Euro Cheats!.

[First Wizard 0]

A wonderful backward somersault with inverted pike, followed by the regulation 6 times roll over whilst clutching a limb, and compleated with a soul renching scream. And its 5.8 given by the Russian judge!.

A scene from the forthcoming Olympic''s maybe?, no, just another qualifying game in Euro 2004!.

I''ve seen all the games on TV from the tornament, and with the exception of England and maybe France The theatrical diving by players has been a joke, and all of course designed to get a fellow pro, booked, or even worse, sent off!.

Normally I would''nt give a damn about these Euro cheats, but as I believe Worthy is keeping an eye on some of these characters, then the thought of these ''divers'' in the sacred Yellow and Green, becomes terrifying!.

So far, Nigel has become one of my City heroes, but if he goes down the foreign brigade road, then the worm could easily turn.

I detest with a vengence football cheats, they are beyond my contempt, stick to the good old UK Nigel, we don''t need them here at FCR, they would only get City the wrong kind of headlines.

Or is the Wizard getting naive in his old age?.

[AJ 1,359]

no wiz, you arnt naive!
i totaly agree with you, heats totaly ruin the game!
I cant see why players cant just get on with the game.
Did you see the holand match? i thought the sending off was unfair, Nedved was falling before he was touched!

[Tumbleweed 106]

Its time the referees were told by FIFA/UEFA to stamp this out. Some referees have been known to show yellow cards for cheating, but while they seem to blow for even the flimsiest touch (except when its in the penalty area where the threshold seems to be much higher) they never seem to take action against those who dive or play act.

Mind you, and this may upset some, we have a player who galvanised this club and scored 13 goals through his electric pace and does sometimes go over rather easily...... but then he never rolls around pretending he''s just broken every bone in his body (and he''s a god, which makes it alright!!)

[First Wizard 0]

Now who on earth could that be Tumbleweed?, surely not our Malky eh!. I know who you mean of course, but don''t mention it to City Angel for goodness sake, anyway he''s English, so it does''nt count!, yes?.

[Peter 0]

Huckerby against Watford wasn''t this cheating ?

[First Wizard 0]

No Peter, that was stratigic falling over!.

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I know what you mean, but I think some English players are just as capable of it as foreign players. Mind you, even the commentators were joking about it in the Spain v Portugal match last night.

It always amuses me that such big tough hard guys have such a high centre of gravity that the slightest touch with a feather and they go down. So I thought, if all players who fell over got booked, irresepctive of whether it was their fault or not, they''d do everything they could to stay on their feet. End of cheating.

But probably 5-a-side by the end of the game!

Ama

[Jonzey 0]

I''d be embarrassed to act like such a wimp infront of the world like some of the divers and play actors we''ve seen.

Who was the Spanish player who had the ball lightly tapped at him the other day when he was on the floor, he acted as if he''d been shot with a hunting rifle?! And as for Rivaldo at the last world cup just before he took that corner - I hope he went home and cringed.

But I suppose as long as stupid refs fall for this juvenile behaviour, the players are going to continue to do it.

[Tumbleweed 106]

Its a sign of the times methinks. Just as in the past men were men, stayed on their feet, wore baggy shorts, kicked heavy leather balls, earnt enough to put food on the table and no more and drove to work in a van or on the bus. Now they have hair stylists, wear jewellry and shiny shorts, drive Merc SL convertibles, have agents, nutritionists and counsellors, have a group love in before the match, no wonder they fall over- the little lambs.

[blacko 0]

What about the Croatian goalkeeper last night when Michael Owen brushed passed him. Anybody would have thought he had been run over by a juggernaught.

[chirpy canary 0]

Agree blacko! Surely he has an Equity card! (Did anyone else think he looked like Damon Hill?)

[bananaman 0]

I must say though - in the first 15 mins Scholesy dived, Ashley Cole fell over when no-one was near him, and Steven Gerrard threw himself into the area not once, but TWICE!! And the second time, he even dived in the wrong direction!

I was embarrassed. Partly because they tried to cheat, but mainly because they were so crap at diving. Gary Neville in the Machester derby anyone...?!

[First Wizard 0]

High Treason bananaman!, the English do not dive, they fall down or lose their footing!. And if, I repeat if, there is a suspicion of a dive, then its a characteristic picked up from their foreign team mates at their own club.

This is the danger of filling a club with foreign players, have you watched Chelsea and Arsenal just lately? This is why I''m so concerned that City don''t go down that rocky road, by getting cheap cheating Euro players in, just what would they teach our youngsters?

Can you imagine training at Colney?

NW: ''And today lads, Carlos will give lessons in personal assault reactions''. Makes you weep don''t it?.

