Comments on: Bizarre Love Triangle: The Politics of International Football

By: Primachenko

Primachenko — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:28:40 +0000

personally, i’m torn between which is the lesser evil. hate russia with a passion, so don’t want to see them qualify, but at the same time england doesn’t deserve to be in the finals.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:14:24 +0000

Sagar, I have just not long finished the autobiographies of Steve Waugh and Shane Warne. For those who don’t know, Warne and Steve’s brother, Mark, were offered $200,000 (off memory) to perform badly in 1994. Cricket of course, but didn’t something like that happen with Bruce Grobelaar? It does beg a very interesting question…

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:10:48 +0000

Thanks for the comments people, nice to see your thoughts. It just struck a chord; thinking on some of the comments it springs to mind the Irish Football Association offered the Northern Irish team around Â£1m to qualify for Euro 2008, I think. Certainly, the likes of David Healy might not necessarily need that, but the lesser known players in the squad might use it. Not that I am suggesting the players don’t have pride: I think that particular team and bond with their supporters is magical. When the money is being offered from select opponents for certain games like here, though, it seems a tad shadowy.

Ahmed, good question, not one I have the answer to lol. Thinking just about the keeping slot, James, Robinson all have had problems with errors in recent times. Maybe that’s the magnified nature of international football and the position itself.

I’ve watched Micah Richards’ meteoric rise and I think he has been a breath of fresh air for England, in terms of commitment, passion and above all, consistency. I was never particularly enthusiastic when McClaren was offered the job, though, and I haven’t seen much to persuade me otherwise. I think he tried to be flexible, ie 3-5-2 in Croatia, bringing back Beckham, calling up Downing (Boro connection), but haven’t been really impressed at all so far.

I think on a final note though, just looking at the problems Italy and France have gone through in qualifying suggests Croatia, Russia and Israel were never going to be cut and dried for us.

I am not overly confident at all though about Euro 2008 yet though, win permitting tonight, but no doubt that will change as the tournament draws closer, and no doubt by the 2nd or 3rd game the usual trends will occur.

By: Sagar

Sagar — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:54:16 +0000

I’ll have to agree with Brian here…

If players will accept “gifts” for playing well, will they start accepting gifts for playing badly on purpose?

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:00:56 +0000

What’s more troubling than any of these specific bonuses is the precedent they set. Once players accept that they can receive rewards for their performance from people outside their clubs, then they’re suddenly that much closer to taking a reward for, say, throwing the match by playing badly. (Which is what happened in the 1919 baseball World Series, as well as at select other times in the history of major sports.)

I don’t see any danger of that here, or any real problem with bonuses that give the players an incentive to play well or try harder to win. But it does seem like a good idea to limit this sort of thing so that no one takes the wrong lesson from it.

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:50:48 +0000

What about the not so good footballers, mintox?

like Spiral says, the whole abuse thing comes into play, matchfixing and all that. it’s not so much the fact that it doesn’t exist, but that it doesn’t get talked about.

just my two cents.

And Anthony, is it the England players who are bad or is it the manager? Someone who counts home wins against Israel and Russia as proof that the squad are playing well as a team needs some lessons in what’s expected of them and what the team is capable of (2 different things, btw).

By: mintox

mintox — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:13:00 +0000

I don’t see the issue here, when you’re out on the pitch do you really think that a players is thinking of the gifts he will get if he wins?

Any good football will be thinking of the game and the gifts on offer will be more a distraction than an incentive to play better.

By: iqnadirshah

iqnadirshah — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 06:32:58 +0000

From a neutral fan’s view, I feel the players themselves should say no to such outside gifts. But from a player’s point, I say why not? A professional footballer can have a career of maximum 18 years(roughly from 18 to 36) during which he’ll be paid to look after himself and his family. If he does get a free holiday or some free automobiles, then so be it. But what next? Free admission in Oxford or Cambridge for the footballer’s offsprings(joke)? And if England do lose to Croatia, will the abovesaid bookie take back his offer to Golan?

By: SpiralArchitect

SpiralArchitect — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:13:05 +0000

Interesting article. Brings a whole philosophical dimension to the game, doesn’t it? I always thought that this sort of stuff went on behind the scenes anyway. It just seems that the nature of this qualification might have brought things out into the open more than usual.

Personally, i think such ‘bonuses’ aren’t new to the game or the players, only the manner in which they receive them changes from time to time. Didn’t Adebayor get into a scuffle with his own country’s football association over non-payment of bonuses due to the national team? It all boils down to what’s legal & what isn’t. If the FA’s around Europe condoned this kind of action, who are we to say what is correct & what isn’t?

As yet i don’t have any clear-cut opinion on this issue, but i can see the wide scope for abuse this sort of practice can open the game upto.