The Round Ball Game - II

[jayne lee wilson]

I guess there's no easy way out of the handball controversies... could some VAR decisions be referred back to a majority vote, back in the VAR viewing room itself?
Or should the handball laws be made clearer or stricter - that the penalty or free kick is never given if there is any doubt as to intention. But that's how it should be now really, so... I think the problem is about handball or intention, not VAR itself which seems to me to have done far more good than harm at this World Cup.
Shame it had to end in controversy, and Croatia must be feeling even worse than we were after the semi-final, and more justifiably, but....

Now the Great Show is over... it wasn't bad was it? It's been quite a ride!
Thank you, World Cup 2018. You were spectacular, atmospheric, thrillingly unpredictable. You were - just great.
We'll miss you...

[cloughie]

I guess there's no easy way out of the handball controversies... could some VAR decisions be referred back to a majority vote, back in the VAR viewing room itself?
Or should the handball laws be made clearer or stricter - that the penalty or free kick is never given if there is any doubt as to intention. But that's how it should be now really, so... I think the problem is about handball or intention, not VAR itself which seems to me to have done far more good than harm at this World Cup.
Shame it had to end in controversy, and Croatia must be feeling even worse than we were after the semi-final, but....

Now the Great Show is over... it wasn't bad was it? It's been quite a ride!
Thank you, World Cup 2018. You were spectacular, atmospheric, thrillingly unpredictable. You were - just great.
We'll miss you...

Yes really good Jayne, I agree wholehearedly.

[cloughie]

Hopefully this victory will calm the French rioters of Nantes. Maybe football can curb the historical French pastime of revolt and protest - but it just seems to run through a Frenchman's veins. Why they insist on smashing up their beautiful country is beyond me, but I guess after all these centuries they'll not change ......

Probably not but I fail to see the link to an excellent World Cup in Russia!

[Beef Oven!]

Probably not but I fail to see the link to an excellent World Cup in Russia!

Have you been living in a cave?!! The correlation between a nation's happiness/satisfaction and its football team excelling is household stuff!! Just think of the stellar levels of satisfaction with the UK government in June 1966!!

[Lat-Literal]

I guess there's no easy way out of the handball controversies... could some VAR decisions be referred back to a majority vote, back in the VAR viewing room itself?
Or should the handball laws be made clearer or stricter - that the penalty or free kick is never given if there is any doubt as to intention. But that's how it should be now really, so... I think the problem is about handball or intention, not VAR itself which seems to me to have done far more good than harm at this World Cup.
Shame it had to end in controversy, and Croatia must be feeling even worse than we were after the semi-final, and more justifiably, but....

Now the Great Show is over... it wasn't bad was it? It's been quite a ride!
Thank you, World Cup 2018. You were spectacular, atmospheric, thrillingly unpredictable. You were - just great.
We'll miss you...

Jayne, I think you were with ITV. On the BBC, Lineker got out the rules on both handball and VAR. The decision was almost certainly wrong. Shearer doesn't like VAR. At least two of the four (Ferdinand and Klinsmann were the others) felt that the handball rule might be simplified by applying it to any contact between the hand and the ball. Me - I'm not so sure that would be fair. It is a bit like keeping all the class in to do lines when only a couple of people deliberately set fire to the assembly hall. I can't make up my mind on VAR either. There needs to be less grandstanding among VAR officials - no football shirts etc - and then I think we need to consider whether the existence of it is automatically a guarantee against bias as well as error. There were moments when I felt that it wasn't and that nationalities contributed to the verdict. There is a breathing space now. VAR won't be used for the next Premier League or the Champions League. There are 26 days before the start of the first although Arsenal have already had an 8-0 win in a friendly and Everton have already had a 22-0 win.

Probably not but I fail to see the link to an excellent World Cup in Russia!

Many congratulations to President Putin for organising a tournament with no hooliganism, no clampdowns on fans, no train etc timetables going wrong and no international terrorism.

No of squares/rectangles on the Croatian shirt: Difficult to say - I would think there are 15 squares (3 times 5) and a lot of bits round the edges which are more rectangular shaped.

[cloughie]

Have you been living in a cave?!! The correlation between a nation's happiness/satisfaction and its football team excelling is household stuff!! Just think of the stellar levels of satisfaction with the UK government in June 1966!!

I know all that, but why do you feel the need to bring up the topic on this thread in a manner which ‘has a go’ at a successful footballing nation - do you not like the French?

[teamsaint]

So, in the end....

France . Worthy winners, the best team. Got a break or two, but over seven games most teams get a break, and the were able to capitalise big time. Maybe they even triumphed playing withing themselves. That defensive set up once they had got ahead looked truly awesome. They seemed able to defend when they needed to, and score goals when the moment needed them. There might be even more to come from this group, which is scary.
Over time, it has been said that countries such as France with perhaps less strong leagues, prosper because their players go abroad to learn in new environments. Maybe this is an integral problem with English players, that so few of our best need to travel to earn the big bucks ?

