Celtic Barca game probably postponed

L5

from ireland.com



Spanish clubs call for postponements

11/03/2004: The four Spanish clubs involved in UEFA Cup matches on Thursday have called for the postponement of the games because of bombs attacks in Madrid which killed at least 130 people.

Valencia president Jaime Orti confirmed that all four clubs had asked European soccer's governing body UEFA to consider postponing their UEFA cup games as a result of the attacks.

"This is a tragic day for Spain," said Orti. "It's a day when we can hardly be thinking about football and we believe that neither the players nor the clubs are ready to play these games."

Orti said that the four clubs had been in contact with both the Spanish government and UEFA to request the games be rescheduled.

Barcelona were due to play Celtic in Glasgow, Real Mallorca were to play at Newcastle United, Villarreal were due to host Italian side AS Roma and Valencia travel to Turkey to face Genclerbirligi.

A UEFA spokesman said they were in contact with the Spanish clubs and would be making an announcement later on Thursday.

vorbis

it would be the right thing to do. Its a terrible tragedy.

L5

Treue, true, they cant expect the players to be up to playing after hearing of what happened.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

kensutz

UEFA just announced that they are going ahead

TwoShedsJackson

Originally posted by smiaras
UEFA are insisting that they are going ahead, but remain in discussions with clubs. Its a disgrace that they should even continue with them. Take Barcelona for example the Basque capital where fevers are obviously running high due to the rumours that ETA were involved.

Barcelona is not even in the Basque region, let alone it's capital. It's in Catalunya.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

Big Chief

the barcelona players have been in glasgow since yesterday though since the match tonight is at parkhead? and this tragedy only happened this morning.

Its a tragedy that it has happened, but wasnt there bombs right outside the barca stadium before a crunch match with madrid before and they still played (all be it there wasnt any deaths though i must say)

super_furry

That's a disgrace on UEFA's part.

yom 1

As far as im concerned if the spanish president declares National Day of Mourning for the next 3 days well i think it deserves the respect of UEFA

_blank_

Remembering back to Sept 11th, that was a tuesday, and the Champs League games went ahead that night, but were postponed on the wednesday night.

Maybe UEFA should postpone the games, but think of it this way - the terrorists who carried out this atrocity want to disrupt the everyday lives of ordinary people. That includes going shopping, going to college, posting to message boards and, yes, even going to and taking part in football matches.

To postpone the games would be to let the terrorists win. Have a minutes silence before the games to show respect for the dead, then play the best game of football you ever played.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by seansouth
then play the best game of football you ever played.

don't say that.:(

vorbis

I woud take a different view to that. Football is after all only a game. Not postponing the matches would show disrespect to those that lost their lives.

Michelangelo

If players relations or friends were killed, then postpone but otherwise continue on.

There is no problem. I am glad with UEFAs decision

_blank_

Originally posted by eirebhoy
don't say that.:(

Why...I was referring to ALL players, not just the Spanish ones(ha, try calling a real Barcelonian a Spaniard, and see how long you last, they are Catalunyans, they even speak a different language)

The Muppet

The games involving spanish teams should be postponed as a mark of respect to those killed and injured . Poor decision from eufa if they make them play IMHO .

Kingp35

I Think the games should go ahead and fair play to Uefa for insisting that they do.The bombers had the sole intention of interrupting everybodies life and causing the spanish people problems and by postponing the matches this is saying that the terrorists have won. You cant let these people disrupt the games because that is what they wanted to do. Deepest sympathies go the the families of the people killed but the games should not be postponed. Respect can be payed in other ways.

TwoShedsJackson

What Kingp35 said.

_blank_

Unless of course any of the players or their families were directly affected.

astrofool

postponing matches and causing as much disruption as possible is exactly what the terrorists who caused this will want. The bigger the disruption caused, the more of a victory it will be for them.

Dustaz

How can postponing a game of football be regarded as a victory when theres 170 people dead?

Its only football. Regardless of what the great man said, its NOT more important than life or death.

PHB

You're missing the point Dustaz.
Its not that football is more important than life or death, its that our way of life is.

If you allow the terrorists to change our way of life then you are essentially giving into their demands, because thats what they want.
If you however continue to live just how you would have lived, you are showing to them that terrorism doesn't worked.

iasc

life goes on, you cant expect the whole world to stop, because of this, even though its a tragedy

vorbis

you can expect a mark of respect. I understand people's viewpoint about it not affecting our way of life. However, the right thing to do would be to postpone the games as a proper mark of respect. Would we play the all ireland finals the week after a bomb blast of that size in Cork?

Aliminator

a bit of consistency from UEFA would be good however. after the Istanbul bombings, the match between Juve and GS was postponed. same should happen here. and then no one was allowed to play in turkey for a bit afterwards. should that not happen here too? (Real Madrid would raise hell)

this was not intended as disrespectful in any way to those who died. R.I.P.

The Muppet

The terrorist already have the world wide media attention that they wanted from this attack so I doubt whether the games were postponed or not would mean much to to them.
I understand the opinion that we shouldn't let the disrupt our lives but the fact of the matter is they have. Life doesn,t go on for those killed and and will never be the same for those injured and all families involved. I believe that to continue as if nothing has happened* does not show the respect and repulsion of this act that the victims deserve.


* I know there will be black armbands and a minutes silence but thats not enough for such a tragedy.