So hate may be a strong word but I think its fair to be critical of the things we don't like in hopes that improvements may be made.
Mike's List
1) U-18 Division - I have brought this up before but will continue to pile on here. There is such flawed logic in making this division. If you are not good enough to make a Men's team, some of which are absolutely pitiful, you shouldn't play. The answer is definitely not to make a division for you play in. Sorry but I don't want to watch the players who can't make the benches of the bad Men's teams. So wrong.
2) Being Confronted By People I Don't Know - I don't know why people think because I run this blog or play on ROI that they can come and take up their rift with me. Over Xmas I was at a very formal party where one of the guests came up to me and decided that this was the appropriate occasion to verbally lambast me. For over 10 minutes, while his anger increased, we covered everything from how ROI was was too good, too how I single handedly ruined the tournament and that he would never play again. Bravo.
3) It's Not The Real World Cup - The amount of stock people put into this tournament is nuts. If you lose in this tournament it's not the end of the world you just go back to playing actual soccer and get on with it. If winning the WCP Cup is the crowning achievement in you soccer career then you probably haven't had much of a career. Sorry to burst your bubble. People need to appreciate this tournament for what it is, a fun, 3 week tournament to hang out with your friends and play some ball. Oh, and if you are training year round (or at all actually) as a team for this thing, well I just don't get the point.
4) The Bad Teams - I will get straight to the point here and this may not be a popular opinion but there are too many teams in this tournament. The discrepancy between the good teams to the bad teams is way bigger than it needs to be. You can't argue that if you combined teams like Italy, Scotland, Northern Ireland into one team that they wouldn't be better for it. In my opinion its time to trim the fat.
5) RSA Fees - The RSA is just a ridiculous group to deal with. Last year I payed $900 to WCP for our team to play. I payed the RSA over $1000 to sign up 11 out of town players. Does this seem completely unjust to anyone else? I am not real happy about seeing my money put to use by paying their employee to facebook at the front desk while I set up the nets for them. In contrast to play in the Saskatoon World Cup the Saskatoon District Soccer Association charges me $2. Talk about having your hand in the cookie jar.
6) Handicapping Rules - I know I am beating a dead horse here but this is an issue for me. I know rules like no fouls, kick-ins, and having an extra man on the field are needed so that 70% of the teams are able to compete but as long as I'm in the other 30% I am in favor of changing them. #LetTheBeatDownsBegin
7)People Who Think Megs Are The Greatest Thing In The World - This really irks me. I know megs look good but I feel I need to clarify something here. MEGS ARE NOT GOALS. They rarely work, especially in such close quarters, and trying one in your own end is stupid. If I hear one single person yell "OLE" after a meg during the tournament I am going to hunt you down.
Nate's List
Keep in mind that I am by no means trashing the tournament itself, as I think we can all agree it's an annual highlight of soccer in Saskatchewan. Hell, if I didn't like it, I wouldn't spend half of April in Regina. This segment merely provides an opportunity to state some of the lowlights that seem to get under my skin.
1) Players who think Sir Alex Ferguson is in the building looking for the next Roy Keane. Breaking someone's leg isn't getting you scouted: in fact, nothing in this tournament is. Take it for what it is, and play for the great atmosphere and decent competition.
2) Extending on the notion of taking the tournament for what it is, do so off the pitch as well as on. If I hear one player tell me they can't have a pint or ten after the match because they have a game next Wednesday, don't be surprised if you end up with your share of those pints dumped on your head by night's end. Luckily for me, this is by no means a concern on my team (ROI).
3) Player's girlfriends/wives from other teams punching me and pushing me off a stage for no apparent reason.
4) National Anthems. I know the tournament is very multi-culturally themed, given the fact that it takes on the World Cup style format, but the anthems are a drag. Some of them, Italy for an example, seem to last an eternity. Does anyone actually look forward to them? Maybe the time could be used for an additional 5-10 minutes warm-up. Thoughts?
