CRACK DOWN ON PRIMA DONNA YOBS
Let's mic up refs to expose footballers' shameful behaviour
HERE'S a quiz question for you.
In the biggest game of their professional lives, a sporting team is getting stuffed, mainly because they have conceded a whole host of penalties they think are unjust.
Do they ...
a) chase the referee for fifty yards, jumping up and down in front of him like a demented baboon?
b) find the nearest TV camera and bellow their opinion that the officiating has been a f****** disgrace?
c) try and break the world record for profanities per second, delivered, of course, in an impeccable scouse accent?
d) get their captain to walk alongside - but a respectful distance alongside - the referee and politely ask him where they are going wrong and what they can do to rectify the situation. If you don't mind, sir?
If you have answered a), b) or c), you watch only football. If you answered d) you are following the British and Irish Lions out here in South Africa.
Now let's get a few things straight before we start. It can get pretty tiresome listening to rugby folk take the high moral ground. And I have been doing just that for the past 10 days. It's a proper man's game. Yeah, and trying to gouge each other's eyes out is proper manly.
The players are down to earth, they mix with the fans - as they are doing out here in the hotels of South Africa. Yeah, but try mingling at the bar with punters if you are David Beckham.
They are in touch with reality, they don't behave like prima donnas. Yeah, but wait until the rewards of professionalism really kick in. It won't just be Danny Cipriani stumbling out of strip clubs or a handful of Bath players up on disciplinary charges.
Cipriani - a young man cashing in on his talent before he has actually achieved anything - should be the alarm bell inside rugby union heads. Sneer at the excesses of football and you can be sure it will come back to haunt you.
But if there is ONE thing that runs through rugby like writing through a stick of rock it is respect - the word hijacked by the FA, by FIFA, for a campaign that amounts to little more than a marketing gimmick.
Respect is answer d) in the imposing yet dignified shape of Lions captain Paul O'Connell. It is not answer a) in the ugly example of a manic Michael Ballack. It is not answer b) in the manifestation of a demonic Didier Drogba. It is not answer c) in the familiar, foaming-at-the-mouth form of Wayne Rooney.
In Cape Town, I had a beer with a bloke - a working-class bloke in trouble with his wife because he had spent the money earmarked for a new kitchen to get to South Africa - who told me that not only did he think his young sons thought it was okay to tell their Sunday morning referee to f*** off because they had seen Rooney doing it ... they thought it was okay to tell their dad to f*** off.
Another insisted that he would not let his lads play football because it instilled in them the one value he didn't want his children to grow up with. That disrespecting authority is cool.
And as much as I wanted to, as much as I wanted to defend football's integrity, I couldn't argue with those guys.
The governing bodies claim they know that the flagrant and filthily abusive disregard for officialdom is the game's greatest curse.That is why they released glossy brochures telling us about the Respect campaign. And put ropes up around junior games to stop parents getting too close to the pitch.
It's all lip-service. Lip-service to the idea that they are ever going to do anything about those with too much lip. What on earth is wrong with simply punishing those who eff and blind about decisions?
Ten minutes in a sin-bin. That would soon stem the abuse. This isn't revolutionary theory. It's just common sense and common decency. As applies in rugby.
When football introduced a rule that advanced a free-kick 10 yards for dissent, it seemed to have a positive effect. But what happened? It was binned by FIFA without explanation.
Apologists say football is so intense, so pressurised, so relentless that emotions are bound to cross acceptable boundaries.
Well, I was at the first Lions Test in Kings Park, Durban and at the second at Loftus Versveld, Pretoria, and I can tell you that for intensity, for pressure, for relentlessness, I have seen few football games to match. And I didn't see or hear a single soul tell the referee where to go.
The rich clubs rule the roost and they would never countenance the idea of players such as Ashley Cole, Rooney and Rio Ferdinand being told what they can say and when they can say it.
But if the FA are serious about respect then they need more than PR stunts. So why not put microphones on refs?
A TV documentary did it in the late 1980s and much of what Tony Adams said to David Elleray - calling him a 'cheat' amongst other things - was deemed not fit for broadcast. We live in less sensitive times now.
Let the families of the Rooneys, the Drogbas, the Ballacks, the Coles, hear how they speak to men who are trying to do a decent job of work. And maybe - just maybe - they will be shamed into behaving like civilised human beings. Shamed into showing some respect.
Now get the News of World print edition for more from Andy Dunn
This article has 5 comments
The sin bin is a good idea. Even better, show the straight red card. Make it mandatory for referees to do that; that will take the pressure off them as they are just applying the rule set by higher authorities.
Then clubs should fine their players.
By Matt. Posted September 7 2009 at 10:01 PM.
If you introduce sin-bins, penalised teams will just get their remaining men behind the ball and park the bus. It's a noble idea but impractical.
By Ryan. Posted August 16 2009 at 6:13 PM.
I like this idea as carl said big rugby players like a ruck now & again but 100% respect for the ref so yes fit football ref's with microphones & lets all here what these prima dona's have to say.
By bill. Posted July 26 2009 at 1:31 PM.
As proven yesterday rugby players can be bad men on the pitch but unlike the footballers they accept any decisions with respect and grace.
Also the Lions manager made no excuses and did not blame the ref for the defeat wheres the likes of Fergie and Rafa would have been spitting blood and probably still swearing now!
By Mark. Posted June 28 2009 at 9:57 AM.
Like all problems there is a root cause which needs addressing. The referees are rubbish and they are spoiling the game at every level. They are the root cause so FIFA must act to bring in technology to help them because nobody is going to get every decision right. Look at it from a footballer’s point of view he has trained very hard for a game which he wants to win only to be robbed by a rubbish referee. I’m upset and I am only watching. Not all footballers get paid by the bucket. It seems in life when things aren't fair we brush them under the carpet rather than deal with the cause. It would also be better if there was some way to address absolutely shocking decisions after the game. How can I explain to my child that because the ref missed a goal that hit the advertising board behind the goal and bounced straight back out his team got relegated? I cannot. Only a Cheat would not want technology brought in.
By carl warmington. Posted June 28 2009 at 7:03 AM.