ARE ENGLAND DISCRIMINATED AGAINST?

Although this article may, at first glance, appear a little jingoistic, it is certainly not meant to be. And, initially, the statement I put forward in the title could be perceived as sour grapes, arrogance or twisted logic. Call it what you will...

But I firmly believe, with some justification, that England and English football are - more than any other major footballing nation - discriminated against during major tournaments or crucial matches.

Whether this discrimination comes directly from the football authorities or from the officials themselves, I really couldn't say. But nobody in their right mind can deny it happens surprisingly (or indeed unsurprisingly) and suspiciously frequently.

You only need to look at the current World Cup debacle, where FIFA are unscrupulous enough to blame the British media for attempting to expose corruption within FIFA. Shouldn't they be thanking England and the UK for exposing such rotten eggs? Instead they appear, at every opportunity to be vilifying the UK media. It is just another example of the vendetta that exists against English football. And although people are scared to say it openly, it is clear as pie.

The question I would like to ask the readers is... Is there really any other nation who has a history of so many bad decisions against them during major tournaments? To some, this may seem a little 'off-topic' but this is something I have felt for a long time, as I am sure many other England supporters have too.

I need to point out that I didn't want to write about this during an emotional storm (for example after a World Cup defeat). The argument at that stage may appear to lack logic and perceived as a bitter and twisted rant.

For example, if I had written this article in the aftermath of the World Cup defeat to Germany last summer, then it would be written off by many as just me being quote 'lost in the moment'. So I have waited until the calm after the storm to voice my frustration, and I truly believe that many other countries' fans who are ardent football followers, would, if they are honest, probably agree with me - to some extent anyway.

An alternative argument some may use, is that in reality, England are just not good enough on the world stage. That may well be the case, but that is not the argument I am trying to make..

In 2002, for instance, this was clearly the case and the quarter final performance against Brazil in Japan that year, when playing against ten men, is the poorest I have ever seen England have play (and that is saying something). The Brazilians were reduced to ten men that night, not England. This is actually one of the rare occasions where decisions actually went England's way in a major tournament, and they couldn't take advantage.

But if we look through the recent record books, there are several examples of stunningly bad decisions going against the Three Lions at crucial moments in crucial matches.

The 1994 World Cup qualifier in Rotterdam was the first of a long line of bizarre refereeing decisions that have gone against England during my lifetime. Norway were winning the group, while England and the Netherlands had drawn 2-2 at Wembley the previous April. The game in October 1993 was, quite literally, a play off for second spot in the group and a place at USA 1994.

Half way through the second half, with the score at 0-0 and with England on top, David Platt, the then England skipper, raced onto a long pass and found himself one on one with the Dutch keeper - Ed De Goey. Platt had initially beaten Ronald Koeman to the ball and was subsequently and very clearly pulled down by the Barcelona defender. It was the clearest professional foul you are ever likely to see.

At first, the referee, Karl-Josef Assenmacher, awarded a penalty, but then changed his mind. Well.. we all thought, at least this will be a red card. It wasn't. It was yellow.

Minutes later, Holland were awarded a free kick just outside the box. The first one was charged down, fairly enough, by Paul Ince, but a retake was strangely given for encroachment. To add insult to an already excruciatingly painful metaphoric injury, that same man (Koeman) so memorably involved minutes earlier, clipped the ball past David Seaman and it was the beginning of the end for England.. Agony and anger...

The whole of the footballing world, even Dutch fans, knew that the blond haired set piece specialist should have been back inside the changing room taking an early bath. It was truly unbelievable!

A draw that night, would have left England in pole position to qualify. But they didn't, and the Netherlands went on to lose a narrow quarter final to eventual champions Brazil the following year. England and the 'hapless' and probably unfairly maligned Graham Taylor (remember the Cutting Edge programme?) parted company. But very few people remember just how well England played that autumn night. It was a 'travesty' in every sense of the (football related) word..

It is not only that dismal referring performance that haunts England fans. In addition, there was, of course, Maradona's hand of God. But that has been recreated enough times to make a Hollywood documentary about it, so I won't delve into that one.

There is however, the 1998 World Cup in France. Nobody can ever try to persuade me that David Beckham's red card wasn't a harsh one. And if you look back on it objectively (without getting angry with young David as we all very much did back then) the initial challenge by Diego Simone is far worse than the childish and petulant kick that the English man handed out to the Argentine seconds later. The way Simone fell and the fact it was 'David Beckham' meant the referee was only going to give one decision.

During the World Cup semi final between Germany and Spain this year, I noticed Lukas Podolski do a similar thing to Sergio Ramos. It was away from the core of the action, but was still quite easy to spot. But the players were immediately separated, told to calm down and the referee cooled the situation. No action was taken against either man,, but this was because the Spanish full back (Ramos) had not exaggerated the incident.

