TTP Community - Blogs http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/ TTP is a community for senior soccer players and people generally interested in soccer in the lower mainland of British Columbia en Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:17:04 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg TTP Community - Blogs http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/ We invite Soccer Camp to adult and boys http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/ecologicalsport-com/11-we-invite-soccer-camp-adult-boys.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:06:33 GMT We invite you to visit our world class Soccer and Beach Soccer Camp in
Costa Rica. We are based in a private beach front luxury hotel & Club in
the magnificent beach of Punta Leona, working together with formers
Brazil's Beach Soccer National Team Head Coach and Costa Rica’s National
Team Head Coach we are sure to bring the highest quality in training and
skill improvement for kids (Boys & Girls 14 & Up)from all over the world.
Don’t miss this great opportunity. We also have a special program for
amateur and professional teams.
Discount grups.

For more info, please visit us at WWW.ecologicalsport.com

Carlos Cordeiro / Rony Perez General Manager
IBSC - Costa Rica
International Sales
(506)8390-5847
:bronco: ]]> ecologicalsport.com http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/ecologicalsport-com/11-we-invite-soccer-camp-adult-boys.html Respect!? Sure thing ;) http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/10-respect-sure-thing-%3B.html Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:19:05 GMT Always the most heated debates in sport. Officiating. You often hear people whinging about how they were "done by the referee" or "the referee was shocking" It happens in Football, American Football, Hockey, Boxing, Basketball, Baseball, you name it.

If it isn't a race to a finish line, or a race against the clock you can damn well be assured that there is an official, umpire, referee, linesman, or judge there to affect the outcome one way or another.

In principle referees and officials are there to enforce the rules of the game. If someone is fouled, they blow the whistle. If a goal is scored they mark it down as a point scored. If a ball goes out in to touch they blow play dead and give the other team the ball. They protect the integrity of the game, and the players that play the game. Or do they?

No matter what happens when an official makes a call, there is a judgement, and a human element touches the game. Did the referee get it right? Did he get it wrong? What is the outcome?

This year the FA went into action after the tipping point last season when Ashley Cole turned his back on Mike Riley. Supporters, Players, Officials, Executives, and Pundits alike finally agreed that something had to be done to banish the steadily declining behaviour of players and their dissenting actions to wards officials at the highest levels of the game. Good idea right? Maybe in theory.

We have had, in the last month, many instances of referee's poor decisions (with and without recourse) costing a player a very bad injury, millions if not billions in betting, players and managers being fined and suspended, and at the end of the day you were left with the thought and picture in your minds eye of a supporter or fan scratching his wondering why.

Both Didier Drogba and Sir Alex Ferguson were fined and suspended last week by the FA. The FA apparently is not willing to sanction Burnley for the actions of their supporters during their surprising victory over Chelsea in the 4th round of the Carling Cup. Yet for Mr. Drogba to pick up a coin that was fired at him, throw it back to the crowd and make a one finger gesture to the stands was enough to cost him a 3 match ban. Go figure.
Sir Alex got his following the 4-3 Win over Hull, which was officiated by Mike Dean. He was particularly miffed at the late Peno awarded to Hull after Ferdinand innocently tackled the Hull player in the box. This wouldn't have been so bad if not for Mr. Dean calling the game with any semblance of consistency, in that he had warned Hull's Michael Turner twice before yellow carding him for poor tackles and then he allows him to escape further punishment after a particularly poor tackle on Carrick, which just preceeded the Penalty award.

Sir Alex has a reason to whine.

