Football is the game that we play on the fields and playgrounds at school, between the alleys and at the end of every street. It's the game that gets more emotion out of the common man than almost any other subject I can think of. But the sport we see on our TV screens is becoming more and more removed from this as every day goes by.
With the World Cup finals now in full swing we've switched from the conversations about who's in or out, who's fit or fat and who'll win or won't to the hidden problems of the game we love so much. The problems with rules is that someone will always cheat to break them.
Rules
The referee (who ever he may be) will ultimately be the most hated man at each and every match. But is it really his fault? Not in my opinion! FIFA are continually changing the rules of the game, the same rules which served football so well for over one hundred years. To make my point - can anyone tell me what the current offside rule is? No, I didn't think so! And what about the discrepancies between the use of the yellow and red cards in the modern game, the dubious goals panel, video evidence. Celebrating a goal is now a bookable offence if you do it for too long, take off your shirt or go within 10 yards of a supporter. Are these really the type of rules we want to see in the game? (answers on a postcard to FIFA HQ please)
Cheats
Cheating has always been a part of sport. If there was no sport we wouldn't need to cheat after all, but it seems to be getting out of control - and it's ruining the greatest game on earth.It will no doubt be another of the biggest talking points at this World Cup, that of the cheating. A never ending cry for penalties, half a dozen barrel rolls every time someone gets tackled and the cardinal sin - the handball.
Some of the most naturally gifted players in the world are also some of the biggest cheats. Arjen Robben would have to be my pick of the bunch - a man gifted with cheetah like speed and superb control, exceptional vision and Duracell like stamina, but dives like a kingfisher!
Pretending to be injured to force the ball out of play is positively cowardly, whilst the dropping to the floor holding your face every time someone looks at you is just... well it's even more cowardly!
Do you remember Diego Maradona as the greatest player of the 80's or the 'Hand of God' cheat? I'm a little biased being English but lets just say I remember Mexico 86.
Money
It's only natural that the better performing clubs end up with more money at the end of the day. But there is now such a gulf between the top clubs and the lower league teams, there will soon be only one league left in each country with a hand-full of super-rich teams in it.The biggest worry is that which we have seen here in Englands Premier League. Chelsea got brought by a billionaire oil baron, next thing we know they've won two championships on the trot! OK so they haven't done all that well in the Champions League (Europes premier competition) but the recent signings of Ballack, Shevchenko and soon Roberto Carlos mean that it won't be long before they win that too. Are they getting these players because London is such a nice place to live? No, but because they are paying 100,000 plus per week for their services.
Once Mr. Abramovich gets bored and takes his cash off to basketball or something, we'll be left to look back on an era where money brought the English title. In the mean time my local side (Crawley Town) join the hundreds of other lower league clubs going into administration. It's just not football! |
