There were two things that caught the eye this week in the world of football; one obvious, the other less so, but equally worrying for football fans.
Four Corners’ expose of Australia’s bid for the 2018 World Cup on the ABC reminded us, again, of the nefarious process of wooing and entertaining prospective voters from FIFA’s executive committee.
Though the program focused more on the failings of Australia’s bid for the Cup, it was nonetheless distressing to see how comfortable these men find themselves in their current positions.
They are the ones who can drive change in the world game, starting at the top, and create a more democratic approach, but the chances of such change taking place look extremely slim.
The opposite is true at the moment. How else could Russia and Qatar have been awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights?
There are serious questions about how Russia’s infrastructure will cope with the influx of hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world.
A significant culture of racism from within Russia’s football community, meanwhile, was barely mentioned in Russia’s bid (a powerful anecdotal account of the abuse black players received in Russia can be found here.
And Qatar? A country whose capital city averages a temperature of 40 degrees in the summer is a mind-boggling choice from an organisation that claims to look after the well-being of its players and aims for the highest quality international football.
No amount of artificial cooling clouds or air-conditioned indoor stadiums can hide the fact that this was a dismal choice for a World Cup.
How FIFA selects the host nations for a World Cup is a more long-term issue.
But something else caught the eye this week, too: in the first half of QPR and Newcastle United’s 0-0 draw on Monday evening (a match more entertaining than the score would suggest), Shaun Wright-Phillips, the QPR winger, ran into a Newcastle player and fell over, well away from the ball.
Wright-Phillips felt he had been fouled, and ran screaming at the referee who correctly allowed the game to play on without pause.
Wright-Phillips then continued to abuse the referee for at least two minutes. The commentators laughed it off, and the crowd didn’t react at all, so commonplace have these histrionic displays become in today’s game.
It was a particularly bad look in comparison with the Rugby World Cup, an event at which only the team captain can speak to the referee, and severe punishments are dealt to those who show disrespect to the man with the whistle.
So far it has been a tournament of entertaining matches, and good sportsmanship from all of the players. Just a simple tweak of football’s rules could have seen Wright-Phillips given a yellow card for his rudeness, and a lesson for the other 21 players on the pitch.
But somehow, one gets the feeling that any positive changes to the game from the powers that be at FIFA are a long way off.
Bondy
Guest
Im sorry i dont understand the article .
thekeeper
Guest
Harry was very clever in his answers & probably won over more aussie rules fans. He transcends sport & pleasantly surprised how respectful they were towards him! His mere appearance on this put the Four Corners re-hash in the shade.
pete4
Guest
To end the week here's Harry's appearance on the AFL Footy Show
James Pennington
Roar Rookie
Tell me about it, I follow Bradford...!
Nathan of Perth
Guest
And HK apparently managed to get a fair run on the Footy Show even, there's a promising sign in this country (didn't see it personally, heard about it from the Au 442 boys)
Nathan of Perth
Guest
"I’ve said it before and I’ll happily repeat myself. Ref abuse and disrespect is scourge on football" Bravo! "No other code or sport allows what football does in this regard." Shirley, you must be joking!
gawa
Guest
I'd rather have the odd case of a brat-like football throwing the toys out his pram, than the mass brawls and physical violence that we witness locally in the non round ball sports. The fact that football fans are united in their dislike of footballers acting like spoilt brats yet in contrast the other sports fans and players alike think the physical violence is central to the core of their sports. As for a worrying week for football, the only thing most football fans worry about is their team losing or there not being enough hours in the day to watch the plethora of games from all corners of the world.
Axelv
Guest
"I’ve said it before and I’ll happily repeat myself. Ref abuse and disrespect is scourge on football. No other code or sport allows what football does in this regard. Its an absolute disgrace, and it could be so easily corrected." Have you ever heard of Serena Williams? or seen an AFL game? Or gone to a local AFL game, have you ever seen a cricket match? wtf is this rubbish You must live under a 1 dimensional rock. Welcome to sport.
apaway
Guest
I agree, Fuss, the refs in pro wrestling cop terrible abuse. But they also seem to miss an awful lot of important decisions!