Last season, after an abysmal performance in which Mike Clattenburg awarded 16 fouls to United following reckless Bolton challenges, which consequently only resulted in Two yellow cards, Sir Alex had this to say:
Quote:
“Some referees don’t like the truth,” fumed Ferguson. “Bolton were over-physical and there were two or three very dodgy tackles. There were lots of late tackles and I could not believe some of the things they were allowed to get away with. In those situations, you want the referee to be strong and to be able to handle it but we didn’t get any protection at all. I made my feelings known to the referee, so I spent the second-half upstairs.”
He also spent the following two matches upstairs also :rolleyes:

And this isn't just a problem in the Barclay's Premier League either. Barnsely and Canada Player Iain Hume was hospitalized with sever head trauma after Sheffield United's skipper Chris Morgan decided to plant his elbow on and through Hume's skull. It was a dreadful incident with dreaful aftermath, and the FA was quoted as saying it cannot upgrade a yellow card to a red card following Andy D'Urso only issuing a yellow card to Morgan for the offense. Who, by the way escaped further FA action. I myself didn't watch the match, but have seen enough evidence to allow me to believe that Barnsley Manager Simon Davey is bang on with his inference that the Official did not do enough to protect either the integrity of the game or the players. Which, in my best estimation, is any referees mandate.

This week in the Scottish Premier League Rangers manager Walter Smith has been asked by the SFA to explain his actions following a fruitless 0-0 draw with Motherwell. The game featured a poor call by the assistant referee which wrongly chalked off a goal by Kris Boyd for offside. Here we have an incident which could cost Rangers a title, considering at present they are 4 points behind Celtic, and had the goal stood it would be two points behind.

Now Soccer, as we all know, has no instant or video replay and officials cannot possibly be expected to get every call right. However look to the incident from two weeks ago in the NFL that has massive implications and repercussions.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers up on the San Diego Chargers 11-10 the Steelers scored a touchdown (called touchdown) on the final play of the game to go up 17-10 with the PAT pending to potentially take the score to 18-10. The referee calls a touchdown and the play is reviewed. The referee exits the replay booth/shroud thing and confers with his team and explains how he is going to enforce the original ruling on the field, and yet, somehow three of his linemen talk him out of it. The Steelers still win the game, and no playoff hopes or implications are affected one way or another, No Harm No Foul right?... Wrong: The big game in the States and Worldwide with the NFL is betting. Why this is a big deal is that around or more than 100 Million US Dollars was bet on this game, with 66% or so of the money bet on the Steelers covering the spread, which was conveniently enough set at 4.5-5 points depending on which house you placed your bet with. There are estimates floating around that nearly or over One Billion Dollars world wide was bet on the illegal markets on the same line and spread. Which all means that the three officials that talked the head referee out of right call, which he had the use of instant replay to ensure he got it right, saved Bookmakers worldwide Billions of dollars in payouts and the US Legal Gambling houses millions and millions of dollars. It also caused Anarchy and Pandamonium in Vegas Were they on the take? Some may think so. I wouldn't put it past them following last years debacle with this guy.

So anyways, this all leads back to the Respect of Officials. Do they deserve respect for just showing up? At youth and amateur sports leves, I say yes. We see terrible decisions week in and week out. These officials are just one step above amateur or volunteers, yes they get paid for their 90 minutes, but really, they are not professionals. So I say along with their meagre pay, they do deserve respect from all participants, players, coaches, and spectatorts alike.

At the top end though? If we are talking about truly professional officials who ply the trade of officiating sport as the way they earn their living? If they deserve to get instant respect they may have a tougher time at it. Just look at some quotes:

Quote:
"We got the Mickey Mouse referee doing nothing." Joe Kinnear
Quote:
"Respect? It's a load of baloney." Dave Jones
Quote:
"Respect has to be earned. I've spoken to managers who feel quite strongly about this and one or two are thinking of pulling out." Paul Jewell
Quote:
"Respect - You've got to f****** earn respect." Unnamed Premier League player makes erudite assessment of a linesman's decision.
'Nuff said.

So to summarize:
Referees can do no wrong, and the FA and other governing bodies, save the NFL, will not sanction or punish officials for poor performances.

