Papering over the cracks......

Here’s a statistic for you.

A leading national newspaper in America called USA Today, recently conducted a poll and asked its readers if they are still watching the FIFA World Cup now that Landon Donovan and Team USA are eliminated. An astonishing 44 per cent answered NO!!

That in itself is a damning response and even taking into consideration the fact that Americans are particularly insular, there had to be more to it to provoke such a strong condemnation of the event. It turns out that there were three foremost reasons. Firstly and understandably, with the USA no longer repeatedly busting a gut and battling inadequate refereeing, the interest has waned, but another troubling reason came a close second.

Since the World Cup began I, like you, have been transfixed. However, I have been angered, aggravated and appalled by one aspect of the tournament that smacks me between the eyes every couple of minutes. It seems I am not alone and the readers of USA Today have clearly voted with their television remotes and clicked them off because they too are peeved by the same irritation.

In a nutshell, a large percentage of the superbly skilled footballers on show in this premier event should be wearing skirts!! I cannot stand the way they unashamedly fake injury in the hope of being awarded a free kick or scream and writhe in a perfected act of simulation as if shot by a sniper from the grandstand. I am aware that there can be serious injuries in this game but what I am witnessing most of the time is a bunch of girls hitting the turf unprovoked and taking multiple layers of gloss off the beautiful game. Some players of course do not fall (pardon the pun) into this category but they are far and few between. I feel certain you are reading this and nodding your head in agreement. What has happened to all the hard men of football?

To represent one’s country in the Football World Cup has got to be one of the greatest sporting honours possible. To feign injury in the hope of cheating the referee is despicable. That is not what playing any game at the highest level is all about. It is about giving nothing short of your best for your country, your teammates, your fanatical supporters and, of course, yourself. To stoop to such low devious means in an effort to be falsely awarded is fraudulent and deceitful. Many current international footballers should be ashamed of themselves.

The third reason? The USA Today respondents were disgusted at the standard of refereeing. I must admit if these are the best referees in the world then the global game which enjoys an astounding following has got major problems. You can count the number of impressive performances by the officials on one finger.

Football needs to get off the front pages and return to the back pages for all the right reasons.