5) People complaining that "so-and-so is not of a certain descent", and thus should not be allowed to play for the team they are on. Granted, I did not play the first 2 or 3 years of the tournament and am under the impression the reins have been loosened a bit on where players are permitted to play. But regardless of which team wins it all, there aren't going to be any parades in Berlin, Paris, Oslo, etc. The whole idea behind having teams as countries is for the fans to show support with colors, flags, and whatever else may be relevant for the given nation. Play for your team, don't pay attention to where others are playing, and get on with it.
See ya'll in 3 weeks. Cheers
Nate
35 comments:
I agree with you Mike. The RSA is stupid. They charge us all an arm and a leg. Where's all the money go to? Like come on. Talk about RIP OFF. We are supposed to be promoting soccer.
Those RSA front desk guya should get off their asses once in a while and actually do something. They can start by sweeping our change rooms and try to clean up the musty smell. It disgusts me how dirty they are and for some reason they always seem to give people the dirty and shitty small rooms. Get it together.
Saskatoon is much better and will always be that way. I'd rather move there and promote soccer in a positive way. The RSA needs to make changes and NOW. I'd really like to see where our money goes. Look at the turf for example. It's a joke.
It took the anonymous poster to get the major thing that bothers me about the tournament. Granted it really is no ones fault at this stage but that turf is in awful shape.
This may be one of the first turfs ever installed into a facility anywhere in the world. I don't know how anyone can wear cleats on it. It is impossible to do so.
Also, I think Mike was saying this somewhere else. But as a player it is annoying to have a tournament pass to get in, yet you are trying to go to your team room and you get called back to check in.
Just either get rid of the player pass or don't make me check in. Done.
DG
I saw team greece out for lunch at western pizza today. if they keep eating the diet of their restaurants, they are going to capture diabetes faster then they capture the wcp cup title.
Mike I hope you get nut megged and everyone Ole's! thats worth a couple goals in my books
A coed division in this tournament would be great. Some of us women would really get an opportunity to showcase our skills against the men and prove that we are just as good as you guys. I know so many girls who could easily play on a mens team and be better then lots of the guys.
We played an exhibition game against a youth boys team and we beat them and some of them are really good so that shows that us women aren't just pretty faces to look at.
I think its also sexist that all the mens teams get the games from 7-10 at night on the weekends during wcp. If there were a womens game in there then everyone would see how good we are. Theres a handful of girls in this tournament that played at high levels such as team saskatchewan and university teams.
Shandra Williams
I really hate to be the one to do this, as there's gonna be alot of backlash... but it has to be said...
Shandra, I think your out to left field. Co-ed is dictated by the guys playing the game, not by the girls... Co-ed is an opportunity to have fun both males and females. Your comment about a handful of women being able to compete against men isn't very accurate.... if you paired the best 11 women in the tournament and they played the best 11 men in the tournament... it wouldn't even be a contest... Is there women out there that are skilled... yes.. but your comment is not very realistic.
From a financial stand point, and from an atmosphere stand point... I think it's fair to say that the Men's game generate a greater crowd... if I were organizing an event, I would put games the generate the biggest attention in the prime time hours... sit in the stands and take a look around and see which games draw in more people... and then you'll understand my point.
Alot of solid points Mike and Nathan. I agree with the national anthems... why not take them out an add it to playing time for example.
I also agree about the gap between some teams, and the rules. I think the rules should be changed for one tournament so everyone can see exactly why the hanidcapped rules are being applied... it's unreal to see how many players think they are unbelievable because they had a decent WCP tournament... if the WCP is the highest level of soccer you've ever played... well than that's a shame. It's a fun tournament... not a highly skilled tournament. I think if the rules were changed, teams would then be forced to enter better teams... and ultimately the fat would be trimmed.
I would like to hear more about a broad punching you off the stage tho Nathan, sounds like a very interesting tale.
Julio.
I would like to take the time to comment on Shandra comment.
First off I would like to say that yes there are women out there who could easily play with the men, but from my experience playing co-ed way too many women complain because the guys are going in too hard or they complain about the intensity.
