5 Jun 2006(Mon)

Tokyo, June 2, 2006 -- At every World Cup, FIFA, belatedly, attempts to clamp down on one particularly negative trend in the modern game.

In the past it's been tackling from behind (but Germany's Schweinsteiger proved this dangerous challenge is still alive and kicking, as poor old Kaji found out rather painfully) and also simulation -- FIFA speak for diving (but another German, the substitute Odonkor, showed this blatant form of cheating is still rife, too, and got a yellow card for his troubles).

So what would you like to see referees target specifically in Germany over the next few weeks?

For me there's only one answer: shirt-pulling.

How many photographs do you see in newspapers and magazines these days where one player has hold of his opponent's shirt?

Take the example of "Atsushi-Goal" against Germany the other day. His marker, Borowski, ripped Yanagi's shirt right down the middle, revealing the Antlers striker's "six-pack" torso (imagine six cans of beer, or grapefruit chu-hai for that matter, on their side, and you can guess the shape "six-pack" refers to).

The more I think about it, in fact, the more this incident might have been planned by the two players....Borowski deliberately tears Yanagisawa's shirt, the TV camera focuses on the Japanese poster boy's chiselled chest, owners of fitness clubs and gyms back in Japan see this on TV and rush to sign him up for a new advertising campaign -- and the German gets his cut of Yanagisawa's massive ensorsement fee!

Okay, so that's a bit far fetched, but don't rule out someone approaching Yanagi with an offer.

Shirt-pulling, though, is deadly serious.

Unlike an "honest" foul, shirt-pulling is deliberate and pre-meditated. Just like diving, shirt-pulling is becoming an art in itself.

How can a player grab his opponent's shirt without making it look too obvious in front of the referee? It's happening all the time, and is resulting in players throwing themselves to the ground to bring the foul to the attention of the referee.

The shirt pull might be very sly and clever, so does the offended player play on and pretend nothing has happened, meaning the dishonest rival has got away with it? Or does the offended player simply stop in his tracks or just fall down, showing his rearranged shirt to the ref and hoping for a yellow card for the offender as well as a free kick for himself?

I hope FIFA really gets strict on this tactic at the World Cup. A clear and deliberate shirt-pull should be punished with an immediate yellow card, and a second offence should receive the red.

Only when the officials show they are serious about this shirt-pulling plague will it be wiped out.

ends