Some might argue that football can afford to alienate some of the fan base. For all the talk about what a disgrace footballers are I still see record gate receipts, TV deals etc. People are voting with their wallets and saying "I LOVE FOOTBALL".
The correct decisions could be made more often, if players didn't complain/appeal for everything (when they know they should be benefitting)/etc.
Gilly. I can't tell - are you being serious?
Aren't they? I bet without video replays they would be on par. It doesn't matter though, what the ref says goes...
But of course
not really, even before the days of VRs in Rugby the players still had much more respect for the officials than their footballing equivalents. I'd go as far as to say that in general rugby players have much more repect for the game they play as a whole. Most professional footie players are pompous, self absorbed egotistical *****s who think they are bigger than the game. All you have to do is look at the total lack of respect they have even at an international level.
The thing about cricket is the fielding side will quite often signal a 6 instead of a 4 if it's a close call and the umpire cant see. Would you get that in football?
Not just rugby, but cricket too. Cricket is 100% based on respect and playing in the spirit of the game. There was an incident once where a player was given out LBW when it was very very obvious that the umpire had made the wrong decision. The equivalent in football is maybe the ball hitting a player's stomach and the ref giving handball.
So this player, when he was walking off, he pointed to his bat to show that the ball hit his bat. That is all. What happened? He got disciplined and got fined 20% of his match fee and had to apologise. Cricket is all about respect for the officials. Players can show disappointment in themselves for getting out, but if they show any sort of disappointment or resentment towards an official - BOOM! Disciplinary time.
Barca are the worst for this. They have almost the entire team surrounding the ref for some decisions. So annoying to watch.
So players in cricket get fined for insubordination, even if they're right and this demonstrates that cricketers have more respect than footballers? Eh?![]()