Anyone else getting a bit tired of players faking injuries to avoid international duty?

First topic message reminder :

Jordan Rhodes and Robert Snodgrass are the newest names to add to the list, both coming down with mysterious 'ankle injuries' that will no doubt be miraculously better once the normal league resumes.

In my opinion it's downright insulting to their country that they can't be bothered to represent them simply because they aren't being paid to. If I was a professional footballer the pinnacle of my career would be lifting the World Cup trophy with my nation, anything else (premiership, champions league, etc) would just be the icing on the cake. It shouldn't matter what odds your team have of winning. Scotland and Wales will be lucky to qualify let alone win, but that shouldn't make any difference in the players eyes, it wouldn't mine if I chose to represent Wales instead.

Football is one of the only sports in the world where representing your country is actively avoided, and I think it's disgusting.

It's clear I come from a completely different view here, so I'm not going to discuss this any further. My closing point is you can choose your club. While local team obviously makes the most sense there's no reason why you can't pick another one that may be slightly further away. But you can't pick your country.

Though, and don't take this the wrong way Pixie, but how old were you in 1998? Since you're at university I can guess you were under ten years old easily. Does that really put you in a position to say it died then?

I'm tired of internationals interrupting the club season !!

City first for me everytime, so I have mixed feelings regards Bellamy. Would ideally like him to play for Wales and help us pick up points but really can't get upset about it while he plays for Cardiff.

There is a lot of it happening though, especially for friendlies. Must be hard for the national teams to do much about it though and being a smaller nation which doesn't have a lot of competition for places, well we will always have these issues more than the likes of England etc.

International Football is not very interesting for us Welsh fans, (aside from perhaps under Speed) we have had nothing to get excited about for as long as I alive.

Club football is lot more exciting for us city fans at moment as we have something to fight for, and it looks more and more realistic every season.

Where as, if you are English and support a team that finishes midtable every season - I can see why they may think that International football is a bit more exciting.

Rhys wrote:International Football is not very interesting for us Welsh fans, (aside from perhaps under Speed) we have had nothing to get excited about for as long as I alive.

Club football is lot more exciting for us city fans at moment as we have something to fight for, and it looks more and more realistic every season.

Where as, if you are English and support a team that finishes midtable every season - I can see why they may think that International football is a bit more exciting.

I'm not convinced there is such a clear cut in enjoyment. My dual nationality means I'm picking between constant disappointment or never ending cycles of hope and brutal heartbreaking failures

Red614 wrote:

Rhys wrote:International Football is not very interesting for us Welsh fans, (aside from perhaps under Speed) we have had nothing to get excited about for as long as I alive.

Club football is lot more exciting for us city fans at moment as we have something to fight for, and it looks more and more realistic every season.

Where as, if you are English and support a team that finishes midtable every season - I can see why they may think that International football is a bit more exciting.

I'm not convinced there is such a clear cut in enjoyment. My dual nationality means I'm picking between constant disappointment or never ending cycles of hope and brutal heartbreaking failures

Dual nationality eh? I have that, but when I watched the World Cup final in 1966 when I was eight I wanted the Germans to win! I've spent a long time thinking the ball didn't cross the line! It's doubly odd given that when I grew up in South Wales we weren't Welsh Nats by any stretch of the imagination and my Father's parents were both rampant Norwich City fans in the days when everybody played in black and white, never missing a home game.
International football has always been more important to me than club football; I hope the Welsh team dig deep over the next few days. I have supported England in a few games, but the constant selection of players based on which club they played for rather than on merit would have driven me tears of rage if I had cared about it. At least I spared myself that!!

Red614 wrote:It's clear I come from a completely different view here, so I'm not going to discuss this any further. My closing point is you can choose your club. While local team obviously makes the most sense there's no reason why you can't pick another one that may be slightly further away. But you can't pick your country.

Though, and don't take this the wrong way Pixie, but how old were you in 1998? Since you're at university I can guess you were under ten years old easily. Does that really put you in a position to say it died then?

I was 7 and that was the greatest world cup ever. Since then international football has been rubbish and commercialised to the maximum. They saw the influence France 98 had and the corporates decided to get fully involved. In came the s**t stream of middle/upper class people in suits which led to the international game becoming a farce.

michaelccfc88 wrote:I'm tired of internationals interrupting the club season !!