Should runner-up medals in team sports (and 3rd/4th place play-offs for that matter) be scrapped?

RedPed

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What actually happens to those runner-up medals? Do players actually keep them? It's increasingly becoming the norm now to just remove them as soon as they have been draped around the player's neck. I get the sentiment but it's still cringeworthy and frankly just makes the whole thing pointless.

Can't they come up with something else now?

As for the 3rd/4th place play-offs in major tournaments, surely that has to be least significant game in the whole of football? I guess it's required for housekeeping but what's the point?

Isn't it about time we moved on and removed these bits from tournament football?
 

Skills

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They should be imprinted on the club/nations shirt for the entirety of the next season - just to remind them of their failure.
 

do.ob

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It may not be tomorrow, but maybe 30-40 years from now they will look back and be proud to have been a part of the best English result in the past 100 years or so.
 

Ixion

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The removing the runners-up medal thing is such a pathetic fake gesture. It didn't happen 10+ years ago but now as social media becomes more of a thing everyone constantly needs to be putting on a performance.

I promise the England players will happily put it in their medal collections. Like they're above having a medal no one else in the history of English football has ever won.
 

FrankDrebin

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I've always found a slight disrespect from players, fans and pundits views on the runners up medals.
Like its trash and they should be thrown in the bin.

Do Olympians throw away their silver / runners up medals ? No.
 

JPRouve

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No. There isn't much else to say.
 

spiriticon

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Silver and bronze medals encompass a very traditional English thinking don't they? "It's the taking part, not the winning that counts"

Winners should get the gold medal and trophy, and losers be told to get the feck out of sight. :lol:
 

Alex99

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I've always found a slight disrespect from players, fans and pundits views on the runners up medals.
Like its trash and they should be thrown in the bin.

Do Olympians throw away their silver / runners up medals ? No.
Some Olympians absolutely do throw away their silver/bronze medals. You only have to see the reactions from some at not winning to know that they aren't keeping them.

As for runners up medals in football, I'm sure most, if not all of England's players will keep theirs and look back fondly in a few years, but in the moment it hurt, and they didn't want a token reminder that they'd just lost a major final hanging around their necks. It's not at all uncommon in any sport, but particularly in football, for losing finalists to hold runners up medals rather than wear them upon receipt.

That said, I don't think they should be scrapped.

Third placed playoffs I'm ambivalent about. I don't personally see their value when ultimately only the winner is remembered, but some have been quite entertaining.
 

FatTails

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The cringeworthy thing is the players instantly removing them, rather than the medals. Finishing 2nd or 3rd in a tournament is still an achievement.

Just be more humble and celebrate going close and finishing second, rather than act entitled to be first.
 

Ixion

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It's not at all uncommon in any sport, but particularly in football, for losing finalists to hold runners up medals rather than wear them upon receipt.
That has only become a common thing in very recent years. Go back 10 years and watch any trophy ceremony and you'll hardly see it.
 

Redlyn

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I've always found a slight disrespect from players, fans and pundits views on the runners up medals.
Like its trash and they should be thrown in the bin.

Do Olympians throw away their silver / runners up medals ? No.
It's not the same though. Football is about the trophies. Winner takes all, second place is a historical footnote. The first place medal is just an extension of the trophy you won as a team. The second place medal just reminds you how you failed to get the trophy. I believe most players will instantly trade any invidual award (best player, most goals etc) if it means their team lifts the trophy.
 

Cal?

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Runners-up medals are okay, 3rd placed playoffs I agree are completely pointless.
 

Judge Red

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It hurts in the moment but everyone should be proud of those medals down the line. Certainly these England players should. Only the boys of 66 have anything better to show.
 

Tom Cato

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What actually happens to those runner-up medals? Do players actually keep them? It's increasingly becoming the norm now to just remove them as soon as they have been draped around the player's neck. I get the sentiment but it's still cringeworthy and frankly just makes the whole thing pointless.

Can't they come up with something else now?

As for the 3rd/4th place play-offs in major tournaments, surely that has to be least significant game in the whole of football? I guess it's required for housekeeping but what's the point?

Isn't it about time we moved on and removed these bits from tournament football?
It's a reaction to a common feeling of defeat. It's mostly a thing in team games such as football where not winning the contest is seen as defeat and not something to celebrate, whereas contestants certainly celebrate a bronze medal in a contest since its individual effort.

Essentially, they did not win, so they do not feel this is something to celebrate. In an ideal world, they would keep the medals there with some pride and show kids how to take loss with class and set an example.

3rd/4th playoff matches in big tournaments are important because sports traditionally award 1st, 2nd and third place medals. It's a tradition since the olympig games started doing it in 1896.

I see no reason to change 125 years of tradition because some players are dissappointed.
 

Cal?

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It's a reaction to a common feeling of defeat. It's mostly a thing in team games such as football where not winning the contest is seen as defeat and not something to celebrate, whereas contestants certainly celebrate a bronze medal in a contest since its individual effort.

Essentially, they did not win, so they do not feel this is something to celebrate.

3rd/4th playoff matches in big tournaments are important because sports traditionally award 1st, 2nd and third place medals. It's a tradition since the olympig games started doing it in 1896.

I see no reason to change 125 years of tradition because some players are dissappointed.
The Euro haven't had 3rd placed playoffs for almost 40 years, have they been missed at all?
 

Tom Cato

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The Euro haven't had 3rd placed playoffs for almost 40 years, have they been missed at all?
Honestly I'd prefer them to come back.

