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Rupert P Matley

Listed below are comments made by Rupert P Matley between Saturday, 6th June 2009 and Thursday, 8th October 2009.

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Are sportspeople right to retaliate? 12:49pm on 08 Oct 2009 'We've put together a panel of deep sporting thinkers to debate these issues. Journalists Matthew Syed and Will Buckley and director of Sporting Integrity Michele Verroken will hear evidence from expert speakers and then share their own conclusions.'

It's not really necessary to go to such detailed analysis. Banter is banter, but personal abuse hurts no matter how much money you're on. 99.99% of those fans who resort to vile abuse aimed at a player who once played for 'their' club would not dream of repeating that abuse if (a) sober and (b) on a one-to-one with said player. It's very much a 'safety in numbers' issue here, and in the end, if you can't take what you dish out, shut up! I mean it's not like Adebayor returned the abuse, he simply celebrated in front of the fans he once played for. Wow, that must have inflicted some deep psychological scars on some of those fans! Talk about weak minded!
Ferguson revels in classic win 6:20pm on 21 Sep 2009 'im sorry, but i dont see how this is really practical - what about if a team is hanging on to a win or draw (for example) and decides to make a substitution in added time - does the ref then add the time on for this or not?'

Perhaps then the only answer lies in rugby's approach. As I stated earlier, I am not having a dig at Man U and conceivably of course Man C could have scored in the time available. And this scenario hasn't just happened with the 'big four'. It just gets more publicity when it happens in a game involving one of them.

I maintain, though, that these 'added time' rules are not applied consistently (or possibly, they're just not very clear. Wasn't it West Ham last week or a couple of weeks ago that had a goal disallowed because the ref blew just before someone put the ball in the back of the net?) when surely the point of the introduction of an indicator board being shown to display the amount of added time was to make it clearer to all concerned. The fact that it's been implemented to show a 'minimum' period (where some referees have compounded this by blowing the final whistle early) has left the situation as unclear as ever.
Ferguson revels in classic win 09:15am on 21 Sep 2009 As for the added time, I'm afraid the explanations thus far do not stand up to scrutiny. Yes, of course, addd time is a minimum, but the reasons trotted out thus far, i.e. on MOTD2 were bizarre to say the least.

I have seen many matches go into added time where a goal has been scored in that period and no further time has been added on, save foe when the goal scored has been right at the end of the period, where the referee has basically allowed sufficient time for little more than the ensuing kick off to be taken.

I'm afraid now that maybe a directive ought to be issued where tactical substitutions introduced in added time warrant no further addition to the time of play. On MOTD2 Darren Fletcher stated that the added time was correct to, amongst other things, account for the Man U sub brought on in thatperiod, basically trying to gain an advantge by virtually instructing the ref to give them a bit more time to try and score the winning goal, which they did. Again, I have seen countless matches where subs have been brought on in added time where the referee has added no furhter time as a result.

Before anyone accuses me of Man U bashing, I'm actually criticising the officials for not deploying added time 'rules' (if there are any) consistently. Refereess need to be answerable to this issue and all managers and players should be made aware of what warrants further added time being tagged on to the original figure, and it must be applied consistently, whether the game is a 5-0 drubbing after 90 minutes, or delicately poised as yesterday's game was.
Adebayor deserves all he gets 6:31pm on 14 Sep 2009 '"Nevertheless, anyone who reads wisely and well will understand that Robbo's similes consistently surpass any that appear in the media of our day. Quite simply, he has more natural humour than the wittiest ox."

A slight amendment as you can see.
All divers should be punished 6:30pm on 04 Sep 2009 Even as an Arsenal follower, I'm glad to a degree that Eduardo was punished, but this does now set a dangerous precedent.

(a) If the penalty had been missed, would Eduardo have still been punished? Possibly, but I wouldn't bet on it.

(b) If a player dives outside the box (or is deemed to have done so after the match by the relevant authorities) and gets a free kick within goal range, will the same punishment apply if a goal ensues?

(c) If the referee at the Emirates hadn't fallen for Eduardo's theatrics and issued a yellow card, would that have been deemed sufficient punishment?

(d) Given the two match ban meted out (which is one more than getting a second yellow, leading to a red), should all players deemed to have dived by the referee be given a straight red in future? This really could open up a can of worms!

There's no point whining about previous scholars of the Jacques Cousteau School of Diving. What matters now is how this offence is punished in the future. With referees constantly under the cosh for not applying some of the rules consistently, this could lead to intolerable (for them) pressure on them and indeed the FA, UEFA etc. Yes, Eduardo was a clear cut case, but I fear other players might be retrospectively punished undeservedly. In the end, and in an ideal world, it's up to the players and their managers to cut this out altogther, but this ain't an ideal world.
A jewel in the, er, sun 2:55pm on 14 Jul 2009 Hello from sunny (yup, that's right!) Arran. Myself and my wife live right on the SW tip of the island with Ailsa Craig in clear view (though there are days when it's dry but we still can't see Ailsa Craig!) and on a good day, Sanda ('Spoon Island') to the west of us. (Well worth a visit if you really do want to 'get away from it all'). Looking forward to the tournament, though I'm not going to hazard a guess as to the winner.
England left to absorb shocking defeat 9:20pm on 07 Jun 2009 Well now that England have got over 'English cricket's worst ever day' and qualified for the next stage by convincingly beating Pakistan, can we get some sort of persepctive back?
England left to absorb shocking defeat 1:36pm on 06 Jun 2009 'Why is there no comment on how the Dutch performed? Because they did great and caught the English of guard. But no, please do not give credit to the victorious side. We Dutch deserve some credit, don't we?'

Yes! Whatever I or sandhoe or anyone else like-minded thinks about this form of cricket, having watched the entire match, the Dutch deserved their win on the day.
England left to absorb shocking defeat 1:25pm on 06 Jun 2009 'Test cricket is dying outside the Ashes. 50-over cricket is also in danger of being squeezed out.'

Oliver, THAT'S the really sad thing, i.e that the Twenty20 can even potentially squeeze out 50 overs one-day cricket (to which it bears precious little relation) Perhaps I'm in the same 'Old Fogey' class as sandhoe. I'm not however, against limited overs cricket, far from it. I'm not even denying that there is at least some skill and judgement involved. I wouldn't dare suggest that 'anyone can play it'. My main concern is what I see as the chronic over-reaction to a defeat in a style of cricket that's garnered towards the 'limited attention span' society we sadly live in today.
England left to absorb shocking defeat 09:59am on 06 Jun 2009 Nice to see the author of this blog and so many others getting so worked up about Mickey Mouse 'slog it and forget everything you learned about technique' cricket. 'The worst day for English cricket'. What an embarrassing piece of drivel. Still, it's a sign of the times in an era when people with low attention spans' demands are paramount, that people should take Twenty20 seriously.

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Rupert P Matley