WORLD CUP .......

[Redchic12]

Yeah Altair as long as it’s not City or PSG. I’m with ya on that one lol

That Hiddink guy you mentioned is a brilliant coach. He came over here to Australia some years back to manage our Socceroos team and did an amazing job with them. He took them much further than they have ever gone. It’s a pity he couldn’t stay because the team has gone back to being useless.

Do you know where he is these days. Haven’t heard about him for Yonkers.

[Sir Neil]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Yeah Altair as long as it’s not City or PSG. I’m with ya on that one lol

That Hiddink guy you mentioned is a brilliant coach. It’s a pity he couldn’t stay because the team has gone back to being useless.

I’m not sure: Australia reached the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup and played quite well, which is as far as the Hiddink team reached in 2006. They just weren’t as ‘entertaining’ though.

[Redchic12]

True SirN. Yep it was the first time we reached the last 16 having Hiddink as coach and the last team we had to play were the Italians, which as we know were diving left right and centre and the Ref kept penalising the Aussies. At the time I thought, this Ref is acting really biased towards us and letting the Italians off with everything. There was a huge commotion about it after the game and for weeks after. It was just so blatant. Aussies were gutted!

Anyway, fast forward a few years later and the said Ref was charged with taking money to alter the game! Can’t remember the details tho.

That’s why I often wonder if it’s going on in PL when you see this kind of biased. Wouldn’t be surprised tho. Cos just about everything out there in this world is corrupt imo.

[AngelBlue]

Remembering the victims and all affected in the Bradford city stadium fire at valley parade .
56 fans perished.
Just terrible.
My husband was there that day.
39 years ago .

[Redchic12]

Omg that’s awful AB. I didn’t know about that.

Did they ever find out what started the fire?

I see Mbappe is leaving PSG for Real Madrid. Taking a salary cut as well. No surprise tho. City just beat Fulham so have gone to the top of the league. Arsenal need to win next game.

We play Villa on Monday. That’s gonna be a tough one.

[Sir Neil]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Omg that’s awful AB. I didn’t know about that.

Did they ever find out what started the fire? one.

It was a terrible day and event. The 1980’s in general were a dreadful time for English football. There were regular hooligan clashes, as well as the tragedies at Heysel and Hillsbrough.

It’s not really know what caused the Bradford fire, but it is thought to have been a cigarette end which had been left to smoulder, as people could still smoke inside stadia at the time. It burned through the wood stands, and set fire to some rubbish which had been allowed to accumulate under the stand at the time.

According to Wikipedia, the Bradford owners knew about all of this rubbish, and had resolved to clear it once the season was over. The fire happened on the final day of the season.

Shortly after, laws were changed in Britain (I think) to prohibit public buildings being made of wood.

[Sir Neil]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

True SirN. Yep it was the first time we reached the last 16 having Hiddink as coach and the last team we had to play were the Italians, which as we know were diving left right and centre and the Ref kept penalising the Aussies. At the time I thought, this Ref is acting really biased towards us and letting the Italians off with everything. There was a huge commotion about it after the game and for weeks after. It was just so blatant. Aussies were gutted! imo.

It was a very controversial game, and occurred around the time of the Italian match-fixing scandal. Italy’s winning goal (the penalty) came in the 5th minute of stoppage time.

Usually it is just the host nation which gets some ‘questionable’ refereeing decisions, as it is deemed economically beneficial to keep them in the tournament for as long as possible. For instance, England had a last minute goal disallowed against Euro 2004 host Portugal two years earlier. Russia had a soft penalty against Spain in 2018 World Cup.

But Italy werent hosts, so it was a bit suspect.

It want the only controversial game of that World Cup though, as Holland v Portugal (known as the battle of Nuremberg) saw 4 reds and 16 yellow cards.

[Redchic12]

Wow thanks for that info SirN. That was really interesting!

[AngelBlue]

SirNeil... You are correct with the summing up of the Bradford fire .
I won't go into great detail but the fire brigade ( and in particular my father who was officer in charge of west Yorkshire ) had serious issues with the stand being all timber and as you say , all the rubbish under the timber seating and people in those days able to smoke in the stadium, it was almost definatley a cigarette butt that was tossed aside and set fire to the rubbish.
The whole stand was up in flames in minutes.
I watched with horror as it unfolded at the time on TV.
And as I said, my husband was there on the day.
Him and his mates were in the queue to go into the fateful stand , but the queue was very long so in the end they decided they couldn't be bothered queuing so they went to a gate with a smaller queue for the stand behind the goal.
This decision may possibly have saved their lives .
It still haunts him now all these years later.
And of course in those days, no one had mobiles so families were sick with worry .
On the last game of every season all the fans wear their maroon t shirts which were made specially for the victims in remembrance and the burns units in Bradford are still in receipt of monies raised by the club and the fans .
It is rumoured that where the concrete toilet block was/ is , is haunted.
Many fans went in there feeling they would be safe from the fire , but they perished too.

# Rest in peace .

[Altair]

It was a good thing Italy won that world cup after all the bad luck they had before that tournament. They would lose on penalties, they would have goal against in the last minute (vs France, 2000), and they would lose because of referee (vs South Korea, 2002). Italy was so good in those years I'm glad they at least got something out of it. Of course, I have a 1998 Italy shirt and I like the country so all is well.