Respect Issue In Sports

[The Undercover Man]

So, in the past few weeks we have seen, yet again more disrespect to referees in football. We seen Didier Drogba throw a coin back into the crowd, now is that the message the FA wants to send out to supporters? That its ok to retaliate back? Only last week we saw Christiano Ronaldo recieve a yellow card and then mock the referee's decision by clapping sarcastically. Is this the message we want to send out to young children who are watching the game?

So lets contrast football with Rugby, Rugby is a "gentlemans" game according to most people. It is played under huge respect for both the referee and the opposition. The rules in Rugby are far more stricter then any other sport. You get a sin-bin just for showing disrespect towards and official. Could this benefit football? Could this Rugby way of officiating possibly be bought into the way football is officiated? If so, would this be an upgrade or a downgrade in footballing terms?

A few months back the FA recently started a campaign to try to stop this disrespect towards referee's in football and the dissent players show after they have been challenged by the officials. This obviously does'nt seem to be working because its still going on, referee's are still left to feel intimidated and damned if they do and damned if they don't. Meaning they feel they can't give the correct sanctions to players otherwise the managers come out and blatanly say "Ref X isn't good enough to be an official".

So, i ask you this. Has football improved in general? Has the respect iniciative really got through to the players,managers and the fans?

 

[OIL]

Football has improved greatly.

Towards the players, you don't see them shout at the ref as much as last season. A lot of the time now, they're actually talking to the ref with respect, not just swearing at him because they got a decision against them. Of course, you'll get the times when this isn't the case, but in the heat of the moment when 3 points means a lot, you can understand to a degree why they react the way they do.

To the managers, well it's yes and no. You've seen instances when the managers are still berating the officials, such as Sir Alex Ferguson, who now has a 2 match touchline ban for his reaction towards an official. But then you have the other cases, such as Scolari where until recently, didn't say a word against the referee. So it is starting to seep through to the managers.

The fans, well not really. Most of the passion is lost if you stop them having a go at players or officials. Sure, most of the time they're not saying nice things but that's part of the parcel in being a fan, having a proper go at the opposition. You can't take that away from the fans to a certain point, I would like to see more swearing cut out directed to the referee but that's hard to control. Basically, it has improved but it still has a long way to go until it's fully enforced.

 

[The Undercover Man]

Football has improved greatly.

Towards the players, you don't see them shout at the ref as much as last season. A lot of the time now, they're actually talking to the ref with respect, not just swearing at him because they got a decision against them. Of course, you'll get the times when this isn't the case, but in the heat of the moment when 3 points means a lot, you can understand to a degree why they react the way they do.

I have to disagree with you on the "heat of the moment" subject. Why do football players have to be any different from rugby players or cricket players? Do you ever see any players from other sports chastising the official? Of course 3 points do mean alot in the context of football, it can define your season is some cases but at the end of the day football is a psort, and like any other sportsmen footballers should learn to respect decisions.

To the managers, well it's yes and no. You've seen instances when the managers are still berating the officials, such as Sir Alex Ferguson, who now has a 2 match touchline ban for his reaction towards an official. But then you have the other cases, such as Scolari where until recently, didn't say a word against the referee. So it is starting to seep through to the managers..

Did'nt Scolari berate Mike Dean for a simple mistake at Stamford Bridge? Did he not accuse Dean of favouring Arsenal more? Scolari did'nt even get a fine or a suspension for that stupid comment, thats basically calling the referee corrupt.

The fans, well not really. Most of the passion is lost if you stop them having a go at players or officials. Sure, most of the time they're not saying nice things but that's part of the parcel in being a fan, having a proper go at the opposition. You can't take that away from the fans to a certain point, I would like to see more swearing cut out directed to the referee but that's hard to control. Basically, it has improved but it still has a long way to go until it's fully enforced.

Passion does'nt have to aquired through berating players and officials, that further increases the feeling of thuggish behaviour in football. Unless the Premier League wants the great game to turn into a violent and thuggish sport i suggest they have a proper crack down on football. They promise so much and yet deliver absolutely nothing. Grassroots is where the need to start, competetions should be made to be non-competitive and more general things like that.

 

[OIL]

I have to disagree with you on the "heat of the moment" subject. Why do football players have to be any different from rugby players or cricket players? Do you ever see any players from other sports chastising the official? Of course 3 points do mean alot in the context of football, it can define your season is some cases but at the end of the day football is a psort, and like any other sportsmen footballers should learn to respect decisions.

Because football players haven't had to respect the decisions until recently. I'm sure if this type of campaign had been started a long time ago, respect issues would be very minimal now, merly because it would have become part of the game, whereas now the players take part of the game as having a go at the official because it hasn't come with any sort of punishment until recently.

Did'nt Scolari berate Mike Dean for a simple mistake at Stamford Bridge? Did he not accuse Dean of favouring Arsenal more? Scolari did'nt even get a fine or a suspension for that stupid comment, thats basically calling the referee corrupt.

Thats why I said until recently. Scolari didn't say anything that required the FA to step in, he just gave his opinion. Saying the ref was biased isn't as bad as what people like Moyes have said, which got them a fine. There is a difference, and Scolari hasn't crossed that line yet.

Passion does'nt have to aquired through berating players and officials, that further increases the feeling of thuggish behaviour in football. Unless the Premier League wants the great game to turn into a violent and thuggish sport i suggest they have a proper crack down on football. They promise so much and yet deliver absolutely nothing. Grassroots is where the need to start, competetions should be made to be non-competitive and more general things like that.

For them to impliment change, it would take around 5 years until it really works. Mainly because it can take a long time to ring changes. Starting at grass roots is a good idea, but they need to be backed up by the bigger players such as Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard to behave better, as the kids basically copy whatever their hero does, so if you see Rooney berating a referee, then so will the child. Football isn't a thuggish sport at all, sure it can get heated at times but it isn't thuggish. At most they argue with officials, they don't punch the ref which would be thuggish. Heat in the moment is a valid excuse, because even when I've played for my team I lose my temper sometimes, and yeah I've been yellow carded for it and once sent off, but afterwards I apologised and the ref understands that things can get out of hand when the players lives depend on them getting the right result.

 

[klunderbunker]

Perhaps a bit of an American perspective would help. Granted soccer over here is almost non existent as far as people caring about it on a team level, and rugby is even worse, but in other sports it seems as if the respect is there, but not 100%.

Take for example Shawn Avery and Stephon Marbury, a hockey and basketball player. Both men have been defiant of the teams and leagues, and are now being punished. Guys like Adam Jones and Plaxico Burress have messed up multiple times and are finally being punished for it. However, for all of the athletes that show little respect for the game, there are 10x that many that do. I can understand getting upset with the team or the league, but you're making millions of dollars to play games. Act like you have some class, even if you have to fake it.