Always play to the whistle

From the moment I started playing football with the under 9s for my local club, I was taught to play to the whistle. It’s something my dad also reminded me about often enough. If the ref doesn’t stop the game play on. The only exception being when somebody is down injured and even then, you’re not wrong to carry on, although it is unsporting.

The ABU mob have been out in full force slamming Nani for scoring a PERFECTLY LEGAL goal. There are several reasons, but at the core of each reason, is because it is Manchester United. As the United blog, Republik of Mancunia, pointed out:

When Mike Dean allowed Tom Huddlestone’s winner against Fulham to stand two weeks ago, after the linesman had correctly flagged William Gallas offside, did the Spurs players protest? Did the Spurs fans? Of course not. They will have been very happy that an officiating error gifted them a win against another London club.

Quite Obviously, the Tottenham players AND the Tottenham fans were quite happy to benefit from a refereeing error.

So please spare me the bullshit about morals. Football players and fans are as bad as each other. Steven Gerrard gets away with elbowing Michael Brown and Danny Welbeck in the face. Where’s the uproar about that?

In addition, Nani’s goal was reminiscent of Dirk Kuyt’s goal against Sunderland, which was even more morally corrupt than Nani’s. The referee had actually stopped play, there was a foul and the foul had taken place several yards back from where the ball came to rest. The ref had blown the whistle and stopped play. It was obvious the ball needed to be played back to the position where it should be taken, so Michael Turner touched it back to his keeper and Fernando Torres ran after it like a man possessed and squared it to Dirk Kuyt to score.

I then heard how Torres was praised for being alert and aware, but in my opinion, he knew that the defender was just playing it back to his keeper, but was so desperate to score that he tried his luck. The ref should have just asked the free-kick to be retaken and should not have stodd.

Because it was Liverpool and because a lot of pundits in the media are former Liverpool players, no castigation of Liverpool or Fernando Torres ensued. Why?

In Nani’s case the whistle had NOT been blown. The linesman did NOT put his flag up. There was no indication that play had stopped. Nani ran up to the ball and even asked the ref for permission to play on and Mark Cluttenburg indicated he could and so Nani scored. The referee’s assistant only raised his flag when the Spurs players ran at him in protest claiming handball.

Players with desire will do what it takes to score and/or win games. Whether it’s Peter Crouch playing backup goalkeeper against Stoke or Fernando Torres taking advantage of a confusing situation, players will do what it takes to win.

Nani probably should have had a penalty, didn’t get it so he put his hand on the ball in frustration, but neither the ref nor his assistant saw it and so neither of them stopped play. Spurs keeper Huerelho Gomes then even threw the ball some 10 yards forward and effectively put the ball back in to play.Why on earth did the keeper throw the ball ten yards out with an opposition player still behind him and when the ref did not blow the whistle?

Blame the keeper, blame the ref, but please spare me the ABU bullshit.

Players are all as bad as each other and just because pundits in the media are biased against Manchester United, doesn’t make the actions by United’s players any worse – it just makes their actions more scrutinized.

Video of Nani’s perfectly legal goal: