UEFA EURO 2020 (Italy Champions)

Remove this Banner Ad

Dec 22, 2009
62,367
36,512
South End, AAMI Park
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Matildas/Socceroos/LFC/MVFC/RCStrasbourg
Eastern Europe is a cesspit of racism unfortunately. They are where western society was 40-50 years ago in terms of where they stand on racism. Going to take a massive effort to change attitudes, especially when you look at places like Russia where fans are openly racist and proud of it. I'd like to see UEFA make Bulgaria play the next 2 games behind closed doors with another further 1 game penalty suspended in case of more reoffending.
 

WealstoneRaider

Cancelled
10k Posts I reneged on a bet or agreement :(
Apr 8, 2015
17,469
9,803
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Eastern Europe is a cesspit of racism unfortunately. They are where western society was 40-50 years ago in terms of where they stand on racism. Going to take a massive effort to change attitudes, especially when you look at places like Russia where fans are openly racist and proud of it. I'd like to see UEFA make Bulgaria play the next 2 games behind closed doors with another further 1 game penalty suspended in case of more reoffending.
They don’t want to become multi-cultural societies like the west has become. They probably see much of the problems it causes but none of the benefits, and of course in some cases like the Balkans they have already seen enough of ethnic tensions to last a lifetime
 

Log in to remove this ad.

******* disgusting from some of the Bulgarian fans. Uefa will do * all to combat this. What's it gonna take for stuff like this to end? Ejecting the fans only does so much. There need to be harsher penalties.
 
Dec 22, 2009
62,367
36,512
South End, AAMI Park
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Matildas/Socceroos/LFC/MVFC/RCStrasbourg
******* disgusting from some of the Bulgarian fans. Uefa will do fu** all to combat this. What's it gonna take for stuff like this to end? Ejecting the fans only does so much. There need to be harsher penalties.

All UEFA can do (and hopefully do in this case) is ban fans from attending games and if the problem persists suspend Bulgaria from UEFA competitions. In terms of educating society that needs to come from within and is a huge issue in Eastern Bloc countries where attitudes to racism are still back in the dark ages. Think of where Australia was 50 years ago and this is where Bulgaria is realistically is at. To fix that takes a cultural shift and real leadership from within.
 
All UEFA can do (and hopefully do in this case) is ban fans from attending games and if the problem persists suspend Bulgaria from UEFA competitions
See this is the problem. Bulgaria arguably can be banned after this incident.
Coming into the game, the stadium was half empty after a previous racist incident in June of this year. The crowd was warned after the game first stopped, then ejected upon the second halt in play. As good as this pro-activity is, arguably the greatest moment of Tyrone Mings' career has been soured by this. He will never get to debut internationally again. This day will forever go down, not for his performance or for his debut but for the racism directed at him. The response from the Bulgarian players was good and the fact that Ivelin Popov went over and pleaded with the racist "supporters" to stop is both depressing and heart-warming at the same time. However, the response from the Bulgarian FA has been nothing short of disgraceful. I refuse to believe that when the manager says "I personally did not hear the chanting," that he is being truthful. Especially given his comments before the game accusing English supporters of having a worse problem regarding racist incidents than Bulgaria.
Those comments coming from the manager, being echoed by the F.A. are disgraceful and have no place in 2019
Kick it out sum it up pretty well

"We are sickened by the disgusting racist abuse directed at England men's team by Bulgaria supporters - including TV footage which appeared to show Nazi salutes and monkey noises,"

"It's now time for Uefa to step up and show some leadership. For far too long, they have consistently failed to take effective action. The fact Bulgaria are already hosting this game with a partial stadium closure for racist abuse shows that Uefa's sanctions are not fit for purpose.

"There can be no more pitiful fines or short stadium bans. If Uefa cares at all about tackling discrimination - and if the Equal Game campaign means anything - then points deductions and tournament expulsion must follow."

The bottom line is that the penalties whatever they end up being MUST be harsh and that the response from the both teams players and English staff was incredible. A very sad night for football but hopefully a turning point.
 

