The Rational Ref | Game marred by culture of denial
Whether it be a referee, player, manager, official or politician, refusing to admit one has been wrong is pervasive
For all its exquisite entertainment, excitement and excellence, the World Cup has also shown some ugly facets of the beautiful game. The cause arises from a culture of denial that has spread malignantly throughout the game where most of the stakeholders, including as referees and Fifa executive members, are incapable of accepting the facts and telling the whole truth.
The ultimate manifestation of this is the fallout over Luis Suarez's Jaws moment on Giorgio Chiellini. Fifa's disciplinary committee took decisive action based on video evidence and yet those loyal to Suarez dismissed the charges and defended him to the hilt. They included Argentine Diego Maradona, Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez, captain Diego Lugano and even their president Jose Mujica.
"This gang [Fifa and the English media] will not forgive Suarez because he never went to university. He isn't educated, he grew up on the field, he is a natural rebel and expresses his anger naturally," said Mujica.
"We have seen all the games and this is the most indignant punishment. Here they add everything together, but the boy really shouldn't be blamed. It's a match and these things happen. There's no need to look into every incident because if we did that in each game we'd be playing five-a-side."
On the contrary, the modern way is to scrutinise every incident that occurs before, during and after a match. This is especially true of losing teams who will stop at nothing to find any excuse, even outlandish conspiracy theories, to explain away their loss. Accepting personal responsibility is the ultimate denial.
Even the victim Chiellini supported his attacker by saying Suarez's punishment - a four-month ban and a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (HK$866,500) - was "too harsh". This has shades of Stockholm syndrome, where the victim develops an emotional bond with their abuser.