Modric-Are bad winners worse than bad losers?

[nibbles]

Modric wasn't very happy about France having shirts made before the game with two world cup stars on them and changing into their new shirts for the presentation, shirts which had two stars above the badge, instead of the one star on the shirt during the game.

I was living in France at the time of the 2002 World Cup. Before a ball had even been kicked there were France badges everywhere with two stars on them. Was fantastic seeing them get knocked out in the first round.

 

[PhilK66]

Difficult to take what a player who wears an alice band says seriously. Great player who should let his skills do the talking

 

[SteveTreacle]

Going back to the original thread, it looks like Modric is a bad loser as well as a bad winner.

I do have little time for the french though. I did my year abroad there in the 90s and can assure you they are not a football country in the same sense that England, Italy, Brazil etc. Prior to winning the World Cup in 98, there was little passion for football in France amongst the general public and it was well down the pecking order in sporting importance below rugby and cycling.

 

[madrid_gill]

Must depend on where in France you go, because I lived there for a number of years and never found them to be any less a "football country" than anywhere else.

 

[PhilK66]

Nother

Going back to the original thread, it looks like Modric is a bad loser as well as a bad winner.

I do have little time for the french though. I did my year abroad there in the 90s and can assure you they are not a football country in the same sense that England, Italy, Brazil etc. Prior to winning the World Cup in 98, there was little passion for football in France amongst the general public and it was well down the pecking order in sporting importance below rugby and cycling.

Not true. It's a regional thing: football North, rugby South

 

[SteveTreacle]

Nother

Not true. It's a regional thing: football North, rugby South

I lived in the north, but as I say, was in the 90s so maybe things have changed, which I guess was partly my point as there was a lot of bandwagon jumping after they won it in 98 from my experience. As I say, from my experience, football isn’t traditionally ingrained in general society like it is in England, Italy, Brazil, Germany etc.

 

[madrid_gill]

But what you call bandwagon jumping, others would call a feelgood factor, or just getting behind your country. You'd have had exactly the same thing in England if we'd gone on to win it (there's been enough of it in England over the past couple of weeks as it is and we only got to the semis, my Facebook feed's been full of people who normally couldn't care less about football going on about it). They're no different to us in that respect.

Sure, they like other sports like rugby or the Tour de France as well (can't really see the attraction of the TdF myself, but then as far as I know most French people can't see the attraction of The Ashes, each to their own), but I've never found them to be lacking a football culture.

 

[SteveTreacle]

Well I certainly agree on the bandwagon jumpers over the past few weeks in England. Whilst I am pleased that it caught the country’s imagination, I have to say I’m more than a bit irritated by the number of people pretending to support England who previously didn’t give two hoots and probably won’t going forwards - for example my sister-in-law who is a self-proclaimed football hater (and general snob) was sending me tweets about Southgate and “it’s comig home”. And I dare say the French are the same.

However, that’s not necessarily what I’m talking about and we’ll have to agree to disagree. As I say I lived in North France and as I live 3 miles from the channel tunnel and have a good friend in Lille, I spend a lot of time in France, and can say that the feel for football on a day to day / game to game basis is not the same in England or other places I’ve visited like Italy and Spain. That’s just my view and experience, which in a way makes it all the more achievement that they’ve put such a team together.