What a tournament

EURO 2008 has been a great success. In writing this on the day of the 1st Semi-Final I am obviously unaware of the countries contesting the Final, but irrespective of that the quality of the teams has been most impressive.

Several things stand out to me and most would be positive while a couple are negative. On the positive side the athleticism of the modern football players is quite astonishing.

The game is played at a much greater pace than at any time ever in the past. This means that the speed of the players and their speed of thought have to be as one and the fitness levels required to maintain this frantic pace for 90 mminutes, or 120 minutes as it has been on occasions, is absolutely extraordinary.

When one factors in the heat and humidity of Austria and Switzerland at this time of year the demands on the players increases dramatically. As a player I always loved playing in the rain. The ball zipped across the wet grass and made the game more skillful and attractive for spectators, but that was winter rain. When I played in hot countries we obviously had to contend with the heat but when the rain came it increased the humidity immensley.

This I found hard to handle. The combination of heat and high humidity can literally drain the energy fron the body effecting the performer both physically and mentally.

So I appreciate entirely the wonderful job the professional footballers participating in Euro 2008 are doing and how much it has embellished the game itself.

Good refereeing

The Referees too have been quietly impressive. The growing understanding of the damage done to the game by diving has been a major factor in raising the enjoyment level of the games and helping to eradicate what to most people is the major irritant in the modern game.

However, like most of you I would love to see more penalties awarded for holding and shirt pulling during set-pieces. I am annoyed when a Referee penalises a forward for the flimsiest of contact and at the same time allows defenders to pull and hold indescriminatly.

I have really enjoyed the television coverage of Euro 2008. I have to hand it to the Austrian and Swiss TV companies. The pictures, replays and wide variety of angles shown have played a huge part in making the Tournament so successful.

Probably the most enjoyable aspect of the television coverage to me has been the little cameo's shown in slow motion.