Why don't they ask?

[Dave3498]

I've been listening to the cricket commentary from Sri Lanka, particularly concerning the disputed catch in the slips - did it carry to the catcher's hand or not? There ought to be one simple way of determining the facts, and that is to ask the bloke who supposedly caught it. He is the only person on the field who really knows, yet the umpires do not bother to ask him. If it didn't carry and he says it did, then he has to lie, and take the consequences back to the pavillion with him, with all his team mates and and the two batters looking askance at him.

It seems to me that they - the umpires - are assuming that the guy will always lie, when this may not be the case. The same applies to batters when there is a dispute over whether the ball was caught off the bat or glove, or part of the sleeve. Nobody ever bothers to ask. There is no doubt that the person holding the bat knows exactly whether it hit the bat or glove or not.

I know I may be accused of being naive here, but we golfers police ourselves, otherwise we could never play a team Texas Scramble. Also, at the professional level, it is unthinkable that a golfer would not call a penalty on himself if he thought that he had infringed the rules, even if no one is around to see the incident. The same is true of snooker players.

I think that game officials are too ready to assume that they will not get the truth from sportsmen, when they may be entirely wrong.

I know there is a lot of pressure on team players, but fancy spending the rest of your life knowing that you lied and cheated your way to a result. I couldn't do it,could you?

 

[John_Findlay]

Excuse me, Mr Inzhagi....was that really a penalty or did you actually dive....again?

Dave, footballers certainly don't mind cheating their way to titles. It's spreading, I'm afraid, and I'm genuinely concerned about the way golf might go if young kids nowadays follow their example.

Oooooohhhhh....it makes me mad.

 

[Dave3498]

Well, football stopped being a sport years ago. I'm afraid there's no hope for that, but I do think that cricketers can be brought back into the sporting fold.

 

[madandra]

I stopped going to the football years ago due to the cheating and I am not surprised by its increase because if you have someone who has cheated you WON'T have a manager or coach willing to punish their actions. When Wayne Rooney took a dive over SolCampbells leg to stop Arsenals run of games undefeated did you here Sol Campbell calling Shrek a cheat? No !! Did anyone call him a cheat? No !! Who got the blame? The poor referee, that's who. They are the scapegoats and the easiest way for the highly paid to55ers to avoid accountability.

We, on the other hand are our own referee's so if you had to have a standing arguement as to whether it was or wasn't a penalty then you would be whisked away to the funny farm.

Let them go to hell in a hand cart. We will be fine.

 

[AliB]

Football aside, I noticed that in the Black Rock tennis at the weekend two players in separate matches over-ruled the linesman's bad call and 'gave' their opponent the point.
The age of chivalry might not be dead after all.

AliB

 

[USER1999]

Batsmen don't walk anymore though. Time was when they knew they were out, and started walking, now they wait for the umpire.

 

[par_par_par_treble]

a couple of years ago i scored a goal with a blatant hand ball that everyone but the ref saw.

he gave the goal and we won because of it. did i feel bad? no way! he wouldnt have listened if he disallowed a goal that should have stood and i corrected him on that.

all's fair.... (even cheating!)

golf is different though, because you are the ref. rather than getting away with something, it's down right cheating. Even i draw the line somewhere

 

[golfdonkey]

I'm completely with you Dave3498. I think if players were asked about catches and whether they clipped the ball with the bat or not, a high number would admit it. Walking has gone out of fashion - but could easily be made fashionable again. Don't agree with you par_par - wouldn't want to win a game with a handball.

 

[par_par_par_treble]

Dont get me wrong - i know i did wrong, but after i instinctively handballed it, it was too late. im not seriously going to ask the ref to disallow my goal

where would it stop?

Strikers telling the ref when they are offside?

defenders giving penalties against themselves every time they pull a shirt??

if football was this honest they wouldnt need 3 or 4 men to officiate a game.

golf on the other hand is more black and white. wrong and right are easier to distinguish. rules cant be bent in the same way

 

[Dave3498]

Forget footballers, they are completely out of it now.

I just think that it is quite insulting to a batsman to assume that he will not tell the truth, and therefore not bother to ask him if the ball clipped his bat or whatever. The umpires always take the responsibility away from the player by simply turning to the third umpire to adjudicate.