Post by Lollipop on May 11, 2006 14:38:28 GMT -1
Stupid Americans
Cheats Win Out Over Class
WASHINGTON, DC (MNN) - It may seem like a stupid question, but how important is winning in soccer? Two very different games over the past few days have illustrated that winning is, to some, the be all and end all of playing the game, no matter what the stakes. At the same time, they have raised the question of whether the game is worth playing at all if the object is to kick and cheat your way to victory while eschewing beauty and morals.
On Monday in England, Leeds United beat Preston North End in the second leg of the Championship (second tier) playoff semifinal by 2-0, winning the two match series 3-1 on overall goals and securing a place in the final where, if they win, they'll be promoted to the Premier League. In the process they also had eight roster players yellow-carded, two red-carded, and broke the leg of Preston striker Brett Ormerod (an offense for which Leeds' Jonathan Douglas went unpunished) and the cheekbone of goalkeeper Carlo Nash.
Playoff games are rarely a delight to watch for the neutral, and there's big Premier League money at stake here, with Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell calling it a "£40 million tie." Despite his side's conspicuously ugly tackling, he criticized the referee for being too harsh on his players. Preston manager Billy Davies was stoical in saying, "We'll live and learn." This probably means that should his team make the same stages of the competition next year, they too will kick their opponents off the park in order to win.
"Dirty Leeds" was the nickname of Don Revie's successful but much hated United side of the 1970s. After that, Leeds spent a long time in the second division before re-emerging in the 1990s, and even making the semi final of the Champions League in 2000. But they overspent trying to maintain standards, went down again, and are now so heavily in debt that they desperately need that Premiership money once more. Clearly, the feeling at the club is that they must gain promotion at all costs, even if it means breaking bones.
Now to the second game, which took place the day before in the less charged surroundings of suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, between two teams in the Over 35 League (Division 2). The team that I run, Bethesda, was tied for first place with the team we were playing, both with a 100% record and the same goal difference. It's as near to a 'big' game as we come, and halfway through the second half the game was still deadlocked at 0-0.One of our opponents crossed from the right wing, and his fellow forward, unable to control the ball on the hard, bouncy pitch, clearly and deliberately controlled the ball with his hand before smacking it into the net from two yards out. Everyone saw it, except for the two referees, who despite some vigorous protests from my players, awarded the goal, having somehow failed to spot the offense. I appealed to the opposing captain, whom I know quite well, but he did an Arsene Wenger on me and claimed he too had been as blinded as the refs and "didn't see it" (must have been the angle of the three suns). I naively hoped he'd appeal to his players for a fair confession, but he didn't. Final score: 1-0.
I can live with a defeat like that, and so can most of my players, who pointed out that the ref at our end compounded his bad officiating with a couple of make-up calls in our favor. But that's beside the point. What rankled with me was the fact that our opponents happily cheated in such a blatant fashion in order to win a game in a league of such little consequence. Did they go home happy? Did they look at the scoreline and think, "Great result, even though we won by cheating?"
And did Leeds United fans and club officials look at the Preston result and celebrate without caring about the negative style of play and the broken bones? Undoubtedly. To question the manner of victory is to raise questions about your loyalty to your team. If you cry 'foul play', you're not passionate enough about winning. If you suggest that someone should have held his hand up and admitted that, in the heat of the moment, he'd deliberately handballed, then you don't understand the 'culture' of soccer.
Yet the rules are the same the world over. A foul is a foul in England just as it is in Australia. A handball is foul play in Colombia just as it is in North Korea. If you deliberately break the rules you're penalized. At least, that's what I thought.
But Leeds United and my now top-of-the-table rival team in the Montgomery County Over 35 League (Division 2) have shown that, given the chance, they will try and get away with it. Hack your opponents to bits, sneak your hand on the ball, pull a shirt, take a dive, lobby the ref, anything will do if it hastens the right result. Winning for money, winning for pleasure, there's no difference.
Sometimes a week like this can make you wonder if it's all worthwhile, as moments of genuine skill diminish ever more in favor of sporting larceny. Never mind your ability to play, what about your ability to cheat and, even better, get away with it? It's all right, because everyone else is doing it too. Even casual Sunday league players.
Right at the moment we should be gearing up for a month of world class soccer played by the globe's greatest players. Yet I feel like I'd rather lock up my cleats, shut down my computer and TV for three months, throw away my World Cup tickets and take a break from the whole sorry charade, because I can't help feeling it's going to be a long, controversial summer where the attention will be focused as much on the referees as it is on Ronaldinho.
It seems the best we can hope for is that a team wins the World Cup through reasonably fair play and not by way of dirty Leeds. So few players, coaches and administrators care any more about the way to victory that the end's hoisted trophy justifies all the means of getting there, while fairness and flair are for the losers slouching away from the ticker-tape parade.
So the answer to my original question of 'How important is winning in soccer?' is clear:
Winning is everything. Losing is nothing, idiot. Maybe my team needs a new coach and I need a new game. I hear that it's hard to cheat at tiddlywinks.
