Gouda, Haarlem, Harlingen, Leeuwarden, Leiden, Sneek and Utrecht in the Netherlands, Brugge and Gent in Flanders, Belgium, Birmingham in England — which has 35 miles of canals, to Venice's 26 miles —, Saint Petersburg in Russia, Hamburg in Germany, Berlin in Germany, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Cape Coral, Florida in the United States.

Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the centre of Liverpool, England, where a system of intertwining waterways and docks is now being developed for mainly residential and leisure use.

Canal Estates (commonly known as bayous) are a form of subdivision popular in cities like Miami, Florida, Texas City, Texas and the Gold Coast, Queensland; the Gold Coast has over 700 km of residential canals. Wetlands are difficult areas upon which to build housing estates, so dredging part of the wetland down to a navigable channel provides fill to build up another part of the wetland above the flood level for houses. Land is built up in a finger pattern that provides a suburban street layout of waterfront housing blocks.

Boats

Inland canals have often had boats specifically built for them. An example of this is the British narrowboat, which is up to long and wide and was primarily built for British Midland canals. In this case the limiting factor was the size of the locks. This is also the limiting factor on the Panama canal where Panamax ships are limited to a length of and a width of . For the lockless Suez Canal the limiting factor for Suezmax ships is generally draft, which is limited to . At the other end of the scale, tub-boat canals such as the Bude Canal were limited to boats of under 10 tons for much of their length due to the capacity of their inclined planes or boat lifts. Most canals have a limit on height imposed either by bridges or by tunnels.

Lists of canals

Europe

*Canals of France

*Canals of Amsterdam

*Canals of Germany

*Canals of Ireland

*Canals of Russia

*Canals of the United Kingdom

North America

*Canals of Canada

*Canals of the United States

See also

Barges of all types

British Waterways

Canal tunnel

Channel

Ditch

Environment Agency

History of the British canal system

Horse-drawn boat

Infrastructure

Irrigation district

Lists of canals

List of navigation authorities in the United Kingdom

List of waterways

List of waterway societies in the United Kingdom

Lock

Navigable aqueduct

Navigation authority

Narrowboat

Roman canals - (''Torksey'')

Volumetric flow rate

Water bridge

Waterscape

Water transportation

Waterway

Waterway restoration

Waterways in the United Kingdom

Weigh lock

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

British Waterways' leisure website - Britain's official guide to canals, rivers and lakes

Leeds Liverpool Canal Photographic Guide

Triumphs of Canal Building

Information and Boater's Guide to the New York State Canal System

"Canals and Navigable Rivers" by James S. Aber, Emporia State University

National Canal Museum (USA)

London Canal Museum (UK)

Canals in Amsterdam

Canal du Midi

Canal des Deux Mers

Canal flow measurement using a sensor.

Category:Coastal construction Category:Water transport infrastructure

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birth name	Rodney Mullen
birth date	August 17, 1966
birth place	Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
website	rodneymullen.net
sport	Skateboarding
country	}}

John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966 in Gainesville, Florida) is a professional freestyle and street skateboarder. He is considered by many to be the best and most influential skater in the history of skateboarding. Mullen is credited with inventing the flatground ollie, the kickflip (originally called the "magic flip") in 1983, the heelflip, the impossible, and a long list of other original tricks. Mullen is credited in numerous skateboarding videos, and has authored an autobiography entitled ''The Mutt: How to Skateboard and not Kill Yourself''.

At age six, Mullen was diagnosed with pigeon toe and had to wear leg braces to fix the condition. He began skateboarding on January 1, 1977 at age 10, when his father (who had opposed his son's wishes to practice the sport) finally agreed to give Rodney a skateboard on condition that he would always wear pads, and with the understanding that if he were to ever get hurt, he would have to quit. He describes his interest in skateboarding: "I fell in love with skateboarding because it was individual. There were no teams, there were no captains ... it was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports: It was creative. I could walk around with my skateboard at the skate park. "I love skateboarding."

Rodney began practicing in full pads. He spent time with his sister's surfer friends who would skateboard on the week days. In 1978, having owned a skateboard for less than a year, Rodney placed 4th out of a group of older and more experienced professional skateboarders.

