Monday 5 February 2018

Ignoring the elephant in the Room (Jul. 28, 2013)

Ignoring the elephant in the Room
Radio NZ National, Sunday 28 July 2013
In a lightweight interview this morning, Chris Laidlaw chuckled that the 8-7 loss in the World Cup final to Craig Joubert’s All Blacks had “bizarrely improved the relationship” between France and New Zealand. Anyone who follows French rugby, and has charted the immense public anger and cynicism following that disgrace, knows that the reality is exactly the opposite. I emailed Chris Laidlaw on behalf of all sports fans….
Dear Chris,
In your interview with outgoing French ambassador Francis Etienne, you broached the subject of the farcical 2011 World Cup final. You neglected, perhaps deliberately, to even mention the controversy that still rages in France over the failure (if that is the correct word) of the referee to penalize the systematic, repeated, blatant fouling by the home team. Obviously, the ambassador, with his évasif diplomatique, was never going to bring up such a vexatious topic, but listeners who care about rugby football will have been disappointed that you did not.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
  • Te Reo Putake8.1
    Weird, Moz. Given that most of France doesn’t give a toss about egg chasing, I reckon you’ll be completely unable to back up your claim about a raging controversy. Not that you’re wrong about the AB’s violent cheating; McCaw’s knee in the back of a prone french forward late in the game was sickening.
    • bad128.1.1
      It is tho after-all ‘thugby’, for every incidence of overt unnecessary violence inflicted on the French by McCaw and others, in slow motion the tape of the game will show a French player dishing out the same,
      The game is overtly violent and every weekend up and down the country ‘players’ get away with behavior which if committed elsewhere would likely result in them being locked up,
      The ‘black eyes’ walking off the field from last nights Chiefs/Crusaders during and after the match are testament to the games violent nature, i don’t think i watch the game to witness such violence but watch i do,(so perhaps i am complicit)…
      • Morrissey8.1.1.1
        in slow motion the tape of the game will show a French player dishing out the same,
        Yes it will. French football is notorious for its brutality. The issue though, is the failure of the referee to do his job.
        • bad128.1.1.1.1
          ‘the Ref’ tho has 30 players all moving in fast motion to watch, perhaps the ref genuinely missed the ‘piece of thugby’ you cite McCaw for, hell i miss a lot of it from the birds eye perspective of TV viewing and it’s only slow motion replay’s which show the ‘dirt’ going in and even then much of that is invisible in the ruck and maul situation,
          while on the subject, a hat-tip to the Chiefs for their semi-final win over the Crusaders,(just)…
    • Morrissey8.1.2
      Weird, Moz. Given that most of France doesn’t give a toss about egg chasing,
      You’ve said some stupid and dishonest things on this mostly excellent forum, but without a doubt that is the st000pidest. Rugby is immensely popular in France; you know that of course.
      And of course the issue wasn’t the violence of McCaw, it was (and is) the outrageously partial display of the non-referee.
      • Te Reo Putake8.1.2.1
        Merde! Rugby is barely in the top ten sports list in France, Moz. Sorry to let the facts get in the way of your delusions, but it’s only popular in the south, and even there, it’s way behind football, cycling and the rest. No need for an apology for calling me dishonest, I’m hardened to the dismal levels of accuracy associated with your claims.
        • Morrissey8.1.2.1.1
          Rugby is the most popular spectator sport in France. True, it’s playing strength and its most fanatical following is in the southwest, but it’s immensely popular all over. You don’t know anything about French sport, just as you don’t know anything about New Zealand, as indicated by your ignorant insistence on calling soccer “football”.
          I am amused by your foolish (and continual) attempts to impugn my integrity; especially ironic given your formal warning from L Prent after you had, moronically, called another poster a “thief”.
          • Te Reo Putake8.1.2.1.1.1
            Cite needed for the spectator sport claim. Sounds like utter bollocks, given how popular football is there. Anything to back it up?
            When was this warning from Lprent? I don’t recall it.
            edit: found the ‘warning’. Clockie gave the context in the next comment, so no probs. I used the term accurately.
            • Te Reo Putake
              I’ve done some research for ya Moz. As usual you’re wrong. Here’s an article optimistic about rugby in France, but far more realistic than you:
              “But rugby may have surged at soccer’s expense. Attendance figures for the recently-ended pro rugby regular season show an 11% boost over the previous year, contrasting soccer’s nearly 4% slump. Though the average 19,860 fans at Ligue 1 soccer games is still considerably higher than the 13,402 average for rugby’s Top 14, rugger is fast closing the gap — over the past six years, soccer stadiums have lost a total of 10% of fans, while rugby’s gate has more than doubled. The tables are slowly turning in TV Land too: though the 1.7 million viewers average of soccer matches on pay station Canal Plus far out-guns 700,000 for the Top 14, rugby’s offensive has gained ground there, too.”
              btw, the most popular rugby club in France, Toulouse, still gets smaller crowds for its biggest games than the average gate for the regular Ligue 1 matches of Toulouse FC at the ground they share, the Stadium Municipal.
              ps the game is called football in NZ, hence the national administration is named NZ Football. Do try and keep up.
              • Morrissey
                ps the game is called football in NZ, hence the national administration is named NZ Football.</i.
                Trouble is, "football" means rugby football in New Zealand. Soccer NZ changed its name in response to a directive from John "Possumhead" O'Neill, who had just been appointed to the position of CEO of Soccer Australia after being fired from his ARU job.
  • Northshoreguynz8.2
    I wondered how long Mo’s obsession with that game would take to surface here. Actually longer than I thought.

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