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Sporting stars behaviour - the differences seen & the wrongs in football
Having watched the disgusting behaviour from several Chelsea players this evening, and the subsequent elitist (bordering on racist) coverage from sky commentators at the end of the game, I feel I should point out the differences in behaviours I've seen in European semi finals in two different sports this past week.
Cardiff v Leicester in Rugby Union on sunday. A wonderful advert for the game of rugby. Two superb teams, battling it out for a place in club rugby biggest final. Some poor refereeing decisions went against leicester (two sin binnings and a dodgy penalty against Flood), and Cardiff lose the game on a penalty shoot out (a farsical way to lose rugby match). However, no one was ranting at the ref after the game, no players screamed and chased the officials at the end of the game complaining about decisions going against them. No one accused the ref of being from a "lesser" nation who is not experienced to officiate big games. The teams take the result on the chin and move on
Then switch to this evenings "dramas". The differences between footballers and rugby players. Both games had high stakes, both had passion, skill. But whereas cardiff/leicester players acted with dignity and sportsmanship, Barcelona but Chelsea in particular tonight displayed none of those attributes displayed in rugby. Three national captains behaving like spoilt children when something didn't go their way. Swearing at cameras live on television (with thousands of children watching). What kind of example does that set?
And then to top it all off, sky commentators and analysts displaying elitism and borderline racism when discussing the refereeing. Yes, he had a bad game, made some very poor decisions (should have been 2 pens, and wasn't a sending off).However, to say that a norwegian can't ref big games because they don't get to officiate pressure games is offensive. Redknapp and Gray should hang their heads in shame. The ref last night made and equally poor decision in sending off fletcher, did he hear commentators saying he should be refing the big matches? No, because he was Italian
Its time that people saw footballers for what they are: people how get paid fair too much and behave how they want because they afford to get away with it. What will happen to Drogba really? A few games banned and token fine? He'll afford it, and he'll do it again. Throw the book at him