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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Fault FIFA for tricks, not the players
By Ni Tao |
July 9, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MY girlfriend was nonchalant even after repeated video replays showed that England's midfielder Frank Lampard's blistering long-range shot just before half-time in the World Cup knockout match between England and Germany had clearly crossed the goal line.
"So what? Would that make a difference had the goal not been disallowed? The English were to lose the match anyway. Look at their defense. Miserable," she shrugged.
Knowing I couldn't get very far in persuading her, a staunch Germany football fan, to think otherwise, I desisted from futile and potentially irritating reasoning that the English goal unjustifiably denied might have turned the tables upon the Germans.
For soccer fans, glossing over the unfair advantages their sides enjoy is as much a bedrock right as grousing about refereeing. It may run counter to the fine principle of fair play but hardly warrants the grave charge of being unethical.
Yet Peter Singer, a scrupulous Princeton University professor of ethics, had no qualms about using damning words like "unethical" to abhor what he called the "win-at-all-costs rule" permeating soccer culture.
In a syndicated column published in the June 30 edition of Shanghai Daily, Singer lambastes Germany's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for his acts of "cheating and then getting away with it."
Singer quoted Neuer as saying that "I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realized it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over."
There is nothing egregiously wrong with Neuer's action, nor can a hint of swagger ?? which Singer strangely suggests ?? be clearly detected from his statement.
Singer may have misinterpreted "fooled" as an act of malicious intent, or it may even have been a misunderstanding due to translation.
At any rate, Neuer admitted promptly after the match that he "saw it on the television in the doping control office and saw what actually happened. And, yes, it was over (the goal line)." Goalkeepers have little time to react in Neuer's situation. All they can do is to act on instinct when a lot of things are happening in a matter of seconds.
There are indeed cases in which honest athletes would rather waive unearned chances mistakenly bestowed on them, like deliberately bungling a penalty kick that should not have been awarded in the first place.
Banality of evil
As Singer's logic goes, "Neuer could have been a hero, standing up for what is right. Instead, he is just another footballer who is very skillful at cheating."
I find his logic deeply flawed. If Neuer indeed has to account for his "misconduct," he can only be condemned for the "banality of evil," the famous phrase coined by philosopher Hannah Arendt. Even so, he looks entirely worthy of its first part and too unworthy of the latter.
Neuer has done his bit to clarify the existence of the goal. He stepped forward and recognized a "mistake" that was essentially not his own. Asking more of him would be a tall order.
Never has any sport been imbued with higher levels of national or ethnic pride than soccer. Inside adrenalin-packed stadiums, even the most upstanding players cannot always be counted on for moral consistency. Their sometimes brutish soccer persona may be a far cry from how they normally behave in daily life.
Singer's hope that soccer would become clean, ethical and devoid of the dirty tricks and moral lapses we so often see today sounds naive, unless FIFA, the sport's feckless governing body, is willing to take action to change the sport's image as a free-for-all ?? that winning is the all-redeeming rationale for unjustifiable, even disgraceful means of securing victories.
This year's World Cup tournament looks set to go down in infamy for its endless wrong offside calls, phantom foul calls, undeserved red cards and the infernal din of cheaply sold and thus ubiquitous vuvuzelas.
We saw an Ivory Coast player feigning agony after sustaining a relatively harmless elbow by Brazilian playmaker Kaka, who received his first red card in seven years.
Compared with this blatant sleight of hand, I don't quite get it why Neuer was singled out as though he was the most "unethical" among all cheaters.
Feckless FIFA
A more appropriate target of Singer's criticism should've been FIFA, which has been letting all the bad referee calls happen while digging in its heels in its refusal to use video evidence.
In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Germany lost its semifinal against Spain and once again, the ref studiously ignored an apparent foul against Germany's Mesut Oezil in the penalty area. Which leaves me wondering how hard it is for FIFA to live up to its expectation as a fair arbiter, at least once, while it continuously casts itself in this light.
If further discussion is needed on the possibility of introducing video evidence to settle disputes on the pitch, FIFA has plenty of other options at hand to eradicate the blemishes that mar the "beautiful game."
For instance, it can discipline players who pull shenanigans, like diving and phantom fouls, to con referees into granting spot kicks. It may also consider barring from international competition for a certain period of time ?? even for life ?? players who intentionally block goals with their hands.
These suggestions, if adopted, could go a long way toward shoring up FIFA's rapidly diminishing credibility, in addition to lending weight to its stated aim of promoting fair play ?? not only competition, and certainly not treachery, in soccer.
Now that I have a heartbroken girlfriend to comfort after the German letdown, I have acquired another powerful reason to hope that the Netherlands, the team I have rooted for since my boyhood, will go on to defeat the Spaniards in the final.