Bomberboyokay

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts
Sep 27, 2014
34,227
28,861
AFL Club
Essendon
Scotland's national team sucks because they've got * all players in the "Big 5" leagues. Well that's the short explanation.
 

Kompany

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 23, 2005
5,069
743
AFL Club
Melbourne
The crowd was warned after the game first stopped, then ejected upon the second halt in play. As good as this pro-activity is, arguably the greatest moment of Tyrone Mings' career has been soured by this. He will never get to debut internationally again. This day will forever go down, not for his performance or for his debut but for the racism directed at him.

I feel sorry for Mings but not too much. He's still a highly respected millionaire who represented his country. I feel more sorry for those who are less privileged and identify with him, like kids, fans or youth players who think the same can happen to them, or have been racially abused before.

Balakov's statements seem absolutely shocking. He also said that racism in Bulgaria wasn't such an issue as in England, and that he wasn't surprised there were problems with racism in a society with much diversity.

I also think it would've been good if the England players had walked off. A high profile national team like them, that would've gotten so much media attention worldwide and put Uefa under a lot of pressure to finally get their act together. No more hashtags, 15.000 euro fines and players of both teams together in a photo. These things clearly don't work. We're dealing with a societal issue here, but Uefa is in a great position to help combat it.
 
Aug 21, 2016
15,614
24,585
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Oldham
I also think it would've been good if the England players had walked off. A high profile national team like them, that would've gotten so much media attention worldwide and put Uefa under a lot of pressure to finally get their act together. No more hashtags, 15.000 euro fines and players of both teams together in a photo. These things clearly don't work. We're dealing with a societal issue here, but Uefa is in a great position to help combat it.

I think the right thing happened. The England players brought it to the officials' attention who instigated the appropriate action.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Apr 8, 2007
58,337
29,358
Dublin
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
SJ Sharks/Everton/NY Jets
Indeed.

Think there's a few more floating around who didn't get picked.
Usually from the bottom half of the table though. It's like how the last 10 years of Australian teams have had players in bigger leagues... except they are mostly GKs.
 
Usually from the bottom half of the table though. It's like how the last 10 years of Australian teams have had players in bigger leagues... except they are mostly GKs.

Still PL clubs.
 

Galaxie77

Team Captain
Sep 18, 2016
407
105
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
Spezia Calcio.
They don’t want to become multi-cultural societies like the west has become. They probably see much of the problems it causes but none of the benefits, and of course in some cases like the Balkans they have already seen enough of ethnic tensions to last a lifetime

Good on them, when teams like France and Belgium are ringers united.
The nazi salutes are a bit much though.
 
Last edited:

Macpotata

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 22, 2017
9,595
10,877
AFL Club
Geelong
Italy 5-0
Finland 3-0

Finland can secure a spot in the finals with a win over bottom-side Liechtenstein at home in November


Should smash that sorrowful mob and earn their first ever appearance at a major championship which is Great to see. Italy 100 percent but they've played nobodies. The best I've seen them play was the first 30 against Portugal last year at the San Siro where they should have been 3-0 up at that point but like Italy do, they don't capitalise. Would have been at the World Cup if not for an inept manager. Italy could do well and will go deep if not next year, at Qatar.

Portugal losing to Ukraine but they've been assured of Qualification when they won the Nations League. I'd have them slightly behind France who drew to Turkey yesterday but big whoop. They're the World Champions, should have been the current Euro Champions and are the favourites to do so next year. Star studded line up with talent everywhere and drew at home to Luxembourg on the way to the World Cup in Russia last year, so a slip up against Turkey is no sweat. Still the team to beat and deservedly so.

Holland have been impressive and beat the French in the nations league last year. Taken care of the Germans in that tournament and also in Euro qualifying. Germany have been in average form but also should have destroyed France in France if not for poor finishing in front of goal which cost them. The Dutch will be at their first major championships since Brazil 2014 and it's good to see them back on the World Stage. I wouldn't make much of the Germans indifferent form either and last years World Cup was an aberration for mine. Regardless of where they finish next year, the Germans always produce much like the Italians and it's not a question of whether they remain down, just how long for. Will be quick to rise as they always do on the World stage much like they did in that poor patch at Euro 2000.


