Sorry that I have no link to offer but today the Hutt News (page 80 for those lucky enough), by way of that sparkling writer Joseph Romanos, has critiqued football.
Some of his gems -
"every high-profile match is bedevilled by cheating"
"football administrators have been woefuly inept for decades"
"But then football has long been the lowest common denominator of sport."
Wish we were more crebral like rowing.
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA
Sounds like every sport ever.
Wish we were more cerebral like rowing.
Shouldn't that just have had a full stop after cerebral? 
Romanos. Yawn. The Wellington Steven Jones (no Frankie, not you).
crerbral. It's a word - used by people who wear Steven Fry dinner jackets.
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA
The Hutt News , on Facebook, offered this reply "You're joking Mike. Countless games are marred by players throwing themselves on the ground 'writhing in agony' after fairly minor player contact. Trying to dupe the referee is cheating. Sets a bad example for younger players. What do other readers reckon?"
In response to me asking... "Loved the bit where he wrote "every high-profile match is bedevilled by cheating". Not generalising eh?"
It's Romanos. Just ignore him.
He's a lowest common denominator troll who has always found ways to poke sticks into football and ignore the clear spread of similar behaviour in the sports he champions.
I agree. Love it when he is on Nine to Noon. They announce him as a sports journalist. As long as it's tennis and rugby he's OK. He was asked a football question recently and his floundering was spectacular.
ask him what NZ Tennis has done in the past 20 years
Founder
The Hutt News , on Facebook, offered this reply "You're joking Mike. Countless games are marred by players throwing themselves on the ground 'writhing in agony' after fairly minor player contact. Trying to dupe the referee is cheating. Sets a
In Rugby players try and dupe the referee, by infringing and hoping not to get caught, hundreds of times every game. It's freely accepted by pretty much everyone, commentators, coaches, players, fans, that the rules need to be pushed to the limit to compete. The referee is to be adapted to. Why is this willingful cheating, and it happens many more times a game, so much better?
Successful troll is successful.
Is it a paper about pizza? *ducks to avoid brick*
Did he actually publically write that as the hutt news Facebook? Wow,that is actually really bad.
I contributed dairyflat. Their response is loltastic. It was edited too,so I wonder what the first one was.
Reversing quicker than an All Whites side with a 1-0 lead.
That made my day. Great stuff Tegal.
That's about as false as an analogy can get. Why not compare it with other team sports (rugby/league/basketball/American football/you name it).
Joseph Romanos replies: If you truly live and breathe football, Mike, you'll be very disappointed with the endless cheating that goes on in your game - players "diving", claiming the throw-in when they know it's not theirs and so on. It's a blight on the sport and you'd be honest if you acknowledged it. You never see a golfer or a snooker player cheating, but it's apparently acceptable in "The Beautiful Game"!
Source: http://www.facebook.com/TheWellingtonian/posts/380628315337383?notif_t=feed_comment
I see he learned his lesson not to post on behal of an entire paper haha
"Mike Greene How the heck can a pro golfer or snooker player attempt to cheat?
By knowingly transgressing any of the following:
1. You are not to change the ball which you strike off the tee.
2. You are not to remove stones, bones or any break club for the sake of playing your ball, except upon the fair green, and that only within a club's length of the ball.
3. If your ball comes among watter, or any wattery filth, you are at liberty to take out your ball and bringing it behind the hazard and you may play it with any club and allow your adversary a stroke for so getting out your ball.
4. If your balls be found anywhere touching one another you are to lift the first ball till you play the last.
5. If you should lose your ball, by its being taken up, or any other way, you are to drop another ball from the lost position and allow your adversary a stroke for the misfortune.
6. If a ball be stopp'd by any person, horse, dog, or anything else, the ball so stopp'd must be played where it lyes.
7. If you draw your club in order to strike and proceed so far in the stroke as to be bringing down your club, if then your club should break in any way, it is to be accounted a stroke.
8. He whose ball lyes farthest from the hole is obliged to play first.
9. Neither trench, ditch, or dyke made for the preservation of the links, nor the Scholars' Holes or the soldiers' lines shall be accounted a hazard but the ball is to be taken out and play'd with any iron club.
10. No player shall attend the course without the wearing of jandals, and any who does fail to wear the jandals as part of his attire must allow his adversary a stroke.
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA
It's actually worse that it was the editor who wrote the initial comments..
"Mike Greene How the heck can a pro golfer or snooker player attempt to cheat?
By knowingly transgressing any of the following:
1. You are not to change the ball which you strike off the tee.
2. You are not to remove stones, bones or any break club for the sake of playing your ball, except upon the fair green, and that only within a club's length of the ball.
