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Post by Lakeland Potter on Aug 17, 2008 11:06:43 GMT
....... I wish they would have a few words with the FA and help them to sort English football out! I'm no expert on cycling but what our team are doing in Bejing makes me proud to be a Brit. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2008 11:08:35 GMT
....... I wish they would have a few words with the FA and help them to sort English football out! I'm no expert on cycling but what our team are doing in Bejing makes me proud to be a Brit. ;D The performance of the whole GB team is both refreshing and fantastic, perhaps its someting to do with them not being thick as fuck over paid prima donnas. |
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Post by slangking on Aug 17, 2008 11:14:14 GMT
It's undoubtedly to do with Lottery funding and druggies being banned from other teams.
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Post by cousindupree on Aug 17, 2008 11:17:40 GMT
Trouble is you dont play footie on bikes....or have I missed something?
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Post by Lakeland Potter on Aug 17, 2008 11:19:41 GMT
Obviously secure finaces help but British cycling, swimming, rowing and sailing seem to have raised their perfomance levels much better than the other sports.
It can't all be down to finance - a lot of it must be down to how the sport at the top level is organised. And that comes down to good administration - something professional football in England lacks.
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Post by Squeekster on Aug 17, 2008 11:23:15 GMT
Trouble is you dont play footie on bikes....or have I missed something? No you don't but coaching is coaching in any sport |
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Post by mistergumby on Aug 17, 2008 11:37:55 GMT
It's a new twist on an old idea Forny but it won't work - remember Clive Woodward at Southampton?
I wish people could just get it into their thick heads - we don't have (and haven't had for a long, long time) the players of sufficient quality to compete. People in this country have been brainwashed by Sky and the media into this lunatic idea that the Prem is the greatest league in the world. But where do all the world's great players play? Not that many in England that's for sure.
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Post by Staffsoatcake on Aug 17, 2008 12:26:21 GMT
I wish Griff. would get on his bike & feck off.  |
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Post by Lakeland Potter on Aug 17, 2008 12:31:08 GMT
Gumby - I agree we don't have the depth of quality of English players to compete at International level. But I doubt if we would have had the depth of quality of cyclists or rowers if the organisers of those sports hadn't done the right things in terms of organisation or coaching over the past few years. Success at international sport isn't a matter of luck it is a matter of organisation and coaching and that is something sadly lacking in English football.
The Woodward comparison isn't valid. I'm not suggesting that we put a cycling supremo (or a rowing supremo) at the top of English football - but if English football can't learn good habits from other sports then that is a sad thing in my book.
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Post by RAF on Aug 17, 2008 12:40:39 GMT
I'll tell you why it works.
Because the cyclists, rowers et al are actually proud to represent their country and have a superb work ethic instead of being spoiled ferrari driving badge kissing overpaid prima donnas.
If you actually see some of the training these guys do compared to those overpaid wankstains who play footy for England it actually shows you what a fucking disgraceful mess our National side is in.
Frank Lampard
Ashley Cole
Steven Gerrard
Wayne Rooney
or
Steve Redgrave
Bradley Wiggins
Ben Ainslie
Rebecca Adlington
?
Give me the latter every time, for grit , bottle and absolute brilliantness.
H
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Post by kingdeano on Aug 17, 2008 12:44:57 GMT
was it just me being a mard arse or did anyone else cry when purchase and hunter won the lightweight rowing? dont know which of them it was but he was breaking his heart when the national anthem was playing and our flag going up! makes you proud of them! and proud to be british
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Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2008 13:40:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2008 13:57:21 GMT
Sad? I think that's a rather gross understatement unfortunately Smudge. Another misfortune is that the culture of football in this country is different to almost every other sport. The respect that competitors have for one another in Olympic sports (by and large) is clearly evident, they are focussed, disciplined, and are thankful for being given the opportunity to do what they love - they don't see it as a right, they see it as something that has to be earned. I'm sure I read an article about Rebecca Adlington (19 years old) - she gets up to start training at 6 o'clock in the morning (6 days a week; she gets an extra hour lie-in on a Saturday), will complete enough laps during the week to amass 60,000m in distance. And before these Olympic games she was in the 'category C' banding for funding; equating to between £8,000 - £10,000 p.a. And she has to pay for her own equipment (at £260 per swimsuit). Upmost respect for the dedication that is given to achieve the things that they do. (The majority of them anyway!) Whereas, I honsestly can't say, hand on heart, that many of today's modern footballers can command that. |
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Post by bunnyscfc on Aug 17, 2008 14:11:10 GMT
RAF - er, nail and head.
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Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Aug 17, 2008 14:20:33 GMT
Trouble is you dont play footie on bikes....or have I missed something? The dedication of some of the Olympic athletes is absolutely incredible, it's like giving up their lives just to compete. Some of the rowing teams train with each other 7 days a week, 364 days a year. There was a great feature on Redgrave and Pinsent on the BBC yesterday morning. Footballers get praised for staying 10 minutes after training; if only some of them would put in half the effort that the likes of Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, the rowers etc do they'd be five times the player. |
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Post by frank72 on Aug 17, 2008 14:28:50 GMT
Couldn't agree more fornside, together with the rowing / ygling/cycling etc..we are the best in the world,
we will let ourselves down I fear with the track and field events, Idowu and the 4x4 events are our only real chance I feel.
