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+--- Thread: Rugby ad (/showthread.php?tid=431)
Rugby ad - El Gordo - 04-10-2007
Thought this was quite good. Click on "Watch"
LandRover Rugby ad
Rugby ad - Seafront Plodder - 05-10-2007
Like it.
The current success of the Rugby World Cup has led to various office discussions about the pros and cons of rugby over football. Each sport has its merits, but we officially narrowed it down to 3 points where rugby is a clear winner:
No need for crowd segregation.
Referee respect.
No outrageous displays a la last night when Dida did his utmost to secure a BAFTA nomination http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iWbA0DS9Qas
Rugby ad - El Gordo - 05-10-2007
Yeah, the Dida thing was hilarious.
Football at its best is still my preference, but it does severely try my patience sometimes.
Top quality rugby is a fine spectacle though. I agree with the 3 things you mention, but the one that stands out is the respect shown to the referee. Well actually, they are just behaving as sportspeople should. The problem lies with footballers, and their tantrums. It exasperates me. So the ref has blown for a free kick, after a foul. Nothing you say is going to change his mind. Bawling at him, and shoving the player who won the free kick, is really not going to change a thing. So why do it?
And more to the point, why let them get away with it? If dissent became a sending-off offence, you'd have a fortnight of red card carnage, followed by a totally transformed game.
Rugby ad - Sweder - 05-10-2007
Andy Wrote:And more to the point, why let them get away with it? If dissent became a sending-off offence, you'd have a fortnight of red card carnage, followed by a totally transformed game.I know the question was meant to be rhetorical, but . . .
Football is a pantomime. It has villains - Robbie Savage, Ronaldo - for the audience to boo and hiss; heroes like little Mickey Owen and Jamie salt-of-the Eeeerth Carragher; ogres like Wayne Rooney and Martin Keown, and pantomime dames like Big Ron Atkinson and latterly Old Puce Face. You have to allow the hissy fits, theatricals and tantrums to keep the crowd interested during the long periods of drudgery in between the 'dying fish' flopping about mentioned above.
Rugby is a sport played by men.
The bone-jarring, car-crash tackling is enthralling. All those homicidal maniacs charging about churning up the turf, yet the ref makes a decision - often an easily debatable one - and they all get on with it. They also take to knocking seven bells out of each other now and again but hey, nobody's perfect. Oh, and they have great Guinness ads.
You can tell I've got tickets for the All Blacks v France, can't you?
On a serious note, I absolutely agree with Andy on the ref-hounding.
Yesterday's Roy Keane is today's John Terry - the England Captain (sic) no less. Meet the new thug, same as the old thug. It seems the authorities have learned nothing and acheived less in the last ten years. Red cards . . . or docked points perhaps? Fiscal penalties would of course be a farce. It's mostly the rich clubs that seem to believe in their divine right to alter the ref's decision. They'd happily cough up a few sheckles to keep a firm grasp on the throat of equity and order.
[SIZE="1"]Climbs off soap box, trudges off mumbling darkly . . .[/SIZE]
Rugby ad - El Gordo - 06-10-2007
Enjoy the game. It should be a great occasion. Nice stadium too.
If you're driving up, consider ignoring the parking instructions, which will ask you to park a few miles away and get one of the laid-on buses. People in the know (like Arsenal fans, who went there pretty much every season) tell me that when I went to the play-off final, I should have just driven into the city centre and found one of the many parking places within walking distance of the stadium.
Rugby ad - Sweder - 08-10-2007
Terrible case of foot-in-mouth detected in the southern hemisphere
Hopefully this has now been eradicated, at least for a short while. Nice to see the excellent Simon Barnes piece from today's Times, including a generous nod to my favorite Gonzo journo, Hunter S Thompson (RIP), getting a mention in dispatches. Let's hope our own garrulous hacks manage to show restraint as Agincourt looms.
Otherwise I fear further outbreaks of blue tongue in these here parts . . .
Rugby ad - El Gordo - 08-10-2007
Fair dinkum!
I read that first piece on the evening following the match when I unashamedly went hunting for Australian news reports to enjoy. A good 4 hours after the final whistle I could find no mention of the result -- but I did find plenty of "watch out Poms..." previews like the one you linked to.
OK, so it was it was the middle of the night Down Under, but surely they have the odd nocturnal journo? Perhaps they went back to sleep after the match, hoping that when they awoke, it would turn out to be some sort of retrospective nightmare.
It's funny. Very funny.