Couldn't the notorious Kim Milton have done the same thing back in St Etienne and not been fooled by Simone's antics? The answer of course, is no. He wanted to be remembered as the man who sent off David Beckham in the World Cup. And despite refereeing the 2004 Champions League final, we will all remember him for that far more, won't we. What a celebrity... I even heard him on Talk Sport today. He's still around.

Later in the same match, Sol Campell had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed, as he did in Euro 2004, although in truth, the latter 'goal' is probably more open to debate. I'm surprised the Danish referee didn't find a fault with Michael Owen's wonder goal that night twelve years ago. He managed to scrape together an issue with everything else England did ( I know I sound so bitter, but it is justified)

In 2006 meanwhile, I remember thinking prior to the contest, why is an Argentinian referee in charge of England versus Portugal?

Now, of course, I have nothing against the Argentinian people generally, and this is not meant to be a racialist argument in any way. This article is football related and nothing else. But everyone knows that Argentina and England are arch enemies when it comes to football. Surely a less controversial choice would have sufficed for such a huge match.

Isn't it leaving the highest footballing authorities open to criticism and suspicion when they appoint a referee from a rival nation? Maybe FIFA enjoy the attention it brings. Who knows?

The referee that night (Horacio Erizondo) made some particularly dubious decisions not consistent with others he made during the tournament. Aside from the Wayne Rooney sending off - when the official had previously failed to penalise the constant kicking and abuse the England forward had received from the Portuguese defenders throughout the match - in addition, Aaron Lennon was hacked down in the box during the last minute of normal time.

The South American official awarded no penalty, but in the final of the competition in Berlin, that same referee awarded an even more dubious penalty to France when Florent Malouda clearly dived. Why? Where is the consistency?

There are other examples. In Euro 2004, when Michael Silvestre brought down Wayne Rooney for a penalty (which David Beckham missed), wasn't the Everton man actually through on goal? The French defender was only booked...

Then of course, the one still active in most people's minds - Bloemfontein 2010. We all know Frank Lampard's chip was two feet over the line and most of us could see it at the time. And, although England played very poorly during the tournament, who knows what would have happened to German heads had the goal been given. As we all saw in the London derby on Saturday, when a team gives away a two goal lead, the psychology and the outlook of the whole occasion changes completely. This is especially the case in a high pressure showdown during the World Cup.


I am not completely blinkered of course. Opposition fans can point to the Euro 96 quarter final at Wembley, when Spain had a legitimate foal chalked off against England for offside. It clearly wasn't, but it was a very marginal decision.

It must also be remembered, that there have been endless examples of these narrow offside decisions going against the attacker in thousands of games down the years. Although it doesn't make it right, there is, in my view, an excuse for these type of human errors. Lampard's 'goal' or Koeman's 'sending off that never was' are just ridiculous and puzzling acts of incompetency.

We are all fully aware that England are more than capable of shooting themselves in the foot, whether the gods appear against them or not. But haven't the team paid enough for 1966 now? Geoff Hurst's shot was probably not fully over the line, but you can't hold a grudge forever, it was 1966 after all. The Beatles were just about to release Revolver and the Walker Brothers had just been ousted from the top of the charts - yes, that's how long ago it was! But there there is far less excuse for making such errors in this day and age.

Besides, surely Maradona's 'hand of god' goal in 1986 was the karma the football world required to exercise the injustice of Sir Geoff's 'goal'.

If there is any other country that has had so experienced so many high profile, controversial decisions at nearly every major tournament in living memory, I would like to know who they are.

And while Fabio Capello's current England are not playing well, and deserve all the criticism they are getting, when it comes to major tournaments, please let us at least lose for just being plain rubbish, instead of having our media and excuse to constantly paper over the cracks by harping on (annoying so) about incompetent refereeing decisions and vendetta's against our national team

The 2nd of December now looms large and it is certainly all set to be a fascinating day. Personally, my money is on Russia getting the nod for the 2018 World Cup. But I really do hope I'm wrong.

Hopefully England, for once, will get the correct decision in their favour. Somehow though, I sincerely doubt it!

WHY ARE FOOTBALL AUTHORITIES' STILL SO LAX ON DIVING AND PLAY ACTING?

Last week's thrilling 2-2 between AC Milan and Real Madrid was a wonderful advert for the Champions League. Wonderful except for one thing - Christiano Ronaldo's play acting.

During his early days at Old Trafford, Ronaldo was regularly criticised for his diving and play acting, but he had appeared to have grown out of these antics in recent years.

However, he was back to his old ways in the World Cup group match against the Ivory Coast last summer, and last Wednesday night, his blatant 'cheating' was enough to make any football fan let out a huge sigh of disappointment.

So why does such a gifted player have to act like this? Is Jose Mourinho - his fellow countryman - having a negative influence on him? The ultimate king of gamesmanship in my view, Mourinho is not entirely innocent himself of attempting to use every trick in the book to win, at any cost. The Portuguese boss will do anything it takes, even if it means damaging the integrity of the game.