There's a persistent and extremely annoying mentality going on in football in particular that only winning matters, everything else is a failure. Playing for the lesser awards should have some merit.
 

Penna

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I thought it was silly last night, they were taking them off before they'd even left the presentation area. It seemed a bit ignorant, really. Yes we all know you're disappointed, but you were runners-up in a big tournament. It means something.

If they don't want them, give them to kids in the crowd.
 

Cal?

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Honestly I'd prefer them to come back.

There's a persistent and extremely annoying mentality going on in football in particular that only winning matters, everything else is a failure. Playing for the lesser awards should have some merit.
Interesting, my impression is that most players don't care about the 3rd placed playoff at all, except for those trying to be topscorer.
 

rcoobc

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I didn't watch the world cup third place play off.

Or if I did I can't remember it.

I know england played the B team. Maybe I did watch it
 

rcoobc

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The third place play off should be a 60 min match, 90 mins before the final starts.
 

Zlatan 7

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I thought it was silly last night, they were taking them off before they'd even left the presentation area. It seemed a bit ignorant, really. Yes we all know you're disappointed, but you were runners-up in a big tournament. It means something.

If they don't want them, give them to kids in the crowd.
Agree with this really.

Nothing wrong with runner up medals,

Win and Lose with dignity, a forgotten concept.
 

RedPed

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I thought it was silly last night, they were taking them off before they'd even left the presentation area. It seemed a bit ignorant, really. Yes we all know you're disappointed, but you were runners-up in a big tournament. It means something.

If they don't want them, give them to kids in the crowd.
Yeah agree with this. I just find it uncomfortable viewing and it just seems to be getting more frequent and petulant with every competition.
 

Wal2Fra

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These guys are super competitive. It isn't the school sports day or some exhibition/pre-season tournament - they have just lost a major international final (at home)

It will be looked at fondly (the medal) when they retire for sure but during those celebrations and closing ceremony, there will be nothing they want to do more than throw that medal in the bin and get off the pitch. Some people say that is entitlement, but for me that is the competitve side of these players coming out. None of this "It's the taking part that counts" nonsense.

Another aspect is some of those players didn't even participate in the tournament so won't even feel they deserve to be on the stage let alone get a medal.
 

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Runner up medals should obviously be retained to recognise the achievement of coming second in a major knockout competition.

But the 3rd/4th place match is an artificial construct in football. No team wants to play again once they’ve been knocked out. Once you’re out, you’re out. In sport the principle is you play until you win or get knocked out. Once you’ve lost you don’t come back for another meaningless game/race/jump/etc where players go through the motions. It’s different from athletics for example where they may be 8 competitors in a final. The equivalent would be re-running a 100m final with just the 3rd and 4th runners racing off for a bronze.
 

Cockney-Red

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Runner up medals should obviously be retained to recognise the achievement of coming second in a major knockout competition.

But the 3rd/4th place match is an artificial construct in football. No team wants to play again once they’ve been knocked out. Once you’re out, you’re out. In sport the principle is you play until you win or get knocked out. Once you’ve lost you don’t come back for another meaningless game/race/jump/etc where players go through the motions. It’s different from athletics for example where they may be 8 competitors in a final. The equivalent would be re-running a 100m final with just the 3rd and 4th runners racing off for a bronze.
Exactly. In a lot of the 3rd place matches i've seen, I could of sworn the teams will play their second 11 just to give them game time before they fly home.
 

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I think it's extremely disrespectful when the players take them off immediately.

How can guys like Harry Kane who have won nothing in their career turn their nose up at a medal like that?

Although much respect to Jordan Henderson who kept his on.
 

Kaos

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I personally like the third place playoffs. Its a low-risk affair where the managers can just go for it and provide a decent spectacle without obliging the cagey approach you usually get in key knockout games. It also allows them to give caps to players who haven't featured too often throughout the tournament.
 

Vidyoyo

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Is there a runner-ups medal at high noon when it's just you and your adversary, first pistol drawn wins?

No, of course not. And it shouldn't be this way in an even more important like European Football Teams Tournament.
 

Globule

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I don't see the fuss. Removing a runners up medal in the immediate aftermath of defeat is completely understandable. Nobody is playing for second place.

But when the dust settles the players will appreciate it for what it is.

Perspective also comes into it. If you're Messi, a CL runners up medal means little. But for other players it could be the most meaningful achievement of their career. Having that medal means something to them.

That's the situation a lot of these England players are in. They might have plenty of actual winners medals from club football, but an international medal of any kind shouldn't be sniffed at considering England's record down the years.
 

Alex99

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I think it's extremely disrespectful when the players take them off immediately.

How can guys like Harry Kane who have won nothing in their career turn their nose up at a medal like that?
Because it still doesn't represent winning anything.

I'm sure they'll all look back fondly at the tournament later on, but immediately following what was a) a heartbreaking defeat suffered in b) the most heartbreaking fashion, it's hardly a fecking surprise that they didn't want an actual physical reminder that they'd lost their country's most important football match in over a half a decade, quite literally hanging from their necks.
 

Pink Moon

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Because it still doesn't represent winning anything.

I'm sure they'll all look back fondly at the tournament later on, but immediately following what was a) a heartbreaking defeat suffered in b) the most heartbreaking fashion, it's hardly a fecking surprise that they didn't want an actual physical reminder that they'd lost their country's most important football match in over a half a decade, quite literally hanging from their necks.
I'm sure the fact the match had literally just finished and that they were stood at the side of the pitch watching the Italians lift the trophy was the biggest reminder.