They (The Associations and governing bodies) cannot change yellows to reds, yet can go and suspend and fine players and managers after the fact. weird. :rolleyes:

UPDATE following the weekend: Mr. Mike Dean, back at it again :rolleyes: ]]> johnnybluenose http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/10-respect-sure-thing-%3B.html Leadership? http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/9-leadership.html Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:16:33 GMT William Gallas had a rough last week or two. I'm loving it to be fair, since my BPL allegiances lie with their rivals at White Hart Lane. However, it got me thinking, after reading all the hoopla, what is the big deal?

So he had a cigarette after a night on the piss earlier this month... Who hasn't had their moments? ;)

Us folks that pay attention to the Scottish Premier League and Old Firm were caught up in the Barry Ferguson vs Paul LeGuen scandal at Ibrox during the 06/07 campaign. The Ibrox legend was stripped of his captaincy for "undermining" Monsieur LeGuen when he organised a Christmas function for the lads in Newcastle against the Manager's warnings not to do so. What was Baz guilty of? Trying to up damaged morale in a dressing room split between LeGuen's "New Boys" and the remnants of Big Eck's side? At the end of the day Sir David Murray sent LeGuen and his team packing and brought back Uncle Water, He re-appointed Baz captain, and all was well with the world again.

All of us that pay attention to the NHL locally here went through a similar debacle, albeit with a longtime Captain and Vancouver Legend

So what precisely did Gallas do other than smoking, which by the way a Dutch firm may have a solution for Billy?
1. In January last season he kicked some advertising boards in disgust after McFadden scored a peno, obviously a display of his unhappiness with his teammates, i don't specifically remember the incident, but could imagine that a teammate made a poor tackle attempt or lost concentration, thereby dropping points for Arsenal. Yet the media blames Gallas' actions of the temper tantrum as the reason they dropped the 2 points which put a title bid out of reach.
2. Apparently players were having falling outs at training, Monsieur Wenger does nothing about it, and then Gallas goes to the media and rips his teammates. His exact comments were:
Quote:
"We are not brave enough in battle. I think we need to be soldiers. To be champions, you have to play big matches every weekend and fight,"
He did also accuse a teammate of disrupting team morale, yet did not name the player.

Where in any of this do you see a guy that doesn't want to win? That doesn't want teammates to get on well? That doesn't want the fans to get their money's worth?

What I see is one of the best footballers of our generation, both on the international side and club side of the game, someone who has won and lost at the highest levels.

I often wonder who has the bigger egos? Some of these players or some of these managers? You will see that as of this morning Monsieur Wenger has back-tracked, now that Arsenal has moved into the group stages of the Champions League...
The beeb article goes on to say:
Quote:
Nicklas Bendtner's 87th-minute goal gave the Gunners a 1-0 win against Kiev on Tuesday and afterwards Wenger paid particular tribute to Gallas for his contribution.
"William's focus was great. He wanted to do well and was completely committed," he stated.
"Our fans also know he was a committed captain and responded well to him."
My how winning changes everything ;)

He went on...
Quote:
...the Arsenal boss told French television channel Canal+ that he believed Gallas had been the victim of a "witch-hunt". He said of his decision to strip Gallas of the captaincy and give it to Cesc Fabregas: "It was based neither on the man himself nor his quality as a player but more on his blunder.
"He didn't intend to be malicious but it put his team under enormous pressure. He will remain himself and it can free him as a player if there is less pressure.
So what? Giving the armband to a young spainard means that Gallas gets to play and not heap pressure on the youngsters at Arsenal? Perhaps Gallas' boot should not have been up the backside of his teammates, perhaps it should have been up Arsene's.

One common theme I see through all of these football captain sagas are egotistical meglomaniac French Managers. ]]> johnnybluenose http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/9-leadership.html Quick Hits v 1.0 http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/8-quick-hits-v-1-0.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:46:48 GMT Apparently we have a soccer hall of fame (http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081120.wspt_mallett20/GSStory/GlobeSportsSoccer/home) here in Canada...Surely you jest? C-Ron has a bit... Apparently we have a soccer hall of fame here in Canada...Surely you jest?

