Iraqi troops turn on their British trainers and crush them
posted at 8:40 pm on January 4, 2008 by Bryan
In soccer. Or football, as they mistakenly call it on that side of the pond.
Iraqi Soldiers have beaten their British military trainers and mentors from 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment in a friendly five-a-side football competition held to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
The British soldiers from 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment are attached to the 1 SCOTS Battle Group and members of 14 Division of the Iraqi Army. They have been training and monitoring their Iraqi counterparts in military fieldcraft, weapon handling and patrolling skills.
But during the football match, held on 31 December 2007 at the Contingency Operating Base in Basra, the Iraqi soldiers taught the Brits a few lessons of their own despite the British lads being determined to make up for their last meeting when they were trounced by 22 goals to 3.
It’s clearly a hopeless quagmire. The Brits should pull out of Iraqi soccer tournaments immediately.
Blowback
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LOL. Actually they “mistakenly call it that” everywhere else in the world but here. ;)
tickleddragon on January 4, 2008 at 8:43 PM
But that’s a FANTASTIC news item. Wonderful how well it’s going.
tickleddragon on January 4, 2008 at 8:43 PM
haha love that :)
great to see reports like this :salute:
trailortrash on January 4, 2008 at 8:46 PM
I wonder how well they’d be at hockey?
Kini on January 4, 2008 at 8:47 PM
Don’t the brits specialize in that insect game?
bnelson44 on January 4, 2008 at 8:48 PM
Exactly. They call it that everywhere else in the world BUT here, so clearly they are mistaken. My logic is undeniable.
Hollowpoint on January 4, 2008 at 8:50 PM
There was a really self-righteous prick in one of my college classes who corrected a kid when he asked him to clarify if by “football” he meant “soccer”.
He was like, “The correct term is football.”
Liberal jackass.
Damian G. on January 4, 2008 at 8:51 PM
The brits were instructed to lose I should expect. No need to stoke tensions among the savages.
BL@KBIRD on January 4, 2008 at 8:52 PM
But the mercinary brit soldiers are just lulling these poor Iraqis into a sense of safety only to break into their homes and slaughter their families!!11!1!11
broker1 on January 4, 2008 at 8:54 PM
BL@KBIRD on January 4, 2008 at 8:52 PM
Yeesh.
Bad Penny on January 4, 2008 at 8:56 PM
Good one!
Zorro on January 4, 2008 at 8:57 PM
Well I’m glad it was booze free,I think.
It could of broken out into a Scottish
soccer hooligans free for all. He he
(With no disrespect to the Scottish)
canopfor on January 4, 2008 at 9:02 PM
Who would’ve thought that calling soccer football would make you a liberal, wow!
Football.
Or soccer, I don’t think Oz cares much for the use of either or
Holy crap at 22 – 3, too..
Reaps on January 4, 2008 at 9:12 PM
undeniable logic
Mojack420 on January 4, 2008 at 9:20 PM
Other than FOXNEWS I have not heard a good story out of Iraq for a long time on the MSM even though there are some very good things going on.
KBird on January 4, 2008 at 9:20 PM
GO IRAQ!
RushBaby on January 4, 2008 at 9:22 PM
Football is the name of a sport played throughout the world for several centuries. Seizing on a colloquialism (soccer, deriving from an abbreviation of Association Football) does not entitle you to appropriate the word football or pretend it has an American origin.
aengus on January 4, 2008 at 9:28 PM
Too negative a view Bad Penny?
BL@KBIRD on January 4, 2008 at 9:35 PM
So there. :)
aengus on January 4, 2008 at 9:35 PM
Soccer or football its still boring.
EnochCain on January 4, 2008 at 9:38 PM
Oh sure, but let those Iraqi boys try that crap with a game of cricket………
conservnut on January 4, 2008 at 9:39 PM
Soccer is a game for girls and third worlders that can’t afford a helmet and a set of pads. It’s no coincidence that they all use 9mm’s too.
C’mon! Gunfight ya’ll, GUNFIGHT!
TBinSTL on January 4, 2008 at 9:41 PM
“Or football, as they mistakenly call it on that side of the pond.”
Football is a game where you kick a bloody ball with your bloody foot. I can’t think of a better word for it than football.
American Football is rugby with more pauses, and weaker players who need to wear body armour. They hold the ball in their hands and throw it more than they kick it, and so it should be called throwball or chestball or hugball, not “football”. You silly sods.
Australian Football on the other hand should be called “punching”.
Apeking on January 4, 2008 at 10:05 PM
I think this is why they wear the “body armor”.
EnochCain on January 4, 2008 at 10:15 PM
No, the Brits have to play soccer (or football) against them there, or else the Iraqis will only follow them back to Britain and humiliate them at home. Or something like that.
ReubenJCogburn on January 4, 2008 at 10:27 PM
The Pakistani Ball players are already kicking the snot out of the Brits back home.
BL@KBIRD on January 4, 2008 at 10:32 PM
Naw, there national games are either rugby or cricket (or both)
docdave on January 4, 2008 at 11:08 PM
So you’ve never heard of Canada and Australia?
Association Football dates back to the 19th century, and it’s just a historic accident that it became the dominant form of football in the UK (and later the world). Various types of football existed in the Roman Empire and medieval Europe, so it’s origin really isn’t British, either.
Except that every popular kind of football except soccer makes significant use of the hands.
jic on January 5, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Yeah….the only true sport worth any time at all, either watching or playing, happens on ice.
