The Invunche wrote:If you had read the posts of the thread you'd see that Zidane and Materazzi agree that there was no racial abuse.
This piece of sarcasm was aimed more at fans on terraces in football matches who in some situations see fit to make monkey noises when black players run onto the pitch etc. I'm glad to hear players haven't taken it up - leave that up to the people on the terraces, they seem much more used to doing it.
The Invunche wrote:colinr0380 wrote:I'm surprised that they allow anyone who is a hothead with a history of violence on the pitch... oh wait, aren't they mostly like that? See Manchester City's Ben Thatcher who 'accidentally' knocked another player unconcious with his elbow or Wayne Rooney's 'football boot ground into crotch' antics at the World Cup. Or Eric Cantona, whose flying kick hasn't harmed his
career. Even Vinny Jones has become a much loved (?) hard man in the movies.
Great! Shitty sarcasm. No one here was in anyway suggesting Zidane shouldn't be allowed on the pitch. All I've said is that I don't respect him.
Well, actually both the quotes you commented on were meant to be sarcastic but with a serious point to make, which was where would you start in complaining about the actions of footballers? Do you say one or the other is at fault and act shocked as if there's never been some previous footballer who's been an idiot and punched, kicked or headbutted someone? On the other side do you get shocked that someone winds someone up and takes a dive at the earliest opportunity. Short of being elbowed into unconciousness where there's little doubt you are putting it on, there is always some doubt and side-taking.
Are there any football players who should be absolutely respected though? I say this as a non-fan so I'm interested as to whether there are any sterling examples? And this is beyond great footballing skill, which I assume anyone who plays professional football possesses, but whether they are decent, sportsmanlike and professional. Unfortunately, and this is just the impression I get from many of the scandals mentioned and media attention on the game, it seems that a lot of footballers are overgrown children (since that is the age where they have to be 'discovered' in order to become professional footballers), who come by money and a certain cache by being good at football, and then go off the rails when they don't know how to manage the celebrity. However I would be interested to hear of decent players, who probably don't get the media attention they deserve because they don't get involved in such scandals.
I shouldn't direct this particularly at football though, which is why I made my last sarcastic comment about cycling, a sport I quite enjoy but where cheating also seems to be rife. You could also look at situations such as Michael Schumacher in Formula 1, who has a history of unsportsmanlike behaviour (for example one year early in his Formula 1 career when it became obvious to him he wasn't going to be able to finish a race and might loose the championship he took out his nearest points rival in a double crash, securing his first place - it was obvious what he had done but he was allowed to get away with it), and yet is now feted in his final year of motor racing for his contribution to the sport!
The only contribution I could see was that he broke the last barrier of sportmanship by not breaking, but twisting beyond recognition the rules and, more importantly, being allowed to do so. What does that say to other people in the same sport? That as long as you get away with it, that's fine? Furthermore, what does it say when someone else is treated more harshly by the same governing bodies that hands out lesser penalties for similar offences? That as long as you are in favour you can do whatever you want to whoever you want?
To take it back specifically to football aren't the two players involved in that headbutting fracas, for whatever reason it was done, just following in the well-trodden ground of violence that other players have previously done?
Sure - fines and match suspensions are a slap on the wrist, but what's that to someone who earns all that and much more per week? Match suspensions - getting paid for not even playing - what a punishment!
And this comes back to your point about lack of respect for a particular football player - was that the defining moment of your loss of respect or was it an incident that allowed you to crystallise your hatred that had been building for the one particular player? A lot of these points can be made about most sports so I don't want to single out football for criticism, but I would suggest that the worldwide popularity of the game, combined with it being a social (and
socialising) force that is probably the most powerful influence, at least in Britain, makes me much more critical of not just the players actions but the hypocrisy of both the governing bodies that are meant to ensure fair play, and the fans who seem to take their life lessons from what they see on the pitch. It pains me deeply to see young children provided with their first set of ready-made prejudices in the form of hatred for another football team, which they can then apply to future life situations where they face ‘others'. I would stress again this isn't an attack on the game of football (just as, for example, my strong views against George Bush shouldn't be seen as an attack on America itself), but a questioning of the hypocrisy, doublethink and rule bending (breaking?) that sullies
anything when unscrupulous people feel they can get away with it.
Anyway, sorry to take it so far off topic of the actual film itself. Some criticism of the film that I've heard so far revolves around it being perhaps more suited to being an installation piece in a museum, rather than as a film in the cinema. What is the forum's take on this idea? Is it an attempt to try and show the art of playing football for arty types who might not be familiar with the game? Will it be successful in the US in the way that a film about American Football that follows a player round the match with a voiceover of his thoughts would be criticised for because it is about a sport more popular outside the US and that therefore has a certain 'outside the norm' cache?
