Cheating in football
Cheating in football seems to be in vogue at the moment and Didier Drogba is the top supermodel. Drogba even admitted it in an interview after last weekend's game, but then he realised his faux pas and claimed he didn't dive. Sounds like one confused player to me. He did go on record as saying he handballed just before scoring his second goal against Man City. He owned up after the game, should he have owned up during the game?
With today's modern technology no one can get away with cheating on a football field. There are cameras everywhere that capture every different angle. Football needs to move with the times and incorporate a video referee. The video referee should only be consulted on whether the ball has completely crossed the goal line, handballs in the box and penalty decisions. This would eliminate the controversy and the pressure on the referee to make a decisive split-second decision. An incident can be reviewed in 30 seconds and the correct decision can be made.
FIFA also needs to stamp out diving. The way to do this, increase the penalty for diving from a yellow card to an automatic red. Defenders can be sent off for making an honest tackle but divers only receive a yellow, it's not fair.
What I don't understand are players who feign injury. Coming from an Australian Rules football and cricket background I was brought up that showing pain was a sign of weakness. Didier Drogba should be embarrassed by some of his antics. He is a big, strong 6 ft 4" striker who falls down at the slightest hint of contact. He then proceeds to roll around in presumed agony. What is the point? Frank Lampard gets fouled and if he falls to the ground he bounces straight back up. Feigning injury in the latter stages of a game is a time wasting technique but Didier would be writhing with pain in the 1st minute if he was struck by a marshmallow.
Players will use any technique possible to give their team an advantage, let's take away the illegal ones.
With today's modern technology no one can get away with cheating on a football field. There are cameras everywhere that capture every different angle. Football needs to move with the times and incorporate a video referee. The video referee should only be consulted on whether the ball has completely crossed the goal line, handballs in the box and penalty decisions. This would eliminate the controversy and the pressure on the referee to make a decisive split-second decision. An incident can be reviewed in 30 seconds and the correct decision can be made.
FIFA also needs to stamp out diving. The way to do this, increase the penalty for diving from a yellow card to an automatic red. Defenders can be sent off for making an honest tackle but divers only receive a yellow, it's not fair.
What I don't understand are players who feign injury. Coming from an Australian Rules football and cricket background I was brought up that showing pain was a sign of weakness. Didier Drogba should be embarrassed by some of his antics. He is a big, strong 6 ft 4" striker who falls down at the slightest hint of contact. He then proceeds to roll around in presumed agony. What is the point? Frank Lampard gets fouled and if he falls to the ground he bounces straight back up. Feigning injury in the latter stages of a game is a time wasting technique but Didier would be writhing with pain in the 1st minute if he was struck by a marshmallow.
Players will use any technique possible to give their team an advantage, let's take away the illegal ones.
posted by Simon Ainsworth at 10:46 pm
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