Quite frankly it pisses me off. Like if you want to play with the men, then shut up and play. Stop complaining and making a huge scene and using the women are weak thing to your advantage.
Women get 2 points for a goal. Come on. If the girls are that good then why even have that in place (and yes i've taken into consideration that some teams don't pass to girls). I personally think this stupid 2 points for a goal is sexist. Just saying ... no place for the complaining and drama and those girls who can't handle some people who play and play to win.
If these women start playing the game properly I can see there being a co-ed division, because I doubt Kevin going to want to listen to the b.s. and complaining.
Julio, for once I agree with you buddy. It doesn't happen often. The points you make about the co-ed and the women playing are exactly right.
Also, I would like to add the women games are boring and lack intensity. The mens games bring out some talented soccer players and are fun to watch. That's why the guys get the better games. If women played later on in the night, and no offense ... people would leave and the night life during the tournament would suck.
Look I am far from sexist, but no way are women going to play against men and actually be competitive.
Even when they label a division as a competitive coed division it is far from competitive. Guys don't go 100% in coed. You look like a douche if you tackle a girl hard and quite frankly it would be a douche move. True competitive COED is for non contact sports, like curling and darts and such.
No offense to women, but it is human physiology that men are more physical beings. They are stronger and faster. Women can be more skilled easily but that would quickly get cancelled out by a mans strength.
I don't want to come across as someone who bashes women's sports. In fact, I coach a senior girls bball team and have a very good appreciation for women in sports. In fact I tell my girls at the start of the year, I don't coach girl's or boy's I coach athletes. I am however a realist and know the limitations from a physiological stand point from men to women.
DG
No place for co-ed. No play for women's games at night. Men are physical, some men don't care cause if your playing against them that's your deal. Co-ed will not have enough fan support. Too many whiny people.
Kevin Holness says girls can beat guys at soccer, and he's real good so i'm going to believe him not you stupid guys. If we had Kevin coaching us we could beat any guys team we wanted.
Look at the Greek team, they almost beat France last year and the greek team is full of a bunch of girls. The facts don't lie.
Girls can not beat guys. You might find 1 girls out of 50 that could legitimately keep up on the field with a WCP squad in the top half of the standings. You need to lay off watching the re-runs of Bend It Like Beckham. The Scotland Men's team, beat the Scotland U18 team who has some big talented players appearently...I don't see them boasting about taking on the soccer world and winning this tournament anytime soon.
As for Mike's list...U18 division? A lot of the good players are playing both. Some U18s just like playing with their buddies. Will it be watered down? Absolutely...just like every other division in this tourney. 4) The Bad Teams? 100% agree! I think the reason this tourney has lost it's luster is that the divisions are too watered down. When 3 of 4 groups more or less are decided who is making it out the moment the draw is finished, there's not much exciting to look forward too. cut down the teams...have a relegation and pre-tournament process. Keep the top half of the teams, the rest play in the qualifying tournament to decide the last 4 teams of 16 to be in the tournament and you're off to the races. Those teams that don't qualify send their players to qualifying teams "on loan" or as a draft to fill non-heritage spots. Lots of exciting moves, not bottom feeder teams, high competition, etc. 5) RSA fees? 100% agree again. When the RSA is charging insurances on top of insurances that aren't needed, ridiculous membership fees and more it gets stupid.
As for Nate's list, the only thing worth addressing is the National anthems part. Anthems need to stay...it's part of the fun/multiculturalism of the tournament. If you need more time than is allotted (between using the backfields, the between games, or finding an empty area somewhere), you're either too out of shape or too old to play or not using the time wisely enough.
oh baby, oh baby watch out for Jamaica, there going to be a threat now that they got a keeper now, Kevin Krause, watch out yo, and they got some Yorkton players too
Firstly, if you want to know where the money goes that's paid to RSA, check out the link (which is on the website): http://www.reginasoccer.com/contact-us/nnnrsa-financial-statement
I agree that the turf is a sham, but RSA is trying to fundraise to replace the turf, unless someone has about a half mil to donate! Also, the $900 paid for the entry fee does not totally go to RSA. RSA gets a cut for floor time, the refs get a cut, and no doubt WCP gets something, unless Kevin does it for free. Keep in mind people, RSA rents the facility, they don't own it. A fee is paid to exhibition park for rent.
