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A coffee mate of mine, an Italian called Giovanni Mele, who from time to time gives me the goss on Serie A I’ll never glean due to my extremely poor to non-existent grasp of the Italian language, sent me this YouTube clip during the week.
It shows Inter coach Jose Mourinho mouthing off at one of his players, striker Julio Cruz. At about 2:30 on the tape you can clearly see the former Chelsea and Porto boss say “vaffanculo to Cruz, which according to Giovanni, means “f**k off.”
According to the English edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy’s famous sporting daily, “Rather than directly disobeying the coach, who wanted him to play just behind [Zlatan Ibrahamovic], the Argentine player (whose tactical awareness has been amply demonstrated in the past) played his own game.
It is well known that he is unhappy at how little he is playing; now the issue of his contract may arise. It expires in 2009 and the club has never offered a renewal, so from next January ‘El Jardinero’ will be able to agree a free transfer to another club.”
Mourinho wasn’t censured for his outburst, did not get slugged with a fine of any sort, from federation or club (Inter boss Massimo Moratti didn’t want to know about it), which prompted Giovanni to ask me: “Was that a good example for the few million people including kids who were watching the game on TV? In Italy everyone probably already forgot about that little incident but would they in Australia?”
Giovanni raises a good point, especially in light of the recent disciplinary penalties handed down to Queensland Roar coach Frank Farina and, before him, notably, John Kosmina and just about any A-League coach you care to name.
Football Federation Australia is so intrinsically conservative in its handling of incidents that are perceived as harmful to the image of the game that it has a habit of overstepping the mark.
In the case of Farina, of whom I have never been a huge fan but respect immensely for his straight shooting (albeit when he’s not talking to SBS), the FFA came down on him with what I regard as unnecessary force.
All he did, need readers be reminded, is lament that Mark Shield and the assistant referee had made a gaffe in not calling back Adelaide’s Cristiano for offside in a move that resulted in a goal to Robert Cornthwaite and won the Reds the match 2-1 over Farina’s side.
He did so albeit rather colourfully, going on record in the post-match conference as saying “two blind mice missed it” and “[Shield] must be blind Freddy”, but it was pretty tame stuff all the same, hardly warranting the $2000 fine that was imposed.
Farina then turned around and said he wouldn’t tell it how he saw it any more: “The biggest lesson to come out of [this fine] is make sure you don’t tell the truth.”
Which is ultimately a bigger loss for the game than the money filched from the Roar’s pockets.
I don’t condone Mourinho telling Cruz to “f**k off” any more than I condone Farina having a veiled swipe at Shield – both incidents could probably be handled differently – but I do think coaches should have the right to say what they think without being whacked with ridiculous sanctions from overly stitched-up bodies overseeing the game.
In Italy, clearly, it’s allowed to ride. In Australia, it’s not. And as a result we lose a little part of the soul, colour and character of the game.
The names and shirts of the eight A-League franchises are antiseptic enough. There are more by-laws, articles and codes of conduct in the game than are necessary. The football we’ve seen this year in the A-League has been comparatively dull to that seen in recent seasons.
So please, FFA, for the sake of the sport and the interests of fans, stop asphyxiating the life out of it.
Shield is a big boy and should be handle to some scrutiny of his decisions. Farina lost the game because of a contentious decision and should be able to express his mind, colourfully or otherwise.
The kids of Australia aren’t going to be permanently scarred. Hell, they might even come to like the A-League a bit more.
And that’s the whole point of promoting the game, isn’t it?
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