ARE SOCCER LAWS TOO VAGUE?

By Julio Cardoso - Kuwait.

ARE SOCCER LAWS TOO VAGUE?

OR IS IT JUST OUR NATURE TO DISPUTE EVERYTHING?

Something that has been bothering me for the past few days has been the deteriorating behavior of players on the soccer field the world over, and regretfully the disease has caught on in our very own tournaments organized for Indian Community in Kuwait.

I know we see it on TV all the time, even in international matches, players arguing with referees, but the fact remains that arguing with a referee is just pointless. A referee is rarely ever going to change his decision, but for sure he will be annoyed and it may even influence him taking future decisions in the game which may go against the player who was constantly arguing, or it may even hurt his own team.

Soccer referees are human, and for sure they are going to make mistakes every now and then and sometimes the mistakes are so obvious, you want to literally murder the referee, and this is exactly when the character of a player will be visible. Does he know to ignore the mistake and rather concentrate on his game and help his team win? Or is he going to argue with the Referee and get into his bad books? Team managers and so called experts of the game are no better and do their best standing outside the field of play, instigating the players with provocative remarks against the referee and his assistants.

Two of the main reasons I feel that players argue with the referee are (a) because of their ignorance of the laws of the game and (b) the vagueness of some of the laws of the game where the laws are not specific and ‘In the opinion of the referee’ is not fully understood by the, players, spectators and at times even the referees themselves.

One law that is still not clear in soccer until today is ‘handling the ball’. Law # 12 (fouls and misconducts) which clearly states that when a player handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area), the referee will award a direct free kick to the opponents. The word ‘deliberately’ is something that FIFA must review, as very rarely does a player deliberately handle the ball especially in his own penalty area and in most cases handling the ball is accidental. However the referee has no hesitation in pulling up a player for handball even if it is not deliberate. So many other rules are vague including the offside rule, playing an advantage, attempting to kick/trip, accidental fouls, abusing own players, referees mistakes in ending matches before or after the actual duration of play, etc etc.

This is however not the same in other sports like cricket, baseball, badminton, where the laws are very clear and you will rarely find players arguing the umpire’s decision. It has also got to do with ethics of the game, where arguing with the umpire is considered disrespectful and prone to strong action by the laws or the Federation.

Couple of weeks back, in a SEMI-FINAL match between Kerala Challengers and AVC Sports & Cultural Association in the GOA Rolling Trophy, the referee accidentally ended the game 5 minutes before time, and even as Kerala Challengers who incidentally were leading 1-0 when the match ended had already left the field of play, the error was immediately pointed out to the referee who requested Kerala Challengers to return to the field and play out the remaining five minutes.

Now Kerala Challengers had every right to dispute the referee’s request and initially refused to return to the field as the referee had ended the match, however better sense prevailed and after much coaxing and cajoling they did return and completed the remainder of the match. But just imagine if they had refused to comply with his request or if AVC had to equalize during the five minutes that were played out, it would have been utter chaos.

In such a situation I believe there is no written law that is covered in the laws of the game, although the Referees’ hand-book states that the match may have to be replayed entirely or just the remaining five minutes on another day if the error was not detected immediately. Including such probabilities in tournament rules or Federation by-laws may be a good idea in future.

Players who constantly argue with the referee test their own character when they assume they know the laws and dispute every decision taken by the referee. This also incites other players who join in the arguments with the referee and the game than disintegrates resulting in referees erring due to unnecessary pressure.

While organized soccer for the Indian community has been in existence for over 35 years in Kuwait and I have been a part of it as a player, administrator and a referee, I regret to say that not much has improved. Playing the game in the spirit of the game really does not exist and winning is all that matters. If a team loses, the propaganda is that they lost because of the referee. Abusing referees and even attacking them has happened in the recent past and the good thing is that Kuwait Indian Football Federation (KIFF) has been firm with punishment for such players.

It is also good to see that Indian Football Referees Association (IFRA) and KIFF are now working hand in hand and my humble request to the current KIFF President who is doing an excellent job, is to get club owners, team managers and players to attend refresher classes at least once in three months, to enlighten them on the laws of the game and clear doubts on some laws of the game that are vague.