My small piece of advice to FIFA officials: don't spoil it this time.
"So what? Would that make a difference had the goal not been disallowed? The English were to lose the match anyway. Look at their defense. Miserable," she shrugged.
Knowing I couldn't get very far in persuading her, a staunch Germany football fan, to think otherwise, I desisted from futile and potentially irritating reasoning that the English goal unjustifiably denied might have turned the tables upon the Germans.
For soccer fans, glossing over the unfair advantages their sides enjoy is as much a bedrock right as grousing about refereeing. It may run counter to the fine principle of fair play but hardly warrants the grave charge of being unethical.
Yet Peter Singer, a scrupulous Princeton University professor of ethics, had no qualms about using damning words like "unethical" to abhor what he called the "win-at-all-costs rule" permeating soccer culture.
In a syndicated column published in the June 30 edition of Shanghai Daily, Singer lambastes Germany's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for his acts of "cheating and then getting away with it."
Singer quoted Neuer as saying that "I tried not to react to the referee and just concentrate on what was happening. I realized it was over the line and I think the way I carried on so quickly fooled the referee into thinking it was not over."
There is nothing egregiously wrong with Neuer's action, nor can a hint of swagger ?? which Singer strangely suggests ?? be clearly detected from his statement.
Singer may have misinterpreted "fooled" as an act of malicious intent, or it may even have been a misunderstanding due to translation.
At any rate, Neuer admitted promptly after the match that he "saw it on the television in the doping control office and saw what actually happened. And, yes, it was over (the goal line)." Goalkeepers have little time to react in Neuer's situation. All they can do is to act on instinct when a lot of things are happening in a matter of seconds.
There are indeed cases in which honest athletes would rather waive unearned chances mistakenly bestowed on them, like deliberately bungling a penalty kick that should not have been awarded in the first place.
Banality of evil
As Singer's logic goes, "Neuer could have been a hero, standing up for what is right. Instead, he is just another footballer who is very skillful at cheating."
I find his logic deeply flawed. If Neuer indeed has to account for his "misconduct," he can only be condemned for the "banality of evil," the famous phrase coined by philosopher Hannah Arendt. Even so, he looks entirely worthy of its first part and too unworthy of the latter.
Neuer has done his bit to clarify the existence of the goal. He stepped forward and recognized a "mistake" that was essentially not his own. Asking more of him would be a tall order.
Never has any sport been imbued with higher levels of national or ethnic pride than soccer. Inside adrenalin-packed stadiums, even the most upstanding players cannot always be counted on for moral consistency. Their sometimes brutish soccer persona may be a far cry from how they normally behave in daily life.
Singer's hope that soccer would become clean, ethical and devoid of the dirty tricks and moral lapses we so often see today sounds naive, unless FIFA, the sport's feckless governing body, is willing to take action to change the sport's image as a free-for-all ?? that winning is the all-redeeming rationale for unjustifiable, even disgraceful means of securing victories.
This year's World Cup tournament looks set to go down in infamy for its endless wrong offside calls, phantom foul calls, undeserved red cards and the infernal din of cheaply sold and thus ubiquitous vuvuzelas.
We saw an Ivory Coast player feigning agony after sustaining a relatively harmless elbow by Brazilian playmaker Kaka, who received his first red card in seven years.
Compared with this blatant sleight of hand, I don't quite get it why Neuer was singled out as though he was the most "unethical" among all cheaters.
Feckless FIFA
A more appropriate target of Singer's criticism should've been FIFA, which has been letting all the bad referee calls happen while digging in its heels in its refusal to use video evidence.
In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Germany lost its semifinal against Spain and once again, the ref studiously ignored an apparent foul against Germany's Mesut Oezil in the penalty area. Which leaves me wondering how hard it is for FIFA to live up to its expectation as a fair arbiter, at least once, while it continuously casts itself in this light.
If further discussion is needed on the possibility of introducing video evidence to settle disputes on the pitch, FIFA has plenty of other options at hand to eradicate the blemishes that mar the "beautiful game."
For instance, it can discipline players who pull shenanigans, like diving and phantom fouls, to con referees into granting spot kicks. It may also consider barring from international competition for a certain period of time ?? even for life ?? players who intentionally block goals with their hands.
These suggestions, if adopted, could go a long way toward shoring up FIFA's rapidly diminishing credibility, in addition to lending weight to its stated aim of promoting fair play ?? not only competition, and certainly not treachery, in soccer.
Now that I have a heartbroken girlfriend to comfort after the German letdown, I have acquired another powerful reason to hope that the Netherlands, the team I have rooted for since my boyhood, will go on to defeat the Spaniards in the final.
My small piece of advice to FIFA officials: don't spoil it this time.
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