Sportsmanship - angels and evils of it

[Doctor DOOM]

I assume we all know what transpired during the persepolis-steelazin's IPL game where in the dying seconds of the game, SA's keeper, Makani, suddenly feels inspired by some recent hollywood war flick and falls as if he's been shot by an anti-aircraft gun ... after calmly and peacefully collecting a harmless header.

So he throws the ball very close to the corner flag and falls down bleeding (colorless and odorless blood) profusely all over azadi pitch.
and no ... it just happens to be the dying seconds of a game & league schedule where even single points matters to the bottom rung teams. that's just a silly coincidence. pffft!

So , according to ferdowsipour, who's always starving for controversial moments and events to feed his "90" program, Daei sends the order to his team that they dont surrender the ball and actually make use of the throw-in. and I was thinking a goal would be such a fitting reply to Makani's stupid attempt to waste time.
and lo & behold, Arfi scores a lovely volley and ...... and all hell breaks loose. and all the players, the staff, the bench and their cousins rush into the field to .... well, to do what we, Iranians do quite well: fight over silly, stupid things and make asses out of ourselves in front of the whole world.


with that long preamble, my simple question is where shd we draw the line between sportsmanship and unfair tactics. when shd a team actually surrender the ball back to the opponents and when shd they (rightfully, in my opinion) carry on playing to counter the opponents' attempt at time wasting or unsportsmanship acts?

God knows we have seen plenty of scenes where the player falling down hasnt been even touched and he falls down as if a cruise missile has been shot up his arse. usually at periods that are crucial to the other team. So why shd he be rewarded with possession of the ball also?

I'm all for sportsman conduct. But as long as fairness warrants it.
times like this, I can only say one thing: SWEET JUSTICE.


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btw, baazi ye taraf, oon 5 daghigheh payani va daava-ha ye taraf digeh.
a must watch.

[yashar_fasihnia]

atleast makani learns next time, to throw the ball far away outside the pitch if he wants to fall down, not near his own goal

[maij]

Excellent . Doc.

I have been and will be an advocate of a) Fairplay b) Discipline for as long as I live. But I will be damned to accept cheating , screwing the fans mind , and ridiculing people by those who fake injury like this very obvious case in Friday's match of Perspolis vs. Steel Azin.

Time wasting and cheating is becoming an epidemic and unfortunately there are NOT always duly punished by the referees to the extent they deserve. Today , I can proudly say justice was done. I wholeheartedly support Ali Daei ( whom I have started to lose respect for as a result of his stereotyped repetitive poor justifications he is offering for his bad performances ) if he instigated his players to play and score. It takes people like Daei with guts (literally ) to make such moves....enough of this crap.

Let us reclaim the good old football back from the cheaters and let them cheaters suffer.

I like Iran's football because of many reasons one of which is the chivalry they normally display while playing even under difficult circumstances . Any attempts to tarnish that image makes me angry and I would fight against it.

[Paradigm]

This is what Daie said after the game:

ISN - على دايى پس از برترى ۲ بر يك برابر استيل آذين در نشست خبرى اظهار داشت: اول از همه بازيكنانم تقدير مى كنم. آنها بازى خوبى انجام دادند. در نيمه اول ما بازى خوبى انجام نداديم. البته سرتر از حريف بوديم اما در نيمه دوم موقعيت هاى زيادى براى گلزنى داشتيم. در مورد آن صحنه گل هم بايد بگويم برويد فيلم مسابقه را ببينيد. سوشا مكانى چند بار توپ را از ميان پاهايش عبور مى دهد و بازيكنان ما را مسخره مى كند. بازى جوانمردانه واژه بزرگى است. وى ادامه داد: يكى به من بگويد در آن صحنه چه اتفاقى افتاده كه سوشا مكانى مصدوم شد. او بعد از آنكه توپ را به بيرون و خود را به مصدوميت زد دايو به آن بزرگى را زد. اين درس عبرتى مى شود براى آنها كه مى خواهند ناجوانمردانه وقت كشى كنند و خود را بى مورد به مصدوميت مى زنند. در آن صحنه هيچ كس كارى با مكانى نداشت و خود را بى مورد به زمين زد. دايى تأكيد كرد: ما بازى جوانمردانه را بد معنا مى كنيم. هركس خودش را به زمين زد نبايد توپ را به او تقديم كنيم. ديوانه نيستيم كه الكى توپ را به حريف تقديم كنيم. فيلم بازى را ببينيد مكانى چقدر حركات آكروباتيك انجام داد و دايو زد. آيا اين بازيكن مصدوم است. اگر مكانى مصدوم شده بود حق با شماست اما متأسفانه ايشان به شكل ناجوانمردانه خودش را به مصدوميت زد. سرمربى پرسپوليس خاطرنشان كرد: دروازه بان حريف اگر مصدوم است روى زمين دراز بكشد و منتظر آمدن پزشك تيم باشد. او بعد از آن صحنه لگدهاى زيادى به بازيكنان ما زد. نورى دستش پر خون بود، سپهر حيدرى لبش پاره شده بود. حسين بادامكى پايش آسيب ديده بود آيا اين معنايش بازى جوانمردانه است؟ مگر قرار است هر كس توپ را بيخود به بيرون زد آن را به حريف تقديم كنيم. اگر او واقعاظ مصدوم شده بود من از شما عذرخواهى مى كردم اما گلر حريف خودش را بى مورد به زمين انداخت. دايى افزود: به نظرم اين اتفاقى است كه باعث مى شود ديگر تيم ها بى مورد وقت تلف نكنند و بازى به بيراهه كشيده نشود. شنبه 27 فروردين

Makani said on ISN that he is going to tear down pictures of Daie off the wall in his house. Akbarpour has said Persepolis does this sort of thing which makes them lose to Esteghlal on both legs (raft va bargasht.)

