Dennis Benson

Posts Tagged ‘Yellow Cards’

Anyone who cares about sport should offer up a vote of thanks for Andres Iniesta, without whose goal an estimated 700 million viewers around the world would have switched off feeling that they had witnessed the death of football and of sportsmanship. In truth the World Cup final was a disgrace. Over many matches millions had come to admire the magical passing and riveting entertainment value of the Spanish team. Clearly Holland, like any other team in the tournament, could not match this and we all expected them to practice close marking and ‘spoiling’ tactics. But we didn’t expect violence. It was a miracle that there were not serious injuries in the first half when many assaults disguised as tackles received only yellow cards from the beleagured Howard Webb.

Mr Webb is an excellent referee who was put in an impossible position. Those who now protest that he should have put a stop to thuggery by producing at least two red cards early on would have been the first to complain that he had ruined what is arguably the greatest sports event on earth. As it was he ended up with a record 14 yellow cards and, inevitably, a late sending-off. But if teams are going to conduct themselves in the way that the Dutch did no referee will be able to either allow the game to flow or to keep sufficient players on the field to complete the match. To crown it all the players in orange disgraced themselves after the final whistle by surrounding the officials in brutish style.

The Spanish were not without guilt but their misdemeanours were largely born out of frustration and human reaction to seeing colleagues hacked down. Toward the end of the game we were treated to some of their magic with players flicking the ball to each other in beautiful motion. But beauty rarely emerged and sport lost what could have been the perfect advertisement for a game so often called beautiful but which rarely is. A game fitting this description requires two sides capable of intricate movement and a conviction that winning is only part of the perfect performance.

Thanks to Iniesta we were spared the ultimate horror of proof that artistry never succeeds. And when he tore off his shirt in ecstacy we read the words on his singlet which read ‘Dani Jarque always with us’, a tribute to a former Espanyol player who died of a heart attck in August 2009 at the age of 26. The words seemed to sum up the spirit of oneness that has characterised the team from the outset.

If this all sounds very partisan I can only reply that at the kick-off I had no preference as to winners. I suspect that many who watched became biased only as it became clear that Holland’s plan comprised victory at any cost. And the tragedy is that they had no need to resort to such tactics for they had shown in earlier matches that they could offset their lack of finesse with sheer effort and commitment.

Of course we Brits looked on with a regretful eye. Spain had for most of the tournament looked like the team we imagined we had. In reality England were pathetic and incapable of inspiring even the most one-eyed fan. And it is even worse than that for many of the team will be past their play-by date come the next World Cup in four years time. Have we the ready replacements? No!  Whereas the number of players in the top Spanish league qualified to play for their country is almost 75 per cent our number is 30 and falling. And what did we hear during the tournament? A long list of foreign players to be ‘bought’ by our premiership clubs who are happy to pay out fortunes for this but reluctant to fund even the most basic youth development programmes.

One must accept that the ultimate driving force here is that of the regular fans. If their priority is to have a successful Premiership side then they have to accept that it comes with a price, a low-quality national team. They cannot have both. Even in this tournament the fact that most goalkeepers in the Premiership are not qualified to wear the England shirt almost led to an even greater disaster than was experienced. Only the heroics of David James saved us from total humiliation and he is nudging forty. 

But sport is bigger than any of these issues. It can inspire and unite nations in the way that nothing else can. The showcase final should have been a demonstration of all that is good in sport and, by comparison , bad in other aspects of our lives. It was almost ruined by those who valued sportsmanship less than the ideals of fair competition. It almost, but not quite, cast a shadow over the wonderful organisation of the South Africans and the legacy that it deserves to leave to those in poverty.

One final thought. As the inquest rumbles on let us ignore those who choose to blame the referee. When asked about an official’s performance, the late Bill Shankly once remarked that he hadn’t seen him kick or maul anyone. Sportmanship has no need of arbiters!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

IN THE NEWS THIS MONDAY;  The Food Safety Standards Agency is to be abolished. It seems that the retail giants have friends in high places!  XX  Lord Mandelson is appearing in TV ads to promote his memoirs. He even refers to himself as The Prince of Darkness.  XX  Cancer recovery rates are rocketing. But what effect will the fall in forward development budgets have?  XX  The spies released from Russia are residing in an unnamed hotel in Southern England. They will take a break from spying before their relaunch.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

THINGS I LEARNED YESTERDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME; The Government Communication HQ in Cheltenham employs 5,500 but only 2.49% are from ethic minorities.  xx  The chief executive of fashion group Burberry, Angel Ahrendts, has received cash, benefits and shares worth £6.1 million. XX Marc Bolland, new chief exceutive of M & S, was lured from Morrisons with rewrads up to £15 million.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

A volcano erupts and suddenly the mighty machines of man are as straw in the wind. It is perhaps generous of  Mother to give us the occasonal reminder that whenever she feels so inclined she can smother us, drown us or blow us away.

If she did not those of us without self understanding would forget completely and come to believe in our infallibility. Our machines would be all capable, our edifces indestructable and our military might all conquering. But all are reduced to dust in the face of nature, the power that towers beyond anything man can produce. 

Scientists can of course explain each and every act of nature. Those of us of less knowledge and fanciful minds sometimes wonder if there is not a more mystical explanation. Could it be that God or Mother Nature observes the growing arrogance of man as he polutes the planet and destroys its natural resources and being a benevolent being decides to issue a series of yellow cards’. If so will she one day decide that enough is enough?

You don’t have to be of a religious disposition to delight in the joys of nature on a sunny Spring day. Nor to realise that we are speeding up the race to ultimate destruction. Who cares about the rain forests or the  thousands of air miles, the rocketing population or the nuclear waste? We are all powerful!

But we seemed less so as we waited in vain at the airport. And we couldn’t even blame the government, social services or any of our usual scapegoats. Perhaps we should ridicule the supposed natural powers as we do with global warming. But suddenly it is much harder to do that as the dust hangs high over Heathrow’s gleaming indestructable towers!