The Captains Musings

Just heard the sad news about this great footballer,I was in nappies when he was at his peak but what I saw on those grainy old black and white clips still stood out as a player of phenonenal talent.
My dad who saw all the greats of that era spoke in hushed tones of the night he watched Puskas play

I hope this weekend at grounds around the world todays millionairre so called stars will stand in silent tribute because the world of football has lost one of its all time greats

Well maybe not all football but certainly for me at the highest level the Barcelona Chelsea game was a disgrace, the cancer of diving feigning injury and waving imaginary cards to get opponents booked or sent off has been around for a while now at the top echelons of football but last night took it to a new level.

I was reminded of Edmund Burke's comment that "The only way for EVIL to flourish is for GOOD men to do NOTHING" and this appears to have come to fruition in top class football, the good men have sat around wringing their hands whilst the cheats (and that is what they are) have been allowed to flourish and take over what was once a beautiful game.

I am grateful for 2 things, firstly that I have my local amateur team to watch on a Saturday afternoon for football of a lower standard is played in a much higher spirit and secondly the fast forward on the video so that I can get through the cheating and watch the few bits of half decent football that remain in the professional game today

Its all across the Sports pages of the English papers about the Tottenham Hotspur player Didier Zakora blatantly diving to earn a penalty in the match against Portsmouth yesterday.
Many are saying that this regular occurrence is a result of the influx of foreign players into the Premiership and it never happened in the good old days before the foreign influx, but is that a fact or are we being Little Englanders again and blaming all our problems on other nationalities?

Back in the 1970’s I remember particularly Francis Lee falling over with monotonous regularity getting penalties for Manchester City and Derby County and yet little was said about his antics because proof of diving (Cheating) was sketchy to say the least, nowadays with Sky TV cameras getting shots from every conceivable angle we can get all the proof we need.
So is it not time that technology was used to benefit the sport and either let the 4th official use it to rule on controversial decisions or at least use it to punish the offenders retrospectively.

This technology has been used in other sports (Cricket, Rugby and Gridiron amongst others) for many years to the benefit of all concerned so why not in Football, are the powers that be scared of identifying the depths that the “Beautiful Game “ has sunk to or are our mega rich clubs and players now beyond the law and allowed to cheat their way to victory as a matter of course.

I believe that this must be addressed now otherwise this cancer of cheating will become an epidemic and the game that so many of us love will become a joke and no longer worth watching.