So Stevie boy, essentially all you've done is just quoted a load of quotes from biggest mouth in English rugby and someone who at that point was understandibly in total denial about scoring a 'try' (which wasn't a try by the way).
This might come as a surprise to you mate, but two people (well one person) does not make
the English players being "discraceful". Dayglo is Dayglo, we didn't want him along and neither probably did the other 31 guys on the squad but he invited himself virtually. So quit trying to tar 31 other gentlemen with the same brush.
Mate, Cueto had just put everything on the line to try and make a score, he's high on adrenaline and has just been told that his effort was ruled (correctly according to the still frames and other replays other than the two shown) out of bounds, of course he's going to be extremely damn excited and agitated and sure it was a try! Its the most important game of rugby he'll ever play in his life so if he thought he scored a try, one which could have turned the match (maybe) it'll stick in his mind for the rest of his life.
Obviously, you're trying to construct this kind of thought process and argue that this was what Cueto was thinking:
Harr harr harr, if I swear on my mother's grave that it was a try then that will surely create a situation where possibly the match might be indeed given in our favour after the final whistle! After that, I shall return to my club in Mayfair and with my upper class chums plot the re-subjugation of Ireland, cheating Scotland out of more Oil money and teaching those pesky colonials in America a lesson they'll never forget! Also, I'll tie a South African virgin to the Great Western Railway line! Harr harr harr![/b]
When really, all he was thinking was:
Y'know, I could have sworn that was a try[/b]
.
That isn't "shameful", its just someone pretty overexcited, stop trying to make it look like a virtual international incident. South Africa to call for UN Sanctions over Cueto comments! Aye yeah mate.
And over the thing about not shaking the South African Presidents hand:
1) Who did you see shaking Gordon Brown's hand from
either team? (Not that I'd be pretty happy with anyone shaking Gordon Brown's hand anyway, he's not exactly the guy on the world stage with the most scruples, why would you want the Boks the shake the hand of the man who bankrolled one of the biggest millitary and diplomatic blunders of recent times (the invasion of Iraq) as well as cronism and corruption on a vast scale?
2) Why should the England team shake the hand of a President who has presided over a spiraling crime rate, a shocking approach to the endemic HIV/AIDS problem in Southern Africa and a frankly shameful approach to 'solving' the question of Zimbabwe?
Sometimes Stevie, if the kettle
and pot is black, you're better off just getting one of those nice KRUPS espresso machines and save yourself from getting your hands dirty. This is exactly why politics should be left out of sport, neither world leader should have been on that field, it just reeks of phony short term image conscious politics.
At the end of the day, if I was on either team, I probably wouldn't shake any hands from any politician. My respect for Brown and Mbeki is roughly around the level of my respect for Scientology. If that makes me a pariah then so be it. Nothing personal, I just really don't like politics being mixed into things I love most. This is the same with me and the European Comission trampling over open source rights....what?
At the end of the day, this isn't a smug reply, more a bemused one and I'll tell you why. None of us here honestly thought we'd even get to the QFs, let alone the actual Final. On Quarter Final day, England was focused on Lewis Hamilton and some international dive ball thing. The Final itself in London was brilliant, an electric atmosphere and lots of fun between England and Bok fans. After the match, not a bad word was said and I think Matt, Quintes, Charlie, Tim & Steve can all vouch for that (we did cover allot of central London after the match). The worst it got was when a very drunk (and fat, get in there Matt) South African woman who had ten too many vodkas kept on staggering around me drunkenly slurring "Shhouwwwthff Hemishhhveereee winshsssh againshh" repeatedly until I, being driven to insanity with The Rugby Forum special needs party constantly asking me if we were going home, turned to her and told her bluntly to "**** off".
So to see all of this "sore loser" thing being banded about is frankly confusing! :huh: I know its banter so I am approaching this in all seriousness without bashing the keyboard in a Los Lover fit of rage...honest...
