OK, I am relatively new to the wonderful world of football. In Saturday’s match, ok I get it that Drogba clearly handles the ball before scoring his second goal, and as the refs miss it, goal counts. Things like that are fairly common in the matches I’ve seen. Why then, does the post match interviewer seem to imply that Drogba is at fault for allowing the goal to count? He asks Drogba if he handled it, Drogba basically admits it, the he goes on to apparently berate him for continuing with play after handling it. I guess my question is, is there some standard or precedent for a player to admit a goal should not have counted? Was he implying Drogba should have stopped play and admitted guilt as soon as the ball touched his arm? I am only familiar with American sports, and have never seen any player ever turn down a goal after admitting to a penalty- I’m not even sure if goals would be taken away even then. I guess what I’m asking is, is there a procedure for admitting to a foul and then removing the goal because of it? I know Drogba and Chelsea are villified for various reasons, but this seems a bit harsh. I mean Drogba said basically, “if you feel the goal shouldn’t count, take it away” which pretty much shut the interviewer up. Unless the interviewer was implying he handled on purpose, but even then, it’s not anything that doesn’t happen in almost every match. I understand fair play and sportamnship, like not attacking when a player is injured, but this to me is totally different.
I’m a bit of a football ignoramus, but Maradona’s infamous Hand of God goal set the precedent for dishonesty, which means the interviewer was merely pissed because Drogba was “unsporting”. Don’t know if the rules have changed, though, and I’m fully expecting to be corrected.
I didn’t see the interview, but I think I understand the interviewer’s point to an extent. Drogba handled the ball intentionally, which means he knew he was breaking the rules. Granted it was as plit second decision on his part, but he knew exactly what he was doing. So in essence he is a cheat. But honestly, Drogba lives in our times and I really would not expect him to have admitted during the game he acted dishonestly. Nor would I really expect any other player. Every week I see, essentialy the flip side of the same coin, player who clearly foul, even in the box, and when it is called they get up in the referee’s face. This is no different than the Drogba case.
Without seeing the interview I cannot really say if Drogba was fgiven too much of a dressing down or what? I think it is a legitimate point by the reporter, but hardly one that needed to be pressed.
If he thought Drogba handled on purpose, that makes sense, definitely unsporting. Is there a rule or precedent for what a player should do when
handling or something like that accidentally, if the ref does not see it? Has a player ever stopped play in this type scenario? I have seen the famous video of Di Canio stopping a sure goal when he saw the goalkeeper injured, but this to me is a little different in that there was no injury. I mean, every corner kick has some sort of unsporting play. And surely Chelsea would not be harmed if they had even lost this game, but what if they lost a title or something because of a player exhibiting sporting behavior and cost his team millions?
Not once the goal has been awarded, which seems to be what you’re asking. I suppose Drogba could be fined or given a suspension for ‘bringing the game into disrepute’ but he’d have to clearly admit fault first, which I’m not sure he has (I haven’t seen the incident or the post-match interview).
Even if he was so punished, the result of the game would still stand.