Posts
By Raghavan
This is no good. We are supposed to be watching football. I mean healthy action. And we want to see managers brag and boast in front of the media after victories while the losing managers serve up give crappy excuses that make us go 'Oh really?'. Don't we need action that showcases brilliance of 22 uniformed men on the field and less of play-acting and uncivilized behaviour? But just 3 months into this BPL season we have more side-stories and trash-talking and ranting than is available on episodes of RAW and Smackdown these days. And perhaps, a few would instances would topple WWE's two brands on censorship ratings (which by the way toned down vulgarity to be eligible to cover a larger age-group).
More of it has been residual evil from the previous season (from almost an year ago). Everyone saw the blurred mouth of Chelsea skip John Terry calling QP Ranger, Anton Ferdinand, a 'f****** black c***'. As in every club, Terry's club stood by him. Fair enough. But things didn't end there, did they? Then followed the 'choc-ice' reference to Ashley Cole by Anton's bro Rio, for giving a favorable testimony for Terry in court. All this happened before the summer transfer window (or during). Terry was banned by the FA for 4 games from all FA competitions. The verdict had a minor spill-over and many outside the Chelsea fold accused FA of double standards for last years 12 match ban of Scouser Luis Suarez (more of him to follow) for calling Rio's Man United team-mate Patrice Evra a 'Negrito' and Suarez's impolite refusal to shake Evra's hand before the reverse fixture earlier this year. The mixed pot of all these occupied half the articles in all leading football news sites for the past few weeks, notably the boycott from wearing 'kick it' (racism) armbands by Rio Ferdinand (he was understandably distraught that his brother's abuser got away lightly and was critical of how serious FA is about 'kicking it') and Jason Roberts. Reports aside, every passer-by had an opinion on whether Rio was proper in sending such a message or he is being uncooperative. My opinion: Well I'm not really fond of Ferdinand, but it doesn't take much to see that he has been personally distraught by the efforts of FA in 'kicking it', and he being a black, when he says FA is not doing enough we are entitled to believe him. And it's not as if we cannot see it ourselves. The bad thing is judgmental opinions and judicial cacophony have started over-shadowing on-field news and articles.
Rio did shake hands with Ashley Cole before the latest match, but perhaps he was pacified by a certain meeting point with Cole after Cole called the FA a 'bunch of t***s'. Rio expressed that the actions by FA and PFA in kicking out racism were below desirable levels and didn't say anything Cole-esque. But you get my point. A 90,000 pound fine for Cole and a lot more drivel on this issue in all football sites.
And there's this man from Uruguay who's name, right now, fetches most results in Google. If racism wasn't enough we have a seasoned simulator in Suarez. Suarez's slur with Evra and the consequent handshake fiasco were pushed to the back burner with the Terry saga taking center stage. However, determined not to be left back, Suarez was back in the news with every opposing manager accusing the Liverpool forward of simulating dives and putting pressure on the referee. Some, notably SAF and Wenger, blame the malaise on foreign players, but English players are no saints either (more on that next). But Suarez certainly seems to have a problem with going down and needs some serious professional help unless he proves me wrong and bucks the trend soon. The dive against stoke was particularly embarrassing, so much so that not only did he get booked for it, he became a 'boy who cried wolf' and Robert Huth's stomp on his chest went unnoticed by the referee. A few days later a lot of brickbats were thrown at him with everyone from Laurent Koscielny to David Moyes stopping just short of labeling him a blatant cheat. His response against Everton was impressive but his celebration in the form of a dive was unwarranted. Karma caught up mildly with him when he was denied a late winning goal, wrongly ruled offside. It will take real reform if his name is to stop appearing in the news for all wrong reasons.
And this last piece takes the cake. Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United. No not what happened in the big part of the match, but at the fag end, almost right after the winning goal. To do a quick recce: Lets admit it, deliberate/paid/influenced or not, Mark Clattenburg was woeful. Say 'aye' to whatever you agree with:
1. Torres lifted his boot too high and plonked Cleverely right up in his torso. Wasn't much different to when Evans knocked out Drogba two seasons ago. My verdict: straight red. Referee view: Good
2. Rooney and Hazard vie to win the ball. Hazard beats Rooney to it, Roo sticks out a foot, Hazard un-entangles from it and makes a meal out of Roo. Roo enraged chases all the way back and clumsily hacks down Hazard, two-footed. Verdict: Straight red. Referee view: Right before his eyes.
