Fanaticism and Football

Ballack attempts to eat the referee...

It seems to me, as we draw towards the conclusion of another Premier League season, that we’re hitting on some recurring themes at the moment.

First of all, the apalling standard of refereeing in the Premier League, and in football as a whole has ben highlighted time and time again this season. The most obvious and contraversial examples in the last few weeks are obviously that penalty in the game between Man Utd and Tottenham and those non-penalties in the Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona.

I think everyone with half a brain and a video replay will acknowledge that United shouldn’t have had a penalty and that Chelsea should have had two, and I think many people would back themselves to make the right call in real time, given the vantage points of the referees in question. However, I don’t think that is the issue so much.

Instead, what we really want to see from referees is a little bit of consistency. A little bit of reasoning, and the knowledge that, despite how it looks, our team isn’t being treated unfairly on purpose. Because we all know that mistakes are made, that no one is going to get every decsion right and that sometimes that will cost us.

So what we need, quite simply, is to be able to witness the decision making process. When Ovrebo gave a free-kick for the foul on Florent Malouda despite the offence taking place inside the area, we’d like to know what was going on inside his head. Did he think there was a previous infringement for which he pulled it back? Did he genuinely believe that it was outside the box? Or was he preventing Chelsea from claiming a larger lead on the instruction of UEFA and as part of a massive conspiracy?

If we take a leaf out of Rugby’s book (and believe me, this is not a book I recommend very often) I believe we would be able to acheive a more satisfying and healthy relationship with referees. If we fit them with microphones that transmit to television cameras so that we may hear their explanation to players about why a free-kick/penalty has/hasn’t been given, in real time, not after the game, then we will be able to accept that although the decision may have been the wrong one, it was made honestly, from the observation that the referee was able to make at the time, without replays.

Of course, another small improvement that could be made would be for referees to come and and acknowledge that they have made a wrong decision after seeing a replay, and to apologise to the club and its fans for their mistakes. While the damage will remain done, having the grace to apologise and acknowledge that they were wrong will show fans that referees actually have hearts, that they are not trying to actively ruin your season, and that they regret not being able to make the right call, every time.

If you agree with me here, and want to see referees fitted with microphones, please click through to my website where I’ve set up a campaign to that end. It features further, more precise arguments for this measure to be taken and will soon be updated to allow you to show your support for the movement by signing and online petition and adding a badge to your website. Click here to find out more.

The second recurring theme I’ve notice, is players behaving badly. Whether it be Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack in Chelsea’s defeat to Barca, Niklas Bendtner and Ledley King and their nightclub antics or Cristiano Ronaldo and his tantrum upon being substituted this weekend against Man City.

It seems more and more that we are watching a bunch of six year olds running around playing football, who are unable to control themselves and end up making fools of themselves but also of their clubs and of the game as a whole. These are professional athletes, whose livelihood is earned by competing in a competitive sport, and yet they are unable to deal with the pressures of defeat or to look after themselves away from the pitch.

I’m not saying we can impose on how footballers live their lives away from football, we certainly can’t, but I do feel that as role models for the younger generations, they have an obligation to act responsibly both on and off the park, and that obligation is all too often going unnoticed at the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some great professionals still in the game, in fact, the majority of players behave well and are a credit to their club and the sport as a whole, but a minority are letting the rest of them down. When non-football-people think of footballers, they don’t think of guys like Tim Cahill and Paul Scholes, quiet, friendly pros who have a settled family and look after themselves, they think of people like Bendtner and King and Ronaldo and Drogba, overpaid and arrogant egotistical superstars who act like spoiled children, and they apply that attitude to the game as a whole.

I think the companies who sponser these players, from the sportswear companies who give them boots and kit, to the car companies and other businesses that pay them a fortune to sell their products, need to reconsider the players that they sponsor, and if they misbehave, I think they should take away their sponsership deals. It’s a sad fact that some footballers today (especially those likely to get into trouble) are in the game in a large part for the money it brings them, and financial incentives to behave may be the only way to crack down on such childish behaviour.

Thirdly and finally, I think the major thing I have noticed about the conclusion to this season is how little focus there is on the football itself. The issues I’ve discussed above take a large share of the media attention, as do the petty arguments between managers, the transfer rumours, and the financial discussion. Hell, even when talking about the teams under threat of relegation, most people seem more concerned with the revenue lost as a result of moving to the Championship that the fact that the club and its fans will no longer be able to call itself a member of England’s elite Premier League.

The match between Chelsea and Barcelona the other night was a cracker, Chelsea played really well, defending strongly and occasionally attacking with flair and venom, and Barcelona showed the patient, possession football that they are renowned for. But in all the uproar after the game, few people acknowledged that Essian and Iniesta both scored fantastic goals, and I bet the videos of Ballack harassing the referee and of Drogba shouting at the camera (as well as the various remixes of that clip) have been watched as many times as the highlights of the game itself.

Football has certainly become more than a sport on recent years. It’s a business and it’s an entertainment industry and it’s a world of celebrity and of fame and fortune. And while that’s ok, and we cannot resent it because the standard of football that we get to watch has certainly improved as a result, I think it’s a shame that the football itself so often falls into the background.

After all, were it not for the beautiful game itself, that began centuries ago with avreage blokes kicking around a pigs bladder in the mud, there would be none of the other glitz and glamour that seems to be swamping the game. We see footballers donning advertising billboards and on TV commercials, when they really just belong on the pitch. I don’t care what they do off the pitch, as long as they perform well on it.

But it seems that I’m now becoming a minority. People will say that football is the most popular sport in the world, and it may well be, but a lot of people who might be seen to support football are not fans of the game at all. They’re fans of certain players, or of the glamour that it brings. I know many people who support a team but never watch them play, even on TV. They have simply jumped on the bandwagon because football is the flavour of the century.

So as this season comes to an end, I yearn somewhat for a simpler time. When football was all about the game itself, when the talk in the pub was about that beautiful goal, that cutting pass, that thumping tackle; not that new Ronaldo advert, or that referee, or how much money they’ll lose when they’re relegated.

So everyone at SFB, enjoy the end of the season, I hope your teams achieve safety or success, and I hope you enjoy the last few games of football before we encounter a summer without a major tournament; that terrible time when the football itself disappears altogether, and we’re left to put up with the constant gossip and speculation that doesn’t really count for anything at all.

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