Anelka given 18 match ban by France

Warper

Nicolas Anelka has been banned for 18 matches by the French Football Federation (FFF) over his conduct at this summer's World Cup.

Anelka, 31, was sent home from South Africa after a row with coach Raymond Domenech and, in protest, the France squad boycotted a training session.

Patrice Evra was captain of the team and has been banned for five matches for his part in the revolt.

Franck Ribery has been suspended for three and Jeremy Toulalan for one.

Eric Abidal made up the five players who were summoned to the FFF disciplinary hearing on Tuesday and he escaped punishment.

The quintet were highlighted as the key players in the embarrassing controversy which surrounded the French team at the World Cup after Anelka's outburst at Domenech saw him banished.

Evra and Ribery were summoned for not performing their duties properly as captain and vice-captain, while Toulalan was seen as the perpetrator behind a statement read out by Domenech explaining why the players had refused to train.

Abidal's offence was his refusal to play in the final group match against South Africa, which France lost 2-1.

France were also beaten 2-0 by Mexico following a goalless draw in their opening fixture against Uruguay as they produced a string of poor performances which saw them exit the competition following the group stages.

Anelka did not show up at the disciplinary hearing and his international career now appears to be all-but over.

Ribery was also an absentee but his club Bayern Munich did not allow him to attend with the Bundesliga starting its season this weekend and the German champions facing Wolfsburg in their opening game on Friday.

Evra, Toulalan and Abidal were present for a hearing which lasted four hours.

MementoMori

Really a great way to draw a line under the whole affair :rolleyes:

I would say Blanc is over the moon.

French bureacracy at it's finest

ntlbell

they should all retire from international football.

Le King

FFF is a massive joke.

Mental Mickey

That's f**king pointless banning Anelka, seeing as he has already retired from internationals!??

Keano

ntlbell wrote: »

they should all retire from international football.

Anelka announced his retirement after his was sent home so the ban is pointless.

On a side note, Fergie will be delighted with Evra's ban.

Dancor

Mental Mickey wrote: »

That's f**king pointless banning Anelka, seeing as he has already retired from internationals!??

It should carry on to his children, then children's children.




For 5 years

Bob the Seducer

At 31 and with an 18 game ban, Anelka has pretty much been involuntarily retired. That ban should take France up to (and most likely past) the next European Championships.

Edit: didn't realise he had retired already, utterly pointless making an example out of him then. Might as well give Cantona a hundred game ban for the kung fu kick while they're at it. :pac:

Seaneh

I don't think Ribery has much of a future under Blanc anyway if the rumors of himself and a few others bullying/refusing to pass to Gourcuff are true.

Gourcuff is one of Blanc's favorite players and I can see him being made the focal point of their attack under Blanc.

Toulalan, Loris and his Bordeaux team mates were the only player would would train/sit with him at meals/talk to him because apparently the other French players think he is a pussy because he refused to go drinking with them and prefers to sit in his hotel room talking to family and friends on skype than going to night clubs and getting trashed and roasting girls. The cheek of the little ****er, how dare he refuse to be a stereo type!
The other rumored cause of the dislike his jealousy/resentment at his upbringing, Yoann is the son of Christian Gourcuff, a former professional and current manager of Lorient.

_Bella_

It will be Nasri's chance to sign with no Gourcuff or Ribery for the next two matches. Pointless exercise anyway, it was never a good idea to specifically blame 5 people for everything that went wrong. Evra got a smaller ban then I thought he would seeing as he got involved in a physical fight with one of the staff.

donnacha

I can imagine that the only thing thats going to bother any of these players is that the advertising bonuses that the FFF was supposed to pay has now been withheld - I just wonder what they'll spend the money on instead :rolleyes:

JerryHandbag

France's Euro qualifying group opponents will be licking their lips with all those bans

Edit: Forgot Anelka had retired anyway

Lukker-

Pretty embarrasing way to try and save face by banning a player that had already retired...

eagle eye

Stupid FFF, embarrassing themselves even more.

Mr Alan

can someone provide me a link to Anelka saying he was retiring from international football please?

Stevecw

I'd say Anelka is devestated over this!!! What a non-story!

