2 Nov 2006(Thu)

Tokyo, November 1, 2006: Have you been following the latest Sepp Blatter controversy recently?

It makes for very interesting reading, as usual.

First, Blatter was reported to have apologized to Australia for their World Cup exit at the hands of Italy. For me this was one of the worst and most depressing moments of a World Cup blighted by diving and cheating.

It was when Italy’s left back, Fabio Grosso, tumbled theatrically following a challenge by Australia defender Lucas Neill. In my opinion it was never a penalty, as Grosso clearly had only one thing on his mind and executed his task with cynical professionalism.

Sadly, referees are much too quick to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player, and it happened here in a very unfair way to bring a cruel end to Australia’s challenge. No wonder the sports-mad Aussies, brought up on rough-tough games such as Aussie Rules football, rugby and cricket, thought they had been cheated in a sport they are still trying to embrace.

Anyway, Blatter later back-tracked on his comments, saying he had no intention to criticize Italy, but just to offer his sympathy to Australia.

Sympathy?

What good is that?

Blatter, as head of FIFA, is the man who has allowed diving and gamesmanship to reach the current level. He could crack down on it by introducing video replays to punish the conmen, but he prefers to let the poor old referees suffer on their own in an environment in which the FIFA Fair Play slogan simply does not exist any more.

The 2006 World Cup was a big turn-off in my opinion, with incidents like the Grosso-Neill penalty the main reason.

Blatter should speak out more in an effort to cure the ailments, and not be afraid of telling the truth and presenting the situation as it is. On a smaller scale, much smaller, there was a controversial incident at Komaba last Saturday in the Omiya-FC Tokyo match.

Leading 1-0 in the second half, an FC Tokyo player fell to the floor in his own half when there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. A team-mate kicked the ball out of play to stop the match and allow the player to receive treatment he did not need, but the “injured” player got to his feet on his own.

So it was Omiya’s throw-in, and the Tokyo fans whistled as the Ardija players refused to pass the ball back to them. Omiya coach Toshiya Miura urged his players to keep the ball and attack, as they were trailing 1-0 and Tokyo had blatantly stopped the game for no reason.

Tokyo fans – I admire you and your team…but you were completely wrong on this occasion. Omiya had absolutely no obligation whatsoever to return the ball to your team at the throw-in. Omiya were quite right to play on, and the referee allowed them to do so.

I have said before it is the job of the ref to stop the game, not the team-mate of an “injured” player so they can waste time when they are winning. There is too much of this tactic in the modern game.

ends