[Hajagha]

Giving the ball back is one thing, scoring is another thing.

PP didn't give the ball back, but when they threw the ball Esteel-Azin played. The goal was legitimate.

As DD mentioned JUSTICE SERVED in my mind too. You can't act like a monkey and expect every one respect your stupid act. Fair-play has a meaning. It means "stop the ball to take care of the injured player", where was the injured player to begin with?

I have seen enough football in world stage. I have seen the same scenario where the team refused to give the ball back when the intention was "PURE TIME WASTING".

Well done.

BTW, kick that animal (Spanish guy) out of Iran. He is a shame to football. Who finds these people? from prison? He acted as a criminal more than a player.


Cheers,

[Mansoor]

The question is the question of fairness and sportsmanship. Therefore, that needs to be reviewed in whole. If you watch the last few minutes of the match, you would see no sportsmanship from Makani in several scenes. And unfair set of acts as such followed by such cheap act of injury does not get qualified for fairness from other side. His acting for injury was like watching a B movie!

I still remember the very exact acts Bahraini players put against Iran for 90 min in 2002 WCQ match and how they got away with it. I wish they would have got some sort of punishments for the shameful act they put together too ....

Perhaps, it is time for FIFA to come up with an idea to stop such "unfair" plays as well

[zzgloo]

It is a well known fact,that the best place to waist time,on the filed,is the opposing side corner area...that a player can dance around, and either waist time, or get a corner againt the opposing team.......not at your own goal area !

[Kavian]

My 2 cents:

Fair play is discretionary and not a rule in football. Therefore, if a team decides not to play it fair, it is their choice. Their reputation will not be as good, but still it is their choice.

If I were in the shoes of Ali Daie (which in reality that would be the last place I want to be), I would have instructed my players to continue playing, specially that time wasting tactics and repeated injury faking acts were so obvious!. So, no doubt that the result should stand!

But …. What really upsets me about events like this, is how badly our football people in general behave in Iran. Our football culture was not like this before. We were tolerant and respectful of each other even under tough situations. Nowadays, I see an anger, a sense of frustration in everyone. People are ready to fight. Something happens on the field and everyone and their cusions jump all over. Really sad!!

The world is watching us and we are losing respect … that is the worry!!! Who cares about the score!

[Ali Chicago]

While I understand the legitimate argument about the abuse of fair-play, what gets me worried is if we let each team or player be in charge interpreting the fair-play rules, what will be the impact.

Players, coaches, fans are passionate and wants to do anything to win. At times, it is very hard to see where the hit happened. Heck one can even land funny on one foot and hurt his back or ankle. This is by no means to defend Sosha Makani's act, but if all teams not observe the rules, it will be a dangerous precedence.

I myself am a blue fan, I am sure I will be much less logical if SS is down 1-0 against XYZ team and my team is attacking and their players try to waste time.

I think the best approach instead of teams do what PP did, is for the refs to issue yellow cards for time wasting (which they are supposed to do now), but refs enforce that with much more intensity. Those who are older like me, probably remember that before WC94 tackling from behind was ok. FIFA changed the rules and now if footballing world, it is quite acceptable by players and coaches that tackling from behind deserve a yellow or red. Maybe if FIFA's refs enforce existing rules against time wasting and diving with much more tenacity, this issue can be addressed (like tackling from behind) through better enforcement of rules by Refs.

[maij]

FIFA will definitely do something about unfair play , time wasting and faking injuries if it reaches an alarming level. The problem is that in European leagues & competitions , where it really matters and where the world of football focuses its attention , there is very little of this "K0s Kholy" , so FIFA dose not feel there is a need to do something drastic in the law.

In this part of the world , it is quite different. I still remember that dark evening in when TM played against Bahrain, This was the biggest farce and the biggest cheating ever carried out in football. There was so much play acting , time wasting , intimidation even cursing by the opponents which has all gone unpunished , that the sense of injustice was filling the air. And the rest is history.

Some force needs to bring FIFA's attention to the cheating going on in this part of the world.

[Ali Chicago]

FIFA will definitely do something about unfair play , time wasting and faking injuries if it reaches an alarming level. The problem is that in European leagues & competitions , where it really matters and where the world of football focuses its attention , there is very little of this "K0s Kholy" , so FIFA dose not feel there is a need to do something drastic in the law.

In this part of the world , it is quite different. I still remember that dark evening in when TM played against Bahrain, This was the biggest farce and the biggest cheating ever carried out in football. There was so much play acting , time wasting , intimidation even cursing by the opponents which has all gone unpunished , that the sense of injustice was filling the air. And the rest is history.

Some force needs to bring FIFA's attention to the cheating going on in this part of the world.

Good point in West Asia this seems to be more relavant. One thinks with the advance of football this will become less. But I agree AFC can focus on this more. Ben Hemam and Qatar seem to be very ambitious and will run for FIFA presidency, so maybe we see more weight for Asian specific issues.

[Keano]

As Ali jaan said earlier, the West Asian teams have taken this whole time wasting tricks to the next level. Up until a few years ago we were the victims of such shameful behaviors by our West Asian opponents, however nowadays it seems that we've mastered and excelled in this very same department by resorting to these pathetic time wasting acts. It's truly embarrassing as a footballing nation to watch our teams and players practice lame dives, grass rolling etc against our opponents, in particular our East Asian rivals!

I think it's our own football association's job to come up with a new severe rule, where it's applied to serious cheaters and time wasting players, this way the whole concept of cheat and time wasting tactics is wiped off our leagues and teams, thus a much cleaner player selection being transferred to TM in international stages!