A bit off topic guys I know but is anyone else getting really annoyed by some of the UEFA Euro 2012 commentary done by BBC pundits. Specifically in this case I would point out Mark Lawernson who has been terrible a pundit. He seems to be so negative in everything he discusses and always seems to have a sly word or dig at foreign players. He for example questioned whether Lukas Podolski should be playing for Germany which is a bit ironic because the only reason he played for Ireland was because his Grandfather was born in Ireland . Podolski moved to Germany when he was 2 and has lived there since so I don't believe he has any right to criticize such a thing. At the same time the pundits have a habit of accusing players of diving and theatrics which is fair enough but keep silent if an English player like Ashley Young goes down easily. This really infuriates me, I understand that your against cheating but you cant be silent if an English player decides to cheat as that is unbelievably biased.
Yea lawro's a bore, but Podolski isn't German though really - His parents are both Polish, he was born in Poland and he holds Polish citizenship still (along with German) - living in a country doesn't make you from that country...
His grand parents were apparently German and he moved to Germany when he was 2 so he has been brought up Germany. I agree that living in a country doesn't make you from that country but he moved at such a young age and his lived the majority of his life in Germany so you could rightly call him German. The main point I was trying to point across was the irony of Mark Lawernson comments towards Podolski given his claim to be Irish is even more questionable.
The polish city Podolski was born in (Gliwice) belonged to the "Weimar Republic" (also known as 'Deutsches Reich'; look up on wiki if interested in more) during World War I, so if his grandparents were born there, wouldn't that make him German? The commentators and pundits are biased anyway, I wonder how much bigger the hype over someone like Bale would have been if he had opted to play for England.
Your home country is the one you feel most affinity with. If I was born in Australia but moved to England at say 7, by now I'd feel a hell of a lot more English than Aussie.
That goes to show what a load of ballocks "Wiki" is.The Weimar republic didn't come into being until after WW1.Up until then Germany was a kingdom,the family name was Saxe,Coburg Gotha which is the real name of the English royal family.They changed their name to Windsor because of anti German feeling
Yep, the Weimar government formed to sign the armistice and Treaty of Versailles and operated rather badly until it's 'legal overthrow', shall we say in 1932.
I think Lawro's funny. He's a grumpy, dry old bastard. One thing, he doesn't exaggerate the England team, which is a big plus. What would you rather have, him or... ITV?
In general, most BBC commentators sound more like blokes who ring into 606 or pub bores commentating on football. The old school ones like Brian Moore, Barry Davie etc could convey teh sense of occasion and something of the team or players psyche that the modern crowd couldn't even appreciate much less articulate. I accept it's horses for courses, but a mixture would be nice. Lawro is world weary. His contributions remind me of a letter someone sent to the editor of The Times simply asking "Why do you employ a film critic who hates the movies?".
Lawro and that div who commentates with him are pathetically poor. Lawro with his continuous sly digs when a player falls over and the other twat who just sounds bitter cos England lost are awful.
