Cheating in football by ken1945
Having asked why some referees seem to ignore their rule book during PL matches, I thought it only fair to follow that up by looking at other sections of our great game to see if they can be accused of the same thing or even, God forbid, actually CHEATING!!
Clubs first then, and there have been proven cases against the likes of Juventus, who were found guilty of match rigging with the help of (OH NO!!) bent referees.
Of course, we have the impending 100 plus charges against Man City to witness, while Barcelona are caught up in a legal mess as well.
Then we have instances of Managers being found guilty of accepting bribes, one very close to home.
George Graham was sacked, after being found guilty of accepting £425,000 from an agent.
Sam Allardyce, while England manager, was forced to resign after being recorded, among other things, advising how to avoid the HMRC.
But the REAL thrust of the argument by some on JA, was about cheating by players on the field.
The biggest ever English scandal occurred OFF the field in 1964, when three Sheffield Wednesday players were found guilty of betting against their own team, while actually playing in the match itself. They were given prison sentences and banned from football for life.
There are hundreds of cases of players found guilty or admitting to cheating, also with everything from drug addiction to affairs with the wives of fellow players and everything in between.
Also, we have cases of bullying, harassment, late night orgies etc etc, but it’s the on-field behaviour that some want to concentrate on.
Again, we can look very close to home, when it was proven by the camera, that Thierry Henry handled the ball in a world cup qualifier – some insist that Robert Pires dived to keep our Invincible run going – the infamous Maradona handball – the Ronaldo wink when Rooney was sent off and who can forget Suarez twice biting opponents?!?!
All examples of players cheating, but the only one punished was Suarez… amazing.
So, let’s look at what happens during every game, be it high profile or not (why that should make a difference I still don’t understand).
We see players appealing for every throw in, corner kick, goal kick, handball and foul no matter HOW absurd their claim is.
It’s become part and parcel of today’s football, from the grass root level through to the highest level.
Referees have the rules and regulations to stop this with the use of the red or yellow card, but rarely use it… it does, however, work!!
We saw it happen when Chelsea were reduced to 10 men versus 11 in the high-profile cup final against The Arsenal and, if we are to stamp this out, more referees should use their powers to stop it.
Make no mistake, while players can get away with it, they will do it time and time again, as was seen in the recent city game.
The laws are there, but rarely used – take surrounding the referee after a decision has been made – a law was introduced that only the captain of a team could ask the referee why, but we see it every week being ignored by the players and officials.
I have great sympathy for the referee in these circumstances, being shouted at, sworn at, and, quite frankly, bullied…BUT, use the law, send or caution every time it happens, and players will soon learn their lesson.
My PLEA to the PGMOL is to ensure the referees do their job to the letter of the law, nothing more and nothing less.
That way, they can weed out the on-field cheating that we see so much of, and earn the respect of the players, the fans and uphold the integrity of the game… after all, you are the officials.
Be consistent in every game, allow fans to hear why a contentious decision has been made after the game.
Be accountable for your actions.
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My PLEA to the PLAYERS, is to stop the cheating, the obnoxious behaviour, show respect to the officials and accept decisions.
You will then, also, earn the respect of the referees and the fans.
Be accountable for your actions.
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My PLEA to MANAGERS is to stamp out all the above cheating, drop players who try to con the public, referee and other professionals.
Don’t make excuses, fans can see what goes on – believe it or not.
Tell the fans WHY a player has been dropped under these circumstances and YOU will earn the respect of the referees and fans.
Be accountable for your actions.
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If all three parties did this, the corruption of our wonderful game would stop immediately. in my opinion.
ken1945… living in hope!!
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This is why Arsenal would likely never sign Toney
@gai
RealTalk 👍🏾
Possibly, but he never did bet against his own teams. What he did, although illegal, was actually quite harmless.
It’s going to be difficult getting managers & coaches to stop their players cheating as they themselves were probably guilty of the same practices.
I noticed yesterday that a white card was used in a Portuguese match by the referee to show approval of fair play. This might encourage teams to show some good practice. Let’s see how it goes.
