What Has Happened to Football?

I think it's fair to say the sport of football isn't what it used to be for me. Yes, I still take an interest in the destination of the Premier League title, occasionally tuning in to Match of the Day and regularly expressing an opinion, as I tend to, on Twitter on the topic of the day. But in the past couple of years, my own personal experiences aside, the game has slipped into a decline. A dangerous slide towards the pits of complete nonsense and total hypocrisy. As well as this, I have watched a lot of local football recently, on the parks of Bedford or small grounds, and the behaviour and attitude of everyone involved in the game has just disintegrated into madness.

Beginning with professional football, and the players. It seems they are both the figures of Gods or anti-Christs, depending on team preference. A clear example of such a player recently is Luis Suarez. He has had a tough time since moving to Liverpool in January 2011. Admittedly, some of the trouble that has come his way has been his own fault, but it seems the man can do nothing to rid him of the tag he has picked up. Even if he does well, or does something honest, (which he has done), football fans who don't support Liverpool ridicule him anyway, claiming he is a racist and a cheat regardless. In the mad world of professional football, it is very, very difficult to rebuild a broken reputation. Fans do not forgive and forget, when maybe they should do. The latest scandal that has materialised from the screwball career of Suarez is an "incident" in the FA Cup match vs Mansfield.

No, I have not seen it, but apparently, he handballed it en route to a Liverpool goal. Then celebrated by kissing his wrist, therefore implying that he was proud of using his hand to score. Looking past the fact that no player, regardless of popularity, owns up to a possible offence, I cannot tell you how presumptious it is to suggest that Suarez knew what he was doing and wanted to provoke people. He kissed his wrist, because he has his daughter's name tattoed on it. He kisses his wrist or his finger - that has his wedding ring on - after EVERY goal he scores, and correct me if I'm wrong, but he doesn't handball it for every goal he scores does he? So can someone explain to me WHY the British footballing public lambast him from every angle for that? And then have the absolute cheek to either "not notice" or claim its perfectly alright, when a player does a similar thing for the team they support? The hypocrisy of football at its horrible heights. It's a similar situation when it comes to diving. It's a horrible trait that has unfortunately become a part of our game, but once again the hypocrisy of football fans comes to the fore in a very typical example from North London. Arsenal fans (aswell as others) have been complaining for a very long time at Gareth Bale's tendency to fall over for no reason, but all of a sudden, when Santi Cazorla (Arsenal attacking midfielder) does exactly the same thing, its suddenly fine? Is it just me that thinks that is complete and utter nonsense? Arsenal fans come up with things like, "Well, he did touch him", (which he didn't!) and then brush it under the carpet. The week after, Gareth Bale of Totteham dives, and he should be banned for 3 matches? Sorry, what? I see examples of this hypocrisy and complete bias week in, week out and it drives me up the wall. It's all very well supporting your team, but I just wish people would do so without making themselves look like tools.

I'm not saying all football fans are like this. But the majority most definitely are. And it blights what should be a fantastic field for discussion and debate.

We then come to managers. Now, I believe Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the greatest football managers of all time. His record is unbelievable, matched with his loyalty and tactical nouse. But my God, he is one of the most hypocritical people I've ever had to listen to. For years, he has criticised referees performances, blamed managers for playing mind games or deploying certain tactics, and then goes and does EXACTLY the same himself. One week, he is criticising the refereeing performance and the week after, he is having a pop at his opposition manager for ... criticising the referee. Again. What the actual f**k? That's like me going to work and being angry at my colleague for providing wrong information to a customer and then wrongly providing the very same information to another customer myself. How can people accept that this is somehow correct? It's not just Sir Alex either. It seems to be a common trend amongst managers, with a couple of notable exceptions, and it does nothing to help the image of football as a whole.

