The Sporting Arena

The debate on whether video technology should be introduced into football has long raged on.

But Thierry Henry’s handball on Wednesday night must surely be a cue for FIFA to act on introducing it, or extra officials, or whatever else they deem fit, to stamp out the cheats.

Already in what appeared to be an offside position along the byline, Henry’s left arm and the ball made contact, and a split second later, he appeared to deliberately scoop the ball back with a flick of the wrist to keep it in play before lobbing it across for William Gallas to nod the decisive goal.

The past few days have seen the vast majority of the footballing world in sympathy for Ireland, and a call for FIFA to do the just thing by calling for a replay in the wake of Thierry Henry’s handball that helped France qualify for next year’s World Cup, and the Irish to watch it at home.

Even the player himself admitted it was a handball and tried to tell the Swedish referee of it.

Right or wrong, it appears now that FIFA are highly unlikely to grant a replay, despite politicians and administrators weighing in. The rule book says the referee’s decision, right or wrong, is final. Maybe they don’t want to set a precedent by granting a replay – there will be no end to it each time something like this happens.

But it’s done. It’s gone.

FIFA must now take the cue from “hand-gate” and do something about it when such incidents arise in the future. The Swedish referee, who has been lambasted even in his own country, may not have seen it, which is why the experiment in the Europa League of having an extra official stationed along the goal line must happen sooner than later.

Video evidence should also be introduced into the game – but only for deliberate cheating incidents, if not we could see the fourth official holding up the board to indicate 10, 20 minutes of added time for all the expected argy-bargy between the teams and officials over every single decision by the referee.

Purists would argue that having technology may smoothen the sport’s imperfections such as human error, which ironically is one of the main reasons why football remains the world’s most popular sport, evoking passions like no other sport across the globe. Animated arguments still abound about whether Geoff Hurst’s second goal against the then-West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final actually crossed the line. And I agree, because this is one of the ways how football continues to generate so much popularity – for better or worse. If everything was fine and dandy, there would be nothing to talk about.

But the way the footballing world reacted to Wednesday’s incident tells us what happened is very wrong and should not be allowed to stand. Its unethical, its unlawful, its unsportsmanlike. It wasn’t a 50-50 incident. This was blatant cheating. A team and an entire nation were robbed of a chance to take its place on the sport’s biggest stage.

Gary Lineker, himself part of the England side that could justifiably count themselves unjustly treated by their exit at the 1986 World Cup to Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal, said players should police themselves, like in golf and snooker, and that referees should also listen when a player admits they committed a misdemeanour on the field. The football laws should enhance and protect the sport, and not restrict it, which is why referees, while there to make sure the laws are applied, should also be allowed to exercise their own common sense and discretion when “blind spots” happen.

But all that is in an ideal world.

In reality, its no longer when once upon a time, sportsmanship and fairplay were prized characteristics. These days, players are more likely to wave imaginary yellow and red cards to get fellow professionals sanctioned.

I won’t sit on the fence here. FIFA should introduce video technology, extra officials or whatever else they come up with, BUT not for every single dispute. Let the “did the ball cross the line or not” arguments continue, because it is such human imperfections that is also precisely why football is so popular and a source of endless debate. Intervene only in blatant cheating incidents, like Henry’s handball, like that Olympic medal winning dive by Liverpool’s David Ngog.

I’m not sure if this will work. But hopefully it can be more effective in stamping out the cheats, but still preserving that imperfect, infuriating yet irresistable nature that is football, or soccer as some call it.

Over the past few weeks, much has been said about Crashgate, the race-fixing scandal involving Renault conspiring to win last year’s SingTel Singapore Grand Prix. The alleged perpetrators, including team boss (”He who shalt not be named” in the pit garages) Flavio Briatore, have been sanctioned, but many questions remain why Nelson Piquet Jr has gotten away, especially as he knowingly carried it out. Many people are still sceptical over whether Fernando Alonso, who went on to win that race, knew anything about it, despite the two-time world champion’s insistence he knew nothing of the plot throughout the half hour long media scrum outside the Renault motorhome behind the Paddock last Thursday night.

Many left unconvinced, but my gut feel is that he is innocent, although his defensiveness that evening didn’t help matters. I may be wrong, but my initial feeling was that if you’re going to do something below the belt, you would want as few people to know about it as possible. And as the old saying goes, your initial feeling is usually the right one. Alonso didn’t need to know what was really going on for the plot to work. In fact, I read somewhere that Alonso remarked to Briatore on the podium in Singapore last year with seemingly genuine surprise at the win.