IvySlayer

Mr Alan wrote: »

can someone provide me a link to Anelka saying he was retiring from international football please?

http://www.skysports.com/football/world-cup-2010/story/0,27032,12098_6214901,00.html

Mr Alan

IvySlayer wrote: »

http://www.skysports.com/football/world-cup-2010/story/0,27032,12098_6214901,00.html

No quotes from Nic there or any representative from him or the FFF.

Keano

Got your pedantic hat on tonight :pac:

Mr Alan

well it kinda changes the context of the whole punishment and imo the FFF are to be applauded for taking such a strong stand against the disgraceful behaviour of a few of the squad at the world cup.

Lukker-

Mr Alan wrote: »

well it kinda changes the context of the whole punishment and imo the FFF are to be applauded for taking such a strong stand against the disgraceful behaviour of a few of the squad at the world cup.

He already had an 18 match ban for not attending the disciplinary hearing after being sent home which results in an automatic 18 match ban. FFF are a joke and if they wanted to take any sort of stand they'd ban Ribery and Evra aswell. Banning a 31 year old who at most had one more European Championship at most left in him and had already all but exiled himself by refusing to attend the hearing or contact them. Bold move FFF!

Mr Alan

Evra has been banned for 5 matches. That's a pretty substantial ban.

nullzero

What did they expect would happen after their strike?

I have to laugh at the French though, they can't usually be bothered to support their own football team unless they're winning something and even then when they won the world cup huge amounts of French complained about the amount of foreigners in the side. They deserve everything they get, and thats not mentioning the handball either.

As for Anelka, my heart bleeds.

Lukker-

Mr Alan wrote: »

Evra has been banned for 5 matches. That's a pretty substantial ban.

Yeah but back well in time for the Euro's.

Theres too much bad blood in that camp and letting a player have a free weekend during qualifiers/friendly isn't exactly going to rectify it is it.

Yakult

Are they only banned from international football?

jaykay74

R_H_C_P wrote: »

Are they only banned from international football?

You think the french football federation have some sort of power to ban players playing for their clubs :pac::pac::pac:

Yakult

jaykay74 wrote: »

You think the french football federation have some sort of power to ban players playing for their clubs :pac::pac::pac:

Wouldnt suprise me in the slightest

TangyZizzle

Laughed at this when I heard it over the radio earlier.. why ban someone who's already retired? why ban someone who wouldn't give a fuck anyways. Stupid.. stupid French FA

ArmaniJeanss

TangyZizzle wrote: »

Laughed at this when I heard it over the radio earlier.. why ban someone who's already retired? why ban someone who wouldn't give a fuck anyways. Stupid.. stupid French FA

Well it helps put the bans for the other players in context - if they hadn't banned Anelka then Evra would have been the most punished player. Whereas by doing it this way they are making clear that Anelka was the most 'in the wrong'.
Seems sensible enough by the FFF.

TangyZizzle

Ooooor, considering he'll be what.. 33? by the time the ban is up, they could have just made a statement saying 'Should Nicolas Anelka re-consider his decision to retire from International Football, we would like to make it clear that he will not be welcome in any of our future squads,' ..or something to that affect.

JerryHandbag

TangyZizzle wrote: »

Laughed at this when I heard it over the radio earlier.. why ban someone who's already retired? why ban someone who wouldn't give a fuck anyways. Stupid.. stupid French FA

Similar thing happend to Tony Cascarino for getting into a scrap in Turkey in euro qualifier....banned him and he was like 38 and retiring anyway :pac:

Chucky the tree

I'm surprised so many people can't see why they'd still ban him even though he's retired. Jamie Carragher is a big hint.

x in the city

Im surprised anyone cares about the FFF and Anelka

Carcharodon

x in the city wrote: »

Im surprised anyone cares about the FFF and Anelka

Because Anelka has been a major player on both the domestic and international scene for numerous years now, I am sure most people have followed his career closely to a certain extent.

France has also been a major force on the international scene for numerous years and the situation at the world cup was one of the biggest talking points.

SantryRed

Am I the only one who thinks fair fcuks to the players for refusing to partake in the sh1te that Domenech was serving up?

SlickRic

he's 'dying with laughter' apparently.

legend.

#15

SantryRed wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks fair fcuks to the players for refusing to partake in the sh1te that Domenech was serving up?

I agree.

The FFF created a farcical situation. The players are expected to act as professionals, but it's a two-way street. Apparently the FFF did not believe they should appoint a professional manager, preferring an amateur astrologist.

