Mad - two soccer players from same team fighting each other...

...because one did not pass the ball to the other.

Dyer & Bowyer in amazing punch-up






Newcastle pair Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer were sent off in disgrace for fighting during their side's 3-0 home defeat against Aston Villa.
Dyer and Bowyer exchanged blows in the middle of the Newcastle half three minutes after Villa had gone 3-0 up.

The pair later appeared alongside manager Graeme Souness to apologise for their conduct, but pointedly did not say sorry to each other.

Both will miss the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United on 17 April.

During their fracas, the duo were separated by Villa goalscorer Gareth Barry and several of their team-mates, though not before Bowyer's shirt had been ripped.

Barry, who scored two penalties to seal Villa's victory, admitted he was stunned to see Bowyer and Dyer brawling on the pitch.

"You don't want to see that happen on the pitch, it's only right to try and break it up," said Barry.

"I've never seen it in a game I've been involved in, there was obviously a lot of frustration boiling over.

"If you look at the two players involved they just want to do everything to win the game. Both players lost their head and it's unfortunate but I'm sure they regret it."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/4404473.stm

 

LOL.



Bowyer finds few to appreciate his brand of madness



DAVID O’LEARY once defended Lee Bowyer during his tumultuous time at Leeds United by saying that the tea ladies loved him. Away from his caffeine-addled backers, however, people from various walks of life were quick to admonish the errant midfield player and conclude that not everything in black and white makes sense.
Union chiefs, football fans and psychologists joined forces to condemn Bowyer and Kieron Dyer and agree that football is not worth beating yourself up about. Malcolm Clarke, the chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation, labelled the fisticuffs “ridiculous” and criticised Graeme Souness, the Newcastle United manager, for saying that the players had enjoyed a laugh about it.



“I would be very surprised if the Newcastle fans would be laughing off the fact that one or two of their best players would be missing the FA Cup semifinal,” Clarke said. “It is not a laughing matter and it was an insensitive comment in the circumstances. Anybody else fighting a workmate in a place of work would be guilty of misconduct and most probably be dismissed, but footballers seem to operate in another world.”

Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said that footballers had a responsibility to their young fans to control their tempers. “For some keen football fans it sets a completely bad example,” she said. “It undermines the whole issue of sportsmanship and fair play. How much impact it has on school pupils is difficult to judge, but it’s certainly not desirable and is certain to influence some.”

She said that teachers seen brawling in public might be barred from the profession. “It would be very serious and initially they would probably both be suspended, pending an investigation. We would have to look at the impression it gave to the children.”

Being under the influence of Bowyer is an alarming prospect for the nation’s parents, but Andy Barton, a sports psychologist, believes that the Newcastle man may have been pushed over the edge by a deep sense of helplessness.

“There are certain triggers that people have and, from what I can see, Bowyer’s was Dyer not passing to him,” he said. “He wanted to have an impact and was not able to. We saw the anger inside him because he was not able to have control and that was the trigger.”

Barton said that the spat could have a debilitating effect on Newcastle’s future. “The main impact would be on how they are perceived by future opponents, because if people see discord in the team it can have quite a big effect,” he said. “It can build up other teams.

“But it would be unfair to say that this is a team in disarray. It could just have been an individual reaction to something. Bowyer is a very passionate individual and being thrashed 3-0 at home by Aston Villa will have had a profound effect on him.”

Although he must come to terms with being docked six weeks’ wages, Bowyer has reason to be thankful that he is not a member of the TUC. “Good practice for something like this would be a disciplinary hearing,” a spokesman said. “They would be hauled up before a senior team, if it was thought they had brought the organisation into disrepute, and the team would look at factors like their disciplinary records.

“It’s very important that staff are treated consistently, but one thing they would look at would be how these type of decisions had been reached in the past.”

The charladies back at Elland Road may feel this is a storm in a teacup and will be glad that Bowyer is punching his weight again, but a heavily tarnished reputation means that he can expect little sympathy from everyone else.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,277-1555247,00.html




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A lover not a fighter? Hmmm


Following his on-pitch bust up with teammate Kieron Dyer, Lee Bowyer has taken the rap like a man - and blamed it on a woman.


According to the Daily Star, the head-butting Premiership goon wouldn't have gone proper mental during the game with Villa if his model fiancee Kathleen Baker hadn't ditched him days before.


Oh well, that's all right then, Lee. ll's forgiven, eh?


An unnamed chum of the punchy footballer has spoken out in Bowyer's defence, saying he turned on fellow Toon Army-er Dyer because he's heartbroken.


“He thought he could leave the pain behind him for 90 minutes by getting out on the pitch, but it was all too much for him,” claims the pal.


