West Ham goal keeper Rob Green has blamed the country's gaming habits for England's football defeat against Croatia last week, which saw them fail to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament. But is there method in his madness?
The keeper, who had his own goalie blunder against Spurs at the weekend, told the Metro newspaper, "I think we would have the best team if we could go into every household and throw away every PlayStation, Xbox and video game." (But the Wii's can stay, obviously).
"Other countries seem to bring on world class players, countries like Brazil and Argentina where, often, it's football or nothing. In contrast, we live in a country where we have choices, and perhaps the will to do it and the need to escape from situations you're in are not so clear."
We see his point there. Italy, France, Germany and other European countries don't have videogames do they and they've been showing us up in footy for over 40 years. That must be the reason then.
Sarcasm aside, Green's comments blatantly whiff of ignorance but it's undeniable that kids are playing less football today.
We're sure games play a part, but so does weather, the mass-closing of parks, the even higher climate of fear for unsupervised kids, the FA's lack of time for anyone under 16 and the good old smoking-drugs-round-the-back-of -Tesco-culture. Isn't the cost of going to see a Premiership the same as a game thesedays?
Then of course you've got all those other forms of media that even Rob Green might've heard of, such as films, music and television. Blaming games entirely is a bit unfair.
But the West Ham keeper isn't alone in football pointing the finger at games; Portsmouth FC boss (and former Hammers chief) Harry Redknapp said earlier this year that "Xbox culture" was killing British football and said it's becoming harder and harder to find good "home-grown" talent.
He says nothing about the FA's incompetence or how shockingly overpaid footballers are, of course, but he does at least make a more thoughtful argument than Green's knee jerk:
"It may sound old and corny but when I was growing up, working class lads like me in the East End lived and breathed football," Redknapp wrote in his newspaper column. "Now I rarely see a kickabout in the park. All I see are the dazzling lights of bedroom windows from the glare of TVs and computers. It seems football cannot compete with an Xbox.
"I'm fed up with managers being made scapegoats for the state of our domestic game," he continued. "The English working class is turning its back on football - and that is not my fault.
"I do have a lot of foreign players at Portsmouth but believe me I'd love nothing more than to field a team of 11 so-called 'home-grown' lads born within the city limits. But it has become harder and harder to find enough kids of the kind of quality required to make the grade without buying an air ticket."
Is that Xbox culture or Burger King culture?
Britain's kids are more unhealthy than ever (which in itself is also often blamed on videogames) and it's never been easier to live from the edge of the couch.
Technology will make the lazy lifestyle even more attractive in the future, so it's not entirely surprising that there are less kids in the park in an age when we can do our weekly shopping on the internet.
Then again some kids might just prefer a virtual stadium to a tiny park kick about. Ten, 20 years ago little nippers would have to run around the park re-enacting their favourite footy star's goals. What role do parents play here too?
Now they can play as Beckham, Rooney or Gerard in a stadium of virtual cheering fans without leaving the living room. Wouldn't we have done the same if we had the option?
Either way, no one can argue that real football and a game of PES are anything like the same thing. Threaten the England team's next Hello photo shoot and we're sure they'll develop some more hunger for the game.
so is the future of football people watching virtual games of football being played by fat kids??.... or is this entire article utter sh1t?... yer, thats what i thought.
How can they blame games?, when we have a (supposed) english club called bottomNAL that has a french coach & 99% of the time there's not a single english player on the pitch!!.....oops, have i started something?.....
I would have loved to play football in the park round my way growning up...however the armed gangs and burnt out cars tended to put me off.
yep theres that too. You'll probably get your ball knicked these days by some spotty chav or you'll just get beat up or shot. Yep defo want to go & play footie dont I?
