BlackMan Time

Archive for October, 2004

When someone uses the phrase “professional foul” usually they are talking about a sportsman who deliberately does something contrary to the rules of their sport knowing full well they may well be published for it but they do it any way because it is expedient or necessary for them to do it. It is halfway between cheating to get an unfair advantage and clever strategy.

In the case of the traditional English game of soccer, a professional foul is (usually) when a player commits an illegal tackle on another to stop him from scoring or running into a favourable position.

When the phrase “professional foul” is spoken, phonetically it sounds like you are talking about a totally different kind ballgame or animal! For instance “professional fowl” does sound like you are referring to a poultry bird whose sole purpose in life is to sit in a cage and either lay eggs or await the inevitable day when it is chopped up and processed before becoming a dinner table item with your Sunday rice and peas!

What has motivated this explanation? Actually, the current brouhaha over England captain, David Beckham’s admission of deliberately fouling a Welsh player in order to get around a technicality that would have seen him banned should he get another yellow card.

I make the comparison because Beckham, a player who really deserve much greater respect than some sections of the British media gives him, commits a professional foul, admits he did so deliberately a few days later and now the press and sundry is getting all ruffled. To me it seems so hypocritical. I don’t know which is worse: committing the offence, admitting it, both or being the England captain and committing the offence, then admitting it!

If they really want their rules not to be circumnavigated by clever thinking players then they should make better rules. They shouldn’t try to make the player feel like a criminal because he has found a loophole in the system. In fact, maybe they should pay Beckham for discovering a loophole they should have dealt with already!

The short-sighted among the Football Association (sweet FA to you and me!) are muttering things like “not in the spirit of the game” and “it’s just not cricket” once again seem like old fuddy duddies who react (and even over react) when public opinion forces them to.

In the world of professional sport where large sums of money depends on the outcome of a game, it is clear that some sportsmen are more interested in winning than in participation. This is actually a business and when sport transcends being a past time or just another leisure activity, then things like “professional fouls” become part and parcel of the game. That is the reality.

As far as I see it David Beckham’s only real “crime” was actually admitting to deliberately fouling a player and then making it public.

Had Becks kept his mouth shut no one would’ve been any wiser and he would still be seen as a great captain and terrific player. Now, doesn’t that sound like hypocrisy to you? The fact that ignorance is bliss. That’s the real professional fowl…