A player knocks the ball … the ball rolls out … every player nearby including the one who knocks it out raises their hand to claim the right for the throw in.  A player mistimed a tackle … knocked a player and felled him … then turns back and raised him hands in disagreement with the referee for calling for a free kick.  Doesn’t all that sounds too familiar in the recent World Cup?  Or any competitive football game for that matter.

What was more obvious in this World-Cup?  The German Keeper missed the ball, turned back and saw it bouncing beyond the line, grabbed it and quickly throw it back out.  An Argentine striker received the ball knowing he’s way offside, continued to score the goal and immediately celebrated!  This is the most watched game on earth and the players were supposed to be role model to our future generations, what happened?

Before I continue, I’d like to show a videos of fantastic sportsmanship.

 

* Paolo DiCanio catches the ball instead of heading it in when the keeper was down injured.

* Football player who refuses penalty which was wrongly awarded.

I remember seeing another video on Roger Federer signalling to the umpire on the wrong decision made in favour of himself, and he went on to lose the game with his head held high!  Couldn’t find the video on youtube but it’s one of the videos in Stephen M.R. Covey’s “Speed of Trust”.

Those were what I really mean by good sportsmanship.  It’s not all about winning, it’s about winning it the right way!

So why did football ended up this way?  I believe it’s a matter of rules, enforcement and expectations that creates that culture.  If anyone watches Lawn Bowl, you would quickly realize that there isn’t exactly a referee or umpire required for Lawn Bowl.  Not because there’s no subjective calls to be made, but it’s just the way the game is played - based on unanimous agreement and honesty!  Since cheating wasn’t part of the game, there wasn’t a motivation to cheat.

In football or most team-based sports however, the motivation to cheat is present.  Why?  Because “not getting caught” becomes a challenge that trills the players.  When there’s enforcement officer present, the subconscious mind is telling us that “what the enforcement officer says is law” which also means “if the enforcement officer is quite about it, it’s not wrong”.  Therefore, self-regulated environment often creates better sportsmanship that enforcer regulated ones.

Next would be the expectation.  There are more expectations to win than to play fair.  The society, the fans, the leaders are all rewarding winners but not fair players.  Imagine if a player decline a penalty which was wrongly given to him and result in his team losing, what would the coach say to him?  What would his teammates say?  How will the fans react?  Similiarly, if a player cheated and won the game, he will only be remembered for winning the game but not condemned for the cheat.  Isn’t that true for Maradona’s Hand of God?  The Hand of God became a celebrated pride instead of something to be condemned.  So if that’s how we’re rewarding our sportsmen, we can’t complain about the new breed of “sportsmanship”.

Finally, there were no controls to “right the wrong”.  In the real world, if someone commits a crime, even when a police fail to catch him/her at the crimescene, he/she will still be charged if there are sufficient evidence.  In football however, unsportsmanlike behaviour often goes unpunished even when there’s video evidence and the whole world sees it.  Yes, some may argue that players who throw punches when referee doesn’t see it may still get disciplinary panel suspending them later, but I’m talking about the “minor offences” such as claiming to not have touched the ball although he clearly did, using the hand to knock the ball into the net, or keepers that throws the ball out after seeing that it has clearly passed the line.

If those below were enforced, do you think the whole gameplay will be different?

• Keepers who cleared after it has passed the line may be suspended for 3 games and lose the game by default if video evidence shows it after the game.
• Players who claim innocence after knocking the ball out to be suspended for a game.
• Players who uses abusive languages get automatic red card.
• Players who argued with referees decision suspended from the tournament if found guilty according to video evidence.

If FIFA doesn’t want to use video evidence during gameplay for reasons such as “tradition”, speed, momentum, game-time and many others raised earlier; using video evidence to punish more severely after the game has ended may be the right move to cultivate a more positive behaviour.  And in long run, to turn football into a players self-regulated game instead.

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Tags: Culture, enforcement, expectations, honesty, integrity, paolo di canio, roger federer, rules, sports, World Cup

This entry was posted by Clayton J.C Tan on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Culture, Leadership & Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.