3. If your ball comes among watter, or any wattery filth, you are at liberty to take out your ball and bringing it behind the hazard and you may play it with any club and allow your adversary a stroke for so getting out your ball.
4. If your balls be found anywhere touching one another you are to lift the first ball till you play the last.
5. If you should lose your ball, by its being taken up, or any other way, you are to drop another ball from the lost position and allow your adversary a stroke for the misfortune.
6. If a ball be stopp'd by any person, horse, dog, or anything else, the ball so stopp'd must be played where it lyes.
7. If you draw your club in order to strike and proceed so far in the stroke as to be bringing down your club, if then your club should break in any way, it is to be accounted a stroke.
8. He whose ball lyes farthest from the hole is obliged to play first.
9. Neither trench, ditch, or dyke made for the preservation of the links, nor the Scholars' Holes or the soldiers' lines shall be accounted a hazard but the ball is to be taken out and play'd with any iron club.
10. No player shall attend the course without the wearing of jandals, and any who does fail to wear the jandals as part of his attire must allow his adversary a stroke.
Well played sir.
Thank you Joseph. You are doing your best to liven up an excruciatingly long off-season.
You're completely hat stand, but good on you for trying.
Next training session:
"Kids, today we are going to learn how to fall on the ground like a sack of spuds when the opposition is close enough so that the ref (i.e. me most likely) can't see clearly what is really happening. If you do this often enough, you will soon be halting civil wars and building hospitals and schools, plus there will lots of youtube clips of you doing amusing zany dances."
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA
I had fun last night pulling apart his assertion that there is no cheating in Golf and Snooker, then watched him back-pedal from that.
Tempted to wade in again this evening.
Ball tampering? Standing off side? Lying on the ball? Wasn't cheating Tiger's problem?
Time for a media team v. 'Nix with Siggie and Lia ready to go...
By way of Twitter he accused me of stalking him. His words - "Yep, stalking. Letters to editor, twitter, Facebook...have you posted mail to me, too?"
Tad sensitive I reckon....
<snip>
Next training session:
"Kids, today we are going to learn how to fall on the ground like a sack of spuds when the opposition is close enough so that the ref (i.e. me most likely) can't see clearly what is really happening. If you do this often enough, you will soon be halting civil wars and building hospitals and schools, plus there will lots of youtube clips of you doing amusing zany dances."
Might as well pour some more petrol on this dying flame that Joe has tried to spread.
The opinion piece uses the Terry case to slag off how the system allows cheats to prosper.
Firstly - read about it in the Guardian Joe - there's a lot of good journalism there about the pros, cons and farce associated with the case (plus Rubik's #5 comments on stuff is nice and succinct).
Second - football is the highest participation sport in the country and probably in most places in the world. You would expect it to attract more (absolute numbers) of LCDs and also university professors and brain surgeons (exhibit a: Prof Herr Wolfgang Schnell form Fulchester Rovers).
Third - as an opinion piece you come off looking like a bit of a bellend.
Still, at least you're not Danny Hay.
"Phoenix till they lose"
Posting 97% bollox, 8% lies and 3.658% genuine opinion.
Genuine opinion: FTFFA
Didn`t he write Danny Hay`s autobiography.....or..or was it the other way round ??
The article thta Hutt News printed.
Ehh- he wrote Rythymn and Swing, so I'll give him a bit of leniency-
He's kind of making the points that some of us make about swearing at the ref, or remonstrating with/ holding the ref by the shoulder that goes on a lot in the A-league (and only Durante seems to have been carded for disagreeing with a linesman)
the LCD and every high profile match comment are BS. Probably wrote it the night before cos he didn't know what to write and the old soccer players are diving whining pansies is something the audience understands.
Does seem like he was rather phoning it in from 20 years or 30 years ago. Anyway. He's not a football fan and not going to change. So....
Re the LCD comment. Today he tweeted "Never thought I'd get so excited about NZ beating Cameroon! Go the Football Ferns"
A first class fair weather fan!
You see plenty of rugby and league players cheating though! Golf and snooker? Surprised he didn't bring in darts and dominoes as well
Apparently I'm apathetic, but I couldn't care less.
"Being a Partick Thistle fan sets you apart. It means youre a free thinker. It also means your team has no money." Tim Luckhurst, The Independent, 4th December 2003
Joseph Romanos has another Phoenix piece in today's Hutt News. Third from bottom para in middle column. You know lies, damned lies and statistics. 3,898 turned up... in an EVIL southerly. The best crowd that season was 20,078.... ;-)
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