Is Soccer Meant To Be Fair?

Yesterday's Events Reinforce Pro-Video Refereeing...
Not Such a Good Idea, Though.

France's late World Cup qualifying goal yesterday against the Republic Of Ireland will be long remembered as the worst act of cheating in International soccer since Diego Maradona's hand of God against England In 1986 World Cup's quarter final.

Being French myself, I may not be very objective on this point, but I need to disagree with most articles I have read since yesterday, stating that:

1- "Ireland was much better than France and deserved to win over the 2 legs": This is just not true. Overall, they weren't better. They probably didn't deserve to loose either.

2- "Ireland would have qualified if it was not for this goal": Obviously, no one can tell!

However I agree on one point: Thierry Henry's handball control was ugly and the line man should have seen it.

Now, the question is: What can be done to avoid such important games as World Cup qualifiers to be decided this way? And of course, we will hear the "pro-video refereeing" taking this opportunity to argue that the only good solution is to have someone behind a screen telling the central ref. what to do.

I have always been against it and I think this is a great opportunity to explain why.

My first 2 points don't need to be developed too much:

1- "Video tells the truth"...Until another camera placed in a different angle shows things could be interpreted the opposite way...And who decides which image the video-referee can or can not see? In international games, it is not rare to have 12 cameras filming. Will we have to wait until the man in black sees all of them (and gets confused) before knowing his decision? Yesterday's handball, made no doubt, but in most circumstances, it wouldn't avoid controversy.

2- Most of the time, things can only be judged live. How many replays of tackles in the box have created unnecessary controversies? "He touched the ball first!" "Sure, but he took down the player too!" "Yeah, but he would have lost the ball anyway". Fans will argue forever and that's one of the main reasons why we love soccer. Truth is, only the referee, I mean the real one, on the field, who sees and hears things in real speed, feels if the defender intended to make a foul or if the striker was going to score or just tried to obtain a penalty. You can never judge these things behind a screen in slow motion.

The third point requires a little more detailed explanation:

Take yesterday's example: What does the video tell us? Here is what I've heard at the pub yesterday:

- 2 Irish fans, simultaneaously: "Ho my god, this was a hand ball! How could the referee miss this?"

- A French fan: "But hey, look at the replay again: It was clearly a penalty for France, Squillaci was fouled at the penalty spot!"

- Another Irish fan: "F*** you, he was off sides anyway".

Turns out...Everybody was right.

If this was all, "pro-videos" could argue that, in any case, a look at the replay would have disallowed the goal.

But that's not all! What about Shay Given catching Nicolas Alnelka's foot in the box a few minutes earlier? "Well, easy. You watch the replay and give a penalty to France". Yeah? Well, not so easy. I haven't watched the game a second time but, who knows; maybe this play came after a throw which should have been green was given to France. Actually, experience shows that there is every chance that Ireland could have claimed something before the denied penalty. Not mentionning that after 20 replays, none can tell for sure it should have been a penalty!

You get my point now? Yes, if you want video to do justice, you'll have to use it on every single play. Otherwise, you just move the injustice somewhere else.

Maybe it would look cleaner. Anelka would have obtained a penalty (or not, after all, after 20 replays, who can honestly tell for sure?), we wouldn't have to discuss Henry's hand ball. It doesn't mean it would be fairer.

So what's the perfect solution? If there was one, we would all know it.

Having 5 referees instead of 3 (as it is tested this year in the UEFA Cup) can help. Not easy, however, to increase the number of quality referees on the pitch when there are constantly fewer and fewer candidates.

This might be the main problem. The lack of respect toward referees has a terrible effect. They are hated by everyone. This is maybe where every one can help. If every one in any single amateur league respected the referees a little more and accepted that they can make mistakes - I'm not asking to be happy about it, just accept it -  there would be a lot more candidates, more competition between them and more competent individuals would climb the scale and reach professional level.

Soccer is not always fair and, with time, we all learn to live with it. I discovered soccer in 1982. I was 8 year old and was hit right away by one of the biggest injustice ever, when France lost to Germany on penalties after an epic 3-3 game. My generation grew up hating Germany (I'm talking about their soccer team - no politics here!) because of this game. But this collective frustration is probably what unconsciously lead 1998's French generation to reach the summit.

Now, we are the bad guys. Young Irish fans who watched the game yesterday will hate us for at least ten years! And don't get me wrong: they have all the reasons to feel cheated and I really feel sorry for them. But I'm sure that's also why we love soccer. Frustration leads you to try again, erase bad memories by being better and actually improve to the point where you don't need to be lucky to win.

Easy to say, but trying again might be the only solution as I doubt we will ever see a 100% "fair game" in our lifetime. Still, the better team wins most of the time...But not always, and video won't change this!