HUMILITY OF POPE & OF EX BISHOP OF KUWAIT

The new Pope Francis I, will be identified not by his physical majesticity but by his practical humility associated with the sense of forgiveness and sympathy for the poor. If all the earlier Popes had these qualities the Catholic World would attain lot of good which could have been easily shared with others too to make this whole world a blissful place to live.

If during his time Gallileo was blessed with the sensisble and knowledgeable Pope, Gallileo would have been spared of the punishment the then ignorant Pope meted out to him for speaking the truth saying,  "it is earth that moves round the sun and not the other way round". Even if Gallileo was wrong the present Pope true to his genuine sense of forgiveness would have forgiven Gallileo and spared him from the harsh punishment the then Pope wrongly meted out to Gallileo.

If the present Pope Francis I, had to rule Vatican when Martin Luther issued his protest against Pope’s actions, the present Pope Francis I, true to his nature would have forgiven Martin Luther and allowed him to reconcile with the Vatican instead of provoking Martin Luther to flee from Rome for safety of his life. If the reconciliation with Martin Luther was effected with humility by the then Pope, today Catholicism would have been stronger sparing from having one more Lutheran denomination. The then Pope lacked humility as the current Pope and hence the split in the Catholicism.

Humility in words and in deeds is performed by very few Catholic leaders. The ex Bishop of Kuwait, Mnsg. Frances Mechallef, a Maltese citizen was one of them. He and me we had sometime difference of opinions and at moments he did not agree with my views but that should not deter me from accepting the fact that he was a very humble Bishop and a true sympathiser of the poor. He was the only Bishop that I saw who stooped so low to lead a very humble way of life. Feudality and pompousness normally associated with the Bishops and in many arrogant priests was not existing in Bishop Frances Mechallef. One could many times see him in the Church compound with Broom and Basket in his hands cleaning the Church Compound along with other hired Cleaners and sometimme even cleaning public Toilets in the Church Compound. He was a true missionary having no dislike for doing ordinary manual jobs normally meant for the lowest persons.

As a lover of poor Bishop Frances Mechallef never liked to tax the poor especially the Catholics residing in Kuwait from Indian subcontinent. Neither had he liked priests coming from the mentioned region to collect funds in Kuwait from the poor faithful. His contention was that the expatriates from subcontinent are not as rich as they are depicted and that they are undergoing lot of sacrifices to fulfil their own obligations. And since this is the case these expatriates according to Bishop mechallef should not be taxed.

Bishop Frances Mechallef was such a genius economist that without asking any donation from the faithful openly, he raised thru his own sources such a huge amount of money to renovate the Cathedral and to build such a magnificent edifice in the Church compound. This renovated Cathedral in Kuwait city and the beautiful edifice he constructed in the Church Compound should remain as monument of his in Kuwait.

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.

“HABEMUS PAPAM “ - WE HAVE A POPE.

Wellcome Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergolio of the land of Maradona as the new Pope for the lands of Catholics comprising over a billion members. It was a joyful moment to hear the eagerly awaited announcement beamed thru TV Channels all around the globe the selection of the new Pope who named himself as Francis I – after St. Francis de Assisi and St. Francis Xavier the Spanish Missionary who also belonged to the society of Jesuits and who came to Goa centuries back to spread Christianity; He is reveredly called the Patron Saint of Goa.

As a catholic I feel proud that my leader the Pope stationed at Vatican is commanding such a vast influence in the world which cannot be compared to anybody else either political or religious figures on this planet. I can rightly say judging from the interest shown to his election by the world that the Pope is the most powerful and the most influential individual in the world. For 2 days the entire world was glued to the TV some like me not even sleeping for two nights to witness the announcement of His selection on 13th of this month.

At 66 Pope Francis looks young and youthful with charismatic appearance that will help him to deal with others positively. In his smile there is lot of attraction that also will help him to build his image as a great Pontiff.

It is a big blessing for us Catholics to have such a simple man as a Pope. His urge to identify himself with the common people and with common acts should be a lesson to imitate for those priests and Bishops who are leading the life of feudal lords thereby degrading the greatness of Christ’s humility. His traveling in the public Buses and living in simple apartment should put into shame all those priests and Bishops who use limousines for their transport and Bungalow type of residential places to live the life of Monarchs against the principles of Christ who lived a simple life. His economic way of living is totally against that of those priests and Bishops who live the life of Maharajas by spending money from the contributions of the faithful who foolishly think that the contribution they give to the Churches go to God. In fact the enormous amount of the contribution faithful give to the Churches including Sunday and other holiday collections many times goes for the luxuries of the priests and Bishops and also to support their concubines. In Pope Francis dwells simplicity and poverty while in many of our priests and Bishops dwell satanic arrogance, satanic pride, satanic wealth and satanic pompous show.

