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[Adam Easy Wishes]

Danny Fox should've taken that free kick that McGeady skied anyway. And vice versa for the free kick a few minutes earlier that Fox curled over the wall straight down the middle.

[ca_gere]

When did players start diving? I can't remember seeing it much when I was a kid. It's gonna eventually ruin the game if they don't do something about it because a lot of players when they get in and around the penalty box actually hope for a bit of contact rather than think about getting a shot off. Surely that's bad for the game.

I posted about it before but, fuck it, i'll do it again. Marouane Chamakh in the champ's league against bayern won the game for his team solely by diving. He got two players yellow carded, who were then sent off later and won two penalties. here's the highlights: YouTube - Girondins Bordeaux - Bayern Munich 2:1- Champions league (HQ)
It's just cheating pure and simple.

[Original Spies]

I used to watch Football Italia on channel 4 when I was a kid, and that's where I first saw it, and it seemed to increase rapidly. Post game interviews used to suggest it was to avoid getting injured in a hard tackle. They never did explain what the arms in the air claiming for a foul meant though.

[ca_gere]

The Italians definitely were more prone to doing that 'begging' hands clasped thing to the ref trying to get another player carded, which sort of perculated into the british game with the influx of foreigners in the form of crowding the ref, etc. (that sounds daily mail-esque but it's football we're talking about so it's not racist) Di Canio, Carboni and their ilk certainly brought a lot of that kind of theatrics to Britain but out and out diving was still pretty rare even after the Football Italia era I reckon.

[Gladstone]

When I was 14, my football team took a trip to Spain to play in a tournament. There were 2 German teams, 2 Russian teams (one of which was Spartak Moscow youth team and they beat us 11-0. And they all had beards), and a Spanish team.

The German 14 year old attacking players ALL knew how to dive. We had never seen it before. It was as if it was taught to them from a young age. Unbelievable.

Agree with ca_gere on the "looking for a foul" comment. Get your head down (or up, whatever) and get into a scoring position, and try and fucking score. Trying to win penalties is just pish. If someone wipes you out whilst trying to score, fair enough, take the penalty, but be pissed off you didn't get the opportunity to score the goal. Don't be pleased that you got the penalty. This cheering and hugging the player who's just won a penalty is almost as bad.

"Well done Eduardo, jolly well played that. You conned the guy into getting within an inch of you, and then went down gloriously to con the ref into thinking he fouled you. Your parents will be so proud."

Fuck off. He should have been booted in the face.

Instead of banning players for diving, it should just be allowed that the entire opposition gets to kick fuck out of them. It would toughen the fairies up for a start.

[Alan Cynic]

Diving goes back a long way...I remember Bertie Miller (ex East Fife) at the Dons in the mid 70s was a bit of an embarrassment, as he could dive from just past the half-way line and land in the opposing penalty box.

(There's also a classic photo of him coming on as a sub, when he forgot he didn't have shorts on under his tracksuit).

However the diving business has definitely got worse in the last decade or so. Now some of the players are even named 'Diver'!!!!!

[Original Spies]

As much I don't like Celtic, Boruc's goalkeeping was actually very clever during that Eduardo challenge, yet he was still penalised. You can see him just put his body between Eduardo and the goal, and pulls away his arms and legs, but Eduardo still falls over the Emirates Stadium wind. Surely if it was Boruc that brought him down, he'd have been red carded instantly? I don't know. Those decisions seem to go either way regardless.

Playing for fouls seems to become a part of the game now and its hard to call it cheating. Players like Ronaldo would just bomb at defenders, cut inside and almost force a foul by being far too quick. Charging at that speed has only got one outcome, and it 9 times out of 10, it's being tripped up legitimately. Obviously he'd go down easy, because he knows he can bang it in from anywhere around the box. You just wonder if pacey, weak wingers are going to be utilised for this purpose more and more. It's the game Rugby Union has turned into almost. Gaining yards, forcing errors and winning penalties. It's all a bit childlike in a "Nope, you're cheating, so I get a free kick at goal now" sort of way, and football is beginning to follow suit. The intentions are obvious when a winger darts into a space where there are 2 or 3 defenders waiting for him instead of moving into space. Players like Wright Phillips and Ronaldo practically made a living out of it last season.

