Monday 2 May 2011

Cheating and the inaction of authority


This weekend we have again seen countless incidents in games of football that could have been better judged by using video technology in order to reduce error. There was the ball that never crossed the line and the offside goal at the lane, the Vidic handball at the Emirates and some rather dubious penalties elsewhere. In midweek we also saw countless examples of despicable cheating and the feigning of injury in the Madrid-Barca game, in fact a dodgy red card changed the entire complexion of the game.

Enough should be enough but this does not appear to be the case for our useless and incompetent footballing governing bodies, the FA, UEFA and FIFA. If UEFA cared about discipline then they would be charging several Barcelona players with the feigning of injury (Pedro/Busquets) and both sets of players for their shocking intimidation of the officials. The fact that they will do nothing about the cheating and intimidation says it all, they lack the moral fibre or courage to act. The only thing UEFA have done in recent years is introduce extra officials, hardly something that is likely to make much difference to anything at all.

This weekend in the Premiership there were two extremely dodgy penalties given, one for Wolves against Birmingham and one for Liverpool against Newcastle. The former saw Ward go down after virtually no contact from the Brum keeper Ben Foster, after he had lost control of the ball too, the second saw Suarez go down in rather theatrical fashion after the slightest of touches from the Newcastle defender. Strangely the media just don't pick up on these rather blatant acts of gamesmanship, just as they ignored Michael Owen's dive against Arsenal yesterday.

The diving in the box for dodgy penalties is getting worse and worse, it is also being catalysed by incompetent referees who give decisions based on the player's dive rather than the nature of any foul or the contact itself. This was all summed up earlier this season when Howard Webb justified not giving a penalty because the striker had not gone down, this simply shouldn't matter, if it is a decent foul that knocks a player off balance then it should be a penalty, while if there is minimal contact, and the player makes no effort to stay on his feet whilst going down in a Michael Owen parachuting dive manner, then no penalty should be given. The same logic applies to dives outside the box too.

The case for the use of video technology is undeniable, it is such a great shame that our footballing governing bodies have their vacuous heads in the sand on this issue. The fans want it, the media want it, the experts want it and the referees want it. It would be so easy to sort out goal line disputes, it would be so easy to have some kind of citing system after games, it would be so easy to start retrospectively punishing violence and cheating, it would be so easy to help referees by assisting them sensibly with video technology for the big decisions. It is appalling that so many dodgy decisions are routinely deciding games and championships, until something is done cheating will simply continue to proliferate.

11 comments:

kamran said...

controversy,,, this is what sells, what gets people talking and arguing.. for this reason alone the governing bodies will drag their feet in correcting the onfield injustices. it is not our game, in their mind it is theirs and it is our privilege to partake. that all..

UP THE GUNS OF ARSENAL !!!!

ps. ferret face fergusons antics after 1-o drubbing was worth the price of admission.. manchester should have played one man down do 65 min. for the DELIBERATE HAND BALL BY Dick-ve, or is it vedic.. ;)

Anonymous said...

some simple steps could be taken to avoid cheating and refereeing errors. games should be retrospectively analysed and anyone found to be diving should be given a three match ban.it may seem harsh but it would discourage players from diving.coaches would no longer allow their players to feign injury.goal line technology should definitely be introduced as it would not slow down the game. you could introduce a tv referee like in rugby and allow each team three opportunities to access it (like tennis). this would also discourage diving as you would be doing your own team a disservice by trying to win a penalty unfairly.the tv ref would"waste" one of the team's three calls.
just some ideas. somethings got to be done about cheating in the game. its embarrassing.

Anonymous said...

Berbatov was offside prior Owens dive, wonder why red nose didnt't mentioned that?

Anonymous said...

Agree with Anon Berbie was offside so was OWen
We deserved the win period

Anonymous said...

Really?? The Wolves penalty was a stick on. How can you say that was virtually no contact? And Owen clearly did not dive - I'm glad it wasn't given, especially given that Vidic's clear handball was missed in the first half, but regardless of that, or whether Berbatov was or wasn't offside, it doesn't make it a dive... not even close. The only one you've got even close to right is the Suarez/Liverpool one - but even then, yes, it's minimal contact, and he goes down easily, but while I don't personally think it was a penalty - or soft at best - I bet if that were for us you wouldn't have rubbished it quite like that and you'd be defending the player in question.

Anonymous said...

pot, kettle, black anyone? Arsenal cheat more than any other English team (if we can call Arsenal English). You may not be a Barcelona's level just yet but i'm sure you are working on it.

Anonymous said...

why do people always resort to the arsenal do not have any english players. We are the team with the most english prospects and the media hates us for no apparent reason. Go back to tottenham and enjoy the europa cup you dumbass.

Uncle Mike said...

Anon 00:04, You are the kind of person that makes me say I love Great Britain but I hate England. Anybody who says Arsenal cheat is a blithering idiot.

Anon 07:45, I don't know if you've noticed, but thanks to the second coming of Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool may prevent Tottenham from even making it into the Europa League. Which would be fine with me!

And Happy Anniversary! May 3, 1971, 40 years ago today: A Ray Kennedy header, and "We won the League at White Hart Lane!" For the first time, but not the last!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear Uncle Mike Arsenal don't cheat where shall we start how about Eduardo??? or the constant surrounding the ref? or the constant wagging of the invisible card? need we carry on?

Arsenal cheat and aren't very good at it. No I aren't a Man Ure fan but Vidic seems to do it very well and they may win something this season.

See you lot at the Brit on Sunday

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74KfbEqEl60

Gooners..check out ur great captain diving...NO CONTACT AT ALL....talk and clean up ur own shit 1st...

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