I`m not sure many junior league football coaches and referees will agree with the opinion, expressed in last week`s Leader about the recent competition (The summer of Southgate, 20th July, 2018). Their mood is unlikely to have been "lifted by a glorious World Cup", which witnessed a surfeit of fouls, unsporting behaviour and downright cheating, either to gain advantage by winning free-kicks, or by the yellow-carding of an opponent.
Such behaviour was not confined to weaker teams in the group stages; even the eventual victors included in their number "divers" and players prone to chasing the referee, shouting profanities. Even, dare I say it, England were not immune from giving the referee a hard time, and it will come as no surprise when the number of referees willing to suffer the inevitable indignity caused by ten year-olds refusing to move back ten yards, or to stop wrestling with each other at corners, declines even further.
Imitating the world`s "top" players will not be confined to junior leagues, and Match of the Day is bound to be devoting much of its highly paid "analysis" to slow-motion repeats of Premier League simulation. "Glorious"? Perhaps not, and many football fans the world over will rue the 2018 competition for being the one when FIFA allowed the disgraceful antics of far too many of the game`s superstars to take centre stage.
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