Early career

Throughout the 1980s, he invented the majority of skating's ollie and flip tricks, including the flatground ollie, the Kickflip, the Darkslide, the Heelflip, and the 360 flip. The tricks are an essential part of modern vertical and street skateboarding.

Despite Alan Gelfand's justifiable fame for inventing the ollie air (Gelfand's maneuver being primarily a vert or pool oriented trick) Mullen is responsible for the invention and development of the street ollie. The ability to pop the board off of the ground and land back on the board while moving has quite likely been the most significant development in modern skateboarding. This invention alone would rank Mullen the most important skateboarder of all time.

As the popularity of freestyle skateboarding declined, Mullen was often urged to move his style toward street skating. This is hinted at in the World Industries video ''Rubbish Heap'', where Mullen's sequence ends with team member Jeremy Klein breaking Rodney's freestyle skateboard, and handing him a note from Steve Rocco, symbolizing the end of freestyle.

Fame

In 1991 Mullen joined the high-profile skateboarding team Plan B. Mike Ternasky, the owner of Plan B, influenced Rodney to transition from freestyle to street skating, and showcased the results in the 1992 Plan B video ''Questionable''. Mullen's segment begins with traditional freestyle tricks done on flat ground, but quickly accelerates across public terrain to shift into standard street skating. In relation to obstacles, he sequences tricks, mixes flip tricks with grinds and board slides. In the video, Mullen introduced two newly invented tricks, the Kickflip Underflip and the Casper slide.

Mullen's ''Questionable'' performance may have marked the beginning of a new era in street skateboarding. His reluctant departure from freestyle to become a street skater was a symbol that legitimized the technical direction street skating had taken over the previous few years. Mullen specialized at this progression in subsequent Plan B videos; noteworthy is 1993's ''Virtual Reality'' where Mullen showcases the newly-mastered Darkslide.

Mullen's participation in Plan B dissolved after Mike Ternasky died unexpectedly in 1994. In 1997, Mullen started another company, A-Team, with the intent of forming a super team with the defection of Plan B from the World Industries empire. Rodney talked to friend and fellow pro Daewon Song to plan the video ''Rodney vs. Daewon'', which featured each skater competing in segments from trick to trick.

Since 1999, Rodney Mullen has appeared in most of the console games of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, Tony Hawk Underground, Tony Hawk Underground 2 ,Tony Hawk American Wasteland, Tony Hawks Proving Ground, and the last game he was in was Tony Hawk: Ride

The A-Team folded in 2000 and Mullen went from company founder to company rider under former Maple rider Marc Johnson, who started Enjoi Skateboards. Mullen left Enjoi to head Almost Skateboards with Daewon Song, the company which he still helms and skates for. Mullen's role at Almost includes research and development on new designs and technologies, including Tensor truck in 2000 and experimental and composite deck constructions for Dwindle brands.

In 2002 the World Industries companies, under the holding name Kubic Marketing, were bought out by Globe International for $46 million. Kubic's management remained intact and Mullen began working for Globe International under the Dwindle Distribution brand.

In 2003, Mullen wrote and released his autobiography, entitled ''The Mutt: How to skateboard and not kill yourself''. In late 2003 he was voted as the all-time greatest action sports athlete on the Extreme Sports Channel's ''Legends of the Extreme'' countdown.

From 2007 to 2009, Mullen worked to erase his riding stance, allowing him to move from regular stance to goofy stance. In an interview with Tony Hawk, Mullen explained that he had developed problems in his right hip joint and that his transition between stances came out of an effort to favor his leg. He goes on to describe that scar tissue had built up in his joint as a result of habitually hyper-extending his leg while skating. Mullen stated that through extensive and consistent stretching he was able to tear away the scar tissue.

In December 2010 Mullen stated in an interview that he is preparing to film a part for the upcoming Almost video.

