Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter reckons the Socceroos are “overweight” and are built more like a rugby team.
In a bizarre attack on the Australian national team, Blatter said he came to the conclusion after watching Ange Postecoglou’s team play on television during the recent Confederations Cup.
“I saw them on TV yesterday. They looked like a rugby team,” Blatter said in remarks published by Swedish newspaper Expressen in July.
“Some of their players were overweight. They need to work out more. They need to run more.”
The Socceroos earned rave reviews for their performance against Chile in their final Confederations Cup match, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
They were also applauded by Germany’s World Cup winning coach Joachim Loew after losing their opener 3-2, while they also fought out a 1-1 draw with Cameroon.
Blatter was slapped with a six-year ban from all football activities last year for approving a dubious PS1.35m payment to UEFA boss Michel Platini, who was also banned.
Blatter made the comments while trying to explain how football was a game “anyone can play”, including women of all shapes and sizes.
“In men’s sport it’s different, because the athletes are so big. Like in the Australian national team,” he said.
The Socceroos return to action on August 31 in their penultimate World Cup qualifier against Japan in Saitama.
northerner
Guest
Don't think so, Perry. He started talking about the Matildas and how women of any body shape could play football, but then said it's different for men, and criticized the national team for being overweight. It's pretty clear to me he was talking about the Socceroos, not least because he refers to seeing the team in a game the night before he was interviewed. The article came out on July 2 so he was talking about a game a few days earlier and that can only have been a Socceroos match in the Confederations Cup - probably the Chile game. I don't think the Matildas were playing in that time period.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Soccer - let's get this straight. This article has the headline "Socceroos", But Blatter was referring to the Matildas was he not? Or was it the Socceroos? Really hard to tell. I thought the reference to mens sport was an aside and then he returned to the women with the reference to the Australian team but - gee - it's hard to interpret.
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
sepp blatter is a crook.
Mahler
Guest
Has Blatter seen some of the players in the Premier League? They dwarf our blokes.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
If a league team averaged 73kg they'd be hammered flat.
Hang on a minute
Guest
He was thrown out of soccer. Why is he even being quoted nowadays. Maybe we should get Charles Taylor's thoughts on how things are progressing in Liberia.
c
Roar Rookie
They looked like a rugby team - he may have referring to their style of play
Nemesis
Guest
I don't know anything about the physical dimensions of Rugby players, but I've found the relevant details for the Australian National Team & Chile National Team that started in the Confed Cup group match. Ave Height (cm): AUS: 181 CHI: 176 Ave Weight (kg): AUS: 75 CHI: 73 Ave BMI: AUS: 22.8 CHI: 23.4 If someone has the details for the AUS Rugby Team, we can then decide if Sepp Blatter has a valid observation, or he's talking nonsense. Here are the individual players' details https://goo.gl/photos/LsZTN9mgCKSzrhdn7
northerner
Guest
The interview was more about corruption in FIFA but wandered all over the place. Here's the actual article (fortunately, in English). The statement about Aussie footballers came pretty much out of nowhere. http://www.expressen.se/sport/qs/fifa-is-the-victim-not-a-mafia-organisation/
northerner
Guest
I don't see how Blatter's comment was taken out of context at all. That's a direct quote. He had in fact been asked about women's football, and said that women have fewer choices about competitive sports than men, and that football is an attractive option because women of any size and shape can play the game. (Apparently, sports like handball are too athletic for women to play. Sepp's not exactly a modern man.) In any case, he then went on to say, quite gratuitously: “In men’s sport it’s different, because the athletes are so big. Like in the Australian national team. I saw them on TV yesterday. They looked like a rugby team. Some of their players were overweight. They need to work out more. They need to run more.” The interview then shifted to a discussion of Ibrahimovich. The statement about Aussie footballers stands alone. So how is that "out of context?" He said it, he meant it, and there is no other context than the one I described.
Hang on a minute
Guest
Yes, it was a story that has been taken out of context(deliberately by the Aussie media(fake news)). What Sepp said was, soccer is a sport that all shapes and sizes can compete in and even tall, large men you get out of Australia can play because generally speaking soccer is a sport played by impish gentlemen.
matt dustby
Guest
stick to you terrible articles, nick
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Alt-fact. Trump 2.0
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
This is a really strange story. What is he observing exactly and why would he even bother giving such an opinion?
Nick Symonds
Guest
This is all just a misunderstanding. English isn't his first language and what he was actually trying to say was that "the Socceroos are phat". Which unfortunately came out as "overweight" in his non native tongue. It's just a complete beat up by a typical anti FIFA biased media.