Okay this is not about Cardiff although the title could relate to most of Wales' recent performances. I refer mainly to the 2 events involving England teams last night. Now I know England are not that popular on this site and many will think they and their fans deserve everything they get however I think what happened in Poland last night was farcial and in Serbia beyond disgusting. I rushed home from an evening meeting expecting to see the Poland/England game (no Sky to watch Wales thank God) only to see 3 instances of the referee practicing dropping the ball on a waterlogged pitch and a room full of pundits trying to occupy an hour and a half of television with no football. The few scenes of Polish fans water planning across the pitch being chased by useless officials were quite funny though. The incompetence of the idiots trying to organise that game (whether Polish or UEFA or FIFA) beggars belief - heavy rain was forecast so did they close the roof to ensure the game went on? Did they f--k? Everyone there and everyone watching on tv knew at 7.00 pm our time there would be no game if the rain continued and was still unlikely if the rain stopped. Did they consider the fans in all of this? Did they hell. I don't know how many England fans were able to reorganise and stay for the game today (if that goes ahead - difficult to see how they can get that pitch playable less than 24 hours after the deluge - and will the roof be on?) but you can bet at least 60% had to come home last night or this morning thus wasting loads of money on tickets, travel, accommadation and refreshments. I see the FA are considering ticket refunds but what about all the other costs? As for Serbia, the racist abuse dished out to the black England players absolutely sickens me. They were given no protection and no support by the local security who were probably as racist as the fans. And now the Serbian F A (is their honorary president Radovan Karadzic?) says there was no racist abuse - total joke as it can be clearly heard in the limited tv reports. The after game scenes were disgusting and Serbia should have all their international football at all levels banned for at least 3 years or at least until it can be proved beyond doubt to the civilised world that their scum fans (not all I know) have learned how to behave in a civilised world or at least their security services know how to deal with the filth who instigated this. It would be interesting to hear if any of our black players suffered similar abuse in the recent Serbian and Croatian games.
yea, i was watching some of the coverage of the england match yesterday and it was farcical...... apparently the fans werent given any communication / updates as to what was going on, and the whole thing was a shambles. apparently they couldnt close the roof because of health and safety because it was windy and rainy, you'd hope that common sense rules in these situations and they would have seen the forecast being 'heavy rain' and closed the roof, but in order to close it you need both teams to agree to it. they also said they wouldnt close it as they werent sure if 'heavy rain' would become a 'downpoor'. really cant be bothered trying to labour the point but its just ridiculous... as for serbia, i saw some of the footage on youtube and it was a disgrace. the serbian players and staff just kicked off in violence and started pushing and shoving all english players and managament staff, and there was widespread racial abuse from the crowd. i hope they go through the footage and give each player they can identify, a ban, andforce them to play behind closed doors for a period of time..... the reality is that there may be a few bans for the players and a slap on the wrists with a fine....... racism is one of the most heinous crimes in this country, but it isnt seen that way in eastern europe it seems.........
Agree with the comments as both are inexcusable. The first (the roof) is just incompetence the second however is malicious. I feel the book should be thrown at the serbian FA. I see they've closed the roof today and it's been sunny. Perhaps someone wired the 'open' and 'close' switches the wrong way round. Has Sparkey been doing any 'foreigners' (in more than one sense of the word)?
will it ever end....i very much doubt it [video=youtube;AYur2tSf3HU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYur2tSf3HU&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
As a passionate supporter of both football and rugby it's clear to see that although football has been a professional sport long before rugby has been rugby is miles ahead in all departments! The problem is the football governing bodies are governed by dinosaurs who are out of touch with the really world there'll be a little fine and that's about it!!!! Look at the Gloucester rugby player punched a player twice and kneed him once and is facing a 2 year ban that's punishment unlike these silly 3 match bans etc look at Sam Warburton did a tip tackle by mistake no malice in it 6 week ban that is in comparison a 8-12 match ban in football!!!! I know these ain't racist situations but its just proof that the IRB ain't afraid of player power!! Another example is diving! A few years back a rugby player took a blood pill so a kicker could come on and score a penalty! The coaching staff and player got banned for two years...can you see the FA banning a player like Welbeck or Suarez for two years?! Hell no!!! So how's this related? its simples they both cheated to benefit the team! if you did that to any player who dives you soon eradicate it!!!!!
With you on that 87. Neil Back got banned for 6 months for pushing a ref when he was England's 1st choice openside. You see that at least once a week in the premiership and not even a yellow card. Rugby isn't perfect, but neither is there the big bucks. The UK has spent a long time trying to eradicate systemic racism. I don't think it is fully acheived and some of it has gone underground but it is a lot better than the late 70s / early 80s. It shouldn't be tollerated when UK teams go abroad.
