21-06-2016, 00:12
(This post was last modified: 21-06-2016, 01:48 by SaltergateBorn.)
Okay.
I`ve just watched the England game and it has put me in SUCH a good mood that I feel like making myself even more unpopular.
Amelia, as I see it you question the decision to sign Ched Evans on 2 grounds; one footballing, one morality.
On the footballing point, I agree entirely. After 4 years out of the game, it is indeed questionable whether he will ever be able to regain the touch and the sharpness that made him the player that he was. The club have taken a gamble on this, no doubt on the back of the judgment of Danny Wilson and Chris Morgan, who clearly know him well from his Sheffield United days and rate his ability. They may be right, they may be wrong; time alone will tell. But that is a separate issue entirely from the point I was making.
When you start talking about `morality`, however. you are dipping your toe into very murky waters. That word means means different things to different people. From a personal point of view, I watch football these days and am continually exasperated, frustrated and dismayed by the play-acting, diving, time-wasting, gamesmanship, the lack of respect for their fellow players (trying to get them booked or sent off) and the manipulation of officials that is commonplace in the game today. Let`s lump all of those together under one generic heading and call them what they are: cheating.
Unlike rugby - of both codes - which takes an attitude of zero tolerance to all of these, football merrily accepts them as `all part of the game`. (Those are the words of those great arbiters of all things righteous and moral, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini.) Where`s the `morality` there, Amelia? We all accept them, indeed applaud them, if they win our team a free kick / penalty / goal but decry them in an instant if they are perpetrated by a member of the opposing team. Such is the tribalism of football. As a very wise man, much wiser than me (my father) once said to me just before he passed on 3 years ago; "Son, if you`re looking for integrity in football these days, I suggest you go out and buy yourself a bloody good microscope; you`ll need it!". He could remember - as I can (just) - the days when players kicked each other six feet up in the air and then just got up and got on with it. I thought about him just now; as it happens he was a Welshman, a very proud one, and without any doubt whatsoever he would be royally pi~~ing himself laughing right now if he was still with us.
As regards the `circus` that you talk about, SCO, again a fair point. But you know what they say, there`s no such thing as bad publicity. In the short term this may well have tarnished our reputation in the eyes of some, including some of our own supporters, but this is IN THE SHORT TERM. If Ched Evans is cleared at his retrial and goes on to score 30 goals this season, I suspect that a lot will be forgiven, such is the `morality` of football these days. However, as we all know mud sticks. Let`s be under no illusions, even if he is cleared at his retrial this guy will have this have this hanging over him for the rest of his career, if not his life.
Unlike the other party involved, whose anonymity will be preserved whatever the verdict at the retrial. Again; where`s the morality there, Amelia?
I`ve just watched the England game and it has put me in SUCH a good mood that I feel like making myself even more unpopular.
Amelia, as I see it you question the decision to sign Ched Evans on 2 grounds; one footballing, one morality.
On the footballing point, I agree entirely. After 4 years out of the game, it is indeed questionable whether he will ever be able to regain the touch and the sharpness that made him the player that he was. The club have taken a gamble on this, no doubt on the back of the judgment of Danny Wilson and Chris Morgan, who clearly know him well from his Sheffield United days and rate his ability. They may be right, they may be wrong; time alone will tell. But that is a separate issue entirely from the point I was making.
When you start talking about `morality`, however. you are dipping your toe into very murky waters. That word means means different things to different people. From a personal point of view, I watch football these days and am continually exasperated, frustrated and dismayed by the play-acting, diving, time-wasting, gamesmanship, the lack of respect for their fellow players (trying to get them booked or sent off) and the manipulation of officials that is commonplace in the game today. Let`s lump all of those together under one generic heading and call them what they are: cheating.
Unlike rugby - of both codes - which takes an attitude of zero tolerance to all of these, football merrily accepts them as `all part of the game`. (Those are the words of those great arbiters of all things righteous and moral, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini.) Where`s the `morality` there, Amelia? We all accept them, indeed applaud them, if they win our team a free kick / penalty / goal but decry them in an instant if they are perpetrated by a member of the opposing team. Such is the tribalism of football. As a very wise man, much wiser than me (my father) once said to me just before he passed on 3 years ago; "Son, if you`re looking for integrity in football these days, I suggest you go out and buy yourself a bloody good microscope; you`ll need it!". He could remember - as I can (just) - the days when players kicked each other six feet up in the air and then just got up and got on with it. I thought about him just now; as it happens he was a Welshman, a very proud one, and without any doubt whatsoever he would be royally pi~~ing himself laughing right now if he was still with us.
As regards the `circus` that you talk about, SCO, again a fair point. But you know what they say, there`s no such thing as bad publicity. In the short term this may well have tarnished our reputation in the eyes of some, including some of our own supporters, but this is IN THE SHORT TERM. If Ched Evans is cleared at his retrial and goes on to score 30 goals this season, I suspect that a lot will be forgiven, such is the `morality` of football these days. However, as we all know mud sticks. Let`s be under no illusions, even if he is cleared at his retrial this guy will have this have this hanging over him for the rest of his career, if not his life.
Unlike the other party involved, whose anonymity will be preserved whatever the verdict at the retrial. Again; where`s the morality there, Amelia?