3. Young. Oh yeah him. He was already on the list of simulators among many after his hilarious plunge last season against (Wigan or Fulham? I dunno who). Ivanovic retreating back to stop Young who was on the break. Doesn't do much at all, Ivanovic, and Young is on the ground. If he falls for that he should be tripping over every blade of grass on the field. Verdict: Yellow for diving for Young. You may think the referee was constricted to the fact that Ivanovic was the last man, but that's simply not good enough, not after you have already been pretty bad till that point.
4. And Torres' second yellow. Yes Torres deserved a red much earlier. The referee had a good view and Evans (as he himself was expecting then contrary to the rubbish he told the media later) should have been booked.
5. I forgive the linesman. One mistake is forgivable, not half a dozen.
It doesn't stop there. After the match Evans and SAF have the nerve to say Torres deserved a red because he chose to go down. Admit it, Evans, you were expecting a card yourself. And then Chicarito, who is blamed for instigating a mini riot, has the nerve to say ' we got three point...nothing else matters'. A win and all decency and humility is thrown to the winds. Much worse came from Chelsea's side, hold on! Roberto di Matteo, who till now was known to be more calm than a Tibetan monk, publicly blamed Clattenburg for the loss. But that's the least ugly of all-
Chelsea almost immediately and suspiciously accused Clattenberg of racially abusing Mikel and calling Mata a 'Spanish t***'. If one should practice what they preach, they better hold off the complaint and return it after stripping Terry off his captaincy. Defending a known culprit and blaming another simply does not hold water. It is all more hollow that a wet piece of timber log that has been eaten thorough by termites. A devious attempt to prevent Clattenburg from further officiating their matches as was done to him by Everton??
But Chelsea's crowd take the cake. If Chicarito was a d***head to go and show a 'C' (someone tell me what that means please) after scoring a goal that nothing but non-existant, the fans were much worse. What else can be made of in punching a steward and send him tumbling down. When Chelsea haters call them a 'Mafia club' this is probably what they meant. Is tolerance all but gone? Same time last season they were nowhere. Someone needs to remind them to be thankful for where they are now and not tear seats and throw coins on the field.
BPL now needs to be cleaned with bleaching powder, drainex and what all other sanitary cleaners you can think of. Till then, the German Bundesliga, where 0 added minutes are common, provides healthy respite. Perhaps that's because it's less popular and hence less coverage to scum. But I'll take it anyways.
This is no good. We are supposed to be watching football. I mean healthy action. And we want to see managers brag and boast in front of the media after victories while the losing managers serve up give crappy excuses that make us go 'Oh really?'. Don't we need action that showcases brilliance of 22 uniformed men on the field and less of play-acting and uncivilized behaviour? But just 3 months into this BPL season we have more side-stories and trash-talking and ranting than is available on episodes of RAW and Smackdown these days. And perhaps, a few would instances would topple WWE's two brands on censorship ratings (which by the way toned down vulgarity to be eligible to cover a larger age-group).
More of it has been residual evil from the previous season (from almost an year ago). Everyone saw the blurred mouth of Chelsea skip John Terry calling QP Ranger, Anton Ferdinand, a 'f****** black c***'. As in every club, Terry's club stood by him. Fair enough. But things didn't end there, did they? Then followed the 'choc-ice' reference to Ashley Cole by Anton's bro Rio, for giving a favorable testimony for Terry in court. All this happened before the summer transfer window (or during). Terry was banned by the FA for 4 games from all FA competitions. The verdict had a minor spill-over and many outside the Chelsea fold accused FA of double standards for last years 12 match ban of Scouser Luis Suarez (more of him to follow) for calling Rio's Man United team-mate Patrice Evra a 'Negrito' and Suarez's impolite refusal to shake Evra's hand before the reverse fixture earlier this year. The mixed pot of all these occupied half the articles in all leading football news sites for the past few weeks, notably the boycott from wearing 'kick it' (racism) armbands by Rio Ferdinand (he was understandably distraught that his brother's abuser got away lightly and was critical of how serious FA is about 'kicking it') and Jason Roberts. Reports aside, every passer-by had an opinion on whether Rio was proper in sending such a message or he is being uncooperative. My opinion: Well I'm not really fond of Ferdinand, but it doesn't take much to see that he has been personally distraught by the efforts of FA in 'kicking it', and he being a black, when he says FA is not doing enough we are entitled to believe him. And it's not as if we cannot see it ourselves. The bad thing is judgmental opinions and judicial cacophony have started over-shadowing on-field news and articles.
