Thursday 21st January, 20108 months ago
Cheating is cheating is cheating
Jason McKeown’s match report following the game at Bury has once more raised the issue of cheating in sport. Or, to use an expression taken directly from the Laws of the Game, unsporting behaviour.
I watch far too much football. Not only did I see exactly what Jason saw at Gigg Lane, but I also watched quite a lot of football on television over the last weekend, in a sad attempt to make up for the loss of a live match to attend on Saturday.
At Gigg Lane I get one chance in real time from one angle and a distance of thirty metres to make up my mind about whether that was a dive or a penalty. I am also biased in favour of my team. I might get the chance in a day or so’s time to see it again from the point of view of a camera, even further away from the action than I was and with a different, but probably less good, angle.
In the comfort of my own armchair, those fine people at Sky let me see almost instant replays from three different views at two different speeds. They include, as near as they can, the view the ref had of Lucas and Higginbotham coming together at Stoke.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to become a supporter of referees. I’m certainly not about to become a supporter of Lee Mason. I just happen to think that, perhaps more by luck than management, he got this one right, both in the instant and in the wider context. I’d better explain myself before I come back to Gigg Lane.
The Stoke replay showed clearly that Lucas began to go down before there was any contact. There was absolutely no reason for him to begin has fall at that moment, other than the desire to persuade the referee that it was a penalty. Thereafter, Higginbotham committed a foul in the penalty area.
However, as we all know, once a foul (unsporting behaviour) has been committed, the ball is dead and a second foul, although punishable by a booking or sending off, cannot result in a free kick or penalty. If it were otherwise, all those shirt-pulls while waiting for a corner would be fouls.
So, as the replays showed, Lucas committed the first foul, for which Mr Mason quite correctly booked him, and the second ‘foul’ did not result in a penalty, because the first offence took precedence.
OK. OK. So I’m being kind to the ref and I’m being legalistic. But let’s just compare Mr Mason’s decision (right or wrong) with Mr Mathieson’s (right or wrong) at Gigg Lane in the wider context of cheating. (I would have to ask any Bury fan reading this to try to put aside the natural bias towards one’s own team. But, if there is a Bury fan reading this, BfB would welcome a comment on the concept of cheating.)
Cheating is becoming more prevalent. Does anyone want to disagree? I suspect not. Cheating, at least from one’s own team, is close to becoming more acceptable and once again we see the description ‘professionalism’. We used to have the ‘professional foul’, but we all knew it was still a foul. We now have the ‘professional fall’, but it’s still a fall.
Would Lucas have been brought down by Higginbotham if he hadn’t fallen first? Of course he would. If he’d behaved like a man, stood up and taken the tackle, he’d have got the penalty. Would Dawson have been brought down by Glennon if he hadn’t fallen? I doubt it very much. My City eyes saw no contact at all. Even if they deceived me and there was some contact, it was, as they say, minimal and certainly insufficient to bring him down so dramatically.
And therein lies the problem. We now have a generation of professionals who know that any contact at all can get them a free kick. We even talk about players ‘winning’ free kicks and penalties, like they were a prize in a raffle. The whole notion of ‘sporting behaviour’ is secondary to the ‘winning mentality’. (I apologise to Paulo Di Canio, who should forever be remembered for catching the ball when the opposition keeper was down injured.)
And ‘being down injured’ brings me to another aspect of cheating and refereeing. At Gigg Lane one of the Bury players clearly pulled at Daley’s shirt (there had to be some advantage in wearing those bright white shirts and clearly seeing them pulled back was about the only one) and then, when the pull failed to stop Daley, went down ‘injured’ and presumably in the hope that the referee would stop the game and the resulting attack. When the referee didn’t stop the game, the player decided he didn’t need treatment after all and performed a miraculous recovery. (I’ve just realised – that was practically a word of praise for the ref!)
And while we’re on shirt-pulling, I can’t resist going back to my hopeless addiction to TV football. When Micah Richards pulled, more than once, at Louis Saha’s shirt on Saturday, the referee’s assistant (and how rarely do they genuinely assist?) flagged for the foul (shirt-pulling still being a foul, I thought, as opposed to the ‘accepted’ practice I’m sure I heard it described as by one former referee) and the resulting penalty. It’s almost worth a small word of praise for Saha that he didn’t throw himself to the ground – almost, but not quite, since that would give non-cheating a status it hardly deserves. Shirt-pulling is just another form of cheating, hoping the referee and his assistants either won’t notice it or won’t do anything about it – because so many don’t.
I don’t want to pay £18 to watch who can cheat better. I could stay warm and dry at home and watch some fake ‘wrestling’ for less. I want a competition between two football teams, to be decided by their relevant footballing skills. I want more Mr Mason’s and fewer Mr Mathieson’s. I want more honest players and fewer cheats. And I want cheats defined in such a way that the word ‘winning’ can no longer sensibly be placed before ‘penalty’. And I want ‘professional’ to mean what it used to mean before the invention of the ‘professional foul’.
