As it's quiet on here today, thought I throw this into the mix for a bit of discussion....... Last evening i watched the highlights of the City v Celtic European Cup tie, (Champions League dead rubber in modern parlance).....anyway Celtic had a young lad playing for them on loan from City and he gave Clicy a right run around to such an extent that Clichy basically rugby tackled him on the edge of the area about 6 feet from the goal line assistant referee who was looking straight at the tackle. The ref himself was looking also directly at this and the linesman was only 20 feet away as well. The Celtic player stopped running after this tackle as he was thrown off his stride but didn't fall to the ground instead he stayed on his feet and appealed for the foul......decision? Corner kick. Now the discussion back in the studio centered around should the lad have fallen over to get the penalty or did he do the right thing and stay on his feet but not get the penalty? To their credit both Neil Lennon and Brian Kerr (the panelists) both argued that the lad did the right thing and it was sheer incompetence of the officials that they didn't give the penalty, and if he had fallen over he would have been cheating as the grab by Clichy was not sufficient to make him fall over, but it was never the less a clear foul. The 3rd panelist Kevin Killbane thought the lad should have gone to ground to convince the ref of the foul as there was clear contact......he might have been booked for simulation.......Kerr and Lennon kept up the discussion about cheating and that it is wrong for players to simply fall over at the slightest contact, whilst also highlighting that the officials made a complete pigs ear of the situation, begs the question what exactly is the purpose of the goal line official? So, has the standard of refereeing got worse this season? The guy we had against Wolves ruined the first half with his incessant stop start of the game....... Should cheating become part and parcel of the game? Over to you......
Unfortunately cheating already is part and parcel of the game nowadays, the best we can hope for is cutting out the more extreme instances like blatant simulation and diving. The standard of refereeing is piss poor but in their defence they are in an unenviable position when idiot pundits like the aforementioned Kilbane and the likes of Michael Owen insist a player is entitled to go down when he feels any contact in the box. Trouble is this behaviour has insidiously worked it's way into the game so much so I think players, refs, pundits and fans alike have convinced themselves that these instances genuinely are fouls. Unlike the Celtic lad there are very few players now who won't go down unless they really can't remain on their feet.
Whats the purpose of the goal line officials??....to add 2 more to the attendance!!...never seen them ever give anything important....
It was a definite foul,and an appalling decision. Those uselees tossers that stand beside the goals are a farce,i don't think I've ever seen one give a decision of any sort. They were meant to be clamping down on cheating,but I've not seen any improvement in this. Last weel Alli took an outrageous dive against Swansea,and won a penalty for it. At the time the score was 0-0,and although Spurs went on to win the game 5-0,this was the pivotal moment in the match in my eyes. Why hasn't he been charged with blatant cheating and given a ban,when players pick up yellow cards resulting in bans for the most trivial things ? Totally wrong in my eyes,and the more the powers that be turn a blind eye to the nastier side of the game,then the longer it will fester and prevail !
I dare say that refereeing has gotten worse since the money resting on games or the league has gone up. Referees know that these games are hugely important. A lot of referees are afraid to make certain decisions. Refereeing has changed with the game. An example, 10 seconds into a game there is a foul in the box... or a foul worthy of a yellow card. A lot of officials would be afraid to give that penalty or that yellow card because it's right at the beginning of the game even though the time in the game should have nothing to do with it. And referees have also bought into the whole going down easily culture and the mentality that "artists" like Messi should never be touched by a more physical player because Messi dancing around the field makes more money. And let me say this in plain language.... if the FA wanted to get fabrication and the whole light touch element out of the game, they could have done it easily ages ago. So, we can only assume that they don't want to get it out of the game. They want to keep it. They want the continental, non-physical style. Another point: the problem this brings is that less talented players in underdog teams don't have the space of mind to think about fabricating something, usually. They're too busy trying to play well. So this eventually aides better players in better teams, especially where there's a culture of encouraging that sort of thing.
I'd love to see people walking down the high street go down at the slightest touch from someone brushing past them in the opposite direction and roll around on the pavement like they'd been shot, you'd soon have no-one standing. This type of 'simulation' is now so engrained in the game it would be impossible to eradicate without a sea-change in the way referees deal with it. The argument that they are 'entitled' to go down on being touched is fatuous, look at how rugby players break tackles and bulldoze their way past several challenges at a time...
1) The standard of refereeing is worse than I can ever recall. 2) "Cheating" has been around since at least the '60's (probably forever). It just wasn't called that then. You "won" your team a decision rather than having "dived" & we laughed when it was in our favour. And Queens Park Rangers (along with every other club) had players that were at the forefront of this. Personally, I don't think it is any worse now than it has been in the past. It is just noticed more as every decision is disected. Gamesmanship was rife with Rangers, again, having a leading proponent of the art. I also don't like the arrogance of these "footballing pundits" who criticise players for doing what they, as individulas, did time & again. As for blaming everything on "foreigners" for introducing this to English football ..........!
