The World Cup

For the first time since I can remember I failed to get very excited about the World Cup. The first one I watched was the 1982 World Cup and for me it was a very memorable experience because N. Ireland did very well. Over the years I have watched successive World Cups and thoroughly enjoyed it, I would watch a lot of matches and always without fail watch the final. So what was the difference this time? I think for me what really stood out was the amount of cheating going on within the most popular sport in the world.

Let me explain. As I have said I have watched many World Cup Championships over the years, and on top of this I have watched many club matches, whether that be cup matches or league. I was always proud of the type of football we played in this country, it was and still is played at a frantic pace. I always felt British football was better, not just because I am British but simply because I always thought our football was fair. Football in Britain has always been very fast and hard, it has always been played at breakneck speed, just compare our game with the Italians. Football in this country has always been different, and this was what I enjoyed about it. Something I noticed that was different when English and Scottish teams played foreign teams was the fact that most of the foreign players would gone down very easily, if they were touched or not even touched they would fall over and roll around as if they had been shot. A good example of this was from the 1990 World Cup when Jurgen Klinsman fell over and Paul Gasgoigne got a yellow card and famously cried. As you can imagine people in this country were outraged at Klinsmans behaviour. The authorities call this sort of behaviour 'simulation', I call it cheating, it is as simple as that, unfortunately it is now an integral part of the game and excepted. Let me ask you these questions, what other sport in the world allows cheating and doesn't punish the perpetrators? What other sport celebrates those who cheat? What other group of sportsmen lift a man on their shoulders and treat him as a hero after he cheated another team out of a goal? (this happened after a Uruguayan player stopped the ball crossing the line in the last seconds of the quarter finals and stopped the Ghana team from scoring. The Uruguayans then went onto to win a penalty shoot out).

You may just say it is only a game and isn't important in comparison to many more events that happen around the world, and you would be right. But the simple truth is this, that many children watch this game and are influenced by these football players and copy them. I was talking to a football coach who coaches young people and he said that when something happens at Premier league level young people are then copying it a week later on the football pitch. This of course includes diving and 'simulation' or CHEATING, I believe something has to be done or we will see things get worse. Football fans have always complained about the referee, but I truly believe the referee has an impossible job nowadays, if a player gets the ball and runs into the opponents 12 yard box you can be pretty much guaranteed he will fall over, this is now almost excepted as part of the game. I believe the only way to stamp this out is for the authorities to come down hard on the teams who allow their players to do it. The only way to stop it is by banning players for a certain amount of games, financial punishments do not work because there is so much money involved in the game now. It would be very simple for a group of men to look at the game afterwards and if they see any diving then punish the player by banning them for 5 games, if they then dive again when they return, ban them for 10 games, and so on and so forth. Many people would argue that that is harsh and it is difficult to tell if someone has dived, but that is utter rubbish; we have all watched games and shouted in indignation at someone who has got a free kick or penalty after falling over.

FIFA, and many other people said how wonderful this last World Cup was, I disagree, I think the fact that Howard Webb dished out 15 yellow cards and a red card in the final proves the point. To be honest this last World Cup was not an fantastic spectacle, many of the matches were boring, many of the matches were interrupted by fouling and cheating which for me ruined this competition. South Africa did a very good job of hosting the tournament, the stadiums were wonderful and everyone who went along said the atmosphere was excellent. The simple truth is the football wasn't all that great, and that is what people go to watch.

Over the next few years we will see football grow, we will see the amount of money come into football increase, we will continue to watch as more and more players become millionaires. The game itself is the most important thing, and I think this has been forgotten, unfortunately this is unlikely to change. The simple truth is there is to much money involved now and so many people are swayed by greed rather than what is right and fair.