C-Ron has a bit of Testicular Fortitude afterall, albeit misplaced. ;)

Landon Donovan has all but agreed terms on loan until January then look for a permanent move during the January window. What does this say about the state of the game in North America when their (Europe) aging also rans head west and we send our very best East to play 4th fiddle to the likes of Lucas Podolski, Luca Toni, and Miro Klose. He has twice before failed in Germany already. IS Donovan ready to step out of the spotlight and become the guy that comes in at the 84th minute in a 4-1 route of the likes of Energie Cottbus?

**Update on the above**

Our Soccer friendly Mayor of Vancouver Proper has decided to not only ensure we get a Soccer Specific Stadium built, but he also promising to eradicate that tiny little insignificant issue known as Homelessness too. How about a Partridge in a Pear Tree too? :rolleyes:

Fifa's proud duo of chief crooks Mr.'s Jack Warner and Sepp Blatter would love nothing more than to have the Home Nations agree to this. Any chance to turn the 4 into 1 and the crooks don't have the sane 4 Home Nations to veto any proposed madness.

If you have a spare 15 minutes or so, and need a laugh...

The FA are getting too big for their britches. With both incidences with Fergie and Drogba are well within their rights to do what they did in my opinion. Hooligan fans and referees that answer to nobody are taking over the game and blighting the best league in the world at the moment. ]]> johnnybluenose http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/8-quick-hits-v-1-0.html Supply and Demand http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/7-supply-demand.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:19:51 GMT Now that the Canadian Mens National team's World Cup Qualification adventure has ended tragically everyone is lining up to figure out what went wrong...or are they?

If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

What is truly wrong with Football in this nation?

Canada is a proud nation of approximately 33 million people. We are a wealthy, developed nation where more youth and adults play "The Beautiful Game" than the nation's unofficial national sport of Hockey.

So what is the deal? We are, comparatively speaking anyways, as wealthy or moreso than our CONCACAF competition, we have equal or greater population paired with participation rates. So what gives?

My Theory: We are not consumers of the game, and the CSA bungles with the best of them. The Sports Networks in Canada fight and scrap over the broadcast rights to the overseas leagues and tournaments yet pay little to zero attention to our Professional Domestic Leagues Teams and our Domestic International Team. It all boils down to Adam Smith Economics, Supply and Demand.

Sportsnet would have broadcasted the Mens Team's games had they fealt they would have gotten value for money. Who are we to tell them how to run their business? They are the ones rolling in profit while we the frustrated soccer fans are angry at them for not helping "Sell the game" to folks that couldn't be arsed anyways. Is it not the same complaint we NHL savvy fans have with the Commissioner handing out franchises to non-hockey markets and alienating us educated fans in an effort to win over fans that aren't going to fall in line anyways?

It is a convoluted mess, as hard to figure out as a Mr. Base post.

The Voyageurs (A mostly lost group of donkeys that, for the most part, have probably never kicked a ball in their life) are fired up, albeit small in numbers, and passionate. They want to burn Dale Mitchell at the stake and Sack the entire CSA. But for what? Another group of muppets to come in and do precisely the same thing? Are the players to blame? Party, yes.

The whole thing boils down to the general Canadian Populace not giving a rat's arse. Would the MLS in Vancouver and Montreal complimenting TFC's presence help? Probably. It would/could go a long way to help remove some of the euro-snobbery that persists, at least amongst the Commercial Drive types.

Vancouver has now elected a Pro-Soccer Mayor. Even though he had problems sorting out his debts, and has since paid up, I have some faith he will, amongst his Communist left winging Muni Politikos, help further the Mythical Stadium Cause. Perhaps a beautifull park on the Waterfront or a renewed BC Place with an aging Euro Star of Italian or Portuguese Heritage will be the tonic to draw the "old world" folks out of the cafe's and eateries to take in the odd Whitecaps game.

That all being said, are we okay with what we have? Do we have a choice in the matter? I enjoy the Whitecaps games from the "Southside" it is a mish mash of folks from all types, one common thing is they try to replicate a true supporter-style atmosphere for about the best footy one can consume live and in the flesh in these parts of the world.

