I’ve just read this article over on the BBC News website by Clive James about cheating in sport, specifically football, and it got me thinking.
Why is cheating tolerated in football? Obviously people were angry when Terry Henry handballed, but the majority of footballers (especially Premiership ones) cheat incessantly – even when they don’t need to.
I’ve noticed they try to con the linesmen and referees when the ball goes out for a throw-in. Even if the player knows he was the last player to touch the ball, he will still throw his arm up to signal “it’s our throw-in”. Now that’s just cheating for the sake of cheating.
Then there’s the divers, those bastards who seek to gain an advantage (sometimes a game or tournament-altering advantage) by conning the referee into thinking they were fouled. If the referee doesn’t believe them they get a yellow card. A yellow card! That’s the exact same punishment as giving the ref a bit of grief or going in a bit too clumsily on another player.
Divers aren’t the ones I hate the most, though. The ones I hate the most – hate with a passion – are the players who are tackled/fouled and react as if they’ve been shot. I’m sure you’ve seen it time and time again, and it’s almost always foreign players who are guilty of this shameful practice. This is the worst sort of cheating on the pitch because if a player successfully cons the referee into thinking they have been the victim of a vicious assault then the referee often has no choice but to send the ‘offender’ off while the ‘victim’ jumps to his feet looking a bit sheepish. They ought to be banned for life.
But all of this would be stamped out in an instant if the FA, UEFA and FIFA punished the offending players after the events had taken place. If a driver cheats in Formula 1 they are punished after the race, and the results altered accordingly. So why did France get away with Terry Henry’s handball and progress to the World Cup? The game should have been replayed at the very least, but I’d have gone as far as to say Ireland should have been given automatic qualification as a result of the con by the French.
The football authorities have the technology to punish players and teams after the event, so why don’t they use it? They even have the technology to do it during the game. If a player dives in the penalty area and the referee and linesmen are unsure, why can’t the referee ask for a panel to quickly review the incident and let him know? It happens in cricket, so why can’t it happen in football? I’ve heard people say we can’t do such things because it’ll slow the game down. Seriously? What a load of tripe! Does it slow the game down as much as some streak of piss who has thrown himself on the floor claiming to have had his chin broken when all he’s really doing is conning the referee? No!
I’d like to see all Premier League and international football matches scrutinised after they finish and the following punishments for offenders brought in to football:
- If a player pulled another’s shirt to stop them from gaining an advantage – 1 match ban
- If a player is subsequently found guilty of doing it a second time in any one season - 4 match ban
- If a player blatantly dived – 1 match ban
- If a player blatantly dived a second time in any one season – 3 match ban
- If a player blatantly dived a third time in any one season – 5 match ban
- If a player blatantly dived a fourth time in any one season – 6 month ban
- Any player found to have blatantly dived eight times in three consecutive seasons – lifetime ban
- If a player clearly feigned injury to gain an advantage – 4 match ban
- If a player clearly feigned injury to gain an advantage a second time in any one season – 3 month ban
- If a player clearly feigned injury to gain an advantage a third time in any one season - lifetime ban
- If a player successfully conned the referee into gaining an advantage which directly led to a victory – result annulled and victory or three points given to the other team
- If a player attempted to intimidate the referee in any way – 3 match ban
Harsh? Perhaps, but it would stamp out cheating almost entirely in the sport. The players have little to fear at the moment because they know they can get away with it completely if they successfully con the referee. What does it tell other players when Terry Henry conned the referee and France were allowed to go through? It tells them that if they really must cheat then they will get away with it.
There needs to be some integrity in the sport once again, and the players need to know that cheating will not be tolerated, and if they do cheat the punishment will be severe and potentially career-ending. Then maybe the next generation of footballers won’t be so quick to cheat.