I agree totally still problems in the game but the IRB every year keep changing rules to try and improve the game where as in football they do F*** ALL The two sports will never be perfect but football isn't moving forward its just stuck in repeat mode same problems and nothing being done about it! Just a broken record repeating itself that's why I stopped playing football and went to rugby way more respect on the game! Only reason why I support Cardiff is because I was brought up to and was taken there as a little boy Cardiff boy through and through but sadly I'm losing the love for the sport with the constant corruption on all levels players run the game these days no respect diving swearing shoving abusing fans!!! There a law of there own and needs to be brought back to earth with a bump!
That may be true Aber but there is no excuse for the pig ignorant behaviour of Serbian fans, officials and players on Tuesday night. I see UEFA is charging England for failing to control their players. Another absolute joke. How are they supposed to behave when confronted with blatant racism and violence and with no protection whatsoever from local security? Just take it meekly and expect UEFA or FIFA to do something about? Hell will freeze over before that happens. I see Man City were fined more for being a minute late on the pitch at half time in a Champions League game than Serbia were for their previous racist attrocity in 2007. Now that is hypocrisy for you!!! Stamp it out!!! What, poor time keeping? Also is it me, but watching the Poland/England game last night were the jeers and whistles from the home fans that much louder whenever a coloured English player was on the ball - Lescott in particular for some reason? Looks like the problem is endemic in Eastern Europe.
Its Septic's neck that needs wringing not his hand for shaking. He and his corrupt cronies are at the root of this.
Hiya folks......on the plus side....if Serbia are banned from all international fixtures presumably matches already played in this WC qualifiers would be 'scratched' - Belgium & Macedonia would be deducted 3 points & Scotland 1 point - Wales would't be deducted any & goal differece would be five goals to the good. This would put us third, only 3 points off Belgium. Ultimately wouldn't make any difference cos we're a million miles away from being good enough anyway.
To balance things out on Football v Rugby. If a footballer started punching and kneeing someone in the head im sure hed be arrested and there would be a criminal trial. Footballers generally there is a bit of handbags now and then and there is uproar. Rugby players punch , gouge , ive seen biting , dropping people on their heads. Again if this was football there would be a criminal trial. Im sure if a footballer drunk nicked a car or drove a golf buggy down the M4 hed face far more consequences than a rugby player. A football commits and offence - thug , rugby player - high jinx. Throw a cone outside a football ground your looking at 18 months in her majestys finest. Become involved in a mass brawl after a rugby game and its swept under the carpet. Football in the PL is full of diving and cheating. The Champoinship is great to watch though. This compare football to rugby keeps getting dragged up. Rugby is the sport of the establishment in Wales but it has its own problems including the behaviour of those who play it and on international days those who follow it. On the subject id kick Serbia out of these qualifiers if found guilty.
Even if,and it's a big if, UEFA banned Serbia it would only effect tournaments under their jurisdiction. It would probably need action by FIFA for them to be banned from the current qualifying tournament. I can't see any governing bodies taking serious action. England players were also involved in the fracas on the pitch so will they get punished? Yet again the racism issues will be swept under the carpet just as they have with the John Terry incident. That took about a year to investigate and ended with a slap on the wrist.
The point is that if there hadn't been such a level of abuse it is unlikely there would have been any "afters" when the game finished. What were the England players supposed to do, just stand there and take it like patsy's? Maybe Rose went a bit over the top but he had been sent off for the heinous offence of kicking the ball away, after the final whistle, bearing in mind the amount of dog's abuse he had been taking all game. Were the assaults on Caulker and Wigley justified? There were probably others which we didn't see. AND, a big AND, where were the Serbian police and security when all this happened and what protection did they provide? Yes, I'm going on a bit but something rally has to be done about this. We see terrible incidents in Africa but how long before some trigger happy to$$er in eastern Europe (where black market guns are plentiful) actually takes a shot at a black player from another country?
Having worked and lived in Sebia, Bosnia and Croatia I am not surprised at the level of racism or violence encountered in Serbia. This goes beyond football as the Serbs still feel aggrieved over the treatment they received during the war they started in the early 90s. This was (as they view it) a way to vent their anger and frustration at what they see as the "foreigners" meddling in their affairs. All the Balkan and east European countries need dragging into the 21st century, unfortunately I suspect neither UEFA or FIFA will take strong enough action to stamp out the racism or violence seen at this match. BFB, with regard to the weapons situation in former Yugoslav countries, every serving soldier were allowed to keep their weapons when they left the military, scarey but true.
To be fair to Powell, at least he made the M4. The last incident involving a footballer and a golf buggy that I'm aware of, didn't end too well I've only seen a short clip on the BBC site but they were there, all kitted out....and watching.
they'll probably get a £20k fine and they may ban a few of the players / staff that caused the almighty scuffle at the end..... they have a track record of handing token fines out for this sort of thing and they arent going to all of a sudden change their rules.....
H - baiting players from other countries is probably regarded as a spectator sport in Serbia and the local plod were more than likely taking bets on which one would respond first. I'm surprised they didn't join in with the fans and players to give the English lads a few wallops with the rubber truncheon or turn the water cannon on them. Yes Taff I had heard about that. Think I'll cross Serbia off my list of places to visit. Going to Prague in November but should be okay as a fair haired 6 ft tall Caucasian.