Unless new information comes up, we may never know the full details in its entirety. But there is no denying Alonso’s class as a driver, someone who can make an uncompetitive car look good and is widely regarded as the most naturally gifted driver currently on the grid. Imagine what it be like if the double world champion was put behind the wheel of a Ferrari, which may happen next season if all that talk of him moving to Maranello next year is true.

Crashgate has left many wondering if this latest blow will leave the embattled sport on its knees, particularly after recent scandals in “Spygate” and “Liegate”. Several drivers, like Nico Rosberg, believe the sport will bounce back, and I for one tend to agree.

Yes, such scandals give the sport a bad image, with ING and Mutua Madrilena ending its deal with Renault immediately. But there is no denying that Formula 1 has grabbed the Lion’s share of the limelight in recent weeks, and while sponsors may think twice about being part of it, fans in general will still continue supporting the sport. Ironically because of this controversy, we could actually see more interest in the sport. We may deny it and take a moral high ground, but we all love drama, the characters, the plots and the subplots with more twists and turns, bumps and dust than the Marina Bay street circuit than not even the safety car can dampen. It’s like an unfolding soap opera, and we all want to know what happens next, and that is why I believe the sport will bounce back. That is one of the reasons why sport has such universal appeal and charm.

Forget about the smell of burnt rubber and roaring engines of Formula 1, forget about watching Usain Bolt cover 100m in 9.58 seconds. Football still is my cup of tea when it comes to getting that adrenaline rush! Its not often that football fans go through the whole gamut of emotions like the just-ended Manchester derby, a roller-coaster affair that ended 4-3 to United at Old Trafford which wasn’t decided until deep, deep, deep into stoppage time, echoing memories of that equally frenetic last-gasp win over Sheffield Wednesday all those years ago. Mark Hughes will surely lead the protests about the referee’s decision to play that amount of stoppage time, whilst the scribes will go on and on like a Duracell bunny about how Michael Owen chose probably the best time for his first goal at home – only a goal against Liverpool would top that – and sure, United’s win, thrilling as it was, wasn’t a pretty affair that came with nice ribbons. But this is why we love football, and sport in general. So for now, let’s just forget about United’s defensive frailities or if you’re a City fan, the missed opportunities, and just savour the moment and jabber on incoherently in an intoxicating mix of adrenaline and excitement which of course is far easier if you’re a United fan like me!

On the local sports front, a major happening was the announcement of Canon’s four-year deal worth $1 million annually with the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) to market our top athletes. Now, this may not be as “sexy” or “controversial” compared to say, Crash-gate – the unfolding scandal surrounding Renault allegedly fixing last year’s Singapore Grand Prix. After all, local sports news usually play second fiddle to the more exciting, controversial foreign sports news.

However, if you think about it, if this partnership with the SNOC is a success, we will see our top athletes on billboards, advertisements, TV commercials etc. Imagine watching the TV or commercials before a movie, and you have bowler Jasmine Yeong-Nathan or sailor Roy Tay endorsing the latest Canon camera, or swimmers Tao Li and Quah Ting Wen on billboards and posters, or shooter Jasmine Ser in a TV commercial. Or what about a gigantic billboard of footballer Hariss Harun in full-flight draped across an entire length of a building?

I spoke to them earlier this week, and while some admitted to having the jitters and uncertainty of being in front of the camera or seeing themselves on billboards and advertisements, they were all excited nonetheless. This is what local sports need.

I’ve always believed that no matter what you do, in this day and age, you just cannot neglect the marketing side of things. You have a product, but you also need to package it and make it attractive and appealing. The same applies with athletes. If you don’t publicise and market them as our sporting heroes and heroines, nobody will know who they are.

Remember Singapore’s Dream Team that won the Malaysia League and Cup double in 1994? They did some publicity work, and got together to cut a single “Dream Team Steam” if I remember the title correctly. It helped boost their profile.  Till today, people still remember them.

The sports authorities in Singapore have done so much in recent years to raise the level of sporting standards here, but maybe the marketing side of it hasn’t developed as quickly.