Am I asking for too much? If I am, would the authorities tell me, so that I can give up all hope now and decide whether to stop watching or to reconcile myself to watching something horrible and nasty? But if I’m not asking for too much, would the same authorities allow the referees to say ‘I’d have given you that if you hadn’t thrown yourself to the floor’, thereby dealing with the cheats and bringing back something closer to The Beautiful Game?
Your ‘City eyes’ didn’t deceive you Paul. I was sitting in the stans opposite the dugouts, surrounded by Bury fans. They were all sure that Dawson dived. Dead right about the Omar Daley shirt-puller’s ‘injury’ too, though this time the locals were deceived; they reckoned daley caught the shirt-puller with his elbow as he tried to get free. He didn’t.
Agree with your article 100%. And it’s no good saying that cheating has anything to do with money; snooker players and golfers call fouls on themseleves.
Anyone can understand the difference between saying ‘Murder is unacceptable’ and ‘Murder is OK as long as you are prepared to accept the consequences’, and we all know which of those is true. OK, football isn’t as important as that, but the argument is the same. We are always, rightly, repelled by the character in a film who ‘frames’ someone else, and happily allows the innocent to bear the punishment for the guilty (i.e. themselves). Why are we not equally repelled by the player who gains a penalty, and often gets a keeper sent off, by cheating? It’s the same mentality.
Sadly, having viewed the highlights, you would have to call the footage “inconclusive” at best in relation to the penalty.
If anyone else completed the football league’s fan survey, there was a very interesting little section on your opinion on retrospective punishment for such unsporting behaviour. Unfortunately, whilst I am all for a review of suspected cheating after the match, I fear the cost of doing so will mean it is bound to die a death. With only one camera at each match, it is almost impossible to see anything with any degree of certainty, so they will have to invest in more cameras per match to make it a viable prospect. At a time when football finances are struggling all over the place, I can’t see it happening.
It also raises an interesting question about where they draw the line – do you just review suspected incidents of cheating, or do you look at fouls that went unpunished etc? I think most fans would back the former and not the latter, and that seems a sensible approach to me. 9 times out of 10 a foul will probably be picked up by the referee in the match (o.k…7 times maybe!). 9 times out of 10 cheating won’t.
There was also a very interesting article on diving on the Times website back in September – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6835944.ece – the “archer’s bow” that gives away diving, and if you think about it, it should be obvious. If you fall over you don’t throw your hands in the air, hit the deck and roll around. You go straight down, no theatrics, and lie there like a sack of spuds if you’re hurt, or get up like a man if you’re not. I reckon the same goes in football. Get taken out properly and it’s easy to see. Go for the theatrical option and it’s fairly easy to see too. So, one asks, why doesn’t a referee see that? A question I fear no one can answer.
As for the Daley incident Paul mentions, it’s in the highlights and is blatant. He pulls Omar back, Omar slaps his hand away and the guy grabs his face and goes flat on the floor like he’s been shot through the forehead. The highlights don’t even deem it worthy of a replay. Unfortunately, it illustrates the referee issue again – if it wasn’t a foul by Omar and the guy (as Paul says in his report) miraculously recovers, which I assume he did from the lack of attention in the highlights, then where was the yellow card from the referee for the blatant unsporting behaviour?
I guess given the lack of penalties we have had recently and the amount we’ve conceded, we should at least win an award for the most honest team in the country! Shame it doesn’t get us any higher up the table eh? And therin lies the attraction for the Burys and Shrewsburys of this world….
WHEN IS A YELLOW CARD NOT A YELLOW CARD??
I also had a perfect view of the diving incident and have to question the purpose of referees special helper. He must have seen the blatant dive (although i admit that Glennons late surge off his line didn’t help matters)but arrogantly chose to ignore it. Referees are generally miles away from the play, due to their portliness and must base their decisions on partial guess work, therefore there must be more assistance from the assistants.
However, what really p!sses me off is the ‘whens a yellow card not a yellow card’. In eyes of most referees yellow cards don’t come into play until 12 minutes into the game. For the record i believe Sodje should have been sent off after 12 minutes, his first challenge on Boulding was a yellow all day long, but the ref decided to let him off, his second challenge was deserved yellow also and should have resulted in a red. Bateson received a yellow for a similar challenge but further away from the goal. Double standards i hate them
Excellent article Paul.
Could I ask if you have sent this to the Football League. If not could you or could I send it in on your behalf (Names/Website removed if needed in this dictatorship we are in). I have no hope they would reply with anything other than the standard, not interested response, however I think the more we inform them of the issues at the moment surely the better.
