Getting Irate So That You Don't Have To

Getting Irate So That You Don't Have To

Friday 8 May 2009

Time to Get Nasty


I see that Chelsea players Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack may be in hot water. I so, so hope
they are.

European football's governing body - Uefa - will meet next week to decide what (if any) sanction these two players should face following their outrageous protests to the referee during and after Wednesday night's game against Barcelona.


At some point the football authorities have to draw a red line through the ridiculous standard of behaviour among footballers and managers, and explain that protesting against officials' decisions is simply not acceptable.

It's so easy to do. You just say "Only one player on each side is permitted to talk to the referee during a game, and that's the captain. And if he questions a decision, he's off". It won't happen, of course. The authorities will continue to let things slide until we get scenes even uglier than those at Stamford Bridge. In the meantime, the millions of children who watch football are effectively taught that berating the referee is absolutely OK.

Personally I hope Uefa take a stand and throw the book at these spoilt brats: it's time to set an example.

In a separate development, I think my sat nav has bust. I keyed in "Chelsea" and it said: "Two mins from Rome".

1 comment:

Dick Puddlecote said...

Like the SatNav funny. :-)

Cloughie had the best solution to this problem. He said questioning referees merely wasted their energy and he'd fine any player caught doing it.

Why are the football authorities so slow in tackling this. They surely must see the respect in sports like rugby and be mortally ashamed?