[Other Sport] EURO 2022 Official Thread

[hart's shirt]

'France finally get to leave Rotherham, they are going to Milton Keynes'

Every silver lining has a cloud.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Every silver lining has a cloud.

Any chance of you and [MENTION=600]Bry Nylon[/MENTION] teaming up as a double act? I'd genuinely buy a ticket.

 

[Durlston]

I've tried again. It's non league played in slow motion.

I enjoyed the England QF (and I was away in Romania for the 8-0, where this isn't a big deal) and I will no doubt watch us in the semi, and final if we get there. And, if this even gets one girl off the sofa and playing sport, then it's a great, great thing.

But this is terrible. The refereeing is shocking (how on earth did the pen need VAR?) and, as a game, it's about as coherent as a Bear Pit thread. The atmosphere sounds like a 9th birthday party.

Sorry. *hangs head*

No, it's not 'terrible'. Last night, the two goalkeepers played superbly. The French girls (especially their black players) were as fast as you would probably see in the Championship/League One and their passing in the final third was inventive and penetrating. They did everything except score and then in the second half the Dutch were more in control and had it not been for Vivianne Miedema coming back from Covid-19, by only playing at 50-60% of her level, it would have been an even better game.

I'm sorry if you miss the diving, the spitting, the swearing, the dissent towards the referee and abusive chanting but I am falling in love with women's football with the energy, honesty and will-to-win it brings. The standard has gone up hugely in the last ten years. The reason why the penalty wasn't 100% obvious was because Diani tried to stay on her feet and the referee didn't have a clear view. It's not perfect by any means and there have been some very poor performances by teams but the four semi-finalists all have a decent chance of winning it and I hope they get more money filtered into the game throughout the world.

I've always thought you are a decent fella on here, [MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION] but your view is rather ignorant towards the women that represent their country and that is a real shame, especially coming from a moderator.

 

[Bodian]

No, it's not 'terrible'. Last night, the two goalkeepers played superbly. The French girls (especially their black players) were as fast as you would probably see in the Championship/League One and their passing in the final third was inventive and penetrating. They did everything except score and then in the second half the Dutch were more in control and had it not been for Vivianne Miedema coming back from Covid-19, by only playing at 50-60% of her level, it would have been an even better game.

I'm sorry if you miss the diving, the spitting, the swearing, the dissent towards the referee and abusive chanting but I am falling in love with women's football with the energy, honesty and will-to-win it brings. The standard has gone up hugely in the last ten years. The reason why the penalty wasn't 100% obvious was because Diani tried to stay on her feet and the referee didn't have a clear view. It's not perfect by any means and there have been some very poor performances by teams but the four semi-finalists all have a decent chance of winning it and I hope they get more money filtered into the game throughout the world.

These bits in particular. As my elderly neighbour said to me this morning, it has returned football to 'The Beautiful Game' - free-flowing, few interruptions. I really hope the FA take note and stamp out dissent, which they could do in a season if players were booked immediately. Just think, Man Utd players swarming the ref - every one of them gets booked. They would soon have half the team suspended. They'd stop immediately.

 

[Bry Nylon]

The quality will improve - of course it will. But for me, that is secondary. As the posts above have said, it is the spirit and the ethos that women bring to football that, for me, makes it a great watch, compared to the snarling, cheating, ref-swarming, diving and time wasting that is part and parcel of elite mens football these days. Sure, PL football dishes up some great games but it needs to when matches last 96+ minutes with the ball only in play for 55 of them. It also dishes up some absolute stinkers. Who knew?

Tbh, I get bored shitless watching Man City stroke the ball around then commit a niggly, technical foul the moment their opponent gets the ball in order to break up play and fracture the rhythm of the game. Effective? Undoubtedly. A good watch? Debatable. For some reason I watched all 120 minutes of the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool, when re-grouting the bathroom would have been more entertaining.

So of course, it’s all subjective, but I genuinely believe if people are looking at womens football through the prism of the mens game which has been professional for over 150 years and then dismiss it as not being to the same standard, they are missing the point. My 12 year old daughter runs 1500m at District level and came back from an athletics meet last week a bit downcast because she came 2nd out of a mixed gender field in a race that was won by a lad who’s recently been offered schoolboy terms with a league one football club.

