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by JASON BOGDANERIS

The first six days of competition are history and despite some amazing performances, the work of the referees claimed centre-stage once again. The initial matches gave fans hope that FIFA had got it right at last; attempts to hoodwink whistle-blowers fell on deaf ears as they controlled the game like skillful traffic cops at rush hour. Officials ruled by instinct instead of calling the game like sycophantic bureaucrats heeding an internal memo. The result was free-flowing football. Then came the Brazil V Turkey match.

Acting like he had a crush on the Brazilian squad, the Korean referee gave them the benefit of many doubts, and in the final chaotic moments punished the Turks with all the fairness of a witch hunt.

It’s a problem the sport has always wrestled with. In soccer’s dark era, stars were routinely targeted, culminating in Pele’s famous vow to retire after being hacked right out of the ’66 Cup. Then suddenly the pendulum swung the other way, with referees flashing yellow and crimson warnings like broken stop lights. Every whiff of contact became an opportunity to get an opponent expelled, as players flung themselves around the pitch. One American referee recently likened his job to that of a drama critic.

The players bear their share of responsibility as well. The reaction of Brazil’s Rivaldo after being hit in the leg by the ball was shameful. Acting like a man who had been splashed with face-searing battery acid is hardly in the spirit of fair play.

But beyond the integrity factor, referees can make or break the rhythm of a contest. And the freedom of teams to imprint their style on a game is what makes soccer great. Compare this with other sports, where flow has become a four-letter word. Baseball has always been a glacially slow game that’s getting slower; American football, with its elaborate, militaristic battle plans is a cumbersome Cold War relic. And as exciting as the NBA and NHL can sometimes be, their greedy search for additional revenues is turning them into drawn-out, commercial-infested drudgery. With no natural stoppages for sponsors to exploit, soccer has only itself to blame when things grind to a halt.
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The shock win by the Senegalese team is still on everyone’s mind. No matter how the rest of the tournament goes, they’ve done their bit for African football. If they do exit early however, inevitably their “undisciplined” tactics will be to blame. At least that’s what the pundits keep saying.

It’s one of the many cultural clichés that gets bandied about at World Cups that’s at best amusing and at its worst downright offensive. Count how many times African players are called “athletic,” compared to their European counterparts, for instance. The implication being that Danish and Russian players are uncoordinated goofs with a work ethic, while the Nigerians or Cameroonians were plucked out of their native villages and thrown onto the field. The German squad, on the other hand, will invariably be called “organized.” Even after losing 5–1 at home to England this year, their reputation for robotic-like efficiency survived intact.

That being said, certain nations seem to go out of their way to fulfill cultural stereotypes. Brazil’s reputation as carefree rogues gained more credence when their captain’s World Cup ended before he played a single match. The cause? He injured himself goofing around for the TV cameras at practice. The Irish, however, deserve special mention for pulling off a rare double-header after having a player and reporter sent home in the same week. Roy Keane’s temper justified one ethnic cliché, while commentator Paul McGrath’s drunken behaviour exemplified another. The other side of the coin was their last-ditch goal against the Germans, which allows the media to polish off those hackneyed phrases about the plucky, never-say-die Irish. Reporters everywhere should raise a “pint of the black stuff” in gratitude. :