Just Boys!

With the confirmation in the last few days that a number of Norn Iron boys broke the 21-30 hours curfew on the Sunday just after the Poland game, comes the realization that the players are really just in it for the money. They don't give a toss about the dedicated fans who spend their hard-earned money following them all over the world and flock to Windsor Park paying exorbitant prices for a seat in a second rate stadium, which let's admit it,is an accident waiting to happen, just to cheer their heroes on. A pure coincidence I'm sure that Keith Gillespie was in Belfast on that night, possibly strolling round the streets of his native city. We may never know who the players involved were, or if in fact they were all involved, but surely the least we fans can expect is a unanimous apology from the players and a promise that it won't happen again. Nigel being the disciplinarian that he is will extract the full retribution on the culprits and don't be surprised if quite a few players never don the green shirt again. If anybody thinks Nigel isn't capable of wielding the axe, look no further than Keith Gillespie, who got on the wrong side of the Ballymena man and when the chance came paid the ultimate price. We at Ballymena have found ourselves recently in the same boat when our first team squad thought it would be a good idea to go on a binge while the United manager was in America. As a result in their next home game, with a decent home crowd in attendance, they 'lay down' without a whimper to Glenavon. Our players were, we are assured, fined for this indiscretion, but why oh why did they have the need to misbehave in this manner in the first place. Is it I wonder the fact that despite all this talk about professionalism, they are still just 'boys' and as they say, 'boys will be boys'!

Non-Interference!

With the news that Newry City manager Gerry Flynn has resigned citing interference, presumably or allegedly from his chairman, it's worth remembering that no matter what the circumstances, interference is a non-starter. The Newry chairman has since denied any interference, but we at United have found Gerry to be an honest chap, even though he left the Sky Blues to move to the 'scum', which in the eyes of Ballymena fans is also a non-starter, but that's another story. Yes we all love to have our opinion on who should play and who shouldn't play, but that's only speculation and the decision must always lie with the manager as it's his job that's on the line if the players mess up. On the International scene yet another former Sky Blue, our own Nigel Worthington, has come in for his share of criticism over the dropping of 'fans favourite' Keith Gillespie. Now far be it for me to try and second guess our Nigel, but it is believed in some circles that Nigel, has an axe to grind with Gillespie and he's not omitted solely on his talents. Well that's as maybe but at the end of the day we have to abide by Nigel's decision, whether right or wrong, as he is the one who'll have to carry the can if Norn Iron (as looks likely), fail to qualify for the World Cup finals in 2010. We at Ballymena I hope would never dabble in team affairs, although we do like to try and influence the manager when it comes to substitutions, but he generally doesn't take a blind bit of notice. Gerry Flynn obviously felt he couldn't ignore the interference he was getting in team selection any longer, in fact a rumour is circulating that Gerry was given two possible team sheets for last Saturday's game at Ballymena, just our luck, from our point of view he picked the wrong one, but that's also yet another story!

Double Take!

The inconsistency of referees, not just in our own league, but in football in general is a real bone of contention. Consider ourselves, a mere three weeks ago Belfast referee Ronnie Crangle sent United's goalkeeper Sean O'Neill off for raising his hands to an opponent (rightly in my opinion I hasten to add), although the opponent took an exaggerated dive. Then this Saturday at home to Newry City, referee Crangle took no action against Newry keeper Coleman, who in almost a 'carbon copy' of the previous incident, raised his hands and shoved United's Andy Smith. Admittedly Andy took a somewhat theatrical dive, but at the end of the day the hands were raised. To make matters worse he merely cautioned the perpetrator of the original foul, an elbow to Darren Lockhart's face, as the United midfielder sped past the last defender, instead of adhering to the letter of the law and red carding the offender. This was in fact somewhat ironic as he had earlier cautioned Lockhart for what one assumes was dissent, when the midfielder remonstrated with the official over an alleged elbow to United defender Mark Surgenor, conveniently missed by both referee and the same linesman. In this weeks United programme, the editor was complaining about the inconsistency of officials, namely the 4th officials, who it seems have a grudge against United manager Roy Walker. This biased officiating was never more evident than in United's away game at the 'scum slum', when the 4th official was constantly on Walker's back if he went 2 inches outside his coaching zone, while allowing home manager Platt to wander along the touch line at will. In fact the United manager was finally told to leave the coaching area by referee Davey Malcolm. We do not want specialised treatment, we just what to have a fair crack of the whip, surely when we're paying out the guts of £500 to the 4 officials that's the least we can expect. It's got so bad they almost make me want to long for the days of the 'laughing fairy', John Ferry, from Londonderry, but remember I did say 'almost'!

Diving Divas!

There's a lot of talk in the media at the moment about footballers taking a 'dive', in other words deliberately trying to 'con' the referee. There have been big headlines this week relating to an English Premier league team, Arsenal, who have had a player suspended by E.U.F.A. for allegedly diving in order to win his team a penalty. Now I don't want to get into a debate on the rights or wrongs of that particular case, but I would like to point out that 'diving' is rife in our own Premier league. I can fully understand players taking a dive in the penalty area, where a decision in their favour could win a penalty and providing they score, could help bring them and their team a 3 point bonus. What I can't understand is players (and it is condoned by their managers), taking a 'dive' in open play with the sole aim of winning a foul and/or getting an opponent cautioned. Two such incidents occurred at the Ballymena Showgrounds on Tuesday night when Glenavon were the visitors. In the first incident former United player She[a] Campbell, took a blatant dive in front of 3 officials, referee, linesman and 4th official, winning a free kick when it was perfectly clear no contact was made. This enraged United manager Roy Walker so much that he had to be physically controlled by the 4th official. The United fans were also in uproar and what made it even worse was that they enjoy a love/hate relationship with She[a]anyway. Then later on in the game Darren Lockhart was cautioned by the referee for a non-existent foul right on the byline when Glenavon player Costello took a blatant dive and the linesman who must have been in the early stages of myopia and was standing right beside the incident, aided and abetted the Glenavon 'love child' in his deceit. Surely this sort of thing must be stamped out before it gets a grip on our game, just because it's rife on the mainland doesn't mean we have to adopt it also. In an ironic twist, Glasgow Celtic who protested so vehemently about the Arsenal player taking a 'dive', were found guilty of the same offence in their next match. Their player's punishment was merely a caution, while the Arsenal player must sit out two games, it doesn't seem hardly fair now does it?