Petition for Arsenal Fans Dismayed by Club's Behavior

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by Aaron Stollar, Sep 21, 2003.

  1. ZonaGunner

    ZonaGunner Member

    Aug 23, 2003
    Tempe, Arizona
    Ruud dives on a weekly basis and is never called on it. And the media never play it up like they do other players who are accused of diving occasionally. Jeffers never played enough for Arsenal to even have much of a chance to dive.

    Basically ManU fans react to complaints about Ruud diving by either saying:
    1. He's a great player.
    2. Everyone else dives also.

    Neither is an acceptable excuse and both indicate how indefensible his diving is as those are very weak responses.

    Until the FA takes Ruud to task for his diving, nobody will think the FA is serious about addressing diving.
     
  2. fox point fury

    May 19, 2001
    Providence

    As I thought, never kicked a ball in your life.
     
  3. jwaldman11

    jwaldman11 New Member

    Jun 14, 2002
    The OC
    I keep having to look up at the top to make sure I'm in the right board.

    Anyways, nobody here has said that Arsenal don't dive. Quite frankly, the majority of us aren't very fond of Jeffers (or as Dan likes to call him, "glass ankles"). What we have said is that this constant torching of Arsenal for poor discipline, while somewhat justified, is also way over the top. Other clubs in England and in Europe have disciplinary problems as well. Some overcome them, like Arsenal. Some don't. Yet none of them get the headlines Arsenal does, because the Gunners are one of the top two or three teams in England and, whether you want to admit this or not, they aren't the traditional English club and it drives a lot of people in the press nuts.

    I'd love for Arsenal to stop getting into this kind of trouble every other match. But do I want that at the expense of wins and trophies? Hell no. To use the NHL analogy, I'd rather have my name on the Stanley Cup, not the Lady Byng. We've all seen what happens when Arsenal don't show passion. They lose 3-0 to Inter at home and everybody decries their lack of heart. Well, they showed heart on Sunday, like it or not. Maybe it will get them in trouble again, but I'd rather see that then watch them drag their feet through a loss.
     
  4. billyireland

    billyireland Member+

    May 4, 2003
    Sydney, Australia
    1. Ruud is a great player and others also dive, and I am not saying that that excuses the fact that he does dive.

    2. Jeffers, when he got on the pitch, was a notorious diver, because he wasn't even very good at it.

    3. Back to the point at hand... no player deserves to be shoved and elbowed by other teams players when they do not have the ball, as well as when the game is over. The actions of Keown, Lauren, Lehmann and Parlour are undefendable, even your chairman agrees (Wenger doesn't, but he wouldn't agree with a freekick to the opposition if an Arse player stabbed a player on their team)... he wouldn't have seen it;)
     
  5. dwinkler

    dwinkler New Member

    Aug 11, 2000
    Denver, CO
    OK, I'll make this easy for you: Of course no player deserves to get pushed and elbowed when the game is over, just as no player deserves being on the receving end of a dirty and intentional tackle so severe that it ends his career - yet you seem to have gotten over that one (a much worse incident than this whole thing, by the way). A "moment" is how you described it, although I imagine Haaland thinks it's more than that.

    Things that shouldn't happen *do* happen because life, and the people in it, aren't perfect. In a perfect world none of the post-match foolishness would have ever happened. But it did. Arsenal either will or won't be punished by the FA, and that'll be that. Nobody got hurt, nothing got broken, and the game will continue on as it has.

    And about Hill-Wood, just so you know, I'd say it's a fair bet that 99% of Arsenal fans detest the man for his frequent attention-craving media outbursts. He's lucky enough to have won the genetic lottery, though, which is the only reason I can see that some people still give his idiotic ramblings any attention at all.

    If you want to play the "he said-she said" game, then go back and read some of jwaldman11's posts, particularly the ones where he talks about one of your team's fans expressing relief that the PK was missed, presumably because he's ashamed of Van Nistelrooy's constant cheating.
     
