Just watched a N.I. player shoulder barge a Polish bloke to allow the ball to run out for a throw. How the *** is that not a free kick for obstruction? It happens all the time and is fondly called 'shepherding the ball out of play'. It's like there is a completely different set of unwritten rules agreed by everyone involved.
England will be disqualified due to past reputation, rather than the reality of this situation. England fans are iconic for all the scum elements of Europe and attract trouble. UEFA will happily point the finger and exonerate blame from themselves. They gave the tournament to a country that's inept at controlling a crowd in a stadium. No segregation is asking for trouble but the easy option is to remove England even though they seem to be the victims in this case.
Why is it asking for trouble? Works perfectly well in cricket, tennis, rugby, basketball, athletics... well, every other sport I can think of.
When asked to come out and play they did rather well technically. Far from hopeless. And that is minus Dzagoev their creative hub and Denisov who marshalls the defence and leaving out Miranchuk rather oddly.
Well we won't get into trouble for anything that happened inside the ground... Just for the stuff outside. HB1 is probably right though - they won't be too fussed to see us go! What will happen to the vast majority of supporters who just wanted to watch the games in terms of refunds if we did get kicked out? - they'd probably start some trouble in frustration.
Lens wasn't chosen as such. The locations are aŕranged before the draw. incredibly stupid and I believe it was Platini's idea for France 98. Having Marseille was like an Old Firm game being played in Belfast. Anyway couldn't give a monkeys. I'd swap 5 World Cups for a last minute equaliser away at Stoke on a wet Tuesday night.
Welcome to planet Earth. It's a place where the dregs of humanity follow football around like a bad smell. These people don't attach themselves to any other sport but football, so this is why segregation does not need to be so strictly adhered to in other sports. It's not a football problem, it's a problem with violent young males with low intellect, that want to create trouble. Football is a vehicle that is used for this purpose. It's a problem with England, as they are not really the bad guys anymore, but they are seen as the ones to pick a fight with. Eastern Europeans have a large following of mindless morons as do France, Germany, Turkey and many others. So far it's been a bit of a bloodbath, and the sooner England leave the tournament the better just to defuse it somewhat. But as I said before, it's a problem with a demographic of many countries, and football suffers because of it.
You are trying to make this a class/education thing when it clearly isn't and never has been. There are people in France of all walks of life causing trouble. A British newspaper interviewed a high-ranking Russian hooligan yesterday who is a lawyer.
Nothing to do with class at all. I don't care if they are doctors, lawyers, police officers or high court judges....... .....it's a social intelligence I'm talking about. If they are mindless hooligans, then they lack an intellect how behave like a civilised human being. There is something very base about these people, that thrive for this type of battle and it's this desire that needs to be fed. Football unfortunately suffers because of it.
Had a quick look and found what JB was referring to on the dailystar website http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/lat...ccused-stealing-England-shirt-Marseille-riots
France v Romania - France -1 handicap - 13/10 with PaddyPower - Loss Albania v Switzerland - Switzerland win - 4/6 with Bet365 - Win Wales v Slovakia - Both teams to score - 6/5 with Bet365 - Win England v Russia - Over 1.5 England goals - 6/4 with Betfair - Loss Turkey v Croatia - Croatia - 5/4 with PaddyPower - Win Poland v Northern Ireland - Poland - 10/11 with Coral - Win Germany v Ukraine - Germany -1 handicap - 6/4 with PaddyPower - Win Strong start to the tournament for my bets in the first posts!
Segregation is the problem, not the solutilon. It forces large numbers of people together where they start acting in strange tribal ways because of group mentality. But that is exactly what many people love about football. Anyone engaging in terrace banter (taunting/chanting abuse at rival fans) is walking the same path as what"s going on in France. Take away the (mostly) controlled aggresive nature of football support and many 'normal' fans would consider the atmosphere 'boring'. Even mixing up family areas and singing sections during cup games has had an instant effect on the mood of the support, as commented upon (and complained about) on these very boards. Why do Watford and Luton fans hate each other? Are they dregs of humanity, or is it simply the group mentality thing working its magic? It's all pretty pathetic when you stop and think about it - but vast numbers of supporters wouldn't have it any other way, as that' s football, innit? Otherwise it's just watching some blokes kick a ball around a field. So yes, it's very much a football problem.
I agree, I enjoy the little bit of rivalry on the terraces, with the singing etc, but get embarrassed somewhat, when it starts to develop into the baiting or threatening of rival fans (particularly when it involved singing "We hate Luton"). It becomes childish and when drink is involved it becomes potentially violent. I have been to some fantastic sporting events, rugby union internationals, test matches, etc, with great rivalry and with where there was no segregation whatsoever with booze on sale, yet the atmosphere was noisy and fantastic, with no problems at all. It certainly seems to be a football issue to me.
Football rivalry is tribalistic and there's a group of people who follow it with the intent of causing trouble, giving it the big un and provacating other supporters. To deny that its different to rugby or cricket in culture, history and class is first class head-in-sandism. The history of the game is different to rugby, its a working mans sport historically where rugby is something dreamed up on the playing fields of Eton school still predominately played by middle class and above. Football has segregation and divisions embeded into it's culture and will always attract the hooligans, not least as there's no point going to rugby looking for trouble knowing full well its not there. If you categorise each country I don't think england have anywhere near a bad a problem as others. England - take over bars, chant borderline racist chants, often look for trouble but don't fight non hooligans. (Families for example). Russia - large groups with weapons and face masks, singling out smaller groups and causing serious physical injuries to indiscriminate targets. Probably not drunk. Which of the above is more abhorrent? Which of the above are getting slated by their countries media and which are getting defended? Who is organising the 2018 world cup? Ridiculous isn't it.
Hard to put a car on a plane.. Well we were pretty crap, far too defensive. Poland weren't anything special. Polish fans have been brilliant fun, our fans have gotten on brilliantly. They said they have never seen fans like us. But of trouble in Nice as French ultras attacked both sets of fans. Sad news that an NI fan died last night too, fell from a wall
I'm watching through stats as no access to radio/tv. Stats make it looks like Spain are all over them. Surely they must win this?
I'm watching and Spain are certainly dominating, Czechs are defending well though. Spain almost seem to want to pass the ball into the net. I imagine if Spain get a goal the floodgates will open.
Spain are just boring. Great players but I find them boring to watch. Czech's have defended brilliantly so far, to be fair to them, although I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Spain score late on here.
Impressed with the Czech tactics here, 2 full backs down the right hand side have nullified Nolito/Alba perfectly, whilst a right footed LB has been the perfect counter to David Silva on the Spanish right flank, then it's a case of letting Spain pass themselves silly whilst swarming the midfield.
Not sure that goal would've happened if they hadn't of subbed off one of the right full backs a few mins ago!
Another day Spain would've won that by 3 or 4, the Czechs defended well but Spain threw away some chances!
It amuses me greatly that the pundits suggest that Spain don't have a good enough striker to win the Euros. When they won it last time when not even playing one.