Stupidly, I told her to just keep training, competing and use it as motivation to get faster. What I should have told her, obvs, is she’ll never be as fast over 1500m as the fastest boys, so she might as well pack it in.

 

[dazzer6666]

There is a lot of skill, dedication, relative athleticism and crowd enthusiasm.

There is no pace, strength, composure or anticipation. The goals are too big for the keepers, yet the shots are too weak. I've seen better refs on Victoria Park on Sunday morning.

Haha, if you set foot on the pitch some of those girls would batter you in a 1-1 for pace, strength, composure and anticipation. Junior played football up to u18s at a decent level but he’s levels below Championship players (tier 2) on everything but sprinting

 

[Guinness Boy]

Haha, if you set foot on the pitch some of those girls would batter you in a 1-1 for pace, strength, composure and anticipation. Junior played football up to u18s at a decent level but he’s levels below Championship players (tier 2) on everything but sprinting

I’m a 50 year old fat bloke. They’d get beaten by a County League men’s team.


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[herecomesaregular]

I’m a 50 year old fat bloke. They’d get beaten by a County League men’s team.


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Who cares? I love tennis, watch both mens and womens play, and I don't ever think "Perdo Martinez (ranked #100) would smash this Iga Swiatek (ranked #1) off the court". It's not relevant.

 

[gripper stebson]

I've no axe to grind in the womens football debate but have always wondered (infact I pitched it as a TV doc idea when I worked at Ricochet!) where the England womens team would find their level in the mens pyramid.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Who cares? I love tennis, watch both mens and womens play, and I don't ever think "Perdo Martinez (ranked #100) would smash this Iga Swiatek (ranked #1) off the court". It's not relevant.

I find women’s tennis far better to watch than mens. Longer rallies and more tactical. I’ve just not joined those falling in love with this tournament, and I wonder how many gushing will be at Crawley in the rain.


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[Guinness Boy]

I'm sorry if you miss the diving, the spitting, the swearing, the dissent towards the referee and abusive chanting but I am falling in love with women's football with the energy, honesty and will-to-win it brings. The standard has gone up hugely in the last ten years. The reason why the penalty wasn't 100% obvious was because Diani tried to stay on her feet and the referee didn't have a clear view. It's not perfect by any means and there have been some very poor performances by teams but the four semi-finalists all have a decent chance of winning it and I hope they get more money filtered into the game throughout the world.

.

Yes, I enjoy the bad behaviour to an extent and certainly the atmosphere it generates as a result. I like my football a little bit nasty. It’s just about the last place left where young, working class men can let off steam. Ask yourself what might happen to society if that outlet was removed.

I’d contrast the reffing with the Men’s Euros which was the best refereed tournament for years and in turn improved it in the Premier League.


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[Bry Nylon]

I've no axe to grind in the womens football debate but have always wondered (infact I pitched it as a TV doc idea when I worked at Ricochet!) where the England womens team would find their level in the mens pyramid.

**** me, why do you wonder that? Is it to try and prove some point that doesn’t need proving? I’m guessing your idea didn’t get anywhere and thank god for that. As the dad of a sports mad daughter, attitudes like that make life far more difficult than it needs to be. Let’s try an inspire people ffs, rather than telling them they’re not good enough.

Next time you put a link up for your next movie or book, be sure to include the link to the Oscar nomination or Booker prize long list as well.

 

[Swansman]

I've no axe to grind in the womens football debate but have always wondered (infact I pitched it as a TV doc idea when I worked at Ricochet!) where the England womens team would find their level in the mens pyramid.

Plenty of women's teams sometimes play against boys to get a different type of challenge, and from the outcomes it is pretty safe to say that they would struggle against any group of reasonably fit grown-up men... which is the reason we generally don't do mixed genders in sports.

Not quite sure why this question is brought up all the time. Was a similar thing when women's football broke through and became popular in Sweden back in 2001.. plenty of "could you ever beat the men's team?" question etc.

Rarely hear that about other sports. "Wonder where Paula Radcliffe would end up in a men's 5000m race?" Well, dead last. But its just the biological reality and something that you should shrug off. As long as the teams facing eachother are on a similar level, sports can be exciting no matter how much muscles the players have.

I’m a 50 year old fat bloke. They’d get beaten by a County League men’s team.