Rio did shake hands with Ashley Cole before the latest match, but perhaps he was pacified by a certain meeting point with Cole after Cole called the FA a 'bunch of t***s'. Rio expressed that the actions by FA and PFA in kicking out racism were below desirable levels and didn't say anything Cole-esque. But you get my point. A 90,000 pound fine for Cole and a lot more drivel on this issue in all football sites.
And there's this man from Uruguay who's name, right now, fetches most results in Google. If racism wasn't enough we have a seasoned simulator in Suarez. Suarez's slur with Evra and the consequent handshake fiasco were pushed to the back burner with the Terry saga taking center stage. However, determined not to be left back, Suarez was back in the news with every opposing manager accusing the Liverpool forward of simulating dives and putting pressure on the referee. Some, notably SAF and Wenger, blame the malaise on foreign players, but English players are no saints either (more on that next). But Suarez certainly seems to have a problem with going down and needs some serious professional help unless he proves me wrong and bucks the trend soon. The dive against stoke was particularly embarrassing, so much so that not only did he get booked for it, he became a 'boy who cried wolf' and Robert Huth's stomp on his chest went unnoticed by the referee. A few days later a lot of brickbats were thrown at him with everyone from Laurent Koscielny to David Moyes stopping just short of labeling him a blatant cheat. His response against Everton was impressive but his celebration in the form of a dive was unwarranted. Karma caught up mildly with him when he was denied a late winning goal, wrongly ruled offside. It will take real reform if his name is to stop appearing in the news for all wrong reasons.
And this last piece takes the cake. Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United. No not what happened in the big part of the match, but at the fag end, almost right after the winning goal. To do a quick recce: Lets admit it, deliberate/paid/influenced or not, Mark Clattenburg was woeful. Say 'aye' to whatever you agree with:
1. Torres lifted his boot too high and plonked Cleverely right up in his torso. Wasn't much different to when Evans knocked out Drogba two seasons ago. My verdict: straight red. Referee view: Good
2. Rooney and Hazard vie to win the ball. Hazard beats Rooney to it, Roo sticks out a foot, Hazard un-entangles from it and makes a meal out of Roo. Roo enraged chases all the way back and clumsily hacks down Hazard, two-footed. Verdict: Straight red. Referee view: Right before his eyes.
3. Young. Oh yeah him. He was already on the list of simulators among many after his hilarious plunge last season against (Wigan or Fulham? I dunno who). Ivanovic retreating back to stop Young who was on the break. Doesn't do much at all, Ivanovic, and Young is on the ground. If he falls for that he should be tripping over every blade of grass on the field. Verdict: Yellow for diving for Young. You may think the referee was constricted to the fact that Ivanovic was the last man, but that's simply not good enough, not after you have already been pretty bad till that point.
4. And Torres' second yellow. Yes Torres deserved a red much earlier. The referee had a good view and Evans (as he himself was expecting then contrary to the rubbish he told the media later) should have been booked.
5. I forgive the linesman. One mistake is forgivable, not half a dozen.
It doesn't stop there. After the match Evans and SAF have the nerve to say Torres deserved a red because he chose to go down. Admit it, Evans, you were expecting a card yourself. And then Chicarito, who is blamed for instigating a mini riot, has the nerve to say ' we got three point...nothing else matters'. A win and all decency and humility is thrown to the winds. Much worse came from Chelsea's side, hold on! Roberto di Matteo, who till now was known to be more calm than a Tibetan monk, publicly blamed Clattenburg for the loss. But that's the least ugly of all-
Chelsea almost immediately and suspiciously accused Clattenberg of racially abusing Mikel and calling Mata a 'Spanish t***'. If one should practice what they preach, they better hold off the complaint and return it after stripping Terry off his captaincy. Defending a known culprit and blaming another simply does not hold water. It is all more hollow that a wet piece of timber log that has been eaten thorough by termites. A devious attempt to prevent Clattenburg from further officiating their matches as was done to him by Everton??
BPL now needs to be cleaned with bleaching powder, drainex and what all other sanitary cleaners you can think of. Till then, the German Bundesliga, where 0 added minutes are common, provides healthy respite. Perhaps that's because it's less popular and hence less coverage to scum. But I'll take it anyways.