I would also wonder how Mike had to pay over $1000 to register 11 players last year. The gust player fee this year is $70 due to SSA fees increasing, and I know last year's GP fee was less. The math doesn't compute!
Anyway, I've said my piece for now. In case anyone is wondering, I am NOT an RSA Board member, nor an RSA employee. However, if people have things to complain about, volunteer to be an RSA Board member. At least your opinions will be heard where it counts.
$90 per player. A cut may be the SSA fee. My beef is that a large part of the fee the RSA collects for their guest fee goes towards maintenance and employees. Should out of town players be the ones paying for this? Has an out of town player ever seen our turf be cleaned? In fact have you ever even seen a RSA employee. I see Evraz staff during the tourney. I would rather them get the money. They clean the stands, dressing room, and pour the beer. What does the RSA do during this tournament that the out-of-town players pay for at the cost of more than $10 a game?
I looked into joining the RSA board last year but the system is completely flawed. The board is mostly run by youth clubs so any idea for Mens is going to quickly be shutdown because a)They want to due what best for the youth and b)They want to do what best for their affiliated clubs. Almost no chance I'd get anything to happen to I opted not to join.
seems like we have a crime here, the RSA seems to be the villians, perhaps the Joker should team up with them this way we can get rid of Batman and anyone that stops in our paths!
Someone explain to me why there is a fee for registering an out of town player in the first place.
Players who are not playing at all, sure register them for the insurance at the $5 a pop. Fair enough. But the majority of out of town players are already registered with their local association. So why do they need to be registered at all.
When an out of town team come in for a non WCP tournament (ex: Saskatoon, Winnipeg, etc.) does each and every player on that team have to register with the RSA AND pay an additional fee per player on top of the tournament registration fee? Obviously not. That would be totally rediculous. . . . .so why is it OK just because it is a WCP event for the RSA to be randomly adding extra fees for out of town players? Their costs remain the same regardless of how many out of town players are participating and the rental fees charged (which are no doubt ample) are what covers the cost of the RSA staff, not the extra out of town fee (regardless of the blathering excuses that the RSA staff may have been suggesting).
At the end of the day, the extra fee for out of town players comes down to basic (an unethical if I do say so myself) economics in that the RSA knows that the extra fee is not sufficient enough to be a hinderance to those out of town players from participating, so they take the extra fee for the sake of a few extra bucks.
Its rediculous, unethical and embarassing to the soccer community in Regina that the RSA is able to get away with such garbage year after year.
Hey Joker, you are not funny and this is not childrens website!(Although at times if not most of times the adults hate or swear at each other)! But, Grow up and realize these are serious issues we are talking about!
Your jokes are lame and not funny in the conextect of this blog!
I probably be fine if you tried to be funny in a different enviroment, perhaps a movie rating website or commedy website but don't appreciate your comments here. It's my opinion and others might or might not agree.
Not sure if the "only thing worth addressing" was a slight at the rest of my list, or if you meant you're fine with the rest and disagree with the National Anthems point. However, if you're in it for the anthems, you're probably not on a team that is competitive. Maybe you could spend the anthem time working on your game?
Half the time we try to warm up on the back fields, we get kicked off because baseball teams have that half of the facility booked somehow. Perhaps something else that tournament fees could be used for?
Here's to being young and fit!
Nate
The Kernel here, I have special winning recipe for the a winning team here,
ok so basically you need one Lupastin, with a Braden Husdal, and a serbian
you then put in Caesar Salad, mix in with a Julio and Bart
and then your final touches is with a an Emmanuel and an italian
after all those are mixed after that you be sure to keep yelling at them so they can play together
for anthems maybe do them for playoffs. but until then i say do champions league anthem!
myrahs
Myrahs, great idea. Not sure about the champions league anthem, but national anthems for playoff games do make sense. Once the tournament reaches the playoff stage, there isn't as much of a time crunch, and having anthems played then seems like it would add to the overall atmosphere. Whereas during the round robin stage, they just get super annoying.