His abhorrence for sex for priests and bishops should correct the sexual inclinations of our priests and bishops that brought the Church reputation into disgrace. In fact the Church reputation was disgraced by the disgraceful priests and disgraceful Bishops some of them still believe in Racism, Facism and Nazism for this reason this time God guided the Cardinals to elect the Pope from the poor country Argentina which had no traces of Racism, Fascism and Nazism.

His selection as Pope will be marked as the beginning of rebuilding of the Church just as that of the advent of St. Francis de Assisi. Currently our Catholic Church is tottering into the hands of weak priests and weak Bishops because of whom very many Catholics are leaving Catholicism and embracing other non-Catholic denominations. In Non-Catholic denominations they get better solace spiritually and physically because the Pastors in these denominations are good guides, full of wisdom, full of knowledge and full of God’s blessings. These Pastors display thru the intercession of Holy Spirit better power to heal the sick spiritually and physically. The main attraction of these Pastors is their simplicity in words and in deeds in dealing with the faithful following the example of Christ.

What I did not like in this Pope Francis is His silence on the brutalities of militarily dictatorial government functioning in Argentina from mid-seventies to mid-eighties. That government during that cruel period committed all sorts of cruelties on humanity in Argentina against the Christian doctrine and for the leader of the Catholics in Argentina to remain silent on these happenings is like accepting satanic rule. I am surprised how this mighty and majestic man whom we call as Pope became a coward in front of the military ruler of Argentina whose ruthless regime spilled blood of innocent citizens all over Argentina against the teachings of Jesus Christ.

It was not the present Pope alone who became a coward in front of his country’s ruler but there were some other Christian leaders too who also became cowards in front of their countries rulers in the sense that when their political leaders asked them to bow their heads they went one step further and prostrated like slaves thereby failing to support the truth and uprightness in a true Christian manner following the example of Christ of refusing to bow down before the brute might of the political ruler.

During the Second World War which was imposed by the Nazis to demolish the human civilization thru cruel deeds, the Bishop of England rightly condemned Hitler’s Nazism thus upholding the Christian principle while German Bishop instead eulogized Hitler’s action thereby trampling under his satanic feet Christian doctrine of peace and love.

During the invasion period of Kuwait by Iraq, in the middle of September 1990 to please his political boss Saddam Hussein, the Chaldean Bishop of Iraq came on to the national TV of Iraq and eulogized Saddam Hussein. Instead of condemning and disapproving of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait which was wrong, the Chaldean Bishop against the principle of Christianity to stand by the right sanctified the wrong.

On the day of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on 2nd August 1990 early in the morning when I noticed the lustful urge of raping in Kuwait city by the filthy Iraqi soldiers and remembering the raping incidents of Goan females by the dirty and ugly Indian soldiers in December 1961 at the time of invasion of Goa by the Bharat, I went around in my neighbourhood with one mission. And what was that mission? It was to tell the Goan females staying around my residence to flee from Kuwait city because Iraqi soldiers true to their nature will start raping. While I entered in one Goan Flat to inform this news suddenly an armed Iraqi solider followed me and pulled out all the males from that Flat. Sensing the worst I refused but surrendered like a goat when threatened to kill me by that Iraqi soldier. It was very close to the Church. Immediately I came home and called one priest in the Church requesting him to do something either to call our Pro-Nuncio at Baghdad to use His influence with Saddam Hussein to stop Iraqi soldiers from raping in Kuwait or to come out of the Church and as a daring priest go to that Flat where Iraqi solder may be trying his best preying on the Goan females residing there and to save them. But to my utter disgust that priest from the Catholic Church in Kuwait city became coward and instead instructed me to pray for the safety of the females under the claws of Iraqi soldier.

Priesthood, Bishophood and Cardinalship is a daring job meant for daring persons only who should be ready even to risk their lives to fight for justice in the name of Christ. Will the newly elected Pope Francis inculcate this sense into his subordinates before inculcating it into himself first?

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.