Ah BOLLIX. France v Ireland...

Rolling sports news channels are mostly to blame.Footballs been played for a very long time without ref mistakes being the highlight of a match. Ward makes most of the points I would so, so I wont repeat, just nod.

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:22 PM, Dirty Protest said:

Rolling sports news channels are mostly to blame.

There is an element of overanalysis. But on the other hand sometimes critical decisions go down in infamy - ask any Leeds fan who was Ray Tinkler and even though he screwed up almost 40 years back they will know, ask any English person what happened in the Worldd Cup 1/4 finals in 86 and they will know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_NRFz9-p4s

HAHAHAHAH this is brilliant. Another reason why I think the Irish reaction is worse than Thierry Henry's handball.

@1:39 - "Never ever buy French, ever again, don't even wanna see their croissants or 'nuttin"

And of course the racist tabloids saying "Hand of Frog".. fuck me.

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:28 PM, ward said:

HAHAHAHAH this is brilliant. Another reason why I think the Irish reaction is worse than Thierry Henry's handball.

Man you really are fairly simple.

First of all, the clip you show is from Sky Sports. An English channel is not the best way of judging Irish reaction. Most people I know are amazed at the reaction on Sky, but presume it's part of your nation's deep dislike of the French.

And even on an English channel, one or two interviews are not really a good way of forming an opinion. I could, for example, get a youtube clip of some English football fans giving their opinions on the culture in various venues around the world. Would that be a fair and accurate representation of you and your neighbours?

I knew that would piss you off guy!

I'm going to stick to my guns too. The entire of Ireland is like that bitter twat in the video.

By the way...

I'm sorry that I have friends in real life, I didn't realise you hadn't.

  On 11/23/2009 at 8:03 PM, ward said:

I'm sorry that I have friends in real life, I didn't realise you hadn't.

Ha!

It only took you about half an hour to think a response to old 'no friends' jibe. That was pages back. We have moved on. Do try to keep up.

I'm sorry that France are in the worldcup and you lot aren't.

  On 11/23/2009 at 8:08 PM, ward said:

I'm sorry that France are in the worldcup and you lot aren't.

You said before that you were delighted they went through and we were out because the Irish team is "shit".

Oh you're trying irony? Good boy.

I'm sorry you're Irish?

I really don't know what you want from me?!

new ndubz is mint!

  On 11/23/2009 at 8:14 PM, ward said:

new ndubz is mint!

You lost me there.

wtf. fuck a replay. Cheating happens in the game. full stop. As a player you always try and get away with things.

Were the Irish sympathetic when England went out in '86? Were they fuck.

Refs fuck up, players fuck up.

Also, video replay is a shite idea. the game has worked very very well for the last 100 years with 3 officials. Video replay will break up the flow and take away from the authority of the officials, which is vital to the sport.

As for Keano - legendary player, terrible manager.

  On 11/23/2009 at 9:45 PM, chenGOD said:

wtf. fuck a replay. Cheating happens in the game. full stop. As a player you always try and get away with things.

Were the Irish sympathetic when England went out in '86? Were they fuck.

 

Refs fuck up, players fuck up.

 

Also, video replay is a shite idea. the game has worked very very well for the last 100 years with 3 officials. Video replay will break up the flow and take away from the authority of the officials, which is vital to the sport.

 

As for Keano - legendary player, terrible manager.

I think you might be right, Chen - the media has once again made a mountain out of a molehill and the fact that The Beautiful Game has largely worked well for the past century is testament to the old adage, "If it isn't broken..."

Can we just rename this the football thread?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0bzQVdl5l0

5:05, LOL.

  On 11/23/2009 at 11:07 PM, Joyrex said:

the fact that The Beautiful Game has largely worked well for the past century is testament to the old adage, "If it isn't broken..."

I'm not sure. I mean, there was a time in the English game where a club could aspire to buy good players on the cheap, make more money, draw bigger crowds, buy better players, and move upwards etc. Now the golden ticket in the English game is some bored Sheik in need of a plaything. At previously large clubs like Liverpool, all the fans seem to talk about now is profits and ownership and crap that football fans didn't even think of years back. And while skill levels have increased, there is no doubt that an ugly side has crept into the game. Who in the 80s would roll around like Drogba or Ronaldo? Who wouldn't have gone through a brick wall to play a friendly for his country against Burkina Faso back then? Now players like Giggs go through their careers and not really care about the national game while they're coining it at club level. People retire from their national teams to eke out a couple of more years of making 50k a week. I'm not sure I would agree that nothing is broken in the game.