If they treated players like idiots, then they should not be surprised when eventually, the players acted like idiots.


That said, if the reports are true - the treatment of Gourcuff was disgraceful.

Warper

SantryRed wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks fair fcuks to the players for refusing to partake in the sh1te that Domenech was serving up?

No, completely disagree. This is the same sort if crap as the whole Roy Keane saga. If they didnt want to play under Domenech they should have refused to take part months/years beforehand not in the middle of the most important competition in the world. They let themselves down and their country down. It is this sort of arrogance that some footballers now have - their selfish ego's exceed everything. The players knew that Domenech was an ape for years - he was manager for 4 years. They had plenty of time to go on strike during that period but no lets do it at the worst possible time and fcuk everyone back in France.

TangyZizzle

Nicolas Anelka described the French Football Federation (FFF) as “clowns” after they handed him an 18-game international ban for his role in the team’s World Cup revolt in South Africa.

Anelka, who said he never intended to play for France again anyway said: “For me, that commission thing is absolute nonsense, an aberration, a farce, an attempt not to lose face.

“They know that very well. They didn’t punish anybody... because the Les Bleus chapter was closed for me on June 19, when I was kicked out of the squad.

“They’d better turn the page because (new France coach) Laurent Blanc needs to work in peace. These people are clowns. It makes me die of laughter.



http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Nicolas-Anelka-has-laughed-off-his-18-match-France-ban-and-branded-the-FFF-as-clowns-article558363.html#ixzz0x0BVRwPd

_Bella_

Seems Blanc is not too happy

France coach Laurent Blanc has taken a veiled swipe at the FFF’s (French FA) decision to ban Nicolas Anelka, Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery and Jeremy Toulalan from the national team, indicating that les Bleus’ hopes of Euro 2012 qualification have been placed in jeopardy.

Anelka had already retired from international football before being hit with his 18-match suspension, while Evra (five games), Ribery (three) and Toulalan (one) will all miss part of France’s qualification quest. Blanc had previously urged the FFF to be lenient with his players following their World Cup strike — especially after he omitted all 23 players involved from a recent friendly with Norway — but that has not been the case.

“I take note of these decisions, knowing that they are still subject to appeal,” Blanc told the FFF’s official website.

“This is obviously not the ideal situation for French football, which requires all of its assets when addressing qualification to Euro 2012.

“I was hoping to find a situation in late August to turn the page on the South African tour after a final decision. I thought the collective punishment [of banning the players from the Norway friendly] was both necessary and sufficient. This is not the case and it is useless to dwell on it.

“Our only concern, my staff and I, is to establish the best possible squad for those fixtures in early September against the Belarus and Bosnia-Herzegovina.”

Blanc has been dealt another blow as Arsenal’s Samir Nasri has been ruled out for a month with a knee injury.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3264/france/2010/08/19/2077586/laurent-blanc-france-will-need-all-their-best-players-to-qualify-

Gourcuff is also out for the first two matches due to his 3 match ban for his red card in SA.

Het-Field

Keano A Legend wrote: »

Anelka announced his retirement after his was sent home so the ban is pointless.

On a side note, Fergie will be delighted with Evra's ban.

Remember when Tony Cascarino got a 5 match ban from UEFA after his part in a brawl in Bursa at the end of the Ireland v Turkey play-off match in 1999 ? Little did they know that he was verging on the right age for entry to an old-people's home !

aidan24326

TangyZizzle wrote: »

Ooooor, considering he'll be what.. 33? by the time the ban is up, they could have just made a statement saying 'Should Nicolas Anelka re-consider his decision to retire from International Football, we would like to make it clear that he will not be welcome in any of our future squads,' ..or something to that affect.

A statement like that would be too ambiguous and open to alteration under a new regime. Giving him an 18 game ban is more clearcut.

One thing's for sure, Laurent Blanc has a tough job on his hands. There seems to be such a lack of unity and team spirit in that French squad. If I was Blanc now I would only pick players that genuinely want to play and do well for France, regardless of reputations or anything else. Ribery seems to have been nothing but a bad influence within the squad, and by most accounts a bit of a knucklehead aswell, and if players like him and Abidal need to be left out altogether then those are the kind of tough decisions Blanc will have to make.