Lampard, Gerrard, Joe Cole, Wrigh Philips, Brown (WHAT U USESLESS PLAYER) Defoe, Owen, Ashley Cole, Terry, Ferdinand, ect ect arent enough to qualify then its the managers fould, Lampard and Gerrard cant play together!! BTW im a GOONER AND DONT BLAME bottomNAL, Walcott costed us around Ł19 million, so if thers a player worth it we pay, ANYWHERE and ANYONE, So blaming foreign players and computer games when no offense but Russia can qualify then its simply """" really, when these players get Ł100 tthousand a week in there clubs. No noones fould exept the players and the manager, not foreign or games simple. FULL STOP
I would have loved to play football in the park round my way growning up...however the armed gangs and burnt out cars tended to put me off.
yep theres that too. You'll probably get your ball knicked these days by some spotty chav or you'll just get beat up or shot. Yep defo want to go & play footie dont I?
I do! Sounds like a game of Speedball
Seriously though, maybe if more money was invested in finding local talent then they'd have a better team? Also if they didn't have a coach that made nothing but bad decisions.
A pro player playing the last few iterations of PES could easily have an effect:
You'd think centre backs would never come up for corners until this year.
You'd fool yourself into passing the ball along the ground to the nearest player instead of the player you were looking at and intending to pass to
You'd hit a penalty off target randomly without any accounting for your nerves or shooting skills
You'd not make a challenge against any centre back as he'll waltz through your team with ease
PES 2008 could certainly contribute to all of the English goal keeper howlers we've been seeing recently - I see a direct correlation with the crap keepers in PES.
So Rob Green is saying that pro's are busy playing Pro Evo instead of training? Shame on them... Pro Evo has helped me improve my vision while playing footy. I just whip out my radar to see where everyone is on the map...
In all seriousness though, I find this really funny. England lost because they had a s**te manager and a bunch of players that played like they had no passion of motivation. They need to stop clutching at straws and finding excuses and instead focus on the job at hand.
Rob Green what are you doing? Stick to what you do best (imo the best in the league). I don't agree with this at all, are you trying to say that countrys like Italy, France, Germany, Portugal etc don't have video games? I blame the influx of foreigners and yes bottomnal you are the worst by far, infact you take the absolute p**s (did you know by the way that bottomnal put foreigners I.E Fabregas and Adebayer thru their youth academys at the expense of English kids? Its all about developement, how can kids develope when bottomnal brush them aside to make way for yet more foreigners) and I don't blame the wages the players are on either, the top players in Europe are all on equally high and in most cases more wages then English players yet they seem to perform ok. The only reason we're no good is down to the selection and tactics, wrong players selected (why didn't Beckham start, why was Rob Green never picked and why start Carson in such a crucial game when hes had no real international experience?) We simply weren't good enough, even after Israel gave us a lifeline we still threw it away. By the way CVG I see you must be anti West Ham or anti Rob Green, you mention his mess up at the weekend but not the penalty save (plus the other 2 pen saves this season) which shows his class and why he should be picked. By the way, yes I am a Hammers fan!
The state of the nations football can't be blamed on playing a computer FFS! How about more investment in places for young people to go, in my day (which was only about 9 years ago) i loved going down the park for a game but now you'd be lucky if i drove through there in daylight at 100mph. The country isnt what it used to be for younger kids and i'd prefer if i had kids that they stayed in, at least at night in the winter or went to some organised club/event.
And as i understand half the England team play PES!
So release of PES08 a month ago a coincidence and failure to qualify?
Green is talking out of his bottom. We have plenty gamers up here in Scotland as well but that has not stopped us from rising 70 places to 14 in the fifa rankings after a wonderful but ultimately heartbreaking euro qualifying campaign. And i reckon we could kick Englands bottom at footie at the moment as well. So NO, games are not responsible for the crappy performances of the England team, but over -rated, over-pampered and well over-paid players may have something to do with it!
The state of the nations football can't be blamed on playing a computer FFS! How about more investment in places for young people to go, in my day (which was only about 9 years ago) i loved going down the park for a game but now you'd be lucky if i drove through there in daylight at 100mph. The country isnt what it used to be for younger kids and i'd prefer if i had kids that they stayed in, at least at night in the winter or went to some organised club/event.