Filmography

Powell Peralta: Skateboarding in the '80's (1982)

Powell Peralta: The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984)

Powell Peralta: Future Primitive (1985)

Powell Peralta: Public Domain (1988)

Gleaming the Cube ("Skate double", 1989)

World Industries: Rubbish Heap (1989)

Plan B: Questionable (1992)

Plan B: Virtual Reality (1993)

Plan B: Second Hand Smoke (1995)

Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song (1997)

Rodney Mullen Vs. Daewon Song Round 2 (1999)

Globe: Opinion

Almost: Round Three (2004)

Transworld: Show Me the Way (Darkslide)

Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour (2005)

''John from Cincinnati'' (Skate double, Episode 10, 2007)

United by Fate (2008)

References

Further reading

Brooke, M (1999). ''Concrete Wave: The History Of Skateboarding''. ISBN 1-894020-54-5.

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playername	Hatem Ben Arfa
fullname	Hatem Ben Arfa
dateofbirth	March 07, 1987
cityofbirth	Clamart
countryofbirth	France
height
position	Winger
currentclub	Newcastle United
clubnumber	10
youthyears1	1994–1996
youthyears2	1996–1998
youthyears3	1998–1999
youthyears4	1999–2002
youthyears5	2002–2004
youthclubs1	ASV Châtenay-Malabry
youthclubs2	Montrouge CF 92
youthclubs3	AC Boulogne-Billancourt
youthclubs4	INF Clairefontaine
youthclubs5	Lyon
years1	2004–2008
clubs1	Lyon
caps1	64
goals1	7
years2	2008–2011
clubs2	Marseille
caps2	63
goals2	9
years3	2010–2011
clubs3	→ Newcastle United (loan)
caps3	4
goals3	1
years4	2011–
clubs4	Newcastle United
caps4	0
goals4	0
nationalyears1	2002–2003
nationalteam1	France U16
nationalcaps1	10
nationalgoals1	7
nationalyears2	2003–2004
nationalteam2	France U17
nationalcaps2	17
nationalgoals2	11
nationalyears3	2005
nationalteam3	France U18
nationalcaps3	4
nationalgoals3	0
nationalyears4	2005–2006
nationalteam4	France U19
nationalcaps4	6
nationalgoals4	1
nationalyears5	2007
nationalteam5	France U21
nationalcaps5	4
nationalgoals5	0
nationalyears6	2007–
nationalteam6	France
nationalcaps6	8
nationalgoals6	2
club-update	13:30, 3 October 2010 (UTC)
nationalteam-update	15 May 2010 }}

Hatem Ben Arfa (; born on 7 March 1987) is a French association football player of Tunisian descent who plays for English club Newcastle United in the Premier League. He plays as a winger, preferably on the left side, and an attacking midfielder. Ben Arfa has been described as "one of the best-rated talents in France", but has been criticized by the media and players alike for lacking discipline.

Ben Arfa started his career throughout various clubs in the Île-de-France region, having trained at AC Boulogne-Billancourt and Versailles. In 1999, he was selected to attend the Clairefontaine academy. Ben Arfa spent three years at the academy and, upon leaving, signed with Olympique Lyonnais, where he won four Ligue 1 titles. In his early career at Lyon, he played as a centre forward, but moved into a winger role during the 2007–08 season. In the summer of 2008, Ben Arfa signed with rivals Marseille for €11 million through a move which required the intervention of the Ligue de Football Professionnel. With Marseille, he won the 2009–10 league title, his fifth overall, as well as the Coupe de la Ligue in 2010. After two years at Marseille, Ben Arfa joined English club Newcastle United on loan for the 2010–11 season with a view to a permanent deal. In January 2011, the loan deal was made permanent.

Ben Arfa is a former French youth international having played at all levels. At under-17 level, he was a part of the team that won the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship. Ben Arfa was called up to the senior team for the first time in October 2007 for a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against the Faroe Islands. He made his debut in the match and also scored his first goal as well in a 6–0 win.

Club career

Early career

Ben Arfa was born in Clamart, a southwestern suburb in Paris, to Kamel Ben Arfa, a former Tunisian international football player, and a French mother. His father discovered that his five-year old son had an interest in football and with guidance from a sports journalist and agent Michel Ouazin, Ben Arfa began his career as a football player.