You may have some fair points but no, I'm sorry... I can't accept that play acting is the same in football today as it was even 20 years ago, let alone 60 years ago. If you watch Italian football for ten minutes you WILL see it crop up more than in our game. And it would be naive to say that the globalisation of the game hasn't had an affect on English/British football.
I've always thought they should use retrospective video to help officials. Anyone found diving on video after a game gets an automatic 5 game ban. That'll sort the problem out quickly.
cheating is cheating regardless of the sport. Referees will miss things, so will lines peoples, but "retrospective video" should be used to help officials Olympians have missed out on medals because of drugs cheats. For me, cheat a d get banned. However I can accept a referees mistake IF they did not have clear view of what is going on.
As a coach for young kids I have a massive issue with cheating. We regularly play against kids that are 'coached' at academy level, and the incidence of foul play is pretty shocking. The problem is that Academy coaches actively encourage cheating because 'it's part of the game' and is a route to winning - of course they don't do it by teaching the dark arts... but they legitimise it by not discouraging or cracking down on it - so the whole thing become a self perpetuating cycle of cheating being necessary 'because of cheating' - it's absurd. It's a tricky conundrum, as there is no question that some cheating is a part of the sport - e.g. corners are hugely problematic, and a little pull of the shirt, or step on the toe to stop a player jumping is virtually impossible to police and is 'part of the game'. Where I really have an issue is that if at youth level coaches accept cheating at ages as young as 8/9 they are effectively damaging player progression, because when shirt pulling, and illegally gaining an advantage become the norm at this age - a player is then not required to develop the skills e.g. as a defender to play the game better, in short to play well enough that they do not need to cheat. Reliance on cheating is tacitly rewarded, and the whole game suffers as a consequence. ...and the sad reality of youth development is that only a minuscule fraction of the kids that play week in week at even at academy level will end up being professional footballers, so why do they need to be taught that professional cheating is a good thing? The number one reason for kids to play football is to have fun - no ifs and no buts - and, win or lose, cheating makes the game less fun for all concerned and actually hinders player development. I just wish more coaches would realise this.
I missed that one. Robert Snodgrass: Hull winger apologises for winning first-half penalty please log in to view this image Snodgrass won and scored the penalty in the 27th minute Hull winger Robert Snodgrass apologised for winning a spot-kick in the 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace, insisting it "was never a penalty". The Scotland international gave Hull the lead from the spot after he went down in the area, despite there appearing to be no contact from Palace defender Scott Dann. Palace manager Alan Pardew said Snodgrass should be "embarrassed". "The player has really fabricated that," he added. Snodgrass was already on a yellow card when he won the penalty, and would have been sent off had referee Mike Jones thought he dived. "Apologies from my end, it was never a penalty," tweeted Snodgrass after the match. "But genuinely thought defender was going to slide, so tried to ride the tackle." Manager Mike Phelan added: "The ref made the judgment and we've had many appeals turned down this season, so I am not going to complain." Palace needed a late equaliser from substitute Fraizer Campbell to earn the draw at the KCOM Stadium. The result leaves Hull in 19th place on 12 points, with Palace dropping to 15th, just three point above the relegation zone. Rugby union referee Nigel Owens has told BBC Radio 5 live that footballers who dive should be punished. "If a player is found to be guilty, I don't think a fine would make any difference," he said on 606. "Then you ban the player depending upon the seriousness of the offence. "Citing doesn't stop the flow of the game, and I think it would be hugely beneficial. When a player does the dive, I think it's very difficult for the referee to make a decision at that time. "If you had the citing, it would be highlighted afterwards and they can look at it and say 'right, this guy definitely has dived, and we'll deal with him accordingly' and I think that would get rid of a lot of the problems." Ex-England striker Gary Lineker felt Snodgrass had dived As did former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who shared Pardew's sentiments http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38277655
Should get a retrospective three game ban for that dive. What an example to set to kids playing football who look up to these cheats.
That whole game was this issue in microcosm. Snodgrass was an embarrassment but I think the Zaha one was almost as fishy, there was no way the contact was enough to send him to the ground and he left his leg in to get the contact. Pardew was also moaning about two fouls on Benteke which again fall into that category of minimal contact but a man built like a brick sh*t house tumbles to the ground. I hate football sometimes.
Imagine the kudos Snodgrass would have got if he had the balls to go up to the ref and explain to him that he'd try to ride the tackle that was coming in from the defender but wasn't touched and it was his momentum that made him go to ground therefore maybe the ref should change his mind and not award the penalty..........pure fantasy off course..... Think Phelan should get a rocket up his arse also for his pathetic attempt to justify the decision....... Time for citing to be introduced and retrospective bans to be brought in.....
