UKC

I can't say that I blame them

Sport performance enhancement drugs cheats have ruined it for everyone. I feel desperately sorry for up and coming young athletes, but the whole business has been tarnished by the cheats.

It's difficult to get enthusiastic about following competitive sport these days

In reply to Trangia:


No, the IAAF isn't exactly a brand you'd want to be associated with at the moment. I was surprised at how little money involved - it seems their support was only $8m a year, which isn't much compared with Adidas sponsorship of Manchester United, for example, which is reported to be $750m over 10 years.

In reply to Trangia:

Yep... athletics has really been sullied by the drug cheats. It seems tennis might be on the way with the match fixing, and football has gone down the pan with the rampant FIFA corruption (not to mention all the diving).

Luckily there isn't as much money in rugby so it is relatively unaffected!

In reply to crayefish:



Ha! Good one.

In reply to Trangia:

I suspect Coe's close links with Nike may also have played a part

In reply to crayefish:


Not to mention the drugs.


You a League fan then?

In reply to Trangia:

When I heard this, it crossed my mind that it's a touch ironic that the desire to win sponsorship from companies like Adidas can't help but have increased the pressure to cheat.

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Anything that makes Coe squirm is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. He's a twat.*

*can I say that outside the pub?

In reply to crayefish:


Diego Costa's efforts yesterday against Arsenal was this years diving low point for me. OK, the defender shouldnt have gone for him but FFS, he made no contact and Costa went rolling about the floor holding his ankle. Defender got sent off. It makes me want to jump into the screen a beat the living daylights out of him. Grrrrrrr!

I think its time for a retrospective punishment of divers and cheats which dont get spotted by refs. If a panel of football experts spot this afterwards then the player should be banned for the next game and fined a week's wages, Lets see how Costa gets away with that. The stigma alone when they get publicly rumbled should be enough.

I f&^%* hate divers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:


I think that time came at least 10 years ago. Football could have been much more enjoyable to watch by now if they'd taken the opportunity.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I couldn't agree more. And I'm not just saying that because I'm an Arsenal fan. A two-match ban for obvious dives would put an end to theatrics pretty quickly.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I am not a fan of football but on the odd occasion I see some, the diving really winds me up. It's like they spend half the time tripping over their own shoe laces. But in a game that often only has 1 or two scores, the temptation to get a free penalty must be high.

On the opposite end of the scale I sometimes I see rugby players have to be taken off by the medic as they want to play on despite the injury... I guess it's related to pride (either a macho thing or not wanting to let down the team).

Not to say it's as black and white as that, but just the general gist from how I see it...

In reply to Trangia:


http://newsthump.com/2016/01/25/company-linked-to-slave-labour-keen-to-disa...

In reply to crayefish:


http://www.theguardian.com/sport/bloodgate

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I don't think he dived at all. It was a stupid challenge.

there does not need to be contact to red card someone. Just intent. if I player leaps a kick and there is no contact, is it a foul? yes. so could it be a red card? yes.

For once refs had a decent weekend. I thought the two big calls this weekend were spot on, the yellow for the city defender and the red for the arsenal player.