Cheating by players will continue until referees as a whole do their jobs properly and put a stop to it. But the refs individually themselves are utterly incompetent and as a group bother more to protect their own and keep their power than doing their job. Zero accountability is also ridiculous.
i am speechless when i see some fans constantly whining about how bad VAR is and should be removed as VAR even how poorly it has been implemented and used in EPL has mostly eradicated diving and play acting.
Absolutely Ackshay – spot on!!
No accountability breeds contempt.
Ivan Toney will turn Arsenal into Looney Tunes.
Cheating comes from the very top and filters down, so there’s no surprise people cheat.
The government lies everyday, so it’s no wonder it’s citizens will as well.
Football is about RESULTS.
Results bring MONEY.
The more money pumped into football, the more CHEATING will increase it’s as simple as that… unfortunately
We had a disagreement in your previous article, but i find nothing to disagree with here, Ken.
This in particular I think is the most realistic ask that would improve the game immeasurably:
“My PLEA to the PGMOL is to ensure the referees do their job to the letter of the law, nothing more and nothing less”.
There’s no reason why they can’t do that to the best of their abilities and cut out the thinking that they have to keep 22 players on the field for the sake of spectacle – it’s ridiculous, but too common imo.
Unfortunately asking players not to cheat is simply not going to work – all it takes is for one or two to do it, and everyone else starts thinking “Why am I disadvantaging myself” – it has to be implemented top down, there’s just too many incentives for players (and clubs, and managers) to cheat if they can get away with it.
That’s why I put the referee’s first in my list Davi.
If they use the rule book correctly and efficiently, players, managers and the clubs themselves will have nothing to complain about.
Foul and abusive language (we can all lip read!!), simulation, intimidation, the user of cards are ALL covered by their rule book – when I refereed at a local level, it was drummed into us what we needed to do.
Of course I understand that refereeing at PL level is a totally different ball game, but the rules are the same.
A truly magnificent article on which I endorse every single word. As I have said for many decades past, deterrents, when used consistently and properly, DO WORK.
I am pleased that KEN AGREES, AS ONLY YESTERDAY HE ASKED ME TO WRITE A PIECE PROVING PLAYERS CHEAT. I REPLIED SAYING THAT WAS SO COMMON, that I would not be wasting my time doing such a pointless piece.
Imagine my delight then when Ken himself has given chapter and verse to many types of off field and on field cheating.
Player cheating is SO RIFE that it is , depressingly, expected. To such an extent that TV pundits talk about a” professional foul” when what they should say is that so and so is cheating!
CALL A SPADE A SPADE SAY I . HAVE THE GUTS AND MORALS TO CALL OUT CHEATING FOR WHAT IT IS AND DO NOT DOWNGRADE IT BY USING FALSE DESCRIPTIONS.
Kens piece truly gladdens my heart and I could not agree MORE with every single word than I DO ALREADY.
I would add that I crave that refs are backed up by fans most of whom(fans) are biased towards their own team, or to put it another way,are themselves cheating, by falsely accusing refs of routinely “cheating” in decisions against the club those fans love. Refs are human and though it should never happen, the weaker ones ARE sometimes intimidated by unruly and aggressive players, often in groups of several, confronting the refs, disgracefully.
Refs also need to be backed up by thePrem league, FA, Fifa, Uefa and their own PGMOL.
But MOST OF ALL, REFS MUST BEGIN , REGULARLY AND CONSISTENTLY, YELLOW AND RED CARDING DELIBERATE PLAYER CHEATING. And further punishment should stop those same cheating players, if they are rightly banned for such as diving and deliberate unfair play. Long bans, IF applied consistently, would drive the routine player cheats out of the game they make their living at. What does NOT help refs is when we fans so often callthe m cheats andon this verty site I have nev raccepted thet atrefs arew cheatst though I do OF COURSE accept hat refs”managing games” can look like cheating.
Refs should apply the laws consistently and always and should NEVER NEED therefore to “manage” games at all. Just apply the LAWS refs Get it???!!!
Bring it on NOW, say I.
IT IS DECADES OVERDUE.
No, Pires didn’t dive to keep Invincibles unbeaten. Arsenal was already winning the match when Pires dived. Wayne Rooney cheated and dived to end Arsenal’s unbeaten run.
Whichever version one believes, Mike Ram, the concensus is that a player cheated…. I believe that the referee did as well in the United game.