Last week over, or approximately, a thousand people showed up to Percy Perry Stadium to take in the VMSL Premier Division's "Battle of the Balkans" between Croatia SC and the Serbian White Eagles. Why? Heritage and pride I suppose. The game was a foregone conclusion prior to the game even kicking off. Yet the stands were packed with Croatian-Canadians, Serbian-Canadians and a whole lot of other people.

I guess at the end of the day I will sum up the above by saying we are, and need to realize we are, just a niche group here in Canada, and we have to get used to it.

We are "third world" when it comes to footballing, and I at least for now, am over it. Every dog has it's day, and some nice things will happen in the community every now and then, but at the end of the day, the average Joe Sixpack in Canada doesn't care about Soccer at most levels other than his kid's babysitting service twice a week for two hours. ]]> johnnybluenose http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/johnnybluenose/7-supply-demand.html International Soccer Camp Costa Rican Beaches 2009 http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/ecologicalsport-com/6-international-soccer-camp-costa-rican-beaches-2009.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:50:30 GMT Dear Boys , guys, girls and mem's we invited to the camping profesional to him of soccer and beach to soccer in beaches of Costa Rica. Deprived hotel of Luxury, three daily meals in quality restaurants, includes stroll to Arenal Volcano ground and Fortune of San Carlos. Low prices, Quality certified of the trainers Champion of the World selection of Brazil. For Girls and Boys 14+.
www.ecologicalsport.com
Prices for special groups and prices for companions.
:wa: ]]> ecologicalsport.com http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/ecologicalsport-com/6-international-soccer-camp-costa-rican-beaches-2009.html gobind in 3b http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/new-to-fvsl/5-gobind-3b.html Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:43:16 GMT Whats Whats ]]> new to fvsl http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/new-to-fvsl/5-gobind-3b.html beer for charity event http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/scunny61/4-beer-charity-event.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:59:59 GMT Does anyone know where I can find a brewery/keg selling outfit that might be sympathetic supplying beer for a one day soccer charity event for a reasonable price? thanks for any help in this area. Does anyone know where I can find a brewery/keg selling outfit that might be sympathetic supplying beer for a one day soccer charity event for a reasonable price?
thanks for any help in this area. ]]> scunny61 http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/scunny61/4-beer-charity-event.html <![CDATA[What's in a name?]]> http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/regs/1-whats-name.html Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:27:25 GMT Well, here goes - first blog entry and I choose to have a go at those that can't get past the website name.

Over the years, I have heard first, second, third -hand about how the name takethepiss.com is bad, bad, bad. And I would be lying if I didn't admit to having thoughts of listening to these people and exploring different names for this online community.

But I keep coming back to the fact that this community is for senior soccer players first and foremost.

And it is that segment of the soccer community that understands the term Take The Piss and in some ways, tend to embrace it.

Example:

A few years back, I approached a couple of other local websites and suggested the formation of an advertising alliance. An agreement was put in place and things went well, or so I thought. A couple of years later, one of the sites changed ownership and things then started to get a bit strained as the new owner couldn't help himself in saying at every opportunity (so it seemed), that the TTP name was holding things back.

Eventually I grew weary of this and decided to just withdraw from the alliance and let the others run things on their own.

I've monitored what they have been doing over the last couple of months and it would seem to me that apparently it wasn't the TTP name holding things back. Their pool of advertisers appears to be down significantly and after briefly reducing their buy-in rates, they are back to the same rate levels before TTP left (which IMHO is less bang for an advertiser's dollar since the inventory of available impressions declined by 500,000 per month in-season).

In the meantime, TTP has slowly been going about it's 'business', slowly building up relationships with a few select companies as well as trying to get the membership levels back to where they once were.

Things are looking up in that regard and I'm hopeful that 2008 brings some excellent rewards for the community as a whole. ]]> Regs http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/blogs/regs/1-whats-name.html