Amidst all this mania

[guest7]

As many of you will know, I'm not a footie fan and the unrelenting bombardment of footie news is doing my head in.

However, here in Wales we are spared the full lunacy surrounding England's participation in the World Cup. In the last week, here in my city, I have seen exactly one car with St George cross flags and exactly no flags hanging from houses or businesses. This doesn't mean that the pubs aren't packed solid when England are playing and there's plenty of goodwill for the team, but it's not our flag and flying it would seem a bit odd. 

Now I'm guessing that if I crossed the border it will be a different story. What's it like over there?

GC

[Steve Lake]

sheer bluddy lunacy #1........i'm no footie fan either.......so I tend to see the daft side of things, like a manager paid £7m A YEAR!!!
players on vastly inflated wages as well........and as far as I can ascertain......we havn't won a game yet!!!

In this new age of austerity.......couldn't we save a LOT of money by putting them all on the bus home NOW!...AND all the stupid bluddy 'experts' and 'comentators'...tv crews etc etc....what a waste of money!   (feel free to move this to the rant section )

no.....on 2nd thoughts....leave the bu55ers out there....just stop paying them

result (which is more than they can claim)

[guest7]

It's a sad fact that they are paid in line with the entertainment dollar they generate  

How much did Hutchy walk away with from his IOM 5 wins last week? Probably not even a Premiership footballer's weekly wage, despite having brushed his shoulder on stone walls at 100+ mph.

Footballers would be welcome to their money if it wasn't for all the on-pitch histrionics and off-pitch poor behaviour. Compare their attitude to the true hard men of sport like Tour de France riders or desert racing motorcyclists. Tommy Simpson's last words before he died on the ascent of Mount Ventoux were "put me back on the bike".


Hubert Auriol rode the last leg of the '87 Paris Daker with broken ankles:


As the joke goes: I was watching football in the house the other day. I got up to close the curtains, knocked against the telly and half the Chelsea team fell over"
Pah!

GC

[Ian]

Overpaid numbskulls with no appetite for winning.....thats how to make a living now

Ian

[JOOLZ]

We hate football but the roads are great for riding when everyone is in watching the box

[guest7]

We hate football but the roads are great for riding when everyone is in watching the box

Amen! 

GC

[Steve Lake]

Aparently....the rest of the England games (might only be one with any luck) are to be shown on the gay adult chanel.......

watching 11 a***holes getting shafted is too strong for normal daytime TV

[guest24]

Rather terrifyingly I have noticed a new menace on the roads with all this football. Not the cars flying their flags, but the cars that did have flags that have now fallen off and are lying the road waiting to cause you grief!! Far too many of them.

I dislike footie too, and it is disgusting to the point of making me feel quite ill the amount of money they get. When a local hospital faces closure due to lack of funding you can see huge funds being thrown at managers & players. Shameful. Sorry, am I ranting now?

[guest18]

Ahhhh, it's like an oasis of commonsense in here! (for a change  )

[guest564]

Sorry, am I ranting now?

Yes, most of the money that football brings in is from abroad so it helps to redress the balance of payments.
The players are highly paid because they generate a lot of income, the value of overseas TV rights for the premiership is estimated to be £1.4billion for 2010-13. Then there is worldwide sales of replica kits* and merchandise, overseas tours and other income generators. All that brings in lots of money in tax that goes into the big pot that pays for hospitals and stuff.
There are no flags on my van or flying from my house but I will be watching the games when I can.


Its estimated that 10million replica David Beckham kits were sold in Asia alone during his time at Man. Utd.

[guest7]

I think that's a better thought out and more articulate way of saying what I meant when I said they are paid in line with the entertainment dollar they generate.

How many people actually watched the IOM TV coverage? What are the IOM TV rights worth to a TV company? The answer is feck all (in comparison to golf, footie and tennis). Consequently there is much much much less money being given back to the sport to pay the riders, etc.

It still doesn't give the players the right to behave like petulant tarts though.

GC

[halfmad]

Well I'm Irish

and all i can say is



Anyone but france 

[Richard]

My excuse is that I have been drinking Westons cider but....................

We have a minimum wage, may we have a maximum wage as well please ?

I can just see the flood of talented folk like Capello fleeing overseas.

Not all bad news then.

Richard

[KirriePete]

Spotted in Embra:



Says it all really!

[guest27]

What?  That the racist prat lives in the middle?

I see that HMV in Scotland have been advised by the police to remove all their ABE merchandise from the shelves, being as it promotes racism and racial hatred.

NO problems with people supporting anyone they please but ABE is what it is, culturally ingrained racism.

Mind ABB seems to be on the increase in the US....

And it was nice to hear the BBC report the winner of the US golf open as being Northern Irish as opposed to British.  I seem to remember their reporting as being European, NI and only long down the line British and that was in relation to the last British winner (Tony Jacklin)

Mind they were describing Bradly Smith as British, not English, on the 125 commentary so it does cut both ways despite assurance fro some quarters that the BBC describe the English as English and all others from the UK as British.

 

R