Is Money the Root of All Evil in Sport?

Yes the era of Cash in sports.  And not just small cash, nowadays whopping great amounts of the green stuff.  It's fair to say that in the last 20 years wages and bonuses sports stars get has ballooned astronomically.  And not just some sports.  Now that the world is closer, made more so by air  travel, and the willingness for sports men and women to travel to faraway events not just for the prize, a trophy etc, but also for the prize money (not to mention appearance fees).  And yes they work damned harder for it, more so in past decades.  But that's not the point of this blog.  One could argue for eons on the impact of huge amounts of cash in sporting events, but you'd get nowhere and just play the circle game (which I think is still an amateur sport)!

Recently in a T20 World Cup game, or should I say, shortly after, the England Captain made comments about the Umpiring.  Nothing new here I assure you.  Sports men, women, and administrators have always lambasted officials in public, or have they?  Well no to be honest.  I think my first memory of an official being given the third degree by a sports star was a young John  McEnroe at Wimbledon of all places.  And to be honest since about that time officialdom have been more under the gun than ever before.

So what of this phenomenon?

My theory on reflection is that the level of scrutiny of officials in just about all professional sports has increased commensurate to the raise in earnings by those stars.  That means that for sports stars to perform to earn, they also expect all those around them to support them in their endeavours.  Regrettably for them, officials don't buy into that practice as they are there for the good of the game or sport and hold no allegiances (though some could doubt the odd occurence).  So what happens is a well paid sports star will have a meltdown and voice their opinion, rightfully or wrongly (mostly rightly).

So with that in mind I took a step back.  To club sport, where amateurs (both players and officials) ply their trade week in week out?  By and large there is very little dissent on pitch, but plenty from the sidelines as you would expect.  That's the gist of this blog.  People playing their chosen sport not for the love of money, but for the love of the game, and everyone gets on (mostly, there have been a few infractions).  There is no stress, their is no big money, there is no need to go off on a rant.  If anything is wrong, it's dealt with amicably.

The next time you watch a top tennis match, a test match in rugby, a T20 international, any top sport.  Remember largely it's about an income and protecting it.  Don't get me wrong, I like seeing top sports people rewarded for their contribution, but when they can't handle the stress and decide an official should bear their wrath, I switch off.  None of us have the right to complain about the standard of officialdom, as it's a fair bet we'd never put our hand up to replace him/her.

Time for a change - Officiating In Aussie Comps

 It's fair to say New Zealand teams playing in Aussie competitions have always seemed to have the rough end of the stick when it comes to officialdom.  The Warriors, our first Aussie comp team, in the early days were often finding themselves at the wrong end of many rulings, a lot down to favoritism towards Aussie teams on the park being prevalent.  The Breakers too have a history of running foul (quite literally) of Aussie based refs and even after many years in the competition they still face the occasional issue.  And we can't forget the Wellington Phoenix.  The recent match versus Melbourne Heart in Melbourne clearly shows that there is a deep underlying issue.

But for their part, the FFA, the governing body for the A League and refereeing appointments, have finally heard the Nix and acted.  Too late for the Nix though, the damage was done. This admission by the FFA suggests things might be improving, but are they?  All three errors by the official were glaring omissions on his behalf and he's not helped by inept officiating from the sideline.  Clearly there was a hand ball.  Clearly Sigmund's red card clash was run of the play tangling and nil intent to foul, and clearly that Heart Penalty was milked.  Clearly the FFA has only one recourse, not let Ben Williams, the official, ref again in the A League (and to toughen the penalty, drop his name from WC contention).

I think all three sports suffer from dubious decisions, usually weighted to the opposition.  Seems there is a culture that the little guy from across the Tasman is not allowed to be a force in "their" competitions.  But what have we done about that.  Well for the Warriors and the Breakers, they made finals.  They played above the officiating and won games on sheer guts and hard work and by and large ignored the poor officiating.  Yes there was still bias, but they ignored that by playing winning sport. The Nix can take a leaf from that book, ignore the bias, concentrate on quality football, win against the odds, and make finals.

It's also fair to say that Warriors and Breakers have earned their badges.  They have overcome and conquered.  Can the Nix?

One last word about the officials.  Why are there a lack of New Zealand officials in all competitions. Be nice to have the boot on the other foot for once!