One point, don’e excuse Ferguson though, His arrogance and double standards set so many agendas in english football

If the delightful Delilah brand of ‘Football’ carries on, then it will eventually be played by people who dress like American Footballers.

“Raphael Honigstein’s book on the peculiarities of English football, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Die geheime Geschichte des englischen Fußballs, was published in German by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in 2006, and the English version Englischer Fussball: A German View of Our Beautiful Game was published by Yellow Jersey Press in 2008.”

I’d also recommend the ‘It’s up for grabs now’ podcast this week. Alan Davies account and reaction to what happened on his twitter feed after he recommended Shawcross be banned for as long as the injured player is out, is interesting.

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What Flint describes above is something I’m familiar with, but I have to say, everyone I used to play with, hated that attitude, and if anyone would attempt to prove their ‘manhood’ upon the pitch, rather then show off tricks to girls watching (not very PC, but an honest memory!), they wouldn’t remain on the pitch very long, they’d be be lucky to get off it. English football is not entirely in thrall to these zombies. Maybe the fact that some of the kids I played with were committing GBH on a weekly or nightly basis meant that they had no suppressed violent urges? Either way, other peoples’ psychosis’ don’t need to be tolerated upon a football field, in my humble opinion.

http://tinyurl.com/yl3zldw

If ever evidence were needed of the irresponsibility of the media in perpetuating the culture of violence in english football, Sam Wallace writing in The Independent today would be exhibit #1 (http://tinyurl.com/yl3zldw)

I, in my disgust, have decided to present my view of things in juxtaposition to Wallace’s effort. My request to Arsenal fans is this: Read both, and if you, like me, are persuaded, for the reasons I outline below, that Mr.Wallace’s effort is both lazy, fallacious, and offensive, please write to The Independent expressing your disgust. Being a fish-wrap is one thing, but this is really poor even by those standards.

Here are my grievances with the article:

First, the headline: “Ramsey’s injury a reminder that bad things sometimes happen by accident”.

Was this an accident at all? The question isn’t whether Shawcross stepped on the field, or into the tackle, with an intention to “do” Ramsey. The question is whether there was sufficient bias, personal, collective, and circumstantial, that increased the odds of the event happening.

Let’s take Shawcross’s record:

1) 2007; Francis Jeffers; tackle from behind; broken leg.

2) 2008; Adebayor; studs up with the ball out of play. He certainly wasn’t going for the ball there.

Next, Stoke’s attitude and intent: This quotation (http://tinyurl.com/yd44al9) from Ricardo Fuller sums it all up. Are we expected to believe that these were only his individual views, hermetically sealed off from the rest of the stoke squad? I suggest these were his takeaways from team meetings. You be the judge. Mind you, this is but one example. How many times have we heard opponents talk about “soft”, “physical”, and “mixing it up”? Lovely euphemisms all, I must point out.

The circumstances: As pointed out yesterday, the lack of proportionality in penalties means there’s nothing that deters players from going all in.

Under these circumstances, this wasn’t an accident, but an accident waiting to happen. There’s a difference.

Then there’s Mr.Wallace’s sifting of the evidence:

“As the Match of the Day replays showed, when Shawcross made contact with Ramsey he was attempting to strike the ball with the laces of his boot and not his studs. The tragedy of that moment was that Ramsey was just a second too quick for him and got there first.

The move started when Samir Nasri played the ball inside to Nicklas Bendtner, who flicked the ball up with his left foot and lost control of it, playing it limply with his second touch against the midriff of Shawcross, who was behind him. Shawcross moved past Bendtner, who stuck out a foot and then withdrew it to avoid the foul – which caused the Stoke man to alter his stride.

Shawcross’s second touch (after the ball originally hit him) with his right foot was heavy. Ramsey, already moving forward in anticipation of Arsenal’s break forward, saw his chance. He burst forward, touching the ball away from Shawcross with his right foot just as the Stoke man swung with his left to clear. But the ball had gone – and he struck Ramsey’s leg instead.”

My response: It is virtually impossible, unless one comes to the field wih a battle ax and mauls the opponent, to unambiguously dissect video evidence for violence. There’s no way under the sun to decisively interpret that Shawcross did, or didn’t, have enough time to restrain himself. Mr.Wallace suggests he couldn’t have, I suggest he could have. ‘Am I unambiguously and blatantly wrong?

It is this ambiguity that makes the circumstantial evidence outlined above crucial.

Then comes this: “But the severity of the injury does not mean that Shawcross can simply be dismissed by Wenger as a dangerous footballer.”

“And so a dangerous game of blame begins. When Arsène Wenger describes Ryan Shawcross’s challenge on Ramsey as “horrendous” and “unacceptable” he has to realise that, coming from someone of his status, those words have a lasting effect on the reputation of a young player like Shawcross.”

May I suggest that Ryan Shawcross’ personal conduct – and I’m not thinking crying and going home with mummy here – has an atleast as lasting and justified effect on his reputation? And that Wenger’s views, viewed under that light, aren’t entirely unreasonable?

The Conclusion: “When injuries like the one to Ramsey occur, the instinct is to blame someone. But the truth of football is that it can be brutal and cruel without it being someone’s fault.”

When a player has previous, when his team’s thoughts clearly extend to “getting stuck in”, and when there’s nothing in the form of punishment to deter him, he will err on the side of violence, making football brutal and cruel entirely out of voilition.

Whilst I agree with most of your points, I think the basic problem is pure lack of thought & a desperation to stop the evolution of the English game.

I am afraid that we are battling against the tide.

When England again fail to shine at the World Cup, no doubt Arsene will be blamed for not playing enough Englishmen, rather than……

“The thing is English football, quite aside from this particular incident, will always be rough, tough and incredibly hard fought. The reason for this is it’s how we play the game as kids. We don’t stand round admiring each others skills and/or torsos, if someone was better than us in the playground, we kicked them until they were less good. Arsene Wenger has built an incredible team, a brilliant team capable of football the likes of which I have rarely seen before, if ever. But what he continually campaigns for is that this team should be allowed to fully express themselves without fear of hinderance from the other team, which is never going to happen in English football, because as supporters we won’t stand for it. We like our game the way it is, as does the rest of the world, which is why it enjoys the successes that it does”

http://www.whydelilah.co.uk/blog/vestanpancearsene-wenger-easy-admire-impossible

It is becoming clear from the “plunditry” including our own Lee Dixon & Martin Keown still live the the world described above, as well as a good %age of former players now coaching the game at some level.

There is probably not much hope for the overall improvement in technique to come through until the generation coming through our academy (& some others) system have had their careers & start to teach tne ongoing generations.

From the Stoke program:
Craig Sinclair – Academy player when asked about the best piece of advice given to him:
“Put it in row Z. If in doubt kick it out. Use protection.”

Not bad advice, in certain situations I wish Billy Boy would, but it is an indication of the lack of ambition at that level.

As you say, the managers have a big part in this. Some idiot players do what they are told. As far as the media is concerned, for them, it’s all about getting a reaction and have more people tuning into them. They don’t care that a someone is in hospital for Christ sake and will spend a good pat of the next 12 months trying to get back to where he was. Some of the comments have been shocking and I am sure we are all appalled.

And the referees, well what can I say. Letting play go on is one thing, having a young kids career potentially ended (and I have faith that Ramsey will come back stronger then ever) is another. Why can’t they just use the f@#ing common sense or is that just too much to ask from players, managers and most of all referees.

Silver lining in all this (if there is any) is that we can all stick together like the boys did after the game and at least Ramsey will have the best medical care and Eduardo for support.