The dominant issue in the club game now is money, you either got it, you do anything to get it, or you're not at the races.

The officials need to card divers for UGC.

Giggs has 64 caps for Wales, and friendlies are not always appropriate places for experienced players anyways.

A salary cap is the only thing I'd implement in the league, but look at Man city (those fucking cunts) this year. Plenty of dosh and they're in with a chance at the top four. And it's not like there aren't plenty of bored multi-millionaires with an interest in football.

And while you might be nostalgic for English football in the 80s, let's face it..the clubs weren't taking home much hardware in Europe during the 80s

I think the only argument for video footage should be the amount of money now involved, but like everyone says, it would take away from the flow of the game. Look at rugby, takes fucking ages to review a decision.

Let's see how the europa league gets along with those extra officials.

  On 11/23/2009 at 7:27 PM, Conor74 said:

There is an element of overanalysis. But on the other hand sometimes critical decisions go down in infamy - ask any Leeds fan who was Ray Tinkler and even though he screwed up almost 40 years back they will know, ask any English person what happened in the Worldd Cup 1/4 finals in 86 and they will know.

Ive spent many a match topless swinging my shirt over my head, but I treat it with the irony it deserves. We are the champions, champions of Europe =)

  On 11/24/2009 at 1:34 PM, chenGOD said:

And while you might be nostalgic for English football in the 80s, let's face it..the clubs weren't taking home much hardware in Europe during the 80s

Oh yeah, off field it was awful. And even the football was grim enough, played in mudbaths by men with too much facial hair (if less than the 70s). But it was a game for men, not ballet with a ball for prima donnas. And if someone did a Hand of God like Maradona or Henry, they were rightly branded a cheat and noone was saying 'the game is overanalysed' or 'it's the media' or 'it's the ref'.

Personally I think that the claim for handball goes up far too quickly now, and almost any contact of hand and ball is viewed as such. Henry's was definitely an infringement on the laws, but there are many times where the cry goes up simply for incidental contact. Law 12 states quite explicitly that a direct free kick shall be given for any player who "handles the ball deliberately" (except for the goalkeeper blah blah). Not for the bloody ball hitting the arm.

Anyways, on topic: players have said "it's the ref" since the introduction of the ref, and when you absolve a player of the responsibility to police his own actions, he will try to get away with as much as possible. As for it being a game for men, I personally enjoy the faster pace of today's game, and the tactics employed. Like I said before, refs need to card divers for UGC and get on with it. If officials enforced that law, the incidence of diving would go down dramatically. Players would have more incentive to stay on their feet and more likely you'd see more efforts on goal. There's no reason a big lad like Drogba should be going down as easily as he does, none at all. Rooney used to be quite good at making the effort to stay upright, and when he does, he's bloody tough to stop. Unfortunately some of Ronaldo's (who i think is a brilliant player but has a godawful attitude) jizz must have flown directly into Rooney's cerebral cortex during a team bonding session.

To summarize (you'll have to excuse me, I'm pulling an all-nighter workign on this goddamned paper and my tendency to be verbose is increasing):

-card divers

-correctly enforce the laws regarding tackles

-recognize that the ref and ARs will not see everything, and that players will try and get away with things

-enjoy modern fast-paced tactics with some of the physicality of days of yore

-A WINNAR IS US (the fanzzzz)

Simple right?

  On 11/24/2009 at 12:09 AM, Alex C said:

Can we just rename this the football thread?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0bzQVdl5l0

 

5:05, LOL.

LOL

This is amazing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifN1wHjcT7E

The come back to that is obvious (especially to a bunch of greeks)

(sing to the tune of "The more we are together")

We gang-raped your mother, your mother, your mother

We gang-raped your mother, and then your sister.

Not that I'm a Chelsea fan, I just hate greek football, it's even more boring than Serie A, and that's saying something.

  On 11/25/2009 at 3:04 AM, Alex C said:

This is amazing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifN1wHjcT7E

It seems that when it comes to football, you will get thick cunts who make some general point about other nations and people just to be offensive. And the hilarious thing is when they think they are clever.

Sure we even have one here...

  On 11/23/2009 at 8:01 PM, ward said:

The entire of Ireland is like that bitter twat in the video.

Ireland is entirely full of potatoes and bitter twats.