English Chess Forum

Tony Adams autobiography was a good read as football books go

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Any postings on here represent my personal views and should not be taken as representative of the Manchester Chess Federation

Joey Barton acts as he likes because he knows some other club will employ him. It's all down to cash.

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A banker, a Daily Mail reader and a benefit claimant are sitting at a table sharing 12 biscuits. The banker takes 11 and says to the Daily Mail reader: “Watch out for the benefit claimant, he wants your biscuit”.

Noble savage, my bleeding heart. Pretentious twaddle from the Guardian journalist, passing off attitudes to Joey Barton as class snobbery. The man is a thug with a bad attitude. It is not wrong to condemn him for his behaviour and I doubt the working class neighbours he left behind in Liverpool have a good word to say on his behalf.

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Any postings on here represent my personal views and should not be taken as representative of the Manchester Chess Federation

I'm not bothered which team wins the Premiership as I think footballers are just overpaid actors who try to win a game in anyway they can - including cheating their own professionals by claiming penalties and trying to get the opposition sent off for the slightest of incidents. They are no better than wrestlers in the WWE.

As an example in the Man.City v QPR match (and in no way am I trying to excuse Joey Barton for his conduct), when Tevez got elbowed, he fell on the floor like a sack of potatoes, as did the other City player who Barton kneed in the back of the leg. If someone elbowed you in the face, would it really cause you to fall on the floor and roll all over the place ? No, it certainly would not. OK, it would be painful and might cause an injury, but I am certain you would stay on your feet and even have the ability to try and fight back.

In my opinion the two incidents by Joey Barton constitute grievous bodily harm and as such he should be arrested and taken to court - why should such an assault not be treated as such just because it is on a football field ? This, however, could apply to thousands of footballers, yet supporters always think it is "the other team" who is at fault.

Why is it that at rugby, a player can be tackled heavily to the ground by several opponents and yet just gets up and carries on with the game, yet the slightest touch to any part of a footballer's body sends them rolling with agony on the floor ? The answer - they are cheats !

I would love to get a few of these Premiership football so-called superstars on a rugby field - and also let them be controlled by a rugby referee, because they would all probably be sent off within the first five minutes because of their arguing over decisions.

However, if supporters are daft enough to continue to pay their hard-earned money to go and watch these so-called sportsmen then who can blame them for ripping off the clubs for every penny they can.

Football - a game for gentlemen played by hooligans

Rugby - a game for hooligans played by homicidal maniacs

Why don't you ask Gary Mabbutt about the incident involving him and John Fashanu?



Equally, the rugby players in a football match would be sent off after five minutes after they pick up the ball.

I concluded that I would never understand rugby after an incident approximately 18 minutes into the first semi-final of the 2011 world cup. The Australian commentary is rather illuminating in that they almost immediately predicted the resulting sending-off while the British commentators were calling it a great tackle.

If I were running, or attempting a tackle, or doing something else that meant my balance was a bit fragile? Very possibly.

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http://westcountrychess.blogspot.com

Jack, a scenario could be made for every possibility if required - yes, someone standing on a tightrope who got elbowed in the face might fall off, but the vast majority of cases in a football match are just when two players are stood near each other and one makes contact with the other. In the Joey Barton incidents at the weekend, both Manchester City players went down as though they had been shot but were just playacting in order to try and make the matter look worse - ie they were cheating. (In a boxing match, a fighter doesn't fall to the floor from every punch he gets to the face, yet footballers do it constantly for receiving a lot less powerful contact.)

Again, I reiterate that I am not defending Barton because for me he should be banned from the game forever, but players of every club are constantly trying to get decisions for their team by cheating. FIFA, the FA, the Premier League authorities, the managers, the fans and the players all know that, but nobody has the guts to make a stance against it.

I think the best rule that football could take from rugby is to allow the trainer onto the field and to attend to an injured player whilst play is in progress. That would stop many of these players just rolling around in order to get the game stopped - what a farce it is when the game has to be stopped and a supposed injured player has to be taken off the field and yet, seconds later is back running around as though nothing had happened.

Richard, commentators are no different to supporters or anyone with an interest in a certain team and are themselves not immune from biased opinions to suit their own purpose. Just listen to any commentator for an England football match - they go ecstatic when England get a goal yet don't show the same enthusiasm when the opponents score.

I do not know of the Mabbutt-Fashanu incident so maybe you can enlighten us. However, I assume you will say that there was an elbow which caused some serious injury. OK, that may have been the case, but rather than pick on one such incident, focus more on the general reaction from footballers. Do you not agree that in 99% of cases they deliberately overreact (ie cheat) to try and get a decision to go their way or are you saying they are always as injured as they make out to be ?

Like this?

I am not disputing that the two above cases are bad incidents, but you have both not answered my point about is it always the case that someone who is hit in the face always has to fall to the floor and roll around in complete agony ?

People don't generally do so when it happens in other forms of life, so why should footballers always feel it is necessary to do so - and even when the contact is a lot less than those highlighted above ? Again, the answer is that they are trying to cheat ? (Or do you disagree ?)

Football

http://bit.ly/viM7nH

Rugby

http://bit.ly/jODhEm

ps . Joey Barton's brother is currently serving life for the random racist murder of Anthony Walker

You can prove anything with facts...

Football: http://twitpic.com/9lqmz2

Rugby: http://twitpic.com/9lqm6n

I did use to share Alan's opinion completely, and still do to an extent. (It is the appealing for throw-ins that annoys me most. Every player cheats, and it is not that temptation has overcome them, when there is so little at stake).

But I can see the "Continental perspective". The idea that throwing yourself to the ground like a sack of spuds, or waving an imaginary card, is worse than inflicting violence on another player is a bit doubtful. And if a player only does it when the was a real foul, the conclusion there is no more foul play, isn't so bad is it?

In football, I blame the sports psychologists, egged on by the managers to gain that 'edge'. Take this well-known example of frequently-observed 'mobbing' behaviour

http://bit.ly/KfLeth

In rugby, I blame the parents