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Yeah they would, and Brighton in 96/97 would be beaten by about a thousand different teams... did you watch that Hereford game you guys always talk about or did you sit at home watching Deportivo beat Sevilla 3-0? If your kids play football, are you not excited watching them play?

If sports was only interesting/entertaining because of the raw quality of the players/football, people would have no reason to watch any other teams than the ten best or so in the world... which luckily isn't the case.

 

[gripper stebson]

**** me, why do you wonder that? Is it to try and prove some point that doesn’t need proving? I’m guessing your idea didn’t get anywhere and thank god for that. As the dad of a sports mad daughter, attitudes like that make life far more difficult than it needs to be. Let’s try an inspire people ffs, rather than telling them they’re not good enough.

Next time you put a link up for your next movie or book, be sure to include the link to the Oscar nomination or Booker prize long list as well.

Apologies mate - I'll stop wondering things.

 

[dazzer6666]

I’m a 50 year old fat bloke. They’d get beaten by a County League men’s team.


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The continual comparison with the men’s game to diss the women’s sport is nonsensical………could do the same with countless other sports (cricket, golf, athletics, hockey, tennis etc etc etc). So what ? Also, the players are technically better than county league men but sure, they wouldn’t be able to cope with 6’4” CBs at set pieces and the like. For every element of the men’s game that’s ‘better’, there’s a part of the women’s game that ‘wins’ IMO (already covered in here but things like lack of timewasting, ref-surrounding, injury feigning, lack of abusive crowd elements, no segregation etc etc).

 

[Gwylan]

I find women’s tennis far better to watch than mens. Longer rallies and more tactical. I’ve just not joined those falling in love with this tournament, and I wonder how many gushing will be at Crawley in the rain.

But you could say the same about men's cricket - massive crowds and ticket ballots for test matches but two men and a dog at county games. And men's rugby attracts small crowds at club games. That's the nature of international sport

 

[Bry Nylon]

Apologies mate - I'll stop wondering things.

Well it just seems to be such a one-dimensional view. I reckon you must pour blood, sweat and tears into your movies to get the budget to get them made, find an audience and make some money. So it would serve no purpose to say, ‘yeah - but the special effects weren’t as good as Skyfall, Daniel Craig wasn’t in it and it didn’t take as much at the box office.’

So what? Its a different film.

Anyway - apologies if I was a bit waspish. I don’t mean to be, and it isn’t my normal style on here.

 

[gripper stebson]

Well it just seems to be such a one-dimensional view. I reckon you must pour blood, sweat and tears into your movies to get the budget to get them made, find an audience and make some money. So it would serve no purpose to say, ‘yeah - but the special effects weren’t as good as Skyfall, Daniel Craig wasn’t in it and it didn’t take as much at the box office.’

So what? Its a different film.

It's not really my 'view' as such. I just wondered where, given the different types of skill required in the mens and women's game, they would meet on the football pyramid.... and I'm still quite interested in that despite being told off!!

Your points about the fact that they should not be compared are totally correct of course, and, as you say, there is a fair bit the men's game could learn from the women. x

 

[Bry Nylon]

It's not really my 'view' as such. I just wondered where, given the different types of skill required in the mens and women's game, they would meet on the football pyramid.... and I'm still quite interested in that despite being told off!!

Your points about the fact that they should not be compared are totally correct of course, and, as you say, there is a fair bit the men's game could learn from the women. x

I edited my post to include an apology for the tone of my reply, but it must have landed whilst you were responding. I’ll keep watching and reading your stuff even if Daniel Craig isn’t returning you calls or Paramount won’t give you $20m and Margot Robbie.

 

[Guinness Boy]

The continual comparison with the men’s game to diss the women’s sport is nonsensical………could do the same with countless other sports (cricket, golf, athletics, hockey, tennis etc etc etc). So what ? Also, the players are technically better than county league men but sure, they wouldn’t be able to cope with 6’4” CBs at set pieces and the like. For every element of the men’s game that’s ‘better’, there’s a part of the women’s game that ‘wins’ IMO (already covered in here but things like lack of timewasting, ref-surrounding, injury feigning, lack of abusive crowd elements, no segregation etc etc).

So you can compare them favourably to an ordinary man in their 50s but not to regular sports people their own age?


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