Now we come to local football. The stuff we see week in, week out on park pitches and I'm afraid, this is where the game falls down. Despite pledges from the FA to improve this, that and the other when it comes to the running of grassroots, it seems in fact that its being dragged deeper into the turf of insanity. Even before a ball has been kicked, teams are forced to fork out over £80 for every home game to pay for a sub-standard pitch, cold and dank changing rooms and not forgetting the referee's fee on top. It is unbelievable how expensive it is to play football on a Sunday morning, bearing in mind that sometimes you end up playing a team full of drunks. The value for money just isn't there at all, and it is incredible how people put up with the rocketing costs of running a football side.

There are 3 main problems with grassroots football:

1) The players. Predominantly, football is still a working-class sport. Regardless of what people say, the sport of football always has and always will be the sport of choice for people of a working-class nature. Without wanting to generalise too much, working-class people tend to be the same people who class themselves as "lads", "blokes" or "proper men", who swear at every given opportunity. When it comes to the competitive nature of football then, the use of swear words are as common as the penny. In public areas, this is not acceptable. In any other part of life, people would not accept such language and behaviour, so why do people accept it on public football pitches? Even the Laws of the Game has acknowledged and accepted that foul language is used, so have removed it as an offence. This is wrong. That is before you get to the abuse that is circled around the football pitch, from players to other players, from players to referees and even players to linesmen who are most probably volunteering their time at no cost.

2) Controversial of me given my background but, the referees. This isn't the case across the board by any means, but I have recognised that there are too many referees who simply do not care about the state of the games they take control of. There are too many active referees who do not TRY. Because the demand for referees is so high, the authorities will accept anyone and everyone to officiate football matches, and this considerably reduces the standard at which games are officiated at. Every Sunday, I see men of 70-75 years old, standing in the centre circles, making nonsensical decisions and winding everyone up. No one enjoys a football match when the official seems as if he's trying to ruin it for everyone else. Yes, his decisions are most likely to be questioned, for unfortunately, this is football - but to witness a man defend his decisions when he is making them from 50 or 60 yards away just makes no sense. This point also stands for the "mini-Hitlers". Last Sunday, I was watching a match on Sunday morning that was taken charge by a man, (probably in his mid-late 40s), actively attempting to wind players up by making outrageous decisions on the football pitch. His decisions were that laughable, both teams were just laughing at him by the end. I was stood on the sidelines, questioning what on Earth has happened to "the beautiful game" when people have spent a large amount of money to be wound up something fierce and participate in an activity that is ruined by people either incapable of controlling the situation, or ruining it on purpose. It makes literally no sense to me.

3) The authorities. In the past few years, county FA's have introduced ridiculous rules that wind clubs up even more. Such as banning the appeal process for dismissals. If a player got sent off, in the past, he had the right to appeal the sending off and there would be a hearing with the referee present. I attended a couple myself, one of which was a joke and the other, a genuine mistake was made and I went along and admitted it, and the 18 year old I sent off was free to play. Now? If a player is sent off, that is it. He is banned. And if there are referees out there who fit into the "mini-Hitler" category I mentioned in Point 2, these red cards can sometimes be ridiculous. And they have no choice but to accept being banned, because the county FA's have banned the grassroots footballing equivalent of the legal process.

Now, consider this. Bear in mind, you can't appeal a red card. The punishments you see in the Premier League range from 1 game for a double yellow card to 3 games for cases of violent conduct. In some leagues at grassroots level, cases of violent conduct are greeted with bans of up to a whole year. 1 whole YEAR of being banned! Maybe if it was a serious case of violent conduct, you could back that sort of punishment up, but what if the player you allegedly hit had feigned the injury just to get you sent off? Imagine how you'd feel if you ended up being banned for a year for something you didn't do, without the right to appeal? It's turning into a one-sided sporting authoritarian relationship...

I'd go as far to say that the sport of football, at all levels, is becoming a joke. I haven't even mentioned the racism that is cropping up more and more often, the abuse that referees suffer at all levels, the spiralling costs of going to watch your favourite team play in difficult economic times and a whole host of other problems that this sport has. I'm pleased I got out of it completely when I did.

It is called "the beautiful game", because once, it was exactly that. But in recent years, it has become ugly. And I don't like it.