Playing for a penalty when one on one with the keeper is another example. Side stepping the ball away from goal and going over his arms is an instant penalty, and it seems so even if the keeper gets a good hand to the ball now.

Players have to hold back their defending, and goalkeepers can't even come and collect the ball without running the risk of giving away a penalty. There was an article on 365 a while ago on what it would be like if they experimented with completely doing away with the penalty kick, replacing it with an indirect free kick. The attacking play in the box would be alot sharper and more focused, and defenders wouldn't have to hold back on even making well timed tackles in fear of giving away a goal. Obviously, it has more cons and pros, and quite advanatgeous to the defending side, but it's an interesting thought.

[Gladstone]

Originally Posted by Original Spies

As much I don't like Celtic, Boruc's goalkeeping was actually very clever during that Eduardo challenge, yet he was still penalised. You can see him just put his body between Eduardo and the goal, and pulls away his arms and legs, but Eduardo still falls over the Emirates Stadium wind. Surely if it was Boruc that brought him down, he'd have been red carded instantly? I don't know. Those decisions seem to go either way regardless.

Playing for fouls seems to become a part of the game now and its hard to call it cheating. Players like Ronaldo would just bomb at defenders, cut inside and almost force a foul by being far too quick. Charging at that speed has only got one outcome, and it 9 times out of 10, it's being tripped up legitimately. Obviously he'd go down easy, because he knows he can bang it in from anywhere around the box. You just wonder if pacey, weak wingers are going to be utilised for this purpose more and more. It's the game Rugby Union has turned into almost. Gaining yards, forcing errors and winning penalties. It's all a bit childlike in a "Nope, you're cheating, so I get a free kick at goal now" sort of way, and football is beginning to follow suit. The intentions are obvious when a winger darts into a space where there are 2 or 3 defenders waiting for him instead of moving into space. Players like Wright Phillips and Ronaldo practically made a living out of it last season.

Playing for a penalty when one on one with the keeper is another example. Side stepping the ball away from goal and going over his arms is an instant penalty, and it seems so even if the keeper gets a good hand to the ball now.

Players have to hold back their defending, and goalkeepers can't even come and collect the ball without running the risk of giving away a penalty. There was an article on 365 a while ago on what it would be like if they experimented with completely doing away with the penalty kick, replacing it with an indirect free kick. The attacking play in the box would be alot sharper and more focused, and defenders wouldn't have to hold back on even making well timed tackles in fear of giving away a goal. Obviously, it has more cons and pros, and quite advanatgeous to the defending side, but it's an interesting thought.

Just do away with fouls altogether. That would eliminate diving overnight.

Like in old Fifa games, when you could turn fouls off and karate kick players in the face. Brilliant.

[calum]

Marlon King's off to jail.



Marlon King was jailed for 18 months today after being found guilty at Southwark crown court of assaulting a woman in a nightclub and breaking her nose when she spurned his "disgusting" advances.

The 29-year-old has also been sacked by his club, Wigan, the chairman, Dave Whelan, has confirmed.

King, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, said he was a victim of "mistaken identity". But after hearing overwhelming evidence from a string of witnesses, including a football coach who said King was the assailant, the jury unanimously convicted him of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old and causing actual bodily harm.

The court heard that the striker, who was on loan at Hull at the time, was celebrating his wife's pregnancy and scoring a winning goal hours earlier, and had been repeatedly "cold-shouldered" by women in London's packed Soho Revue Bar last December.

When a slightly built university student shunned him, he lost his temper and in an outburst of "completely gratuitous violence" struck out, "smashing" her to the floor. His single clenched-fist blow was so powerful that two other revellers – one of them holding on to his arm – were also sent flying.

While bouncers moved in to restrain King, friends rushed to the aid of his victim. As she was helped to her feet, blood poured from her shattered nose, the court was told.


Marlon King jailed for 18 months after being convicted of assaulting woman | Football | guardian.co.uk

[Alkaline]

Originally Posted by ca_gere

I posted about it before but, fuck it, i'll do it again. Marouane Chamakh in the champ's league against bayern won the game for his team solely by diving. He got two players yellow carded, who were then sent off later and won two penalties. here's the highlights: YouTube - Girondins Bordeaux - Bayern Munich 2:1- Champions league (HQ)
It's just cheating pure and simple.

Don't get me started on that. I was the same colour as the Bayern strip by the end of the game