Honesty and Integrity is listed after Cheating ( and diving ). https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46129571. Sterling isn't the first player who has been accused of diving. He won't be the last! Sterling is not being accused of diving in the above incident (( although he may have developed a 'technique' in which the referee was fooled into thinking that a foul was committed ) (( referees don't need to be fooled - they can do that for themselves judging by the standard at Priestfield )). To be fair to Sterling - ( on this occasion ), - he hasn't asked the referee for a penalty -- but he hasn't been honest and told the ref that the defender had not tripped him. People may say that it is not the responsibility of players to tell the referee what decision to make ( not that they would listen ). People, including players like Sterling, could say that there are many occasions when the referee fails to award obvious penalties, and may feel justified to accept any penalty such as in this instance. I have often accused the officials of cheating. I have been unable to accept that they are so blind or incompetent, as to fail to see incidents - not unnoticed by thousands of other people inside the ground - many of whom are 50+ yards away. Maybe the officials are not cheating - just poor at their jobs --- I find it amazing that so many officials are simply and only poor in ability ! I could be even more transparent in my cynicism - and suggest that some referees have become so disenchanted by diving and other tactics (cheating ), to achieve a penalty, that they deliberately refuse to award a 'quota' of genuine ones - as a form of 'payback' for the times when a player has cheated his way to a penalty. The word 'HATE' has featured in my posts this week. It's ironic that the letters that make up this word are to be found in the word 'CHEAT' ! For the benefit of WaldoGills ( and others ), if there is one thing that I truly HATE - it is CHEATING. This extends to ANYONE, ( including Gills' players ), who cheat on the pitch. Cheating is the one thing that I cannot condone -- and removes so much of the pleasure that I derive from watching football. If a person is prepared to cheat, there is little hope of honesty and integrity. If a person cheats, they cannot be trusted. I suspect that a person who cheats may find it difficult to trust honest people - maybe thinking that everyone else is just as dishonest ! -- but-- they probably don't give this much thought - because they would be too consumed in thoughts for themselves ! I could continue with my philosophy (it's my mood of the week ), - but I will just say that ; " I hate cheating" -- that is the honest truth - it's a pity that Sterling had no integrity about himself and told the referee that it wasn't a foul.
In all my years of watching football, I can only remember one incident (there may well be more) where a player told the referee that it wasn't a penalty. If memory serves me correctly, Michael Owen went down in the box after a challenge by David Seaman. Own got up straight away and said no penalty. The ref ignored him and awarded the penalty as it was his original decision. Owen missed the penalty. Either justice was done, or Owen 'deliberately' took a poor penalty.
Surprise no mention of Blackpool players Funny thing is Sterling could of changed what fans think of him if he owned up and told ref he tripped on the grass. Now the boos will get even more. What a missed chance.
Well said. I'm with you on the cheating front alwaysright. Thing about the Sterling incident is that he didn't apparently try to claim a trip, and I haven't seen it, but when the inexplicable was given he didn't try to avoid it either. The Management of the club also must take some responsibility for what happened. They must have known it wasn't a foul and the Ref had made a big one. All they had to do was signal a miss and the applause would have been deafening. The player who took the kick must also take some stick for this as well. I also agree with gioblues in that Sterling could have made many friends if he did the right thing but alas now gets branded a bigger cheat than a lot already think he is. They do seem oblivious to the cheat tag don't they .
Whilst I agree about cheating being a bad thing I don't see this incident as being different to any other. Every game there will be things the officials get wrong, the hand that controls the ball, the foul that's missed, do we see players stopping the game and admitting they won the ball unfairly? I've never in all my years witnessed it. Football has that well used "he got away with one there" yes it would be nice if referee's were redundant but I don't see it happening in my lifetime.
grumpygit I understand your point. I will also accept honest mistakes. It wasn't a corner that led to Jackson's 90th minute winner v Shrewsbury at Wembley. I never realised this until after seeing replays - so I can understand that referees sometimes don't see things correctly. I am fairly sure that we can accept being the victim of honest mistakes - when they occur in an area of the pitch that doesn't lend itself to a 'free hit' on goal - a critical threat to the scoreline - such as a penalty. Whilst I am not naive as to expect that cheating will never, or should never exist - it is not right and proper for anyone to deploy such tactics -- and on a personal note, it is making me want to turn away from football much more these days. I mentioned about players profiting from decisions - as a retrospective justification when things go against them. I also mentioned a suspicion of referees not acting fairly - as a form of punishment for the hassle etc they receive from the players. THESE situations are wrong. It doesn't matter if they ( by luck ), manage to cancel themselves out - each decision that is reached by cheating is wrong. I am struggling not to philosophy - because cheating (in any form in life ), is so abhorrent to me. It is a form of selfishness - and one that does nothing to enhance human relationships - a poignant message as we approach the 100th anniversary of the end of a senseless waste of life! It is wrong to accept a penalty where the referee has made a mistake ( honest or otherwise.) -- The decent thing would have been for the penalty taker to have directed his kick towards the centre circle.
Always, I don't argue with anything you are saying, but it has always been the case that footballers cheat. I still remember our relegation from the championship in 2004/5, 2 points would have seen us safe. I also remember that our game v QPR at the beginning of the season saw a player score using his hand, we lost 1 - 0 and had the player been honest we could still be a championship club.
