The Beautiful Games Ugly Enemy

The Beautiful Game

Football has been known as the beautiful game for decades but that title is about to slip. Something I've noticed since I started playing the game thirteen years ago is a tangible change in the attitude of neutrals to the game itself. Before, if asked about football people said they might not watch it due to it not suiting their interests or that they weren't raised in a household that encouraged them to play it. Now when asked, people more often than not respond with a disdain for it due to the players being 'poofs' or 'cheats'.

As an avid football enthusiast this pains me. The game is beautiful, it combines people from all backgrounds and all physical conditions. Unlike most sports, it provides a level playing field for participators where hard work at training will pay off despite size and strength. The games biggest strength is that its format is adaptable. The number of players on a team can fluctuate, from Wednesday night five-a-sides to Sunday morning eleven-a-sides and everything in between. It is in no way restricted to needing a standardised setting. Any environment is a potential pitch. The game is both rural and urban. People play on manicured grass in some parts of the planet, while unfortunate children play amidst rubble in war zones. A person can play on their own as long as they have a ball. It truly is an ever adapting game which is a major advantage it has over most other sports. But for all footballs merits, its world image is plummeting. What are the means of its demise? One reason; cheating. And the reasons behind these unwanted traits of the game? There's only one; money.

Football is a victim of its own popularity. With ever increasing amounts of money being poured into the game, a new type of pressure has surfaced. There is a cut throat element to the game now. Multi-million euro bonuses hang on a full time whistle. Every pass, interception, shot and tackle matters a hundred fold. This high pressure environment means managers jobs hang on ever thinning threads. This in turns leads to more pressure being heaped on the players shoulders. The pressure they feel translates to a culture of cheating.

This type of 'gamesmanship' needs to stop

If you switch on the television during coverage of any football match and watch for any stretch of play, you will more often than not witness a form of 'gamesmanship' (which is of course a nicer way of saying 'cheating'). To fully understand the place cheating has in the game, I will look at the highest echelon of the sport. This is generally accepted to be the pinnacle and most up to date area of any institution or organisation. However, it is here that cheating has been introduced to the game and it is in danger of trickling down to the grass roots game, where kids learn to play. The problem with the professional game lies in the fact that money is the driving force, whereas in the nonprofessional game, winning is the driving force. I have played in enough unorganised and organised games on surfaces from grass to tarmac to concrete to wood to astroturf to know that cheating isn't part of the fabric of the game at the regular particpants level. However, there is the danger that it will filter down and become fabric of it.

Interestingly, the culprits for the demise of the games reputation are not teams, but individuals. This is straight away at odds with the team mentality of the sport. If you asked any casual football fan to name the top cheats to have operated in the game over the last decade and they would most likely name Cristiano Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Nani, and Gilardinho. A few of these players are victims of Youtube. In a matter of seconds you can watch Rivaldo feign injury when a football hits him, a move which tarnished a fantastic playing career forever. You can also catch Gilardinhos embarrassing dive against Celtic.

Footballs reputation is being left in tatters by these individuals. The great majority of those who partake in the sport at a professional level play fair and adhere to the rules. But for this group of barefaced cheats, the worldwide view of the sport would not be in the middle of a nose dive. It certainly doesn't help that some of the notable individuals are regularly playing in the most recognisable teams in the world. These players have a massive influence on the direction young fans decide to take when they play the sport. Their actions need to be severely penalised.

David Beckham is known more for his sponsors than his playing career

The only method of wiping this behavior from the game is to attack these players where it hurts them most. Their reputations. After all, it is their reputation that earns them lucrative endorsements from companies offering them more and more obscene amounts of money. If their acts of sporting success are held up to the glare of the media so too should their acts of sporting cowardice. This will specifically diminish their standing in society if not the sport. Stringent punishments need to be swiftly introduced.

An encouraging sign that the beginning of this may be in sight was the actions of the Italian Football Association in the last few weeks. Milos Krasic, a well known winger who was recently signed by Juventus performed a carbon copy of Gilardinhos dive in the opponents box. He was slapped with a two game ban. Of course his manager came straight out saying he didn't mean to cheat the other team, to which everyone else in the world rolled their eyes so hard they were in danger of getting dizzy. It is a very promising move by a massive football association. Hopefully the end is in sight.

The move of suffering from a phantom injury has become sickeningly widespread. Just last week in Manchester Uniteds match against Tottenham Hotspur there was a confusing goal awarded to United in the second half. The aforementioned Nani was involved. As he was lying on the ground looking for a foul, the Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, brushed him on the side and said something to him in disgust. Just after Gomes' hand made contact, Nani erupted in convulsions the like of which I hope never to experience. As to whether this was an attempt at getting either another player booked or a penalty the scarier thing was yet to come. While watching the highlights on Match of the Day, the pundits did not mention this playacting once. Not even a passing remark. Is it so common now as to not even warrant a mention? If so then it is a very sad day for football. It is these acts of idiocy that threaten footballs worldwide reputation.

Whether the game will survive is not the worry, the issue is that it will not be appreciated for what it is. That its worldwide standing is decided by the actions of a few famous players, who themselves make up less than .001% of the people that play the game worldwide, is a sad thing.