“The frustration boiled over and Lee lost it. Unfortunately for Dyer, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”


As for the ex Kathleen, it seems she's now in the right place at the right time.

http://www.megastar.co.uk/meganews/news/2005/04/04/sMEG01MTExMjYxNDIyMDk.html



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The life and crimes of...Kieron Dyer



JUNE 2000: Tells a Sunday newspaper that he cannot remember how many girls he slept with after an alcohol- fuelled night out in Cyprus.
JULY 2001: Reprimanded by magistrates for having his hands in his pockets and banned from driving for speeding after getting excited listening to golf commentary on the radio.



NOVEMBER 2001: Sent home from Spain in disgrace and fined after missing an official Newcastle club dinner to go drinking.

DECEMBER 2002: Pranged his £100,000 Ferrari on Newcastle’s quayside.

MAY 2003: Banned from driving for six months after a fourth speeding offence.

OCTOBER 2003: Cleared of involvement in the alleged “gang rape” of a 17-year-old girl at the Grosvenor House hotel in London. Said that allegations had damaged his reputation “in the most public way possible”.

AUGUST 2004: Booed at St James’ Park during England’s friendly against Ukraine after his petulant refusal to play on the right wing for Newcastle under Sir Bobby Robson, who subsequently dropped the player.

OCTOBER 2004: Escorted to a Tyneside police station by Graeme Souness after a Sunday newspaper publishes pictures of him urinating in public during a drunken night out. Dyer later revealed how the manager threatened to “bin” him.

JANUARY 2005: Reduced to tears after a small section of Newcastle fans abused him as he signed autographs after the 2-1 victory over Southampton.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,277-1554316,00.html




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Making friends: Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer shake hands

 

Lance being pounded by Greg Lemond is good enough for me.

LeMond Blasts Armstrong

By Joe Lindsey, Contributing Writer
July 15, 2004


In what is the closest any American has come to directly accusing Lance Armstrong of using performance-enhancing substances, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond publicly questioned Armstrong's cleanliness, saying that denials and negative tests were not clear proof that he is clean.

"Everybody says that," LeMond said in an interview printed today in the French daily newspaper Le Monde. "But neither had David Millar tested positive and he now admits he took EPO."

Millar, formerly of the Cofidis team, was taken into custody last month when a police search of his home turned up vials of Eprex, a form of EPO. His lawyer acknowledged that Millar admits to having used EPO three times in his career. Millar had previously denied all allegations of drug use, calling his accuser, former teammate Philippe Gaumont, a "nutter" and pointing out that he had never failed a drug test.

LeMond has publicly questioned Armstrong before. In 2001, when London Times writer David Walsh revealed that Armstrong was consulting with Dr. Michele Ferrari, who is currently on trial in Italy for allegedly helping cyclists dope, LeMond was characteristically blunt. "If it's true, then [Armstrong's Tour wins] are the greatest fraud in cycling," he said at the time.

Armstrong, reportedly non-plussed by LeMond's comments, had a phone conversation with Greg that is recounted in Walsh's new book, "LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" currently on newsstands in France. In the book, LeMond's wife Kathy tells Walsh of the conversation, in which Armstrong pressures LeMond to admit to taking EPO himself; Greg denies ever having used the drug.

Le Monde, a daily published in the southern part of France, has been a dogged pursuer of doping scandals. Its report last week that some riders in the Tour remain under investigation for doping led to the rest-day expulsion of Martin Hvastija and Stefano Casagranda.

And in 1999, when it was revealed Armstrong tested positive for a corticosteroid after denying it, he had a tense exchange at a press conference with a Le Monde reporter who asked him whether he was truthful in his denial or if he had used a corticoid. "So, Mr. Le Monde," Armstrong shot back, "Are you calling me a liar, or are you calling me a doper?" Armstrong's team produced a medical certificate for the product, a topical cream, and he was never sanctioned. In LA Confidential, Walsh asserts, through former Postal soigneur Emma O'Reilly, that the certificate was produced after the fact as a cover.

In his strongest words yet, LeMond blasted Armstrong, saying, "The problem with Lance is that you're either a liar or you're out to destroy cycling," he told Le Monde, referring to how Armstrong reacts to riders like Filippo Simeoni, Christophe Bassons or Jesus Manzano, who acknowledge doping in the sport. "Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret but I don't know how long he can convince everybody of his innocence." Simeoni has sued Armstrong for slander, saying that Armstrong damaged his reputation by calling Simeoni a liar when he testified against Ferrari at the doctor's last trial.

LeMond dismissed criticisms that he is jealous of Armstrong, who has won two more Tours than him and stands to become the first-ever to win six.

"Because of all that has occurred in the past 10 years," he said, referencing doping, "that does not have the same value as the five Tours of Hinault, for example."

As of press time, Armstrong had not yet responded to the comments.

http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/experts/columns/0,3489,s1-9410,00.html