Boring, feeble gameplay at Euro 2016 final proves yet again what a tepid sport football has become

Boring, feeble gameplay at Euro 2016 final proves yet again what a tepid sport football has become

Hardly anyone commented on the feeble football they saw. Not on TV, not in the papers, not on the websites; with all the awe being expressed, I am wondering if were we even watching the same match

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Boring, feeble gameplay at Euro 2016 final proves yet again what a tepid sport football has become

I was watching the Euro finals on Sunday and thinking — these guys won’t last 10 minutes in a rugby match; they will be trampled in the stampede! Never have I seen a more boring 120 minutes of sports, with players falling about like graceless ballerinas.

From the moment he fell down for the first time, Cristiano Ronaldo’s body language was seemingly sending out a message that he wasn’t planning to stay for the full party. When he did so for the third time (all three being pretty much similar scenarios — I actually thought they were replays) he was ceremoniously carted off. And to be honest, I never really figured out where this grievous injury came from.

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Maybe he was genuinely hurt, but there is this suspicion that he could have soldiered on and just didn’t get into the spirit of the match.

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo walked away with an injury in the final of the Euro 2016. AP

Until it was almost over. When he became the coach, the captain and the leader of the pack. Vroooom, vroom, marching up and down while he had actually contributed zilch to the match in the time he was actually on the field.

I have had a few fans and some experts look at me in shock when, in post-match discussions about the sacrilege of criticising Ronaldo as a prima donna who did nothing much, I have been been castigated for my display of soccer ignorance. Yet none of them have been able to convincingly elaborate on the injury or how it happened and since it wasn’t a pulled hamstring did he have to go off the pitch.

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It was also odd that hardly anyone commented on the feeble football they saw. Not on TV, not in the papers, not on the websites; with all the awe being expressed, I am wondering if were we even watching the same match! In fact, thank goodness someone scored so we could call it a night.

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Have you seen rugby players in comparison? It has been said that the difference between football and rugby is that footballers say they are hurt when they are not and rugby players say they are not hurt when they are.

Okay, maybe I am an ignoramus, but seriously, hasn’t soccer become a little namby pamby and, for a contact sport, lost that ruggedness. There is so much whistle blowing and remonstration and pouting and sulking and yellow cards being flung about like confetti that the fluidity of the game is fractured by stops.

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Again, look at rugby. What you love about this game is the traditional relationship between the players and the referee. You just do not take him on. It is not done. Only those who play the game or understand it can appreciate the depth of this tradition. There are these two burly big bears standing next to a little David of a ref who is chastising them like they were being dispatched to Coventry or in for six of the best at the princi’s study. And there is no debate, no messing about.

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The introduction of the mike so you can hear the ref adds to the TV viewer’s enjoyment and underscores the fact that he is the boss. Now we will have none of that, will we? I’ve made my point, gentlemen, on with the game. There is no discussion, Owen, get on with it. I don’t think you heard me, it is a penalty, shall we leave it at that?

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None of that nonsense of badmouthing the ref like they do in soccer.

Admit it, it was a frightful finals.

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