FIFA Fair Play? Hmmmm
Some thoughts on the Hand of Frog goal which eliminated Ireland from the World Cup Finals.
Cheating has always been part of the game. Players dive, feign injury, sneak in rabbit punches, kicks, and pushes. They play the ball when it’s out of play and deny it; They claim offside when it wasn’t and handball when it wasn’t. They demand cards for the slightest of infractions. They bad mouth players, insult their wives, girlfriends and sisters. Just ask Zidane Zidane what set him off and caused him to head butt the Italian during the WC final in 2006?
We do it because referees are human and not infalible when we’re on the other end of it…we howl blue murder.
That said, with the stakes that ride so high on the professional game, turning a blind eye and hiding behind the rules over the blatant handball that led to the goal that elminated Ireland does neither the game nor FIFA a service.
There was already some suspicious that minnows Ireland were being set up by being drawn against France . There was a last minute change of rules by FIFA to ensure the big fish, France, Portugal, Italy and Russia didn’t draw each other in some twist of fate and leave room for the small fish to wriggle through to the last rounds in South Africa.
That smelled bad enough.
And no one really expects FIFA to order a replay. They didn’t do it when England were knocked out by Maradonna’s infamous goal driven in by his fist and tabbed the Hand of God.
And they haven’t done it in any other game before or since and there have been many controversial calls over the years.
What they need to do is institute video replay and two extra officials, each behind one goal to ensure that the spirit of the game and the intent of the rules are not subverted.
Referees can’t be everywhere and see everything especially given the pace of the modern game.
But a second sober thought can often change a bad call into the right call and at the end of the day fairness is what matters.
Isn’t that the name of FIFA’s game: Fair Play?
You can’t talk the talk if you don’t walk the walk.
If anything this travesty against Ireland may lead to a fundemental change in the way high level games are policed so that skills and strategy prevail, not officiating errors.