  6. Coach_McGuirk

    Coach_McGuirk New Member

    Apr 30, 2002
    Between the Pipes
    Dan, you could also add to the RvN argument that, if we are to believe the reports, it was he who initiated the confrontation with PV4 in the tunnel. Viera told him he wasn't talking to him, yet Ruud felt it was important to get his point across that Viera "had no class".

    Also, no one from the manUre camp has yet explained why Keane, when asked if RvN contributed to the mayhem with his actions, gave a smiling "no comment". Seems to me if he felt that none of what RvN did justified any of it he would have defended him on the spot. Perhaps that's what Keane was telling PV4 when he was calming him down.
     
  7. jwaldman11

    jwaldman11 New Member

    Jun 14, 2002
    The OC
    I'll save you a little bit of time on this one and relay the full story. After the game, I was sitting at my table with my friend the Man U fan and his wife, the neutral. A guy who I knew was a Man U fan came up and said "That wasn't right". I thought he was going to talk about what happened after the final whistle, but he said "I'm glad he missed that penalty, because he didn't deserve to be the hero." We then started talking about the match and he said that, as much as he loves Man U (he's originally from Wales and has been a fan for 35 years), he would have hated to see that kick go in, because it wouldn't have been a fair result. We also started talking about my feeling that RvN is the biggest cheat in the game and the guy just said "he's an ass". Of course, my friend just had to point out that I had my Bergkamp shirt on and the guy said "well, he's an ass too", but then he called Beckham an ass and all was well again. He also said that the only player from United anybody should have a shirt of is Cantona. In the end, he said "I might be a Manchester United fan, but I'm also a sportsman, and Arsenal didn't deserve to lose today. Not that way."

    It definitely made me realize that there are true Man U fans who also have the ability to see things from all sides, not with just the red goggles on. Sadly, in this country at least, they're outnumbered by the growing legion of glory hunters who just drink the red Kool-Aid and never pay attention to what else is going on in the football world. As my friend has said several times, he hates being associated with those people because they don't really understand what they're watching.
     
  8. KevTheGooner

    KevTheGooner Help that poor man!

    Dec 10, 1999
    THOF
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Andorra
    That is a great story. Glad to hear that there are people who can see through their players shirt and know what kind of "sportsman" they have on their team.

    That said, lets rally around Vieira and the boys!! :D
     
  9. Brodo

    Brodo New Member

    Aug 7, 2003
    Deep in Spurs territ
    That would be some time next May wouldn't it?
     
  10. DoctorK

    DoctorK New Member

    Jan 8, 2002
    NorthBank, Riverbend
    Right, I'm in "denial." We're talking about football, you trolling idiot, not chemical dependency. You don't see my popping into any other club's boards to snipe away at their supporters.

    I ENJOYED the end of the match at Old Trafford. It was great fun, leaving me singing away in joy at Nevada Smith's with other Gooners. I didn't see a single one upset with how our side handled itself. It was an authentic reaction in the moment, as was the on-the-pitch reaction of both side's players.

    I don't think your hypocritical moralizing has any place in sport, quite frankly. No one was hurt by Arsenal two Sundays ago. I have heard that ManUre supporters DID serious physical damage outside Old Trafford that day, but you moralists are too busy being upset about RVN getting scolded, as if Arsenal are guilty of criminal misconduct. You accuse me of "denial"? It isn't like I'm saying I support my local priest. You and your other ManUre moralists need a reality check.
     
  11. Catfish

    Catfish Member

    Oct 1, 2002
    Chicago
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    AMEN! That was beautiful and right to the point.
    I'm sick of Really Vain Nancy boy getting away with murder because he is on Merchandise Utd...the league's cash cow!
     
  12. Veteran Observer

    Veteran Observer New Member

    Aug 11, 2003
    Your jealousy is pathetic

    But you didn't mention that he was sent off 52 times - oh, wait, that was Arsenal's players - my bad.

    You DESERVE Arsenal. Enjoy your suspensions. There are surely more to come.
     
  13. OPArsenal

    OPArsenal New Member

    Dec 17, 2002
    Jacksonville, FL
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: Your jealousy is pathetic

    I'm sorry, which club do you support again? I don't believe that I caught that one. This is the only response you're gonna get from me.
     

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