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No ifs or butts - it's time for TV evidence: SMITH ON SOCCER



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Published Date: 03 July 2008
LISTEN carefully at training grounds all over the country and you'll hear the occasional throaty retch of over-holidayed players throwing up.
Pre-season training has begun.

Soon we'll be in the swing of another campaign with all the drama, worry and hope that only football can bring.

And still they've done nothing.

The FA, UEFA and FIFA are still rubbing their hands with glee at the successful and hugely entertaining European Championships, won by Spain and enjoyed by billions all over the world.

Within all the thoroughly justified hype and celebration was an incident that will return to haunt football unless technology is allowed to play a part in ensuring justice on the field.

In the final between Spain and Germany, not, it has to be said, countries averse to a little simulation from time to time, there was a clash between Ludo Podolski and David Silva off the ball and the two went nose to nose.

Silva then pulled his head back and butted Podolski.

Not a three-days-in-hospital butt but a clear butt nonetheless.

Podolski - to the complete shock of millions in front rooms and bars around Europe - stayed on his feet, rubbed his face and got on with it.
No theatrical fall or rolling around holding his face, no arched back or flailing legs.

And what happened?

Nothing.

How was Podolski's genuine reaction rewarded?

It wasn't. He was ignored and ultimately he was the one punished.

If Podolski had made a method-acting meal of it Silva might have been sent off and the game might have worked out differently.

What does this tell players - who are barely getting the message telling them NOT to throw themselves over at every opportunity?

It tells them that honesty doesn't pay.

It says that unless you let everyone know what has happened to you with a theatrical flourish, then you'll get nothing.

Germany Captain Michael Ballack saw it and gestured as much to the referee who ignored him.

We have got to the stage where referees EXPECT simulation and actually NEED it to let them know there has been an incident.
Madness.

But a madness easily cured by a fifth official's access to a CCTV screen in the stand where technology would have rewarded honesty and punished a clear offender.

But still the self-congratulatory suits in Zurich do nothing.

All it would take is the stroke of a pen and a few million quid in grants from their bulging coffers.

But that would be too easy.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

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The full article contains 472 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 03 July 2008 9:07 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Sheffield
 
 

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