"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
Deliberate red cards
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24Shall we sin so grace may further abound? May it never be. Romans 6:1
Last week Real Madrid had two players red cards in the dying minutes of their Champions’ League Game. Since then there has been speculation that it was part of a deliberate plan. Real Madrid had already qualified for the Knock-out stage but had one game still to play. The two players were each carrying a yellow-card. But if they were red-carded and banned from the next (and meaningless) qualifying game, they would wipe the slate clean and allow them to enter the Knock-out stage with no potential suspension hanging over them. The two players get banned from next game (but next game is dead..) and the players start with a clean sheet in the Knock-out.
Is this clever strategy or cheating? That has been the debate this week with opinions divided. Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger said “It gives a bad image of our game”. Vicente del Bosque, National Coach of Spain said, “I don’t know if it is unsporting but they have to think of the future. They worked it well.”
When I wrote on the ethics of the Uruguayan hand-ball in the 2010 World Cup, I quoted Sharon Stoll is one of the world’s leading experts on sports ethics (author of Who says this is cheating, Sharon Kay Stoll, 1993). Her comments on that incident seem relevant again: “In the purest form it was cheating. The player knew what he was doing and was willing to violate the rules and take the consequences. But that is how sport is played today.” While admitting that others would have done the same and that it was probably not an attempt to deceive the officials, she did not feel that that exonerated the player.
Stoll also posed a provocative question for us: “The bigger question is how do we want sport to be played?” Are we happy for players to violate the integrity of the game in pursuit of a win-at-all-costs? Or do we feel that the great game of Association Football has been demeaned by the actions of players referred to above?
Sharon Stoll also commented on the almost complete lack of teaching of sports ethics. Elite players in the World Cup have their tactical coaches, fitness advisors, sports psychologists – but have they ever had any instruction on sports ethics? Is this an area where we as Christians need to step up to the plate.
Robert Butcher and Angela Schneider wrote a paper “Fair play as respect for the game”. I think that principle is very important. I cannot see in Real Madrid’s actions any respect for the game. As someone who loves sport and sees sport and our ability to play and enjoy it as a gift from God, I deplore this lack of respect. But rather than condemning Real Madrid, I need to ensure that all my actions in sport – mainly in the North Berks Football League – respect the game and the God who gave us sport.
We who seek to honour Christ are held to a higher standard. The system may be flawed, but we must compete honourably, even in a corrupted culture.