Nonetheless, its great that slowly but steadily, more companies are beginning to realise the marketing potential that local sports can offer them. With the Youth Olympic Games here in August 2010, there is no better time to capitalise on this market.

The world records set at the ongoing Fina World Swimming Championships in Rome will forever be tainted, not by doping, but another form which one article called “technological doping”.
First it was the Speedo LZR Racer, now its the Arena X-Glide. Who knows what’s next? If that happens, we don’t know how much of a world record was down to the swimmer, and how much was down to the suit, rendering such feats meaningless as sport – maybe apart from sports such as motorsport, where a colleague of mine pointed out it is agreed to be a challenge between man and machine – is about overcoming physical, emotional and mental thresholds within the human capacity.
Bob Bowman, coach of Michael Phelps, may come across as a case of sour grapes, after German unknown Paul Biedermann handed his protege his first individual loss in serious competition in four years, lambasting Fina and suggesting the German would not have achieved his world record if not for the Arena X-Glide suit.
I mean, when Phelps won eight gold medals at last year’s Beijing Olympics in his Speedo LZR Racer, I don’t believe he kicked up such a fuss.
But beneath all that, Bowman brings up a salient point: if technology was allowed to call the shots, then all future sporting records and performances will become meaningless, because it is not a true test of the human ability on a level playing field.
As Singapore head coach Ang Peng Siong said, it should be about the swimming and coaching, and not about the suits.
Nonetheless, its better late than never that Fina, the world body for aquatic disciplines, have decided to ban the use of controversial hi-tech swimsuits.
Technology is, and will continue to be an indispensable part of everyday life, sport included.
We see it everywhere, from scientifically-developed running shoes and compression thights to attire made of “breathable” material to keep the athlete cool. These innovations are perfectly fine as while they help the athlete, they do not define the outcome – it is still down to the athlete.
Technology should be used to help man, not define him.

The Asian Youth Games has just ended, and one of the first things that come to mind has been its shortcomings.

There have been widespread criticism over the quality of the official Games website, with many finding it difficult to get the information they want, be it the latest up-to-date results or start lists for who is competing in what the next day. There have also been complaints from spectators about a lack of programmes handed out at events to tell them what is going on.

Even I have my own grievances, but most are from a media standpoint which I shall not go into.

But in all of this, it is easy to point fingers and overlook the fact that the organisers had about six months to get everything in place, whereas the normal time given to prepare for a major multi-sport Games like this is usually anything from four to six years.

We forget the swift and effective way in which the organisers, who were already saddled with so many other responsibilities and things to handle, reacted to handle the H1N1 situation which saw five athletes affected.

The AYG, as a test event for next year’s bigger Youth Olympic Games – which is about four to five times bigger – has thrown up many shortfalls that the organisers for the YOG are well-aware of and mindful to avoid.

But if we look beyond the shortcomings, it is important to realise that we’ve just hosted a multi-sport event and already, it has created a lot of buzz amongst fans, officials, the media and of course, the athletes themselves. And hosting major Games like this is one of the best ways to build that sports culture in Singapore. Rather than always talk about it and watch other countries host major events, there is nothing like having it at your doorstep, watching the best that the world has to offer right here.

Just look at the reaction of Singapore windsurfer Audrey Yong, who is still relatively new to the windsurfing class compared to the much more experienced Thais and Hong Kongers, having switched from the Optimist class about a year ago. But when she won the bronze, she said it felt like she’d won the gold and looked far happier than those who’d won the gold.

I’m sure the AYG would have fired up the imagination of everyone, athletes included. Once such things becomes part of the social consciousness here – like how chasing straight “A”s in school examinations is – the ball will start rolling.

Over the past 10 days or so, we’ve brought you daily reports (except on Sundays) from the Asian Youth Games which just concluded earlier this week. But not many in the public know exactly how the news is being brought to readers… all I can say is that it involves a lot of running around, fighting traffic jams, keeping track with results, interviews and unseen developments all at the same time, and having to file stories/photos anytime, and literally anywhere (as this picture would testify), especially when the deadline is looming or already passed in cases where there is a late breaking story.

Nobody likes to lose, but there are times when you lose with a smile.

When Lionel Messi put Barcelona 2-0 up in the Champions League final, I knew the game was up. As a Manchester United fan, it was terrible, and I told myself I’d turn the TV off and go to sleep to stop thinking about it.

