posted Nov 21, 2006

Hats off to you guys!

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posted Nov 21, 2006

I think that this is excellant news, but I am also concerned for black and white incidents that are not so black and white. I have always played the game with integrity, but I have been involved in incidents that others have considered deliberatly motivated. Firstly, there was an incident when I got round a full back and put a cross in. I was surprised by the full back cursing me for elbowing him in the face, when all that happen is my arm swung as a balanced myself to cross the ball. More importantly and within context of this debate is the situation when I attempted a slide tackle on the wing and hacked the player down because he was too quick for me. It was a late challange. The referee gave me the throw in. I wanted to own up, but I also didn't want to let the team down. Given that a number of errors are made in the game for and against the team I made a quick judgement that it was OK for me to remain quiet as with referee decisions you win some and lose some. My point is that black and white decisions are not always black and white. Should Liverpool have sacked Robbie Fowler for owning up to jump over the Goalkeeper four or five years ago. The modern game is played at such speed that the faintest of touches can send a player tumbling for yards. Otherwise a pull of a shirt can put a player off balance such that he trips over his own foot when the defender is no longer near him. I have also seen players just tumble because they slip. So a noble move that I approve of, but a word of caution to those who intend to administer it.

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posted Nov 21, 2006

There is no way that this is going to be enforced, fair enough there should not be any diving in the game, but can you imagine Chelsea putting Drogba up for sale? The other clubs would be queing up to buy him on the cheap. Likewise for Barca, Real Madrid et al, there is no way they are going to sell the players that have the most ability. Maybe lower league clubs can do this but there is no way the top clubs will want to lose there best players.

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posted Nov 21, 2006

Can you really see Man U or Chelsea following suit?
Being a cynic (healthy), I see here the opportunity for smaller clubs to reduce their wage bills by off-loading players who ordinarily would have been entitled to compensation had their contracts been terminated.

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posted Nov 22, 2006

There's far too many divers in the premiership. Fifa/Uefa need to do something!! It should be a straight red for players diving in the box, when the ref sees it of course. Only then will the likes of Drogba, Robben, Ronaldo and Rooney think twice before CHEATING!!! It's as simple as that, it's cheating and the sooner we get rid of it the better.

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posted Nov 22, 2006

lets see how long it lasts when it's their top scorere diving after the transfer window has closed and him being benched could cost the club a promotion/releegation.

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posted Nov 22, 2006

I think cheating has been around in one form or another forever. I've spoken to a professional footballer I know who played full back in the Stan Matthews Blackpool side and he recalls his manager telling him to 'get in their keeper's face a bit' when they were playing Man City. He duly obeyed instructions until the keeper got fed up and threatened to knock him out.
At which point he felt discretion was the better part of valour, and went back to play in his own area!
This was from the days that it was allowed to barge the keeper into the net when he had hold of the ball. (Sigh) It was a man's game then...

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posted Nov 24, 2006

Torquay are total mugs if they think sucking up to the media, by way of addressing their 'diving issue', will bring them success. And are they going to punish players who commit the more serious offences of head-elbowing & shirt-pulling......?

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posted Nov 24, 2006

It's great news. Even though the attitude of 'it's always gone on, so you'll never get rid of it' or 'you have to do it to compete, because everyone else does it' or the old favorite, 'it's too difficult to enforce, so don't bother' is the root cause of the problems with football, it's still shocking to see that a lot of people are prepared to say that the initiative is not a good idea. There's always going to be mistakes in enforcing any rule or law. The biggest mistake is not having the right ones in place.
UP THE GULLS!

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posted Dec 2, 2006

Unless there is a major investment in the game and video replay of controversial incedents becomes an integral part of soccer this initiative is merely that, an initiative which momentarily brings attention to one feature of the game. The replay box upstairs as in NFL football is the only way to assure that 'divers','trips'
and off side calls can be contested legitimately by the penalised side. It will slow up the game,require massive investment and require clubs to be more than providers of one dimensional soccer for 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. It will reduce the questioning and provide evidence for spectators and TV viewers to witness. Soccer needs to be expanded in UK to be more inclusive, why not offer the match at a local cinema on a Saturday afternoon at a comparable price to that paid by punters going through the turnstiles? Soccer needs to be more than local passion, it has to be an entertainment, a day out, where the soccer is one aspect of a collective family experience. You want to play properly you have to pay properly!

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