Cheating is a cancer in our game and it hurts me to see it going on week in week out on the football fields around the U.K. and Ireland. I am of the opinion now that the authorities don't seem to or are unwilling to come down on this issue like a ton of bricks. They ran a Respect campaign that in my opinion was a waste of time and money, and the great men at the FA have decided this season to come down hard on players and managers who misbehave.
I have to admit I nearly fell off the with laughter when I heard that one. So whilst sitting watching a couple of games last week I was watching with great interest to see would there be any changes this season. Queens Park Rangers and Leeds were up first and then followed the big game in Scotland, Hearts and Celtic. I want to focus on two incidents in both games, which goes some way in my opinion to show that the cheating is still going on in our beautiful game.
I will start at Tynecastle where Hearts took on Celtic. It was a game that was won by Celtic but the cheating antics of Hearts player Jamie Walker made the headlines. Referee John Beaton awarded Hearts a penalty after Celtic,s defender Tierney was adjudged to have fouled Walker in the box. It was an awful decision in my opinion and Walker was guilty of diving. It was an outrageous act by a player to con the referee. I do not blame the referee on making the mistake to give a penalty, but I do blame the player for cheating, absolutely disgusting behaviour in my opinion.
After the game Celtic skipper Scott Brown was reported to have called Walker a cheat and it is very unusual to hear players talk about other fellow professionals in that manner. I was delighted to hear during the week that Scottish FA had handed Walker a two match ban for his antics. The decision to do this is long overdue and a brave call by the authorities.
This is were its gets a little bit worse in my opinion, as Heart of Midlothian actually had the cheek to appeal the ban, an absolute downright liberty in my opinion. By putting in their appeal they condoned Walker,s behaviour and we're hoping they could have got the two match ban overturned, in my opinion the FA should have increased his ban to three games once the appeal was lost to send out a signal that cheating is not acceptable in our game. Yes they got it right by giving Walker retrospective punishment but in my opinion they could have gone one step further and send a signal to every other player who might be thinking of taking a dive in the penalty area. Heart of Midlothian also need to take a serious look at themselves because they seemed quite happy to launch an appeal in favour of getting a cheat out of trouble.
If you take a look at the Queens Park Rangers v Leeds United game I spotted another form of cheating. I noticed that when corners were been taken the ball was outside the quadrant on most occasions when the home side took one. I am of the opinion that if referees notice this happening during the game they should penalise the taker by showing him a yellow card. This ploy by players is now a more regular feature in our game and needs to be stamped out.
It is nearly impossible for a referee to see that the ball is placed correctly, unless he takes a trip out to the taker and this can cause loss of position for the official. I would really like to see this form of cheating cut out and if the side taking the corner use three different players each time they take a corner and all three are guilty of using this tactic, the third player should be shown a red card. It would cut out this issue within a week and I for one would not have to watch as players try to cheat referees once again. The game really is rife now with the win at all cost brigade, even if it means cheating.
So there you have it, week one done and dusted and already we have controversy. I have no doubt we will have plenty more during the season and I will cover it as best I can for the boys at Pitch Talk. Let us all hope that next week I am not typing on a computer somewhere, explaining a decision involving your side.
Until next time enjoy your football. CIAO
Dave Meier aka @Meiercy