Ben Arfa began training at ASV Châtenay-Malabry, a local club not far from his hometown. After two years at the club, he moved a few miles north to Montrouge CF 92. In 1998, Ben Arfa moved to sporting club AC Boulogne-Billancourt. The following year, he was selected to attend the Clairefontaine academy. While at Clairefontaine, Ben Arfa was the only underage player in his class, and was a part of ''A la Clairefontaine'', a documentary series which chronicled the lives of the France's top young footballers during their time at the academy. During the series, an episode showed Ben Arfa getting into an argument with Abou Diaby. While training at Clairefontaine during the weekdays, Ben Arfa played for FC Versailles on the weekends.

Olympique Lyonnais

At 15 and already labeled a prodigy, Ben Arfa joined Olympique Lyonnais who had just won their first ever Ligue 1 championship. In August 2004, after spending two years in the youth divisions of the Lyon academy, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal, despite late interest from English club Chelsea and Dutch outfit Ajax. He was, along with fellow player Karim Benzema, promoted to the senior squad and assigned the number 34 shirt.

Ben Arfa made his professional debut on the opening match day of the 2004–05 season against Nice coming on as a substitute in the 68^th minute. Lyon won the match 1–0 with a goal from Giovane Elber a few minutes after Ben Arfa came on. After making a few substitute appearances, he made his first start on 11 September 2004 in a 2–1 victory over Rennes playing 56 minutes. Ben Arfa scored his first professional goal two months later on 10 November in a Coupe de la Ligue match against Lille, converting from the penalty spot in extra time to give Lyon a 2–1 lead, though Lille scored two late goals, beating Lyon 3–2. He made his UEFA Champions League debut in a group stage match against Manchester United coming on as a substitute for Sidney Govou.

The following season, Ben Arfa switched to the first team number 18 shirt, but his substitute-to-start ratio was still high with seven out of 12 appearances as a substitute. He also made his first Champions League start in a 2–1 victory over Norwegian club Rosenborg, providing the assist on the game winning goal scored by the Brazilian Fred in the last minutes of the match. Ben Arfa scored his first league goal during the 2006–07 season against Sedan just before half-time, which proved to be the winner as Lyon won the match 1–0.

After wingers Florent Malouda and Sylvain Wiltord left the club, incoming manager Alain Perrin preferred the more modern 4-3-3 formation and opted to move Ben Arfa to the left-wing role for the 2007–08 season. Ben Arfa quickly adapted to the position and scored his first goal in a 5–1 demolition of Metz on 15 September, though his performance was overshadowed by a Karim Benzema hat trick. Arguably his best performances in a Lyon shirt came in a period of 12 days, during which he played a league match on 28 October against Paris Saint-Germain and a Champions League game against German club VfB Stuttgart on 7 November. He scored two goals in each match with both results being in favor of Lyon. Following the season, he was named the league's Young Player of the Year.

Despite rumors of a rift between himself and Benzema, Ben Arfa signed a contract extension with Lyon in March 2008 until 2010. However, his career at Lyon reached an impasse after he got into a training session scuffle with veteran Sébastien Squillaci.

Olympique de Marseille

Despite reported interest from English clubs Everton, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Spanish club Real Madrid, rumors of a move to rivals Olympique de Marseille began to surface. On 28 June 2008, Lyon confirmed that a proposed transfer to Marseille had been canceled for the time being. However, Ben Arfa confirmed to the local ''La Provence'' newspaper on 29 June that he had signed for the southern coast club and would not return to Lyon for pre-season training the following day. ''La Provence'' later reported that Ben Arfa had in fact missed training in Lyon on 30 June, confirming his intentions.

Ben Arfa officially joined Marseille on 1 July 2008 for €11 million, with future incentives to be included later, after an agreement was reached between Marseille and Lyon in a meeting organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. As a result of the disagreement over the transfer, in December 2008, Ben Arfa told the local Lyon paper Le Progrès that his former team lacked class and was not a great team. Ben Arfa was presented to the media and had his first training session with the club the same day. He was given the number 20 shirt. On 16 July, Ben Arfa was involved in another training session bust-up, this time with stiker and France international Djibril Cissé. Cissé later joined English club Sunderland on loan.