After skating, playing or coaching hockey for over 30 years, I never tire of it.
All the rest? Pfffffft!
91Veteran on January 5, 2008 at 12:34 AM
Cripes, I thought it was bad when some Afghans beat us 3-1…
Speaking as a rugby player with 23 years experience – I would not want to see too many NFL players in an opposing pack, Apeking. Ali Williams aside, I think some of the defensive ends/Defensive tackles in the NFL would be the Second Row from Hell. And don’t get me started on some of the running backs or linebackers playing at flanker…ouch.
major john on January 5, 2008 at 12:35 AM
Nice sneakers those guys are wearing.
Ortzinator on January 5, 2008 at 12:57 AM
OK, it’s time for the inevitable Soccer Vs. Rugby clip. It cracks me up every time. Music is perfect. And don’t forget to watch for the temper tantrum (is that Beckham?) at the 2:03 mark.
Redhead Infidel on January 5, 2008 at 1:59 AM
Not really. The British have the sad distinction of being pretty much crap at every game they invented. Football (aka soccer), rugby and cricket.
Heck, they even managed to miss the cut to the Euro 2008 championship.
madne0 on January 5, 2008 at 3:41 AM
Funny headline. You do know what “trainers” are in Brit-speak, right?
JiangxiDad on January 5, 2008 at 7:24 AM
That headline scared me Bryan. Whew.
RobCon on January 5, 2008 at 8:02 AM
Now, now, Bl@bird. As long as the savages aren’t living up to their faith, they are mostly decent people like people everywhere. It’s just that you don’t know when they going to follow their religion and go kill someone or mutilate a girl’s genetalia or some other neat-o outcome of them following their faith. And let’s remember when they are following their faith, they are doing just what Bush and Romney think they should do.
thuja on January 5, 2008 at 8:27 AM
When I played soccer in high school (1980) our center forward was from Iraq. His family had escaped the Iraq/Iran war, I think. He was a ball hog and a hot head and scored most of our goals!
Ordinary1 on January 5, 2008 at 8:47 AM
Association rules date back to the 19th century but it was played for centuries before that. It was so popular in the Middle Ages that it was banned because it was distracting from archery which was important for defense. How is its popularity a historic accident? There was no other form of football in the UK. The fact that it was played in ancient cultures (Rome, Egypt) only reinforces my point.
aengus on January 5, 2008 at 10:18 AM
…and tennis.
aengus on January 5, 2008 at 10:24 AM
We call it football (Association Football, to be precise)…because you kick the ball…with your FOOT.
You call football “Soccer” from an inverted abbreviation of our name for the sport, “Assoc. Football”.
The throw-the-ball you call football we call “Wussy Rugby”.
“Rugby” from the British sport it is derived from, “Wussy” because of the kilos of padding and helmets you wussies seem to need in order to play a game of Rugby.
uptight on January 5, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Interesting that a country that sported a torture chamber for the soccer team under Saddam’s rule has such talented players.
Maybe Steinbrenner needs to hear about this?
Hening on January 5, 2008 at 11:13 AM
My teammate was Iranian. That’s what I get for posting before the coffee kicked in!
The rest is true. He was great player when controlled his temper.
Ordinary1 on January 5, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Football, Soccer, Rugby. All are great sports that require skill, agility, speed, toughness. Why the debate? I played football and soccer in high school and both were exceedingly fun!
Ordinary1 on January 5, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Apeking on January 4, 2008 at 10:05 PM
uptight on January 5, 2008 at 11:06 AM
I have no doubt that both rugby and American football players are exceptionally large and tough. However, American football is overwhelmingly more dangerous a game to play. Hence, the protective gear. There were, in fact, so many deaths in high school and college football when it was just starting out that Teddy Roosevelt threatened to ban the sport.
Teach a squad of your rugby players the rules of American football and pit them against an opposing team with protective gear and watch the bodybags fill up. Your insipid, tiresome squabbling over which athlete is tougher is typical of your European inferiority complex and belongs on a childrens’ playground.
Now run along and play with your spade and bucket.
thejackal on January 5, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Aengus, you are very mistaken if you think that the game played in the middle ages was anything like Association Football. There were huge variations in rules, almost every village having their own version. This was the case right up until the 19th century. Take a look at:
http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/fa-cup/biography/history-of-football
jic on January 5, 2008 at 11:44 PM
Soccer is short for Association Football, and the word is an example of the “Oxford -er“. (So, soccer is actually a rather posh word…)
Tzetzes on January 6, 2008 at 9:50 AM
My, my! All this passion over football, soccer, rugby!
.
Kids! Repeat after me: “THEY … ARE … JUST… GAMES!”
.
(The Japanese took to baseball big-time when we introduced it to them during the Post-War Occupation. Now, they have great professional leagues and some of the best damn baseball players on the planet. A few of them are imported stars in our Major Leagues.
.
Since the Iraqis seem to love sport and produce fine athletes, maybe we ought to introduce our Iraqi brethren to the great game of baseball. Maybe twenty years from now, a star pitcher for the Yankees would be named Ahmed! :-)
DavePa on January 6, 2008 at 5:46 PM
jic I’m aware there were huge variations of the game but it was still recognisably the same sport.
aengus on January 6, 2008 at 6:08 PM
I messed up the quote thingy there but you get my meaning.
aengus on January 6, 2008 at 6:10 PM
I’ve been this way since 1956.
aengus on January 6, 2008 at 6:27 PM