"Unusual" England cricket team

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

exactly zainub. the things that have been said about the turbans have been very niave and wrong to say the least. it shows lack of understanding

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1

personally i dont like many of the british sports personalities. ie. flintoff or the despicable Rooney.Living in England it gets on my nerves how the media treat things and overhbype everything. ie. rooney has scored against switzerland and croatia - 2 powerhouses of international football and he is now the next pele... crap like that . im sure it is true of many media and sports pundits to overhype things, but i only really experience the british side of it.

Most of the press everywhere in the world is like that. We've raised Butt as the next Zaheer Abbas, Ifran Pathan is in India the next Kapil Dev, understandably Freddie will be the catchphrased as the next Beefy and Rooney as the next Pele in the UK.

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

yes true zainub. but i only ever get to experience the english version of it. and it is only a small part of what makes me not support england in cricket or football. as i said, i dont like most of the players, ie their personalities

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1

yes true zainub. but i only ever get to experience the english version of it. and it is only a small part of what makes me not support england in cricket or football. as i said, i dont like most of the players, ie their personalities

What players in particular and what specific parts of their personalities that makes you dislike the England cricket guys?

[Zainub]

I'm a little different Rahul, I don't think I necessarily like all English cricketers in term of personality, but I would have to say I have a soft spot for people like Andrew Flintoff, who I like simple because of their ability, he is an entertaining cricketer, a good human beings as well, at least in my opinion, and from whatever I have known and heard about him to date. (This is not an attempt to make you change your opinion about him, just telling you why I like him)

And much like Freddie, I think most of the current lot are a whole lot more better in terms of personality [and tolerance as you would say of other peoples' styles] than English cricketers of the the past, that is why I like seeing this England team do well. I've never liked Bob Willis at all, neither Geoffrey Boycott for that matter, even Beefy I have found annoying at certain times. Of the older lot, I would have to say Bumble is my favorite, because again, he seeks to entertain, and remain as non-controversial as possible.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

RDn1 - You dont seem keen on the england personalities, so I would assume you're supporting SA in this series. Now if there was ever a more odius bunch if we're going purely on personalities I cant think of one. Kallis I cant stand, Smith I cant stand, boucher I cant stand and thats for starters.

Please name 3 england players with worse personality traites than those 3 !!!

[Milo]

Fact still remains that in cricket many of the British Asians support the country of their family roots over birth/residence. However, many still support England at football. The same rule would apply for football IF it was to do with intolerance, cultural synergy etc etc. The question still stands. Why is cricket so different???

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1

yet i certainly feel in my generation, intolerance is actually growing.

Well, I remember from when I was at school (actually only 5 years ago folks) there were absolutely no problems with different ethnicities getting along. One of my best mates at school was a lad called Gautam who was born in India and had a German passport as well! In fact, I cannot remember a single instance of bullying or degrading comments being made by anyone at my school against a member of another ethnic group - maybe as I grew up with a lot of Asians, I didn't at any time think that there was any difference between us - to me, (and to other people at my school) there were more important things to be unpleasant about that the colour of one's skin. The only problems I recall from my youth with mixing between ethnicities was a guy from Pakistan who'd only just moved over here, against his wishes, constantly insulting England and telling us all he wanted to go back to Pakistan. Even so, I cannot recall any taunting about him being Pakistani or even 'well, go back to Pakistan then'. In fact, I can remember having some quite.. how should I put this... 'Animated' debates about cricket with him! Now, before you start saying that such a place doesn't exist, I have to admit my secondary school was a Grammar School, so is a bit different. However, my Primary School was an absolute dump and I can't remember any problems there either...

Anyway, the whole point of what I have written is to say that I don't think intolerance is growing. As Flanflinger has said, there is a minority of people which are much more vocal than others which causes the perception of growing intolerance, but if you take too much notice of the minority, you are only scratching the surface of attitudes in modern Britain, and as a result you will come out with a negative opinion of the British tolerance all of the time.

I don't necessarily know what the solution to this is, as when the tolerant try to speak up, you have the Daily Mail (what I call the Fascist Tribune) or the Daily Express criticising them for being wishy-washy liberals who want to stop Britain being 'Great'.

[Zainub]

Good post Andy.

I think we have to always look on the brighter side of things. There will always be a section of the public that will have the wrong approach to life. But we must remind our selves constantly that such people, are in all societies in the minority, only then can we feel comfortable with living and adjusting to different environments.

One of the best examples of tolerance very much existing in society is when people from very diverse backgrounds sit down and talk about something that is common to all of 'em, as we are doing right now. Right now, right here, we're discussing a potentially contentious issue, which I believe by now on TMS would have easily become a squabbling match, yet, all of here have shown an ability to listen and get on with the possible different of opinion they might have with other people.

Communication is great asset of mankind. Tolerance will only increase if people reach out to each other and make their differences clear. A lot of times, there is a sort of an unspoken silence between different ethnic groups and that leads to a lot of people presuming the wrong things about each other. With so much opportunity for communiqué in this day and age, one has to think that tolerance can only improved, not get worse.

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

andy, if you dont mind me asking, when were you at school. i too go to a private school and thing s have gone back to square one really. i have many english friends, but saying that there are so many of the kids their that ridicule anything that is 'alien' to them. in your generations things were much improved to how things are nowadays with the english youth!

However, many still support England at football. The same rule would apply for football IF it was to do with intolerance, cultural synergy etc etc. The question still stands. Why is cricket so different???

Milo this is probably the asian countries dont really have a football team to speak of really. ok yeh about 130th in the world rankings or something stupid like that, and india also lost to fulham years ago when fulham were still in the second dividion. yet in cricket, india and pakistan are major players in world cricket. hence why.

RBLC i hate flintoff's on field attitude. he likes to swear alot at the batsmen. laughs alot if he hurts them aswell. not to mention his shirt incident.
I never liked Nasser Hussain, but then again he isnt part of the England set-up now.
I never liked Caddick and gough. their attitudes stunk iMO.
I don't like Harmison's attitude either.