Ben Arfa made his league debut on the opening day of the season in a 4–4 draw with Rennes. He scored his first goal for the ''Marseilles'' in that match. He continued in form scoring six times in his first 11 matches. However, his reputation for controversy continued to haunt him when he was involved in another dispute, this time with the Cameroon international Modeste M'bami during a warm up session ahead of the club's UEFA Champions League match against Liverpool. The two had to be separated by Ronald Zubar. Controversy arose again following Marseille's 4–2 loss to ''Le Classique'' rivals Paris-Saint Germain. He drew the ire of manager Eric Gerets after his refusal to leave the bench to warm up. Ben Arfa later said he was injured much to the chagrin of Gerets, but later apologized for the incident to the media and Gerets himself. Upon his return to the squad, Ben Arfa responded by scoring a goal and providing the assists on both the other goals in a 3–1 victory over Saint-Étienne.

Ben Arfa switched to the number 10 shirt for the 2009–10 season and made his debut on the opening match day of the season in a 2–0 away victory over Grenoble appearing as a substitute in the 68^th minute. The following week, he earned his first start of the season against Lille and assisted the winning goal scored by Brandão.

Controversy surfaced again, however, when, on 8 October 2009, Ben Arfa was fined €10,000 by the club for missing a training session. Ben Arfa blamed the absence on airport delays as he was in Tunisia visiting family members during the international break. A month later, on 18 November, he got into a heated argument with manager Didier Deschamps during a training session, for which Ben Arfa later apologized. Under Deschamps in the first half of the season, Ben Arfa appeared in 15 of the club's 20 league matches and only played the full 90 minutes in two matches, a 2–1 defeat against Monaco and a 2–0 defeat to Auxerre.

Ben Arfa's play during the 2010 portion of the season earned praise from Deschamps and sporting director José Anigo. On 10 January 2010, Ben Arfa scored his first goal of the season against amateur club Trélissac in the Coupe de France. A month later, he was instrumental in Marseille's 5–1 victory over Valenciennes assisting on the opening goal scored by Lucho González. Later that month, Ben Arfa scored an away goal in the first leg of the club's UEFA Europa League tie against Danish club FC København. In the return leg in Marseille, Ben Arfa struck again, scoring the opening goal in the 43^rd minute. Marseille won the match 3–1 and the tie 6–2 on aggregate. On 27 February, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 3–0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain. Ben Arfa's play in the month of February was validated when he was named the UNFP Player of the Month. Marseille won all four of the league matches the team contested with Ben Arfa starting all of them. On 7 April, Ben Arfa converted a penalty in a 3–0 win over Sochaux. The victory placed the club at the top of the table, and they remained there for the rest of the season and clinched the title on 5 May with a 3–1 win over Rennes. Ben Arfa appeared as a substitute in the match.

Departure to Newcastle United

On 22 July 2010, reports surfaced suggesting that English club Newcastle United were looking to sign Ben Arfa. After being questioned, Newcastle's manager Chris Hughton denied the reports. Five days later, Ben Arfa's agent declared that Newcastle were indeed interested in the player, along with German clubs Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen, Turkish club Galatasaray, and Italian club A.C. Milan. On 9 August, a season-long loan with an option to make the move permanent was reportedly being negotiated between the two clubs. However, a loan-fee for the deal could not be reached with Newcastle offering £650,000; £350,000 short of what Marseille wanted. On 12 August, Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier announced that Ben Arfa would not be moving to Newcastle and even went as far as to say that an offer from the club had not even existed.

Similar to his actions in leaving Lyon, Ben Arfa responded to the statement by telling the French sports newspaper ''L'Equipe'' that he would not be returning to La Commanderie, Marseille's training facility, and would not play with the team for the remainder of the season. He also stated that his relationship with Deschamps had turned sour and was beyond repair. Ben Arfa confirmed his intentions by traveling to Newcastle upon Tyne, without authorization, with hopes that Newcastle and Marseille would come to an agreement. After returning to Marseille, he missed several training sessions with his parent club and was, subsequently, left off the match day squad for two league matches against Valenciennes and Lorient. Ben Arfa's number 10 was later given to new signing André-Pierre Gignac, which signaled a transfer was imminent.

