This is the second time I am blogging about almost the same subject. When I say almost the same subject it’s not dissimilar to one I have done before. Lets get something straight even before I get to my main point of this blog, I as an ardent sport watcher and armchair critic am one of the first to point out weaknesses or wrong doings committed. I do however believe in standards that need to be upheld. I don’t condone cheating and certainly believe in fair play. Such is the nature of the beast.
As South Africans we are a very fired up nation by virtue of our sporting achievements and by the way sport unites us a nation. When we do well we voice our opinions, we praise and reward the various players and bestow royalties’ on them, King Kallis etc. When we lose we blame the person officiating. Kak ref, bad call, fokken doos. Yes we are vocal , but for entirely the wrong reasons, its almost like, No……….. its exactly like we are behaving like spoilt brats. When I remember the movie The Toy that features Richard Pryor I see a South Africa that’s exactly like that spoilt rich kid without the rich.
Make no mistake, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being passionate. There needs to be a line drawn though, we bitch and moan about the silliest errors. I for one see no difference between a small and large error, an error is an error. What we do fail to do , is to take into consideration the pressures placed on a match official. We fail to recognize that the said official has to make on the spot calls. These are real time calls, with out the added benefit of a wide screen television, some sports do have a referral system. It has been shown that even referral systems are flawed. So what will make us happy?
I reckon a unified rule that is not disputed by regions and continents.
I agree with a lot of people when it comes to the disarray of match officials across all sporting fields. Let’s take a few examples and I will not name the officials as this is not the point of my blog. The biggest mistake and I will call it a mistake as I don’t see these decisions as on purpose for me was the blunder by the referee in the Chelsea Spurs game last night. Let me remind you that I am a massive Chelsea supporter. Juan Mata’s goal was plain and simple not a goal. In order for a goal to be a goal ¾ of the ball has to cross the line, this did not happen and the benefit of the doubt was given to the attacking team. The final score was 5-1, but this goal had huge ramifications. Football as a whole does not use a referral or 3rd referee or a hawk eye, I think its about time they do. Not for this reason but for other similar reasons.
My second and third examples are the Sharks and Western province in their respective games. Firstly Western Province. This was a game that I was really looking forward to. Province are the conference leaders and were unbeaten before meeting the Crusaders who are the most successful team in Super history. The unnamed referee of this game had an absolute shocker, he was bad for both teams though, even gifting Province a try that was not a try. Now my problem is this, the Western Province supporters were up in arms over the level(poor) of the officiating, but never said a word about the gifted try. This is strange as they do pride themselves in the way they know the rules of the game. The only consolation for me was the fact that the referee was consistently bad. He did not have a good game, period. Why be up in arms over a decision that doesn’t go your way? Why not take it as it comes and carry on regardless? I see the Crusaders and New Zealanders do this all to often, they are professional .
The Sharks had exactly the same fortune as the Stormers did, both scored a try that was in fact a knock on. This was evident by many of the Sharks supporters admitting it, you see they carry on regardless. Now referees and officials are getting the blame on poor decisions they make. My stance on this, well to alleviate the problem as soon as possible, is to introduce more technology. Where do we draw the line though? Sport gets watched by millions, apart from baseball, most games are relatively short in time space. The main issue is that if technology is introduced properly, all sport will become long and boring. It’s a tossup between short exiting with odd mistake and long boring and precise. Match officials are human, to err is human. As long as they are consistent, good or bad and not one sided I am fine with it.
I think we must all come to terms with the fact that no matter what, somewhere , sometime or another we are going to be victims of a poor decision. How we react and handle the situation is what will determine the outcome. We have also made poor decisions, in fact some even worse than the ones officials make.
To those of you that think we live in an ideal world, take your head out your asses and smell the fresh air. There will always be faults; maybe one of them is you.
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