Thursday 19 November 2009

Shocking Bleu

(Thierry Henry auditioning for the 2012 French Olympic volleyball team last night)


Sharon Redd - Can You Handle It mp3

8 comments:

lito said...

Platini is the president of UEFA, that's the reason why France will be in the World Championship next year, but don't worry, Spain will be the Champion :)

Kippers said...

Hi Lito. I suspect you are probably correct about Spain - and Platini!

(At least the Ireland fans will know how us English felt now after Maradona's "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup!)

dickvandyke said...

Mais oui - the hand of frog.

Didn't the '4th referee' spot the Zidane head butt and inform the ref - who'd missed the incident?

Henry can't suddenly become the sperm of le devil due to a bit of pat-a-cake. How many Irish chaps (even the Catholics) woulda summoned the ref over for a quick confession with a World Cup place at stake? Nul - to be sure, to be sure.

Will this be the final catalyst for extra technology for big occasions - with so much at stake?

Any road, the hue n cry should have commenced with FIFA's sudden 'Seeding' of the play-offs. Wasn't that far more like cheating?

It's like those fuckers who do so well at 'Fantasy Football'!!

Kippers said...

Ironically, you wouldn't have needed extra technology to spot Thierry playing pat-a-cake with the ball last night. One of those extra refs they've been using in the Europa League this season, who stand on the goalline about three feet from where the handball(s) took place, would have had the perfect view.

For what it's worth, I don't subscribe to this use of technology theory at all. While last night's hot potato of an incident was as clear cut as they come, there are still some incidents in football that divide opinion even after they've been replayed and scrutinised from every angle. I think it'd just muddy the waters further in some cases.

Besides, if there'd been the use of goalline technology, for example, in 1966 England arguably may never have won the solitary major tournament that we're so fond of harping on about whenever the occasion arises.

Where do you stand on the whole technology debate, Dickie?

Yeah, damn them fantasy football nerds! It'd serve them right if half their team came back from the international break crocked!

dickvandyke said...

As The Kinks said, "I love my football on a Saturday ... roast beef on Sunday .. alright".

I agree that we should not use technology just because it exists. I likes a nice pencil with a rubber on top. It serves me well when the electronic diary of life goes down.

I've watched a lot of Rugby League in recent years. (Being a gruff nothern monkey-type). After painfully long delays and the view from 12 different angles, the video ref often still gets it badly wrong - or the doubt isn't lifted at those pivotal moments. Waters certainly can be muddier than the team bath.

The ref had plenty of bottle NOT to give France an earlier penalty last night. With the Paris crowd ready to march him to the scaffold, he must have had a very clear view of le dive and stuck to his guns .. Tick, VG.

However, one can only assume that his vision (and that of his lovely assistant) was impaired as Thierry lovingly caressed the ball. (At full speed, it did all happen rather quickly).

As Sheffield's finest sang, 'I'm only human. Of flesh and blood I'm made. Human. Born to make mistakes'.

On a slightly patronising Anglo-centric point of view - on last night's evidence - I think I'd rather England played France in the WC 2nd round than a plucky Ireland XI.

I met Graham Poll and Geoff Hurst last weekend at the fine 'Sporting Words' events in Leeds. Unsurprisingly, they had mixed views on dodgy decisions and gut feelings. Under pressure, Poll dished out more cards than Clintons. With cameras in every orofice, we would still be unsure as to Geoff's line-crosser.

Kippers said...

Yes, I suppose Graham Poll's achieved a similar level of notoriety with his three-card-trick in that (Croatia v Australia?) game as TH earnt himself with his handball last night. Is it best to be remembered as an incompetent or a cheat? Answers to the usual address on the back of one of Mr Poll's yellow cards, please!

Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters once came to my dad's offics selling car insurance or something equally unlikely. Or maybe they were ambassadors for the company or something. I was there at the time but being only about 17 or something, and not having been around in the sixties, I was too callow to really comprehend what legends these two blokes in suits were.

Now if it had been Perry Groves and Ian Allinson, I'd have probably had kittens!

dickvandyke said...

Mmm ... understandable.

FROM ARSENAL.COM ..
'New manager George Graham got the most out of Allinson. The moustachioed, bandy-legged midfielder was a willing runner and put over testing crosses from the right flank. Despite this, he was in and out of the side. A record of 30 appearances as a substitute represents just over a third of his total Arsenal career –as much as anyone in the one or two-sub era. '

Or from the sports archives ..
'Former Arsenal star Perry Groves has been arrested by police for being abusive.

The ex-midfielder from Colchester, Essex, was given a fixed penalty notice after being arrested in the town.

The 43-year-old won two league championship medals and a league cup medal while playing for Arsenal between 1986 and 1992.

A police spokeswoman said today: "Police issued a 43-year-old man from Colchester with a fixed penalty notice for a Section 5 public order offence of using abusive and insulting words and behaviour, likely to cause harassment."

I see (and hear) that popular Perry is a proverbial pundit these days! Naughty fucker.

Kippers said...

Hang on...

A short, ginger man with a chip on his shoulder? I don't believe it!