On 19 August, a proposed move to Werder Bremen failed to come to fruition after the club's sporting director Klaus Allofs declared that the club was not interested in Ben Arfa, despite reports of Werder Bremen offering Marseille a transfer fee of €8 million. On 27 August, Dassier confirmed that the club had reached an agreement on a loan fee with Newcastle for the transfer of Ben Arfa with personal terms being the only stumbling block in the deal. Marseille agreed to a £2 million loan fee with Newcastle set to pay the club another £5 million if Ben Arfa makes 25 club appearances this season, making the transfer permanent.

Newcastle United

On 27 August 2010, Ben Arfa agreed to personal terms with Newcastle and, the following day, the club confirmed that it had signed Ben Arfa on a season-long loan. He received the number 37 shirt and made his debut on 11 September 2010, appearing as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat at home to Blackpool. He scored his first goal for Newcastle on his full debut on 18 September in the 1–0 victory against Everton. On 3 October, Ben Arfa suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg while playing in a league match against Manchester City. The injury came as a result of a tackle by opposing midfielder Nigel de Jong. On 5 January 2011, Marseille and Newcastle both confirmed on their websites that they had reached an agreement for the permanent transfer of Ben Arfa to Newcastle with the player agreeing to a four and a half year contract. The transfer fee was undisclosed.

Ben Arfa spent most of his rehabilitation in his home city of Paris recuperating at the Clairefontaine academy. In January 2011, it was reported by the English media that Ben Arfa had undergone another surgery in November 2010 to repair complications that were preventing his shin bones from healing properly. On 23 February, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew confirmed that Ben Arfa was running and could return to the team in April. However, days later, Pardew revealed that he wasn't prepared to rush the player's rehabilitation process and that Ben Arfa probably wouldn't be available until May, stating "I am going to protect him. I can't just throw him in". Ben Arfa returned to training with Newcastle on 5 April. He participated fully in warm-ups with the first-team, but spent the majority of the training session doing light training and fitness work.

He made his return in a friendly match on 15 July 2011 at Conference National side Darlington after returning with the rest of the squad to preseason training two weeks before.

Ben Arfa sustained an ankle injury in a pre-season friendly against Sporting Kansas City on 20th July 2011 during NUFC's stateside tour.

International career

Youth

Ben Arfa has earned caps with all of France's youth teams. With the under-16 team, he made ten appearances scoring seven goals. Ben Arfa made his debut with the team at the 2003 edition of the Aegean Cup in Turkey. He scored his first goal in the tournament on 12 January in a 3–2 win over Belgium. The victory assured France a third-place finish. At the Montaigu Tournament, Ben Arfa scored a team-leading six goals. He scored two goals in the team's 8–0 win over Gabon in the opening match. In the following match, Ben Arfa scored the final goal in the team's 3–0 win over Russia and, in the final group stage match, bagged another double in a 3–1 victory over England. He capped the tournament by scoring a goal in the final against Italy, though France lost the match 5–1.

Ben Arfa made his debut with the under-17 team in the opening match of the season against Sweden converting a first-half hat-trick in a 5–2 victory. In the Tournio de Val-de-Marne, Ben Arfa scored two goals as France were crowned champions without conceding a goal. At the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, Ben Arfa, alongside teammates Samir Nasri, Benzema, and Jérémy Menez contributed to the team winning the competition. Ben Arfa appeared in all five matches and scored goals against Northern Ireland, Turkey and Portugal. In total with the under-17s, he made 17 appearances and scored a team-high 11 goals. Because of his increased playing time with Lyon, Ben Arfa missed a significant portion of playing time with the under-18 team. He made his debut on 15 March 2005, playing in a 3–3 draw with Germany. Ben Arfa appeared in the final three matches of the season for the team to bring his appearance total to four. He scored no goals.

The foursome of Ben Arfa, Nasri, Benzema, and Menez returned to international play together for under-19 duty. The four were joined by Issiar Dia, Blaise Matuidi, and Serge Gakpé with the objective of winning the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. In the first round of qualification for the tournament, Ben Arfa scored his lone goal in the opening match against Wales as France advanced through the round undefeated. Due to injury, Ben Arfa was absent from the final round of qualification for the tournament and, despite going undefeated in the round, France were eliminated after being beaten on points by Scotland. Ben Arfa only made one competitive appearance with the under-21 team, appearing in a 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification match against Romania.

Senior

Before representing France, Ben Arfa was eligible to represent Tunisia and was offered a place in the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany. He turned down this opportunity, preferring to continue his career with the French national team. Ben Arfa was called up to the senior team for the first time on 10 October 2007 by Raymond Domenech to replace the injured Louis Saha and played in the Euro 2008 qualifying matches against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania. This move stunned critics of Domenech as they expected striker David Trezeguet to get the call-up. Ben Arfa made his debut on 13 October when he came on for Franck Ribéry in the 64^th minute and scored the last goal in France's 6–0 victory over the Faroe Islands. Ben Arfa was, however, omitted from Domenech's final 23-man Euro 2008 squad on 28 May.

On 25 February 2010, after a long period without a call-up, Ben Arfa returned to the team, alongside teammates Steve Mandanda and Benoît Cheyrou, after being called up for France's friendly match with Spain on 3 March. On 11 May, he was named to the 30-man preliminary list by Domenech to play in the 2010 World Cup, but failed to make the final 23.

After going nearly two years without representing France internationally, on 5 August 2010, Ben Arfa was called up to the senior team by new manager Laurent Blanc for the team's friendly match against Norway on 11 August 2010. Ben Arfa made his return to the team in the match appearing as a half-time substitute for Moussa Sissoko. He scored the opening goal of the match in a 2–1 defeat.

Career statistics

Club

.

0 0 1 6 6 3 0 1 0

Club	Season	League	Cup	!colspan="3"	Total
!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists
rowspan="5" valign="center"	Lyon		9	|	2	1	1	0	4	0	1	14	1	3
Ligue 1 2005–06	2005–06	12	|	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	14	1	2
Ligue 1 2006–07	2006–07	13	|	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	16	1	1
Ligue 1 2007–08	2007–08	30	|	4	5	0	0	8	2	1	43	8	5
!Total	!64!!7!!8!!9!!2!!0!!14!!2!!3!!87!!11!!11
rowspan="4" valign="center"	Marseille		33	|	2	2	0	0	13	2	0	48	8	2
2009–10 Ligue 1	2009–10	29	|	3	5	1	2	7	3	0	41	7	5
2010–11 Ligue 1	2010–11	1	|	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1
!Total	!63!!9!!6!!8!!1!!2!!20!!5!!0!!91!!15!!8
rowspan="1" valign="center"	→ Newcastle United (loan)	rowspan="2" valign="center"	4	|	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	0
rowspan="2" valign="center"	Newcastle United	0	|	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
!Total	!4!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!4!!1!!0
Career totals		!131!!17!!14!!17!!3!!2!!34!!7!!3!!182!!27!!19

International

.

1 0 1

National team!!Season!!Apps!!Goals !! Assists
Rowspan=4 valign="center"	France	2007–08	6	1
2008–09	|	0	0
2009–10	|	0	0
2010–11	|	1	0
Total!!8!!2!!1

International goals

! #	! Date	! Venue	! Opponent	! Score	! Result	! Competition
1	13 October 2007	Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands		0 – 6	0–6
2	11 August 2010	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway		0 – 1	2–1

Honours

Club

; Lyon

Ligue 1 (4): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08

Coupe de France (1): 2007–08

Trophée des champions (2): 2005–06, 2006–07

; Marseille

Ligue 1 (1): 2009–10

Coupe de la Ligue (1): 2009–10

International

; France

UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship (1): 2004

Individual

UNFP Young Player of the Year (1): 2007–08

UNFP Player of the Month (1): February 2010

Notes

References

External links

Hatem Ben Arfa club profile at om.net

Hatem Ben Arfa profile at nufc.co.uk

Hatem Ben Arfa Soccernet profile at espn.com

Premier League profile

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:People from Clamart Category:French footballers Category:France under-21 international footballers Category:Olympique Lyonnais players Category:Ligue 1 players Category:France international footballers Category:French people of Tunisian descent Category:French people of Arab descent Category:Olympique de Marseille players Category:INF Clairefontaine players Category:Newcastle United F.C. players Category:Premier League players Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:French expatriate footballers

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