Nate
Nate: When I said "only thing worth addressing" I meant I was fine or didn't have an opinion on anything else in your list. No offense meant.
ha yea i just meant in getting rid of the anthems. i dont know how many times iv heard from WCP people that were always running behind. anthems take up 10 minutes depending whose playing and then plus warmups the games just take way to long to get going. people are there to watch not listen
myrahs
Fair enough. No worries.
Nate
for those who actually play for their country they're from, the anthems mean something so they should't be removed
I'd say there is at least someone "from" Canada on every team, so then Canada's national anthem should be played in addition to the other anthems for each game?
a true canadian team would be all first nations players
I'm "from" Ireland and I think hearing the anthem before every single game does get annoying. Also Mike can we get the actual national anthem this year? The one we have is just the rugby team's anthem, it's kind of irritating.
Lee
Don't worry Lee we will get the full gaelic version in this year.
Shandra Williams is an idiot and so is Mike Collins for deleting blog posts. How are you any different from Dufus Husdal? I don't see any of my posts on here. I'm going to have to spread the word about this, unless it stops.
Anonymous said...
for those who actually play for their country they're from, the anthems mean something so they should't be removed
14 March 2012 12:57
Anonymous said...
I'd say there is at least someone "from" Canada on every team, so then Canada's national anthem should be played in addition to the other anthems for each game?
14 March 2012 13:18
Anonymous said...
great comment to the person who said we should play canada's anthem for every game as well.... because that would definitely shorten how long the anthems are. idiot.
14 March 2012 22:57
I know sarcasm is a really difficult concept to understand, and it’s frustrating when people don’t just say exactly what they mean. And to try to interpret meanings based on context!? Practically impossible. But I think if try really hard and get your whole brain firing at once, the argument could be made that your “idiot” was arguing against playing anthems just because people are “from” the country they represent. Not quite there yet…? I’ll elaborate.
As outlined in the above comments, included in this post to make things as simple as possible for you, Anonymous #1 says keep the anthems because they mean something to actual heritage players. Anonymous #2 (this would be easier if people signed their names…) asks why then don’t we play the Canadian anthem before every game, because really every team has “Canadians” on the roster and we are all deeply connected to our national anthem, not? But maybe this person is simply using sarcasm to illustrate a flaw with Anonymous #1's post, because if we keep anthems simply to make heritage players feel special, why don’t we recognize the majority of players’ heritage before every game?
Now this is just one interpretation based on a string of related comments and grammatical clues. Maybe I’m wrong and Anonymous #2 really thinks the Canadian anthem should be played before every game… in which case calling Anonymous #2 an idiot seems completely validated and 100% necessary. I just thought I’d point out the different ways a comment can be interpreted before one jumps straight to name-calling.
I'm sure you'll have a clever anonymous retort to this post so make sure you address it to me. And make sure to call me an idiot at the end so Mike allows it.
Karlen
Anonymous said...
Shandra Williams is an idiot and so is Mike Collins for deleting blog posts. How are you any different from Dufus Husdal? I don't see any of my posts on here. I'm going to have to spread the word about this, unless it stops.
14 March 2012 23:08
Maybe you'd have an easier time finding your posts if your name was on them?
Karlen
Is it really necessary to complain about the fees Mike? Like it is what it is. Suck it up princess. If you can't afford it or you want to complain, complain to someone that cares. The RSA puts on a good show for all you half ass soccer players.
-Regina Soccer Players SUCK.
Karlen, thanks for outlining my Anonymous #2 post (my mistake for having forgotten to sign off on it). I thought the question mark at the end of the comment was enough indication that it was calling into question the sensibility of Anonymous #1's post. It seems to me that Anonymous #1 may indeed BE the very idiot he so readily refers to others as.
Nate
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