It was the most awaited, not to
say hyped games of the season so far. The question was not
only could Arsenal extend their record-breaking unbeaten
record to fifty matches but could they do it against their
bitter rivals, Manchester United at Old Trafford. The added
spice came from the fact that the same game last year,
culminated in Arsenal being fined £50,000 for the behaviour
of their players.
A game that from the outset
seemed destined to have controversial incidents and that's how
it turned out. Afterwards Arsène Wenger, obviously greatly
disappointed that Arsenal's record-breaking undefeated run
came to an end, saw fit not only to criticise the Manchester
United players but the referee's decisions.
The first contentious issue to
raise his ire was of course the penalty given against Sol
Campbell. On Match of the Day 2, Alan Hanson, not usually
noted for his defence of referees, said about the Rooney
incident, 'It's alright for us, we've seen it five times,
different camera angles, slow motion. The referee gets one
look at it and has to make up his mind in seconds'.
In those few seconds of course
he has to decide whether there was contact: did Campbell bring
down Rooney, did Rooney dive or did he just fall over under
his own momentum?
Remember there no longer has to
be intent. Campbell admitted that he had put out his leg but
denied strongly that he had touched Rooney. Referees can't
rely on the protestations of players. Only this last weekend,
United's Rio Ferdinand protested so forcefully against a
penalty for Portsmouth that he received a caution. He was
suggesting that the opponent had gone down without any
contact. The television replay, however, showed quite clearly
Ferdinand pulling the Portsmouth player's shirt in the penalty
area.
Diving or 'simulation intended
to deceive the referee' as it is called in the Laws of the
Game, is hated by spectators who quite rightly think of it as
cheating. If you watched the France v Ireland game recently in
their World Cup qualifying match, you will recall that Pires,
France's Arsenal player, was loudly booed for the rest of the
game after the Irish fans believed he had dived to obtain a
free kick.
But do players themselves feel
the same? Go back to the last World Cup when the whole subject
of simulation was aired after Ronaldo was fined for an
outrageous piece of play0acting. Several players gave their
views and most of them seemed to think it was part of the
game. I remember Paul Scholes reaction, "It's up to the
referee to spot it,' he said. What about managers? Sir Alex
Ferguson, says he will not tolerate his players diving but
Rooney's former manager, David Moyes at Everton, has publicly
admitted that he instructs players to go down if an opponent
sticks a foot out.
The problem with that, is it's
OK if one of your players 'wins' a penalty with a dive. You
can adopt Arsène Wenger's ploy 'Well I couldn't see it from
where I was.' But if an opponent gets away with it, then it
becomes the referee's fault and the manager will then see it
where ever he is.
Referees do make mistakes,
although fewer than we are led to believe, but is it
surprising when faced with this sort of attitude to the game?
So was Rooney tripped or did he fall? 480 million viewers
world-wide were said to have watched the game and no doubt
they all had their own opinion but only one man had to make
the decision. As one spectator was reported to have said,
'who'd want that job at a game like that'.