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Post by Lakeland Potter on Aug 17, 2008 15:19:01 GMT
Smudge, thanks for the update on Jack and sorry you have had to remortgage the house to enable him to take up the scholarship at Plymouth. As you say, the money in football compared to the money in other sports is laughable. The results of some of oursportsmen and women in the Olympics proves that guts, determination and sheer hard work (plus of course ability) often count for far more than just money. But a bit more money for the sports other than football would help ease the burden on families like yours. I've put 2016 in my diary and I hope to be cheering Jack on.  |
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Post by Olgrligm on Aug 17, 2008 15:29:13 GMT
Don't forget, however, about some of the potential olympians that have taken a lot of funding but refused to put in the effort - watching that programme prior to the Olympics about our hopefuls highlighted this. There were our three bright ping pong hopes who were built up as world beaters, but one was eating burgers every day, one didn't give a damn and none could break into the top 300 in the world and so were not taken to the olympics, despite eating up lots of cash.
That said, the work and dedication of a number of our athletes out there now, especially in the cycling and rowing events, is nothing short of commendable.
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Post by Tubes on Aug 17, 2008 17:24:56 GMT
(to paraphrase Mock The Week)
We're winning medals in the Sailing, Cycling and Rowing, i.e. anything with expensive equipment that African countries can't afford ;D ;D ;D
seriously though I think team GB have achieved brilliant results this year, they must take real credit for it.
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Post by lurcherman on Aug 17, 2008 18:33:10 GMT
Did you see the state of our two rowers when they had finished.
I have NEVER seen ANY footballer come off the pitch looking anywhere near as knackered.
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Post by beagriestache on Aug 17, 2008 19:08:59 GMT
Echo all the sentiments on here, it does make you pround to be British and I have so much respect for all the rowers/sailors/cyclists who get no publicity and still put in a fantastic performance.
Forgive me if this annoys anyone, but given all the (correct) moaning about our overpaid, under-performing prima donna footballers, has anyone cancelled their Sky subscription? Don't moan at them for being overpaid wastes of space if you're the one paying for it.
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Post by algor on Aug 17, 2008 19:23:22 GMT
I was listening to a GB swimmer being interviewed the other day who said he had been sick after his race. When asked if he was allright he said he was and that it was normal. He added that his coach wouldn't be happy if he had not been sick because it would have meant he had not pushed himself hard enough  Now thats dedication! I can imagine Tony's next pre match player talk " Now Ricci if you are not sick at the end of this match it means that you haven't tried hard enough and I will be docking your pay" ;D |
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Post by AlliG on Aug 17, 2008 19:53:25 GMT
Going back 20 odd years, Daley Thompson would do a double training session on Christmas Day as part of his committment to be the best but also because of the psychological effect he knew it would have on his rivals who had taken the day off.
It is that level of dedication and commitment shown by the top athletes in al the above sports that sets them apart.
Compare that to the attitude of say, Mido, who has proudly announced that he has lost 2 stones this season and will show the Middlesbrough fans a "new" Mido this year. The irony of that statement was obviously lost on him.
Or how about Dean Ashton saying that Capello has told him to lose 2 stones.
How does a professional athlete on £50k+ a week let himself get 2 stone overweight and why do their clubs and managers allow them to get away with it?
p.s. Isn't Clive Woodward Director of Elite Performance for the British Olympic Association in which case maybe the problem lies with the neanderthals in football who seem to think that there is nothing to learn from other sports?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2008 19:58:31 GMT
p.s. Isn't Clive Woodward Director of Elite Performance for the British Olympic Association in which case maybe the problem lies with the neanderthals in football who seem to think that there is nothing to learn from other sports? He is indeed, although you can't please everyone, and some members of certain Olympic sports bodies have questioned his value. However, the idea that football thinks it can't learn from other sports is embodied in the FA's (and some fans' too) resistance to the use of technology in the game. But at least football seems to have taken on the sensible idea of only having the captains talk to the referee. |
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Post by daverichards on Aug 18, 2008 0:01:07 GMT
Did you see the state of our two rowers when they had finished. I have NEVER seen ANY footballer come off the pitch looking anywhere near as knackered. a new zealand rower 9was it in the single sculls) got a bronze, threw up over the side of the boat and was taken away on a stretcher . Apart from the cyclists now having a fantastic training facility in Manchester , pretty much all of them have the BEST bikes in the world, built by former Olympic Gold medalist Chris Boardman www.boardmanbikes.com/ . and don't forget that on thursday a local (crewe) lass is going for gold on the BMX en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanaze_Reade |
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Post by jeffers on Aug 18, 2008 10:56:37 GMT
Our persuit team have just destroyed Denmark in the final and smashed their own world record by almost 3 seconds - We've got a team who can live up to the (rightly deserved because they're the best) burden of expectation and still produce world class displays when it matters. If the GB team don't win team of the year at the sports personality awards it will be a disgrace. Lampard et al should hang their heads in shame...  |
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Post by Dr Oetcake on Aug 18, 2008 11:33:36 GMT
Daley, what an athlete he was. Them battles in the decathlon with Jurgen Hinksman, no losing on penalties there. And the ultimate accolade, immortalised in Hyperolympics, f you played 2 player, one was a Daley, the other a Jurgen! Awesome game.
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