Unfortunately the cheating and failure of referee’s to follow the rules/understand the game is leading me to stop going to games. I am sick and tired of referees having an influence on games. I think I have seen 1 or 2 bad tackles all season (and I have seen every game). I’m thinking of the Rotherham elbows and Batesons ‘tackle’ at Notts Forest. Despite this I have seen City recieve 6 red cards. Matt Clarke was sent off for running behind a player for god’s sake.
The way I see it is that if we can’t see an unbiased game between two teams it is pointless watching.
Ben,
No, I haven’t sent the article anywhere else.
Yes, you do indeed have my unconditional permission to send it wherever you want. And, while I can go further and say that you should also feel free to leave my name on it, I think I can speak on behalf of Michael Wood and say that you should also feel free to leave BfB’s name on it. BfB does not hide.
And, while I’m on, can I say that I agree entirely with Richard’s point about double standards and the first few minutes of each game. See my match report for the Rotherham game for another example. It’s just that I can only get my brain round one issue at a time or I would have mentioned the Sodje/Bateson disparity. I would also, in an attempt to be balanced, have mentioned Futcher. Why was he booked for a simple push near the half-way line, the first foul the ref had given against him? We behind the goal might well say that he’d committed plenty, but the ref (and he’s the one with the yellow card) hadn’t given them.
Most importantly to all who respond, agreeing or not, thanks for making football that bit more worthwhile, despite cheating and poor refs. Keep on responding!
Good article, and interesting responses, I complete the Football League questionaire every season, and every season I make a point(within thier closed form of questions)of the standard of reffing, as, I presume, a lot of others do, but there still does not seem to be any improvement in the standards.
All we seem to get is rookie refs in thier first season, who are determined to make a name for themselves, refs who seem to have missed the boat,(I include Mathieson in this category)and will never go any higher than where they are now.When does this guy retire by the way, he must be over 100 now, as he seems to have been shafting us for a good few years.
The plain useless,yes, that’s you Mr Singh, and the plain big headed, I’m a Premier Ref, and I am always right, take a bow Mr Probert.
The best ref we have had this season is the one we had at Grimsby, so good in fact, I can’t remember his name,you only remember the bad ones.
I saw the incident from the press box at Gigg (the stand to the left of the Bradford fans) and I am a Bury fan.
Initially, I thought the penalty was wrongly awarded. I said to those around me that Dawson played for the decision and how much it winds me up. The response I got back from one or two people was that Glennon’s tackle was clumsy and did himself no favours.
On the highlights from BBC, the camera angle provides no insight into it. I don’t wish to be tarred with the ‘cheating’ brush as I am simply a Bury fan, and the referee could have done better. The linesman had a fantastic view of it, and it was as blatent as it’s been described as, then it should have been flagged up.
It wasn’t the way I would’ve wanted to win the match by any means. You came at us in the second half, and I gave you that credit in my match report. You just need a clinical finisher at the front to make the most of all your attacking.
You get your chance to put some of those wasted chances away on February 6th. I hope it’s a good-spirited match for everyone’s sake!!
“You just need a clinical finisher at the front to make the most of all your attacking.”
Peter Thorne a year ago?
Gareth Evans pre-penalty miss?
Michael Boulding one game in ten?
I agree Hannah, I’m getting pretty bored of watching players scuff, bobble and balloon chances, and sicker still of the likes of Brandon (League 2′s L’Oreal man), twisting and turning every which way but loose and NOT shooting. That’s why I like Flynn, however much his form has dipped he will at least have a pop.
Not that it matters much at the moment as our next home game isn’t until 2043, so I won’t be seeing City for a while.
Maybe our fxture pile up has been planned so we can sneak up on the likes of Dagenham, Chesterfield and Accrington.
But yes, it’s obvious I think, a nifty finisher would be great, if unobtainable, sadly. I hear Barry Conlon is looking for a move though!!
I have to say that playing Bradford in recent matches has always been a tough test, and winning at Gigg Lane around a year ago was due to a well-timed goal and then hanging on in the dying minutes for an important three points. You looked like every time you went forward, you would score or at least have a chance, and this was similar in the second half on Tuesday.
As a Bury fan I can completely empathise with how you guys are feeling at the moment. We’ve had season after season of the same – no rub of the green, nobody to finish at the front (and those that have get sold in January) and another season ending in mid-table or just about surviving. Last season’s play-offs was unusual for us.. it was almost success! I think Alan Knill has brought back some confidence into a team that needed it, and I’m sure McCall is trying to do the same but with limited resources. It’s a tough call.
Like I say, February 6th could change your fortunes and failing that.. get yourselves to Lincoln tomorrow and check out their cheerleaders. Might be the entertainment your eyes seem to need!