Real Madrid "prove" Barcelona cheated

Real Madrid have taken the first – potentially damaging steps – in changing the way sporting clubs react to what they believe to be poor officiating. On the club’s official website Madrid have released a video in response to the sending off of Portuguese defender Pepe.

Madrid are using slow motion footage to exhibit why a red card wasn’t warranted.

The Portuguese central defender turned defensive midfielder, was banished in the second half of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final, for a high challenge on Barcelona’s Dani Alves.

However Madrid have claimed and are utilising their video to try and prove that Pepe did not make any contact with Alves’s leg.

Alves spent a significant amount of time on the ground – rolling around in pain – before eventually being stretchered from the pitch. Shortly after, Alves jogged back into play, seemingly no worse-for-wear.

Over the course of the two-minute plus video, Madrid also shows other incidents from the match, which the club believes clearly shows that the Barcelona players were guilty of diving.

The other incidents on the video show clashes between Madrid defender Marcelo and Barca’s Sergio Busquets, and an encounter involving Madrid’s Alvaro Arbeloa and Pedro. On both occasions the Barcelona players seemingly exaggerate any contact in both episodes, before going to ground clutching at their faces.

Real Madrid also posted Twitter posts from various athletes, under the headline “The Sports World Cries Out” to further emphasis their claim. The most prominent ‘tweet’ came from England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, who posted:

“This diving is a joke/embarrassing. When Pedro watches that do you think he’ll think, ‘What was I doing!?’ Rugby players must laugh at football… if you ever see me go off on a stretcher then run back on to play, I give everyone on here the green light to him me with a two-footed tackle.”

In my opinion, it can clearly be seen that on many occasions, some Barcelona players made a show out of some light contact in play.

However, the worrying issue is that of Real Madrid’s video, and the precedent it sets.

One thing that all fans agree upon, regardless of codes or team alliances, is that umpires and referees make mistakes.

After any game, besides discussing the overall performance of team of specific players, contentious umpires decisions always bring about argument.

Journalist’s pen articles about it, we the fans debate it, and sometimes players or coaches get into hot water by commenting on it.

Yet Real Madrid has crossed the line in this case.

By taking such drastic steps to discredit their bitter rivals in Barcelona, Real Madrid is also discrediting the very game of Association Football. They’ve even launched a scathing, combined attack on Barcelona and UEFA, claiming that there is some sort of pro-Barcelona conspiracy in place.

So what’s the next step?

If it’s ok to release videos – that have the benefit of slow motion footage – trying to prove that an umpiring decision was wrong, where do we draw the line?

Would it be OK for Collingwood to broadcast a video, showing a breakdown of every question decision in one of its games?

Imagine the outcry from the AFL community.

The use of video technology is being embraced throughout the sporting world, to attempt to eliminate incorrect decisions affecting contests. However this is done at the time that a call is up for contention, and a direct combatant in the contest carries it out.

Be it Hawk-Eye in Tennis, third umpires in Cricket, challenge flags in the NFL, or the play review system in the NBA.

The people who run the Real Madrid website, and who would be responsible for the creation and distribution of the video in question, do not meet any of the above specifications.

They are not reviewing the play at the time it occurred, and furthermore, they are not directly involved in the contest.

Discussing and questioning umpiring decisions is something we all do, it goes hand in hand with having umpires make decisions. As fans we will always debate calls, Real Madrid fans will even point to the same footage that has been used in the video, to try and win arguments about those specific decisions.

However, if we allow teams with obvious bias’ to study matches with every technological advantage and then broadcast their disputes, we are heading down a dangerous path indeed.

Clubs should primarily focus on building a team that is capable of winning, and that will give fans a reason to spend their hard-earned money to support the club. They should not criticise referees and other clubs.

Leave that to the fans.