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Football has names like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski, Sergio Aguero, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to attract people to it, but this is not the reason football is the most popular sport on earth.
The reason is football, compared to all other sports, is the one sport that has stayed true to itself for the longest period of time.
This means it has not succumbed to the unattainable goal of trying to reach perfection, namely through the interference of video technology.
Football remains the exact same sport that was played at the first World Cup, way back in 1930. The same rules, the same structures, the same battles are all prevalent, without the distractions of technology that have hindered other sports.
Let’s compare it to some other sports. Let’s compare it to rugby league and cricket.
Rugby league, in its indefinite strive for perfection, now stop at scrums, at knock-ons, at tries, at potential tries and at other points in the match all in the desperate attempt to remove every single error from the sport.
Let’s ignore that a halfback can drop a kick-off on grand final day. Let’s ignore that a team can miss two tackles that would have secured a grand final victory. Let’s ignore that players aren’t perfect but the referees need to be.
Cricket has got to the point that a batsmen, who we will call Steve Smith, can be adjudged lbw to a good inswinger hitting the top of middle and leg but can still challenge the decision just in case it is sneaking over by a millimetre or two.
How does this benefit the sport? And the judgment is made by a computer predicting where it suggests the ball will go. Is this in the best interests of the sport?
In Adelaide, the video umpire spent five minutes making a complete fool out of himself, which was intolerable. An on-field umpire could have done the same thing in five seconds, which would have been tolerable.
Football ignores this endless strive for perfection. It has developed a wonderful culture of acceptance of human error. It realises none of us are perfect, and imperfections are simply part of sport, as it is part of life.
It hasn’t stood still with improving the game, however. Old leather balls were done away with, the backpass to the goalkeeper was abolished, and so was tackling from behind.
Improving the sport is important providing it is done within the boundaries that keep your game healthy. Football has done this perfectly.
Football’s brave decision to ignore video technology, when so many other sports have done so, is a credit to the administrators and the fans of the game.
Accepting human error is part and parcel of being a football fan. The chase for unattainable perfection is a mistake they can now never reverse.
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