Is there place for Morality in football?

By: wan | November 6th, 2008

Take nothing away from Deportivo – they showed that teamwork and a great spirit allied with smart counterattacking tactics can pay dividends especially when they are matched up with a side that tends to “over-attack” like Betis.

However anyone with eyes who watched the game and claimed that Deportivo “deserved” their win must be either blind or watching another entirely different game.

For the uninitiated, in a match which Betis dominated the proceedings, a long ball launched from the Deportivo half saw Arzu and Capi clashed heads, leaving both players down in the centre circle. Play was not stopped and in a three-on-one breakaway, Riki eventually put Deportivo ahead. Despite furious protest from the Betis players, the goal was allowed to stand.

Morality has always been a topic that has tremendous repercussions and implications depending on which side of the argument you were on but it is interesting to consider its place in an arena like Football. Does it have a place or a role to play?

For many the issue of morality is a question of culture and of temperment. It is said that in the Latin culture, this element of being able to outsmart your opponent or even the authority (in this case the referee) is something that is prized and to be admired. It is a reflection of intelligence and street-smarts that sees Maradona’s famous Hand of God goal cherised as much in Argentina as his second salom past 5 defenders.

Italians for so long have also condoned and even encouraged this sense of “gaining an advantage” through two famous manifestations – shirt pulling and diving in the penalty box. So long as it is done to improve the fortunes of your team or to get ahead of your opponent, it is allowed and even applauded enthusiastically. Who cares for the victims anyway?

Some will say that in today’s society and context where no one is owed a living and everything one wants has to be earned, this all consuming attitude to dominate and to win is but the norm. And if society is such, you can be sure that it is the same within the football pitch.

Think about it for a moment, if you were a Deportivo La Coruna, struggling for results and facing great pressure, knowing that every point is so precious in the fight against relegation. If you were relegated, you would lose out in terms of money and resources, players would leave and fans would stay away. In the current economic downturn, these problems get amplified. Now suddenly in a curcial match, you are given a chance to capitalise on someone’s misfortune, given the chance to score a precious goal. What would you do? You would grab it without a second thought!

But the purist in me feels that there is something very wrong when teams take advantage of another blatantly and more importantly feels that they did nothing wrong after the match. To rape someone is bad; but to boast about the rape as “nothing wrong” after the deed is just unforgivable.

There have been arguments that cheating is on the rise in the game in part because of the pressures and because of the referees’s inability to spot these “crimes”. Everything is now sacrificed at the altar of results and success. And if anyone thinks I am exaggerating the issue, that this is just a fan grousing about perceived injustice, just think back a few weeks to the game between Espanyol and Barcelona. Look at what happened (any surprise it is an Argentine – Messi – who “scored”?), look at the subsequent reactions and tell me that this is a non-issue.

Is this what Football has been reduced to? Is this Thomas Hobbes’s version of the Beautiful Game? Are we left with a if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them ethos? There are exceptions to the rule of course, the most notable being Paulo di Canio (when he was playing for West Ham) grabbing the ball from midair with his hands when the goal was gaping to allow an injured player to receive treatment but frankly that was the last time I remembered anything of this kind happening. And that was a good 5 years ago already…

To those who disagree with me, all I can say is wait till the same thing happens to your team then think about how you feel and whether your views will change - karma afterall is a bitch. And for those who agree, I can only toast to your enduring belief in the innocence and purity of a game that I no longer remembers and no longer recognises.

The Beautiful Game? It looks more like Plastic Surgery to me…