![8-)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/cool.png)
Cheats Win Out Over Class
WASHINGTON, DC (MNN) - It may seem like a stupid question, but how important is winning in soccer? Two very different games over the past few days have illustrated that winning is, to some, the be all and end all of playing the game, no matter what the stakes. At the same time, they have raised the question of whether the game is worth playing at all if the object is to kick and cheat your way to victory while eschewing beauty and morals.
On Monday in England, Leeds United beat Preston North End in the second leg of the Championship (second tier) playoff semifinal by 2-0, winning the two match series 3-1 on overall goals and securing a place in the final where, if they win, they'll be promoted to the Premier League. In the process they also had eight roster players yellow-carded, two red-carded, and broke the leg of Preston striker Brett Ormerod (an offense for which Leeds' Jonathan Douglas went unpunished) and the cheekbone of goalkeeper Carlo Nash.
Playoff games are rarely a delight to watch for the neutral, and there's big Premier League money at stake here, with Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell calling it a "£40 million tie." Despite his side's conspicuously ugly tackling, he criticized the referee for being too harsh on his players. Preston manager Billy Davies was stoical in saying, "We'll live and learn." This probably means that should his team make the same stages of the competition next year, they too will kick their opponents off the park in order to win.
"Dirty Leeds" was the nickname of Don Revie's successful but much hated United side of the 1970s. After that, Leeds spent a long time in the second division before re-emerging in the 1990s, and even making the semi final of the Champions League in 2000. But they overspent trying to maintain standards, went down again, and are now so heavily in debt that they desperately need that Premiership money once more. Clearly, the feeling at the club is that they must gain promotion at all costs, even if it means breaking bones.
Now to the second game, which took place the day before in the less charged surroundings of suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, between two teams in the Over 35 League (Division 2). The team that I run, Bethesda, was tied for first place with the team we were playing, both with a 100% record and the same goal difference. It's as near to a 'big' game as we come, and halfway through the second half the game was still deadlocked at 0-0.One of our opponents crossed from the right wing, and his fellow forward, unable to control the ball on the hard, bouncy pitch, clearly and deliberately controlled the ball with his hand before smacking it into the net from two yards out. Everyone saw it, except for the two referees, who despite some vigorous protests from my players, awarded the goal, having somehow failed to spot the offense. I appealed to the opposing captain, whom I know quite well, but he did an Arsene Wenger on me and claimed he too had been as blinded as the refs and "didn't see it" (must have been the angle of the three suns). I naively hoped he'd appeal to his players for a fair confession, but he didn't. Final score: 1-0.
I can live with a defeat like that, and so can most of my players, who pointed out that the ref at our end compounded his bad officiating with a couple of make-up calls in our favor. But that's beside the point. What rankled with me was the fact that our opponents happily cheated in such a blatant fashion in order to win a game in a league of such little consequence. Did they go home happy? Did they look at the scoreline and think, "Great result, even though we won by cheating?"
And did Leeds United fans and club officials look at the Preston result and celebrate without caring about the negative style of play and the broken bones? Undoubtedly. To question the manner of victory is to raise questions about your loyalty to your team. If you cry 'foul play', you're not passionate enough about winning. If you suggest that someone should have held his hand up and admitted that, in the heat of the moment, he'd deliberately handballed, then you don't understand the 'culture' of soccer.
Yet the rules are the same the world over. A foul is a foul in England just as it is in Australia. A handball is foul play in Colombia just as it is in North Korea. If you deliberately break the rules you're penalized. At least, that's what I thought.
But Leeds United and my now top-of-the-table rival team in the Montgomery County Over 35 League (Division 2) have shown that, given the chance, they will try and get away with it. Hack your opponents to bits, sneak your hand on the ball, pull a shirt, take a dive, lobby the ref, anything will do if it hastens the right result. Winning for money, winning for pleasure, there's no difference.
Sometimes a week like this can make you wonder if it's all worthwhile, as moments of genuine skill diminish ever more in favor of sporting larceny. Never mind your ability to play, what about your ability to cheat and, even better, get away with it? It's all right, because everyone else is doing it too. Even casual Sunday league players.
Right at the moment we should be gearing up for a month of world class soccer played by the globe's greatest players. Yet I feel like I'd rather lock up my cleats, shut down my computer and TV for three months, throw away my World Cup tickets and take a break from the whole sorry charade, because I can't help feeling it's going to be a long, controversial summer where the attention will be focused as much on the referees as it is on Ronaldinho.
It seems the best we can hope for is that a team wins the World Cup through reasonably fair play and not by way of dirty Leeds. So few players, coaches and administrators care any more about the way to victory that the end's hoisted trophy justifies all the means of getting there, while fairness and flair are for the losers slouching away from the ticker-tape parade.
So the answer to my original question of 'How important is winning in soccer?' is clear:
Winning is everything. Losing is nothing, idiot. Maybe my team needs a new coach and I need a new game. I hear that it's hard to cheat at tiddlywinks.
![8-)](http://storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/cool.png)