But, despite this negative outlook, there have been some positive recent developments from some unexpected places. Serie A has, in the past, been a league where diving and play acting have frustratingly become the norm. During the nineties, when all the world's best players played in Italy, I was so often frustrated by the frequent cheating that unfortunately supplemented the terrific football being played by the great Milan and Juventus teams of that era. But last month, Juventus winger Milos Krasic was handed a two match ban for diving against Bologna. While the same punishment was handed out to Fiorentina's Alberto Giladino for a similar offence last season.

They are, refreshingly, clamping down on this cancer of the game, in the league, where in my view, it all started. So why doesn't UEFA deal out the same punishment in the Champions League? Is it because Ronaldo is one of the world's most famous and most gifted players? Is he too important to receive such a punishment in a PR sense. He was, after all, the World and European player of the year in 2008. Are UEFA just scared?

While on this occasion, Ronaldo was not guilty of diving, he was clearly trying to get a fellow proffessional sent off. In my eyes, this is an action which deserves an even greater ban, and the sight of the winger grabbing hold of his face, after barely being touched in the throat was appallng, even by his standards.

The Real Madrid star is not the only offender. There have been many top players whose reputations have been tarnished by their exaggerated theatrics down the years. Jurgen Klinsmann was one, and he even managed to glamourise his diving antics within his goal celebration at Spurs. Hristo Stoichkov was another supremely talented player, who, despite his awesome body strength, also found it difficult to stay on his feet at times.
And of course, there is the famous clip on Rivaldo clutching his face in 'agony' after being hit in the chest by a ball in the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

In addition, modern day stars such as Eduardo and Robert Pires have also sadly managed to tarnish their reputations due to carying out what can only be described as outrageous dives.

But diving has always been in the game, and not only on the continent. It is a false and unfair stereotype because this form of cheating is very much imbedded in our domestic game too. Francis Lee was a so-called artist of the 'theatrical dive' during the 1960s and 1970s, But the question that interests me is, is it really actually that easy to define what is and what is not a dive?

In my view, a dive is only really a dive when a player falls over forward after no contact from an opponent. This is not, in my view, in any way ambiguous.

However, if a player is barely touched and goes down, it is difficult to penalise them for diving because the contact, however slight, is still there for all to see. It may be annoying, but it is a grey area that is difficult to define objectively in that situation.


Players such as Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have all been accused of going down too easily in the penalty area. But they very rarely go down after no contact. I am not only saying this because they are English players. On the contrary, if they dive after no form of contact, they deserve to be punished as much as anyone else.

There is, however, another more sinister issue here, and it is something that I have been concerned about for a while. In fact, both Sid Lowe of the Guardian and the BBC's John Motson have pointed the issue out in recent months.. And that is the recklessness of goalkeepers in the modern game.

Victor Valdes' clattering of the FC Copenhagen striker - Dane N'Doye- last week was not punished at all by the referee. But it should have been a straight red card. It brought back horrible memories of Harold Schumacher's shocking challenge on Patrick Battiston in the 1982 World Cup semi final.

This is not though, a new phenomenon that has just crept (back) into the game. Pepe Reina , I think, is often guilty of rushing out of his box with his feet raised, as is Edwin Van de Sar.

At times it almost feels like goalkeepers believe it is their right to challenge an opposing player recklessly, in the same way that a forward does. Commentators will often say 'ooh that's a forward's tackle' when a striker makes a late tackle, and maybe goalkeepers feel they can also get away with such crudity.

On the other hand however, if a forward even brushes a goalkeeper in the six yard box, a foul is given. It all seems a little unfair to me, and goalkeepers really do get too much protection these days.

And, despite my criticism of Eduado's dive against Celtic last year (and it was a form of cheating) the nature of the goalkeeper's antics cannot be overlooked. I can (somewhat contradicting what I have written before) in some ways understand Eduardo's reasoning.

Artur Borac (Celtic's goalkeeper at that time) certainly did race out of his box in a particularly reckless fashion. And Eduardo was, probably understandably, a little afraid. He has, after all, already had one career threatening injury and probably didn't want another.

But the Brazillian born Croat did not want to appear cowardly by merely just avoiding the Polish keeper, so he went down instead. It may have looked quite bad at the time (and I was as bigger critic as any), but in hindsight it actually makes a little more sense. Nothing is clear cut in football is it?

Some players are, in nature, just blatant cheats, and that needs to be stamped out. But when a dive also involves a goalkeeper racing out in a clearly reckless fashion, it becomes yet another grey area in my view.

It is another thing FIFA, UEFA and the FA etc need to clamp down on fast. Valdes should have been punished and wasn't. Is this because he plays for Barcelona? I would suggest maybe it is.

There are so many different areas of the game that need addressing and it is impossible to cover them all in one blog. But away from the drama of the imminent World Cup 2018 decision in December, there are also quite a few disturbing on field issues that are beginning to develop within the beautiful game.

If things continue the way they are, association football could well become the 'ugly' game. And wouldn't that be such a shame for all of us millions of fans around the world who live and breath this sport. Please UEFA, FIFA and the rest.. sort it out, before it's too late!