Michael
Guest
God, what a negative article.
mahony
Guest
Nail - Head
James Pennington
Roar Rookie
Good story, thanks for the link. As I said in the article, I was commenting more on how FIFA is organised rather than trying to rake over the Cup bid. I think the FFA is doing a great job on the domestic scene, and hopefully the Kewell/Emerton signings wil help push the A-League to another level in terms of public and media interest.
pete4
Guest
No mention of Buckley's response to 4 Corners? "Four Corners misses good football news story" http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=40925
BigAl
Guest
What refs. ?
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Yet, FIFA is stronger than ever ... perhaps, a sign that FIFA is THE most powerful organisation on the planet? Since the Presidential controversy, FIFA has hosted 3 international tournaments that have been a HUGE success - huge crowds, huge TV audiences and, most importantly, mouth-watering football on the park. Most organisations struggle to organise 1 international tournament every 4 years! Some sporting organisations can only manage 1 inter-city sporting competition every year! Those, who love football - i.e. the actual GAME - have moved on. Seems to me that the only people still immersing themselves in issue about alleged maladministration of Football are those, who have little else to discuss in sport.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Ref abuse and disrespect is scourge on football. No other code or sport allows (it)" Really? Have you ever watched a Major League Baseball match? How about tennis - watched any tennis this week? I admit I haven't watched much tennis since McEnroe & Connors were on the court - now those were 2 upstanding gentlemen, who always accepted the decision of the umpire and linesmen, which is just as well, b/c that sport simply doesn't tolerate any type of dissent. Although, I did hear there was a bit of a brouhaha on Monday morning in some Women's Tennis final ... I guess, that was a small aberration on, perhaps, the 2nd most popular sport in the world? How about cricket? Now, I don't watch cricket, but the news highlights suggest the fielding team tries to intimidate the umpire every time there is a contentious decision. I won't even go into the "referee abuse" that is allowed in World Championship Wrestling! ;-)
The Cattery
Roar Guru
The 4 corners report was pretty much a confirmation of everything we already knew. Both the FFA and Government were probably shown up to be a bit naive, having been conned by a couple of fraudsters, blowing millions of dollars of taxpayer money, but ultimately, it's FIFA that is the one under the blow torch. Similarly, with ref abuse, it's all FIFA again. The comparison with Rugby during their world cup cannot be starker. In what is such a physically demanding game, where players are pummelling each other, and where ref's have to interpret a very technical rule book, the manner in which battered and bruised rugby players accept the ref's decision is exemplary, and the yardstick for all other sports. In the top European leagues, and at international level, the behaviour of soccer players towards refs is nothing short of atrocious. I think it's less of a problem in Australia, but once again, the more inaction we see from FIFA on this score, the more likely that this behaviour will permeate into the local version of the game, and I don't think anyone would want that.
Phutbol
Guest
I've said it before and I'll happily repeat myself. Ref abuse and disrespect is scourge on football. No other code or sport allows what football does in this regard. Its an absolute disgrace, and it could be so easily corrected. Captain only speaks to the ref, no crowding, no bleating, no backchat etc. yellow card to any other player that does it. Red card if they do it again. 2 or 3 examples of it being cracked down on at the highest level ie EPL etc, and it wont happen anymore. fixed. But FIFA has to grow some balls and do it. And it has to start at the elite level so it can filter down to club and grassroots as well.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Agree, Roger. I think I heard Martin Tyler mention Platini (Head of UEFA) has told the refs to really clamp down on such behaviour in the UCL. And ... surprise, suprise ... I watched 360 minutes of UCL football and there was NOT ONE instance of dissent from any player in the 4 matches.
Roger
Guest
Just to add to Fuss, I'd also say that players abusing the ref and getting away with it is getting less and less common. I have seen many a player sent off because they were abusive to the ref. So no, not worried.