But while the remote stayed in my hand, my thumb didn’t press the on/off button.

And I must say it isn’t hard at all to say this – Barcelona’s style of play is easy on the eye. Though they denied United their fourth European title, at least United lost to a deserving team. Josep Guardiola’s side showed that in this day and age where football seems to be ruled by who is the biggest and strongest, skill and ingenuity can still win.

I mean, Barcelona didn’t pick United apart by sheer guts and muscle, or resort to panic-button long balls, but by simple football – passing and movement.

As the commentator said: “Even when they were 1-0 down against Chelsea, they never panicked. They still passed, passed and passed (the ball).”

No matter where football is played, from your neighbourhood void decks right up to the biggest leagues in the world, the rule of thumb is still romantically the same: keep possession – without the ball, the opponent, no matter how good, can’t do anything.

Sigh… why didn’t United, who themselves are also exponents of a similar type of possession football, turn up?

While Guardiola’s changes to his starting line-up were mainly because of suspensions to his full-backs, Sir Alex Ferguson opted to play Ronaldo up top, with Wayne Rooney in an unfamiliar left-wing role.

It appeared to me that United’s changes were reflective of their pre-occupation of nullifying Barca, rather than just playing their usual 4-4-2 formation and letting Barca worry about them. Perhaps Fergie did, in a rare occurence, get his tactics wrong, and if so, on the worst possible occasion.

It is very common for sports journalists to still be fast asleep at 8.30am as its not uncommon for us to finish work around midnight.

Apart from getting up to be in time for Sunday amateur league matches with my team Red Star Semangat (something which I won’t be able to do for at least another year due to my ACL knee injury), there is little else that can convince me to get up at that still somewhat “unearthly hour”.

But I found myself unable to go back to sleep after getting a call at 8.30am on the Wednesday morning of May 20 from Jack, the media representative for the Natas Singapore Women’s Everest Team, informing me that three of them, Li Hui, Esther and Jane had successfully reached the top of Mount Everest. (Joanne and Peh Gee would summit Everest about a day later).

The news had gotten me all excited.

Like many others, I was rooting for them to succeed.

Having tagged along with two of their training sessions before they left in March to write a piece for International Women’s Day allowed me first-hand peek into what they’ve gone through over the last five years to achieve what they’ve achieved.

Later that day, while trying to get in touch with Yi Hui - whose dreams of summitting were dashed after chest pains forced her to return to Base Camp – who was waiting at the Everest Base Camp for the rest to return for an interview, I went through archived photos of those training sessions. In this picture (taken in early March during one of their stair-climbing sessions up a 30-storey apartment block in Tiong Bahru) Li Hui, the first Singaporean woman to summit Everest, is in front (perhaps a sign of things to come then?), with me behind her, trying to look as normal as I could for my photographer Wee Teck Hian although I was seriously getting out of breath and with my ACL-stricken knee starting to protest again.

If doing that in the relatively comfortable conditions of Singapore is already a big challenge, imagine lugging even more than that for days on end with a crippling lack of oxygen, bone-numbingly freezing temperatures exacerbated by some of the strongest winds on earth to deal with, not to mention frostbite.

I recall Li Hui telling me that up there, with the air so thin, even a simple task like walking a few steps to pick something up can leave you panting, which is why the paranoia of not training enough drives them to keep up their training routine no matter how boring or unattractive it may be.

Li Hui explained to me that it is a matter of life and death in high altitude, especially in the death zone above 8,000m, where one’s ability to reason and think straight can become severely impaired due to the severe lack of oxygen, and it has cost many lives already.

Yet, it was only after I watched a documentary a few days ago on TV documenting an earlier Everest expedition, where one of the climbers Gerard was on the verge of losing his mind in his quest to reach the summit, that I could visualise what Li Hui was talking about. If anything happened to him, even his team-mates would not be able to rescue him as it mean them possibly losing their own lives, something that Yi Hui told me over the satellite phone on Wednesday.

She decided to take the difficult decision to turn back instead of persisting as it most probably could’ve led to having a rescue operation mounted, made more difficult by the fact that helicopters cannot reach those high altitudes.

What they have achieved is something truly remarkable, not just for the five summitting, but also for Yi Hui making a very painful and unpopular, but ultimately right decision to abandon her summit dreams.

Let’s hope they get the due recognition that they deserve.