This story has given me a lot of laughs. Nicklas Bendtner celebrated his goal against Portugal by revealing his Paddy Power underwear, which he claims brings him good luck.* He has been banned for one competitive game and hit with a fine of £80,000. While I will always enjoy any misfortune which comes the Danish moron's way, I think it's important to put that £80,000 into context. In June 2008, the Croatian Football Federation was fined £10,000 following racist behavior from their fans, including displaying a racist banner. That's UEFA's twisted priorities for you: advertising a betting company is eight times as bad as racism! This Torygraph article adds a little more perspective: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...nderwear-exposes-Uefas-skewed-priorities.html My opinion on this is that UEFA is a despicable organisation, but we can still laugh, because it's Bendtner, and he's a tool. * Read: "money, lots of money"
Hold on, there's no comparison here. The Croatian Federation weren't fined as much as Bendtner because the Croatian Federation did not racially abuse anyone, some supporters did. So they can fine them as much as they like but it won't change how the crowd behaves. In the Bendtner incident, UEFA need to make sure that players can't profit from this kind of thing. I am sure if we saw how much he was being paid by Paddy Power it would not be so surprising.
Qwerty, your point is valid but I think Joe is right. UEFA pay lip service to racism but this seems to really get them upset.
I appreciate the point about racism, and perhaps that should be more severely punished, but surely it's not on for a player to take money, especially from a betting company, to do something on the pitch, even if it is just to reveal his underwear. I think he has been made an example of and other players might be less likely to do similar things in future.
What does a betting company have to do with it? Gambling is plastered all over football, loads of club sponsors, pitchside hoardings, even that bloody Ray Winstone advert.
which pees me off, because the FA chose Winston to lead their RESPECT campaign but allow him (or fail to do a proper contract) promote betting and gambling all over the place.... young, impressionable kids must be so confused!
for the record, I think Joe's OP is spot on. No it is not cut and dried, but UEFA and FIFA do seem to care about the commercial stuff more.
UEFA are a joke. The FA's of those countries found guilty of racism are responsible and should take.a.punishment that ensures they do something about their own fans. i.e a ban as English clubs served after hysel, which kicked us into shape. An individual being fined treble what a federation got for racism is laughable. Wonder what our FA will be fined for a so called pitch invasion. Bet it is more than those for racism.
What i think is funny is that i had not heard of this at all no mention nothing, until UEFA started banging on about it, Paddy Power were probably loving the fact it got called out
I am guessing that the advertisers in the stadium have contracts promising that they are exclusive for the particular sector. That is why the fine is so large. You have to wonder, where do you come by a pair of Bedfred trolleys? I dare say he had a contract and if he was prudent he would have demanded £X's + any fine imposed.
interesting. i was supporting croatia tonight but perhaps i made a mistake. also the fines are a disgrace in comparison. if it was a lot of croatia fans they should have been ordered to play behind closed doors or a big fine
UPDATE: Paddy Power have decided to pay the mad fine. Good on 'em. https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/215041176053628928