[StevenageFan 0]

just like that advert at the moment where they are all practising diving and rolling, makes me laugh every time.

I think with the English lads it is just a case of if you can''t beat them join them. Mind you Michael Owen never goes down even when he does get fouled, he is a legend and youngsters should be taught to play like him.

Just think, in the next match if Becks, Gerrard, Terry and Owen all raise their game slightly and the rest play like they did last night, we should crush them, come on England. Sorry moving away from thread slightly there.

[Ayrton Twigge 0]

Diving''s one thing.

The other is shirt pulling/tugging through to arm holding and full-body-wrap-arounds. Totally outside the rules but tolerated by all refs.

It seems like - if you''re subtle and crafty enough, even though its visible, its waved through - and if you are just plain agricultural, its an offence. Malky anyone.

Forwards are divers and defenders are tuggers. Both need cleaning up.

[Temp the Revelator 0]

Stevenage Fan - ''Owen never goes down, even when he is fouled'' - REALLY? How about the penalties he has won for England then? I can think of at least two occasions (both against Argentina I think, which kind of makes it alright) when he has gone down in the penalty area with MINIMAL (if any) contact.......

Let''s be honest here, much as we hate ''simulation'', we are guilty of it too....

[Tumbleweed 106]

Some of the English players do go down easily. But what they do not do is roll around over and over and pretend to have a multiple stress fracture from a tap on the shin. That''s what really annoys me. Blatant diving should be punished by at least a yellow card and Gerrard was very lucky last night when he threw himself to the ground in the first half.

[First Wizard 0]

I honestly thought I detected a sudden gush of strong easterly wind, just at the precise moment that Gerrad went down Tumbleweed!. As you can tell I''ve got my EURO blinkers on today. But at least he did''nt react like he''d been shot by a sub-machine gun!.

[Kathy 823]

I think its a bit rich of the Italians to accuse Sweden and Denmark of cheating after some of their antics trying to get free kicks. Personally Im glad to see the back of them and hope the Germans follow suit tonight.

[beelsie 0]

Yes Ayerton Twigge, as you say forwards are divers and defenders are shirt pullers. I''d like to see either as a red card sending off offence. The thought of going off for the same, would clean up the game no end. It would make the skilfull and the speedy player more of a threat and the slow footed defender a liability. It could only be good for the game. Also people in the spectator class who can only use abusive language should be banned from football for a minimum of four games. A good clean up all round can only good for the game.

[bananaman 0]

Kathy, I don''t see what the Germans have to do with this. The bloody Dutch and Czechs threw themselves around for 90 mins the other day, but the Germans struck me as being alright. And let''s face it, skill-wise they''re not a threat to us until penalties (then again, any team is a threat to us on Pens). The Dutch on the other hand may play better if they get through, and we could easily drawn against them in the semis. I say the Germans getting through is a positive thing for us.

[Ayrton Twigge 0]

Thankyou Mr Beelsie. Mutual appreciation society takes off!

I can remember those days back in the 70''s when Chopper Harris and other (thugs/hard men ... please delete as appropriate) abounded. The fouls then were bone crunching and dangerous - and have since been eliminated by use of the red card.

And also at that time, we english occaisionally came across a bit of spitting and shirt pulling, a rare event, from the continentals when we met them in euro competitions. Oh how we howled.
It just wasn''t tolerated.

If we could outlaw it then , then lets do it now.

[First Wizard 0]

As my great grand parents were German, Kathy, it leaves me as usual in a dilema. I had English parents, but I always have a certain leaning towards the Fatherland if England go out.

But I do understand where you are coming from, but I would rather see Hollands ''divers'' out.

I hope my disclosure does''nt lose me any of my dear poster friends.

[Kathy 823]

Didnt know Wizards had grandparents.

[Ayrton Twigge 0]

obviously the grandson of Dr Faustus.

[Kathy 823]

Snigger snigger!

[Old Boy 0]

So cheats DO prosper - see Czech Republic, Sweden and Holland for details. France are the classiest team left in Euro ''04 in terms of how they play the "beautiful game". It''ll be interesting to see whther they can resist the temptation to cheat from now on, as Davids did last night against Latvia.

[First Wizard 0]

Kathy: When I have the nerve to come on these boards and take the micky out of your family history, which I''m very proud of by the way, you may do the same to me, To say ''''snigger snigger'''', along with old boy?, is cheap and slightly suspect , savy.

And for your information, yes, Wizards DO have grandparents, where on earth do you get your outdated ideas from?.

[First Wizard 0]

Old Boy: Sincere apologies to you, I meant to say it was Ayrton Twigge who made the cheap comment, not your good self, sorry.

[Kathy 823]

Snigger snigger was to the Germans getting knocked out, not to your parentage Wiz.