Handshakes before the game starts

[Alf]

My first post for a while...a few years anyway.
Would do a poll if i knew how.
Isn't it time to stop this pathetic ritual,
how can it possibly create a more sporting gesture when the player's really don't want to do it.
I would not shake hands with someone I didn't want to!
When I played we shook hands after the game...if we wanted to....

[larry1971]

well lates face it how many other sports can you name where the teams or individuals shake hands before the match/game has started it seems that football is about the only one and it's just a pointless P.R exercise that should be stopped.

[royalflush]

Its just an excuse to get out the big sponsorship banner out so I doubt it will be dropped

[creative_username_1]

Hang on aren't they adults, shirley they can manage a handshake

[who are ya?]

RIP in peace to the days of a Parky sprint on to the pitch

[larry1971]

I just find shaking hands with some bloke dressed up as a lion bizarre..

[creative_username_1]

missed the opp to call this thread HandShakeG8

[E. Andrew]

I just find shaking hands with some bloke dressed up as a lion bizarre..

Especially if you picture a Will Farrell-type character inside.

[Tad Showbiz]

Pointless thing before the start of games - get rid!

Players sprinting from the tunnel to the centre circle launching a ball high into the air should return.

[creative_username_1]

Footballers are rapidly turning me off football. A complete shower of pcunts

[Divvy]

McDermott said he thinks they're pointless as well.

For me the players should be made to shake hands at the end of the game, not before. Perhaps the away team line up, almost in a guard of honour type thing, and shake the home team players hands as they walk down the tunnel.

[Stuboo]

For me the players should be made to shake hands at the end of the game, not before.

Yes, I agree all the people saying this. They could just shake hands accross the half way line after the game, in a similar way to how volleyball players shake hands under the net. It's like boxing - you've just been fighting each other, but the handshake at the end shows you have respect for your opponent.

Personally, I can understand Ferdinand not shaking Terry's hand if he genuinely still believes Terry abused him, but to not shake Coles hand for just testifying about what he witnessed in court - I think that's shocking. So a black player is not allowed to testify on behalf a white player now? - that's racism in itself surely. I don't think the two Ferdinands are coming out of this well.

Agree too that the behaviour of football players is a big turn off from the game, but I have seen an improvement since the olympics and I hope this continues.

[larry1971]

For me the players should be made to shake hands at the end of the game, not before.

Yes, I agree all the people saying this. They could just shake hands accross the half way line after the game, in a similar way to how volleyball players shake hands under the net. It's like boxing - you've just been fighting each other, but the handshake at the end shows you have respect for your opponent.

Personally, I can understand Ferdinand not shaking Terry's hand if he genuinely still believes Terry abused him, but to not shake Coles hand for just testifying about what he witnessed in court - I think that's shocking. So a black player is not allowed to testify on behalf a white player now? - that's racism in itself surely. I don't think the two Ferdinands are coming out of this well.

Agree too that the behaviour of football players is a big turn off from the game, but I have seen an improvement since the olympics and I hope this continues.

I love football but I have very little time for footballers .

[leicsRoyal]

Get rid and get back to the days of the team sprinting out of the tunnel and blasting balls from as soon as they step onto the pitch towards the empty net.

[Ian Royal]

For me the players should be made to shake hands at the end of the game, not before.

Yes, I agree all the people saying this. They could just shake hands accross the half way line after the game, in a similar way to how volleyball players shake hands under the net. It's like boxing - you've just been fighting each other, but the handshake at the end shows you have respect for your opponent.

Personally, I can understand Ferdinand not shaking Terry's hand if he genuinely still believes Terry abused him, but to not shake Coles hand for just testifying about what he witnessed in court - I think that's shocking. So a black player is not allowed to testify on behalf a white player now? - that's racism in itself surely. I don't think the two Ferdinands are coming out of this well.

Agree too that the behaviour of football players is a big turn off from the game, but I have seen an improvement since the olympics and I hope this continues.

I'm not sure it really matters whether Cole is black or not. Ferdinand will be thinking he lied to get Terry off. I don't think it's anything to do with the colour of his skin.

[TBM]

What pisses me off about the handshake before the game(s) is they have it all the wrong way around.....

The team on the right (as you look at them front on) should be the ones moving down the line of those on the left - its a much more natural fluid movement of shaking the right hand, rather than reaching across and round.

[Stuboo]

For me the players should be made to shake hands at the end of the game, not before.

Yes, I agree all the people saying this. They could just shake hands accross the half way line after the game, in a similar way to how volleyball players shake hands under the net. It's like boxing - you've just been fighting each other, but the handshake at the end shows you have respect for your opponent.

Personally, I can understand Ferdinand not shaking Terry's hand if he genuinely still believes Terry abused him, but to not shake Coles hand for just testifying about what he witnessed in court - I think that's shocking. So a black player is not allowed to testify on behalf a white player now? - that's racism in itself surely. I don't think the two Ferdinands are coming out of this well.

Agree too that the behaviour of football players is a big turn off from the game, but I have seen an improvement since the olympics and I hope this continues.

I'm not sure it really matters whether Cole is black or not. Ferdinand will be thinking he lied to get Terry off. I don't think it's anything to do with the colour of his skin.

Anton Ferdinand's brother Rio laughed at a tweet calling Cole a choc ice, so this suggests to me that the Ferdinand's feel he has betrayed his race somehow. If it was simply a case of "he lied to get Terry off" then why bring colour into it like this?

It's all very irritating. I just wish footballers could behave better. I agree with the poster who said, I like football, just not footballers (a lot of them anyway).