And as i understand half the England team play PES!
So release of PES08 a month ago a coincidence and failure to qualify?
Got the real answer here, PE08 is poor online = England are poor in reality. Obviously if Konami improve the online play on PE08 then England will be good again!
Green is talking out of his bottom. We have plenty gamers up here in Scotland as well but that has not stopped us from rising 70 places to 14 in the fifa rankings after a wonderful but ultimately heartbreaking euro qualifying campaign. And i reckon we could kick Englands bottom at footie at the moment as well. So NO, games are not responsible for the crappy performances of the England team, but over -rated, over-pampered and well over-paid players may have something to do with it!
We should bring bsck the home nations cup, seeing as none of us qualified, I dunno about kicking Englands bottom but I do reckon Scotland would give England a good game. But you are talking crap about overpaid overpampered footballers, like I said elsewhere on this thread (which you obviously didn't read, cos you was in too much of a hurry to post) the top European players (and South American players) are on just as ridiculous wages as the England squad yet they perform well enough and anyway wages aren't down to the national team thats down to each players club, if you think for example Lampard is payed too much blame Chelsea not England, but like I said its totally irelevant when you look at the wages on the continent and see how well other 'top' national sides are doing.
so basically poverty breeds better footballers, is this his arguement? cant be bothered reading all that cause i have a feeling it will be a load of s**te.
"Other countries seem to bring on world class players, countries like Brazil and Argentina where, often, it's football or nothing. In contrast, we live in a country where we have choices, and perhaps the will to do it and the need to escape from situations you're in are not so clear."
Yep, choice is a real bitch isn't it. I Wish we could live in a time where every boy has to play football.{end sarcasm}
Perhaps i'm biased in that I never really enjoyed football (playing and watching), and usually p**sed everyone off during the lunchtime kick about by not taking it seriously enough, but this sounds to me as if he has no idea what he is talking about and string random words together in the vain attempt to make a point (for an example watch any post game chat with footballers.)
Did any of the current england squad grown up playing football? No and they are rip roaring s**t. Its not games, its because most football player are overpaid retards who can do nothing but marry retards and kick balls at other retards. The reason why kids go and play xbox is normally cos their s**t at football anyway. enough ranting im to go and smoke some drugs round tesco
One of the most motivating speeches in sport has to be when Martin Johnson was asked why the England rugby team played terribly in one of their matches. He turned round to the interviewer and said "Some of these players are being paid too much" and its definately true of footballers.
They get ridiculously high salaries that are then supplimented by sponsorships etc. If you had Ł15million in the bank, are you more likely to go training or sit back and relax, knowing that short of a huge economic crash you're making several grand a day in interest and are completely economically stable for the rest of your life?
Honestly, if the clubs actually gave them a reason to train other than to make squads they'd try their asses off.
Oh and yeah, kids don't want to play football anymore, why? Cause its a boring game in comparison to the average nes title. Taking away the fun of videogames wouldn't make the streets safer, wouldn't make more kids play football, and wouldn't actually benefit this country as far as sport is concerned. Those that want to train will do it, and they've got to be self motivated.
Sport isn't given enough precedence at school. School playing fields are getting sold off, as are parks etc... where we could play footy as youngsters.
The Youth system in this country is awful as well. The emphasis is on winning matches rather than developing skills and technique and an appreciation of tactics and teamwork.. Then again, it's no suprise as it's cheaper to buy johnny foreigner than train our own lads.
Video games have fekk all to do with it. There's plenty of youngsters who'd rather have a real game of footy. Hell, I'm a big games player, even so, at 35 years of age, I'd still rather go for a kickabout, even in rubbish weather.
The root of the problem is at school, where PE and games are seen as a skive and not taken seriously. PE and sport not only promote physical fitness, but should instill a sense of discipline, self confidence, teamwork and (despite being un PC these days for some daft reason) competitiveness.
