Football

[tomatwark]

The problem with UK football is with a lot of the kids, their mummy thinks they are really good and sends them to some football academy where they are taught to play football the way that the coach thinks it should be done and has lessons in where to get the best haircut or transplant.

A lot of the foreign players who play in this country though are still found in the back street kicking a ball around, they way it used to be in this country.

Most kids here now would not be seen dead with a couple of jumpers as goal posts in the park with their mates.

They are just good enough to make the grade providing the are only supporting the better calibre foreign players.

Perhaps the English FA should send a Sunday league team next time, it would certainly cost less, and they might do better.

 

[ChrisR]

Why would anybody want to watch twenty two millionaires chasing and kicking a ball around a field :? .

Life is just too short.

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[MIGNAL]

Same reason why people watch millionaires steering an engine around some tarmac, or millionaires hitting a little White ball into a hole in the ground, or millionaires hitting a little soft ball over a net that someone stretched across some grass. :roll:

 

[StevieB]

Nice answer Mignal. Someone once said that until we pay someone more for defending their country than for defending a football, we do not have our priorities correct!

Steve

 

[lanemaux]

I'm sensing just a touch of angst here. I am well aware that Football (capitalized for those who are truly dedicated) is treated with near religious zeal the world over. I get that , I really do. Still , as a Canadian I find myself firmly in the "lifes too short " camp. This is not due to Football as I barely watch it and it is not predominant on the TV here anyway. We have HOCKEY. If there were ever a rantable sport to populace issue , we own it outright.
During the Canadian hockey season (counting pre-season ,10 months) the rabid and near monomaniacal fans demand the most comprehensive of media "fixes". News programming often starts with teasers about what some barely literate barbarian is contemplating as best for his career or whether or not his recently broken fist will be up to fighting par for his next match. All this before news of political upheaval or lives lost in tragedies is mentioned. Endless interviews with toothless kindergarten graduates concerning the need to give 110 percent next time are run 5 and 6 in a row for the local bloodsport aficionados to bolster the fighting spirit of the cheering pens. It is enough to make one weep for mankind. This is just the hype for games. The sport itself commands at least FIFTY-FIVE of the available stations of my cable box . I counted ... honest and truly.
I really do feel for those of you who are disgruntled . But believe me , it could be worse

 

[ChrisR]

Same reason why people watch millionaires steering an engine around some tarmac, or millionaires hitting a little White ball into a hole in the ground, or millionaires hitting a little soft ball over a net that someone stretched across some grass. :roll:

Yes but the difference is, the millionaires steering/driving an engine around some tarmac, takes skill.

I have been there, unfortunately without the skill level to become a millionaire at it.

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[MIGNAL]

Use a bit of intelligence with your next answer. That one obviously belongs in the stupid class.

 

[Baldhead]

The problem with UK football is with a lot of the kids, their mummy thinks they are really good and sends them to some football academy where they are taught to play football the way that the coach thinks it should be done and has lessons in where to get the best haircut or transplant.

My nieces son players for an academy, his mummy never thought he was really good at football, she did not and indeed could not send him to the academy, the academy spotted something in him at the age of 9, and he has played for them until now (he's just turned 17) so your comment is incorrect.

Just for the record, he has represented both England and Scotland at international level in Ireland, France and Malta, he isn't a millionaire yet, but when he is I'd like to say I think he deserves it, because he's worked bloody hard for it for years.

Baldhead

 

[ChrisR]

Use a bit of intelligence with your next answer. That one obviously belongs in the stupid class.

:?: :?: :?:

Intelligence is needed to know the difference between an answer and a statement of fact.

To help, my post was a statement of fact.

Hope this clears up any confusion you have.

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[wellywood]

It was reported the England team visited a Brazilian orphanage.
"It was heartbreaking to see the despair on their little faces."
Said Jose, aged 6.
:lol:

 

[MIGNAL]

Use a bit of intelligence with your next answer. That one obviously belongs in the stupid class.

:?: :?: :?:

Intelligence is needed to know the difference between an answer and a statement of fact.

To help, my post was a statement of fact.

Hope this clears up any confusion you have.

Take care.

Chris R.

Afraid not and to clarify your obvious delusion: Yours was merely a rather stupid and derogatory remark. Nothing remotely intelligent about that. If you find football so disagreeable why on earth do you persist in commenting on a thread about football. :roll:
Hope that helps you to distinguish between opinion and fact.

 

[Student]

Reverting to the subject of the World Cup, presumably it is now the Italians who are getting worried.

For what it's worth, relative populations

England 56.1 million
Italy 59.7 million
Uruguay 3.4 million
Costa Rica 4.8 million

As has been said before, size isn't everything.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

...and the population of NZ? ... 4,204,200.

 

[KevM]

...and the population of NZ? ... 4,204,200.

4,204,202 - my mate and his wife have just had twins. :wink:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Well. That's the rugby and that round ball game done for.
Been stuffed at anything else have we?
(before anyone mentions tennis, our household is willing the arrogant Scot to go out in the semi's.)

 

[KevM]

(before anyone mentions tennis, our household is willing the arrogant Scot to go out in the semi's.)

That seems a little harsh when he says he's always played for Great Britain; he made one flippant comment 8 years ago which he clearly regrets. He's generally very reserved, which can be mistaken for arrogance, but I've rather warmed to him over the last few years.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/j ... -wimbledon

British tennis champion Andy Murray has revealed he didn't like it when Alex Salmond unfurled a Scottish flag after his historic triumph over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.

In his most pointed comments to date on the Scottish independence debate, Murray added that he had been competing for Britain for 16 years, and that he did not know who he would play for if there was an independent Scotland.

Murray said in an interview with the Sunday Times Style magazine that he met the first minister when I returned home to Scotland after the US Open in 2012.

"He seemed perfectly nice to me but I didn't like it when he [Salmond] got the Scottish flag up at Wimbledon."

The Olympic gold medallist added: "I started competing for Great Britain when I was 11. I'm 27 now and I've been competing for Great Britain for 16 years."

Earlier this year, Murray said he would not comment on the referendum because he did not have a vote himself. Speaking at the BNP Paribas Open in March, he said: "I don't know a whole lot about politics, and I have made that mistake in the past and it's caused me a headache for seven or eight years of my life and a lot of abuse. So I wouldn't consider getting involved in something like that ever again."

Murray was referring to the furore that followed his joke before the 2006 World Cup that he would be supporting "anyone but England".

A spokesman for Salmond said: "Andy is reigning Wimbledon champion and a great Scottish tennis player. He has made it clear a number of times he doesn't want to comment on Scottish politics. Everyone should just accept that and let him get on with playing tennis."

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I was in NZ a few years ago, and I saw the rugby shirts with "I support NZ...and anyone who happens to be playing against Australia". I feel the much same way about Murray.

 

[wellywood]

...and the population of NZ? ... 4,204,200.

4,204,202 - my mate and his wife have just had twins. :wink:

This place is getting too crowded...
I flew Wellington to Timaru last Thursday. There were six of us on an 18 seat Beechcraft. Great views of the Southern Alps. Only about a million folk on the South Island.