The Inter President has slammed FIFA for banning and fining Marco Materazzi by sayinbg this sets a 'dangerous precedeent'. After reading this, I thought comedy hour had been moved to the BBC website.

How, exactly, does this set any dangerous precedents? This shows the 'sledgers' in the game that they may be punished for their actions. It shows that you cannot dish out sickening insults and get away with it.

It certainly sets precedents, but I have my doubts they are dangerous

Well the italians would know since they know what can be done with officials .

Was he the only player in the WC that sledged an opponent?...If the answer is no theres a problem beginning right there then...

I don't believe for one second that he was the only one, but if FIFA deal with every case of sledging by issuing out fines/bans, perhaps we may go some way to eradicating it. I know this probably isn't going to be possible, but the Materazzi case is a start.

After all, goading a player by insulting him in the way he did, is just as bad as some of the other 'gamesmanship' stuff that goes on in the game

Fact is we both know they wont. It will just be the high profile games that one or two may get picked up. Trial by television...

Why did they chose not to punish Ronaldo then. It seems its ok to headbutt someone as to goad them on but dont dare dis someones momma (it has been proven there was nothing racist said).

I know I've said this before but we cheered when it happened. It was a long time coming and hats off to Zizou.
However there was more wrong with the world cup than this one incident.
I have just read a piece in "When Saturday Comes" praising Portugal. It goes on to say that the tabloids poison towards Ronaldo and his colleagues spread to Germany.
I was there, and the Germans had had a gut full of Portugal and Italy long before. That's why so many German families were dresssed in England colours for the Portugal game.
A lot of them later said that they admired Rooney's attitude to the game in which he tried to run through players rather than falling down as though shot, at the first sign of contact.
I'm not a big England supporter and I have never been particularly patriotic, I just like Football. However I would suggest that Portugal and Italy cheated their way through the event, and would have hoped that an English player would have poked Materrazzi as well.
What about the future? Now that the referees let the cheats get away with it, does that mean even worse examples in the competitions to come?

The editorial in WSC was wide of the mark too!
IMO!

quote:

Originally posted by AndyCardiff:
I don't believe for one second that he was the only one, but if FIFA deal with every case of sledging by issuing out fines/bans, perhaps we may go some way to eradicating it.

But the point is the only reason Materazzi was punished is because he was headbutted by Zidane.

Do you think FIFA will ban Rooney every time the nation hears him call a fellow player a c**t on MOTD? If so, expect Rooney's next game to be some time in 2028.

Just reminds me why i havent bought WSC for years ...piss poor publication

quote:

Originally posted by slapmatt:
But the point is the only reason Materazzi was punished is because he was headbutted by Zidane.

Do you think FIFA will ban Rooney every time the nation hears him call a fellow player a c**t on MOTD? If so, expect Rooney's next game to be some time in 2028.

Perhaps it took something like this to bring it to the world's attention. We all knew it took place, but it took someone to do something like that to get people in power talking about it and doing something about. But, if I know the authorities, nothing will change until it happens in a Cup Final, or similarly high-profile game

quote:

Originally posted by CaptVimes:
Just reminds me why i havent bought WSC for years ...piss poor publication

That's my last one cap'n