I had about 6 hours of sport and PT a week at school (not including break times, lunch times and after school activities). I wonder what the average child gets these days?
yes, games are responsible for the downfall of society. people always blame things instead of looking at the bigger picture.
the last time i played PES 6 in the 360 online i was beaten by a French 14-year-old. that's france, the World Cup 98m and Euro 2000 winners.
Interesting how the national team is playing badly when the latest PES is getting roundly criticised by all corners of the gaming community.
Looking at the argument logically, i love Crackdown and Assassin's Creed, so this afternoon i will climb several large buildings, then jump off and throw some cars around, due to the obvious skills i will have acquired playing them...
English football isn't in a bad state (look at the under 21 side for evidence of that), it's just that the main team is full of overpaid self-inflated egos who take home the money no matter what the result.
When losing a few games on Football Manager do you fire yourself or look for better players? Exactly.
I'm sick of everyone in football trying to find some stupid elaborate reason why the English national team arent that good. Saying "good" teams dont have a computer game culture, Rio De Janiero and Beinos Ares(i know it's spelt wrong) are too massive cities with plenty of modern day technology and culture and if you look at the Argentina and Brazil teams they're players hail mostly from these two cities. It's not that and it also isnt because of the drug/drink culture because those things happen in EVERY country in the world. The fact of the matter is every person on this planet is diffrent, sure we're all products of our own environment to a certain extent, but english players at this moment in time just arent as good as the rest of the world. And in actual fact never have been, people say bring back the glory days. What glory days? England won the world cup once (under questionalable circumstance), Uraguay have won it twice and look at them. England have never even won the Euro championships and even Greece and Denmark have won that. English football fans need to take a step back and look at they're team, history, players etc. They are NOT an international football superpower in any way, shape or form. Just deal with it, The rest of Britain does!
I seem to recall a certain Mr Redknapp making the same claim only a few weeks ago. Is this just the new excuse for breeding a nation of overpaid, over pampered footballing ponce's who will do anything to blame something or someone else for their own failings?
If footballing professionals want to find something to blame for the state of the national side I suggest they try looking a little closer to home i.e the fecking players and the management before attempting to sling mud at a leisure aspect of the game that not only lines football players pockets but also inspires the youth of the world to look up to these over paid w****rs in the first place.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. What next I wonder? blame the fans for not cheering loud enough?
Videogame culture wont have affected the current crop of players because games were not as mainstream as they are now however in 10 years time the story may be very different however is this the fault of videogames? I dont think so, I'm sure that if the facilities were there for kids to play sports in a safe environment rather than parks that are riddled with smack heads and knife and gun crime etc then it would be different. Boys still dream of playing football for England so the government should give them the platform to do it instead of wasting tax payers money on s**te!
Personally I think if kids weren't at football matches at the weekend we would have more gamers capable of winning international tournaments. Ban football, it's ruining video games!
Utterly outrageous. I've read CVG for ages but never felt more compelled to post than now.
At the age of 8 I was signed by Fulham, I was kept within their youth ranks until the age of 13 when the new manage at the School of Excellence dropped me for, quite simply, not being good enough in his eyes. After that I played for semi-pro, amateur (but decent) and crap teams. I've now given up football and ripe old age of 22. Why? Not because I'd rather play Fifa or PES, but because I got so fed up with the lack of quality in coaches/managers anywhere outside the top level.
When at Fulham, we'd train 3 days a week (from 11-13), and it was quality training. They focussed on passing, moving, skills... after Fulham it was impossible to get noticed or appreciated by a manager unless you were a) their son or b) knocking in 3 goals a game.
The problem with British football is that at grass roots level you've got too many dads running teams and crap coaches who don't understand what it means to be good at football. You can't expect everyone to get recognised early on, so the standard of coaching needs to pick up at lower level before we'll move onwards and upwards with our home-bred players. Drilling it into young boys heads that only goalscorers are good isn't exactly encouraging them to bother carrying on.
PS - I had a NES when I was at Fulham. I've played Computer games since I was 7, I think they're great, but I would always pick real football over a computer game
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Sounds like a game of Speedball 
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