Late equaliser from Spain and Norway this morning completely changing the way things seemed before the final whistle. Will be a cracking Euros with 32 teams like at France 2016 and Belgium will be touted to go far yet again. It could be their time perhaps.


France
Belgium
Germany/Spain/England/Italy/Portugal/Croatia/Holland
 
Last edited:

WealstoneRaider

Cancelled
10k Posts I reneged on a bet or agreement :(
Apr 8, 2015
17,469
9,803
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Good on them, when teams like France and Belgium are ringers united.
The nazi salutes are a bit much though.
No there’s no place for nazism anywhere, you lose any argument you think you may have if you go down that route.

The powers that be always claim that “diversity is our strength”, fact is England one day will have an all-black team which last time I checked isn’t particularly diverse. Of course that opens up the counter suggestion that diversity is actually just code for “less whites”. It’s definitely open to debate.

I used to love the old world cups when Brazilians were Brazilians, French were French, Italians were Italians, Germans were Germans etc etc. Every nation had its own style and brand with it. Now most nations look exactly alike and the football played is uniformed too. Kind of flies in the face of diversity when you think about it
 

Kompany

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 23, 2005
5,069
743
AFL Club
Melbourne
No there’s no place for nazism anywhere, you lose any argument you think you may have if you go down that route.

The powers that be always claim that “diversity is our strength”, fact is England one day will have an all-black team which last time I checked isn’t particularly diverse. Of course that opens up the counter suggestion that diversity is actually just code for “less whites”. It’s definitely open to debate.

I used to love the old world cups when Brazilians were Brazilians, French were French, Italians were Italians, Germans were Germans etc etc. Every nation had its own style and brand with it. Now most nations look exactly alike and the football played is uniformed too. Kind of flies in the face of diversity when you think about it

That nationality you talk about, when Germans were Germans etc... is an illusion. I am a white Belgian. Genetically, after hundreds (or thousands) of years of moving around, people immigrating, many wars and occupations, Belgians are historically very diverse (just like the Brits). It's just that you can't see it clearly. There is no such thing as "a Belgian" or "an English person". That is just an impression you've created at a certain moment in time.

Countries used to have their own styles because almost everyone played in their own national leagues. What do you expect when only a few Brazilian NT players play in Brazil?

Belgium a team of ringers, yeah right. We have one player who wasn't born in Belgium (Benteke who moved there when he was 8). Of our so-called "foreigners" or non-white players, Kompany, Witsel, Tielemans, Denayer, Naingolan and Dembele have a white parent. Lukaku, Fellaini, Chadli, Origi... were all born in Belgium and grew up there. What's wrong with that?
 

WealstoneRaider

Cancelled
10k Posts I reneged on a bet or agreement :(
Apr 8, 2015
17,469
9,803
AFL Club
Hawthorn
That nationality you talk about, when Germans were Germans etc... is an illusion. I am a white Belgian. Genetically, after hundreds (or thousands) of years of moving around, people immigrating, many wars and occupations, Belgians are historically very diverse (just like the Brits). It's just that you can't see it clearly. There is no such thing as "a Belgian" or "an English person". That is just an impression you've created at a certain moment in time.

Countries used to have their own styles because almost everyone played in their own national leagues. What do you expect when only a few Brazilian NT players play in Brazil?

Belgium a team of ringers, yeah right. We have one player who wasn't born in Belgium (Benteke who moved there when he was 8). Of our so-called "foreigners" or non-white players, Kompany, Witsel, Tielemans, Denayer, Naingolan and Dembele have a white parent. Lukaku, Fellaini, Chadli, Origi... were all born in Belgium and grew up there. What's wrong with that?
With respect, you are talking a lot of rubbish
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back