Croatia. Worthy runners up, and played some fine football . No kind of luck today, and against a team like France , you need to do everything right and get at least a share of the breaks. The penalty was a critical moment, and quite possibly turned the game. But they can be proud of their achievements.

Belgium. A par performance from what clearly is a stellar group. This may still be a launch pad to a trophy for them.

England. A fascinating tournament. The good thing is that they have learned some of the lessons of the past. They kept everybody ( press, fans, team) onside, and benefitted. And they looked like real contenders, with observable pattern, spells of excellent football, and a fairly talented group with a system built to get the most out of the talent. It could be that the work being done at lower levels, and the emphasis on carrying this through to the England team is paying dividends. I'm not sure you need genius management and a team full of world beaters to win international trophies, but you do need a basis of organisation, and a system the players believe in. What England lack currently is one or two extra players who operate above the level. The big question has to be how, assuming the solid organisational progress is maintained, we are going to develop those special players.

[BBMmk2]

Yes, my favoured team won!

[vinteuil]

No of squares/rectangles on the Croatian shirt: Difficult to say - I would think there are 15 squares (3 times 5) and a lot of bits round the edges which are more rectangular shaped.

... ah, but you didn't stipulate that the squares or rectangles had to be uni-colour. If you include squares/rectangles containing both red and white, the number would be much larger. Very much larger...


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[Lat-Literal]

... ah, but you didn't stipulate that the squares or rectangles had to be uni-colour. If you include squares/rectangles containing both red and white, the number would be much larger. Very much larger...


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I thought I was talking about both red and white. There are not as many squares as you might think. Admittedly, I had to try to count them on the basis of the briefest of glimpses when the camera found someone walking and nothing else was going on. I think I probably did it as a guesstimate with evidence from three players. But it could have been the same player thrice and he could have been the shortest player in their team. Still, height may not make any difference to the number. You have now set yourself up as a math person. Please advise.

[vinteuil]

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https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&q=croatia+jersey+2018&chips=q:croatia+jersey+2018,g_1:world+cup&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqrYSjtKPcAhVsDsAKHUlzCncQ4lYIKCgA&biw=1093&bih=502&dpr=1.25

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[Lat-Literal]

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https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&q=croatia+jersey+2018&chips=q:croatia+jersey+2018,g_1:world+cup&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqrYSjtKPcAhVsDsAKHUlzCncQ4lYIKCgA&biw=1093&bih=502&dpr=1.25

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Well, surely most of those are 15 squares plus a number of rectangular bits?

Incidentally, should we be using jersey rather than shirt as per the link? I would have thought that a jersey was something else - ordinarily a sweater or of a more fragrant if strange connotation (do sheep jump?) a jumper. I suppose jersey for a shirt does at least have a touch of the posh-ish Corinthian Casuals. The word soccer continues to fascinate me. It was all the rage in the 1960s - trendy/sophisticated - then fell quickly out of favour with a blunt working class emphasis back on (it's) football. But I sense it is having an American led revival.

[vinteuil]

Well, surely most of those are 15 squares plus a number of rectangular bits?

The Croatian chequy is normally an eight-by-eight checkerboard. In this soccer jersey they have taken part of it, three columns, five rows.
Let us say -
row 1 : A,B,C,
row 2 : D,E,F,
row 3 : G,H,I,
row 4 : J,K,L,
row 5 : M,N,O

so there are fifteen 'simple' squares a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o
plus many more squares - 'abde','bcef','jkmn' etc etc, 'abcdefghi', 'defghijkl' etc
and very very many rectangles - 'ab', 'abc', 'ad', 'adg',adgjm' etc, 'abdegh' etc etc
and of course a 'final' rectangle 'abcdefghijklmno'.

So - how many squares and rectangles are there on the Croatian jersey, Lats?


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[Lat-Literal]

The Croatian chequy is normally an eight-by-eight checkerboard. In this soccer jersey they have taken part of it, three columns, five rows.
Let us say -
row 1 : A,B,C,
row 2 : D,E,F,
row 3 : G,H,I,
row 4 : J,K,L,
row 5 : M,N,O

so there are fifteen 'simple' squares a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o
plus many more squares - 'abde','bcef','jkmn' etc etc, 'abcdefghi', 'defghijkl' etc
and very very many rectangles - 'ab', 'abc', 'ad', 'adg',adgjm' etc, 'abdegh' etc etc
and of course a 'final' rectangle 'abcdefghijklmno'.

So - how many squares and rectangles are there on the Craotian jersey, Lats?


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I should say 15 squares - an iteration, that - and perhaps six red rectangles at the sides (three each side). I don't think that you can count the alternate four whites for while they fit into the pattern they merely join the back of the shirt which is also white. Then I think you can say one white rectangle at the neck although the line is curved and two red rectangles and one white rectangle at the base of the shirt. It would be plus another two white rectangles there but those are at the ends and also link in with the back of the shirt. So, yes, 15 squares and four rectangles. There are umpteen variations on the link you provided but this fits the commonest pattern and what I observed on the mesmerizer (what some call a TV).

Have I got it right?

[vinteuil]

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... how can you say that 'abde' is not a square?


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