Blamed for... Britishsoccer being in a bad state
The last time England achieved anything noteworthy insoccer was 1966. That's over 40 years ago. Since then the only thing any of Britain's four national teams has achieved is the odd small victory against higher ranked opposition. So it was a bit of a shocker when video games were blamed for the continually sorry state of home grown soccer in Britain.
When the four national team managers got together at a sponsored event last year, PlayStation was fingered for being something of an orthopaedic shoe, stunting the playing potential of up and coming youngsters. The now erstwhile Fulham boss, Lawrie Sanchez, gave his son's gaming habits as an example: "When we all grew up, we didn't have PlayStation, or PS2 or 24-hour TV... so we played football. If my son playedfootball as much as he does with his PlayStation, he'd be a better player. It's a fact of life."
Above: Apparently, Brits will never repeat the feat of these magnificent men without ditching the PlayStation
Verdict: Videogames - guilty or not guilty?
Not guilty. This is a classic case of lazy blaming. Sanchez was at some dull photo opportunity event, probably talking to a bunch of tedious primary school kids. Is he going to waste his breath explaining the myriad complexities of why Britain's national teams are perennially out-played (and have been for many, many years before PlayStation was even a twinkle in Kutaragi's eye)? No. He's going to blame PlayStation with a throwaway comment, thengo home for a couple of games of Winning Eleven with his son before bedtime.
