http://msnsport.skysports.com/story/...292868,00.html

Maybe not so sporting Espana.
The two finalists received over 40 million euro prize money between them, yet were fined only the equivalent of 16 thousand sterling for the worst behaved final in history.

Hold on, Spain won the fair play award for being the most sporting team in the tournament

They only recieved 2 yellow cards in total in the 6 games leading up to the final.

It's no accident that the Netherlands were involved in the dirtiest ever international match 4 years earlier against Portugal when something like 18 yellow cards and 4 red cards were issued

Obviously judging by todays news they must have realized the award was a bit premature, and I would bet they hold it back until after the final next time.
Also quite surprising, after Gerard Piques all-in wrestling attack in the match against Paraguay, which surely justified a red on it's own.
At the risk of repeating myself,their lack of respect and constant harrasment of the ref was a disgrace, bearing in mind the repeated call for respect before the competition started.
However that was all overshadowed by the rough-house Dutch tactics in the final, and no doubt the best team won at the end of the day.
Hopefully they'll continue their winning ways, but also hopefully they will learn some lessons about respect and sportsmanship.

Where do you get this from ?
Are you saying they were wrong to complain to a crap ref about his ignorence of tackles like this, and the six or seven fouls of one of the other cloggies after getting a yellow and not being sent off ?

Agree, constantly trying to get people red carded, well they did with this one.
http://www.casttv.com/video/mtwv7n/c...o-torres-video.

I base my opinion not just on one incident or one game, but on what I have seen from the same players at both international and club level for several seasons.
They deliberately intimidate referees, quite often successfully, as often occurs with Barcelona.
When a weak referee is surounded by a whole team baying for blood or a red card,he can no doubt begin to question his own judgement and give in,rather than simply awarding a free-kick or yellow card.
Having in the past been rewarded for this lack of respect and harrasment, they will no doubt continue to do it, until such time as the authorities decide to clamp down hard on it.
It's a shame because being so talented,it's entirely unnecessary and only leaves a sour taste behind, after what may otherwise have been an entertaining game,be it at club or international level.
Apart from Spain and Barca, it is all too common throughout the game in general.
I watch the occasional game of rugby league and have to admit that there is a huge contrast to football in general, with regard to the respect issue.

I rest my case.

However must admit its sad to see cheating from Torres, who I always had down as one of the games nicer guys.
Seems the disease is catching when amongst his team-mates.

Very rarely do you get a bad decision in Rugby, if there is a doubt then they call for TV evidence.

Not so sure about that, more likely most bad decisions are accepted as good decisions.
For instance in Rugby Union, who can have a clue whats going on underneath a pile of bodies, except maybe the guy who is getting his ear chewed off or eye gouged out and the guy who is doing it ?

Well for future finals all we need is you and agrodiarrhea and his google machine and it`s all sorted for a good clean game.

Appreciate the complement.
I'm an old fashioned no nonsense type of guy, and if I was ref the very first one to come anywhere near me or question my decision would be straight off the park and away for an early bath.
Same would apply to the second one.
After that I would expect that respect would be the order of the day.
If not,then pretty soon I would be the only one left on the pitch.

But have you seen the party? It is that it is not comparable, the quantity of lacks that Holland made and how it made those lacks, with those that made Spain. This is a authentic insult, because if it Howard Webb had worked with justice, almost the whole Dutch team had not played, for the quantity of lacks that they made

Fortunately, there are many reasonable people that they are not nor Howard Webb, nor the FIFA, nor many that seem to justify the game of Holland, with the stupid comfort that Spain also played bad. People like Johan Cruyff, that is embarrassed of what made the Oranje. It is not of missing, I believe that to this team they took it out of the sewers

Perfectly applicable to the British media when they speak of Spain and their sportsmen. And to who second them

Exactly. The British media are just jealous

And if you ever go to an English Premier League game you will hear the players shouting and swearing at the referee constantly and they never get a red card for it.

In the Spanish league if you shout agressively or swear at the referee you get sent off. As David Beckham learnt when he first went to Madrid, the Spanish refs wont tolerate verbal agression.

So what Spanish players do is plead to the referee in numbers but without any agressive intent. Far better imo.

The same at grass roots level in Spain, absolutely no swearing or shows of agreession towards the referee are allowed at all. Not the case in England where players behave the same as they would on a Saturday night pub crawl.

DD, the Spanish players were being constantly assaulted by the Dutch players and the weak ref let them get away with it. What were they meant to do, just accept it with no protests? Remember in football you are allowed to talk to the referee as long as it is with respect. I believe in rugby you are not allowed to say anything to the ref about any decision.

I doubt if anyone outside Holland would attempt to justify the Dutch tactics.
Being the biggest event in the football, no doubt the ref considered his responsibilities to the whole football world in general, rather than just ending the contest prematurely in the first half, for which he would also have been pilloried anyway.
Quite simply he was in a no win situation.
I don't remember seeing such childish behaviour from the great Pele or Bobby Charlton or Stanley Mathews who endured that sort of treatment on a regular basis.
Football in the UK was a much tougher game back then,but there was also far more respect for referees.
It began to change when British clubs began getting involved in European competitions, where they soon realized that they had to adapt to the different interpretation of the rules and the much more childish and petulant behaviour prevalent in many European countries.