So, a sniper shot down a footballer

Big Deal??? I mean it's now a common practice whereby a sniper hidden somewhere in the crowds or on the roof of the stadium or the VIP boxes (if you will) shoots down an attacking player making a marauding run inside the penalty area of the opposition. Sometimes the snipers even shoot down players not making any dangerous runs. These snipers are present all over the world, more so in Europe and do shoot down players (mostly attackers) from time to time in matches at various grounds. They are believed to be a real terror in Italy, so much that they even shoot down Italian players practicing at their football practice sessions. The one shot down by a mystery sniper this time was Edu-9 and it hurts me because he is a gunner and UEFA have, this time around, taken it upon them to do something about it (by charging him of diving). Why? Rather… why now?

Edu-9 dived and won a penalty against Celtic... to go down like that is just cheating! But maybe the authorities are to be blamed for letting these things happen week-in week-out, what are other honest (till then) players to make of this? Maybe Edu-9 is then a victim of authorities' indifference towards this type of cheating which has infested this game so long.

OK, now i am not condoning diving in any form, sort or shape. All i am on about is the lack of consistency shown by the Football authorities, in this case Monsieur Platini's UEFA. This was also not to set a precedent (in which case the claim can be that henceforth all such incidents will be dealt with severity) as the same had already been set in 2007 when the Scottish FA reported a dive from a Lithuanian striker and UEFA imposed a 2 match retrospective ban on the player. Good move if you ask me but then the same should have continued thereon. I mean they were using video evidence they couldn't have gone wrong. The ronlados, drogbas, gerrards, rooneys, RB-7 of the world have all time and time practiced (their art of) diving and even won penalties (crucial ones that have changed seasons and tournaments for their clubs, countries) long after that incident involving Lithuanian player. So where was UEFA in the last two years, what's with this waking up all of a sudden? I think i know, UEFA is still the good-for-nothing body that it is, it is just that this time around the media blew the incident way (and i mean WAY) out of proportion. Why? Simple...it was a foreigner and one from Arsenal!! When Owen does this, he's 'clever' and won a penalty. When Rooney does that, he's ‘passionate’ and will do anything to win. When Ronaldo does (did..since now he is in Real Madrid and not Man utd- the darling club of the English media and the refs) it they would just laugh it off. The only player who has got stick, any close to what Edu-9 got for his act, has been Drogba. So, lest UEFA becomes consistent with their treatment (or even cognizance) of such incidents it (action against Edu-9) will remain a joke. plonkers!!

Talking about the punishment itself, it is a yellow card if the ref spots the dive. It is a 2 match ban if the ref doesn't spot the dive (or maybe the fact whether the resulting penalty is scored also plays in, or even the result of the match).

My beloved Gunners went to Old Trafford this weekend and we saw within a gap of a few mins two genuine (one stonewall) penalty claims turned down by the cowardly referee (playing his whistle to the home crowd or simply to man utd)- RVP-11 was clipped inside the box (obviously there were no replays...we all know about the bias of English media) and then Fletcher clattered into AA-23 (a two footed challenge inside the box getting nothing but the player) and referee waved 'play on'. Some refs would give a red card+penalty for that challenge and all would give a penalty. And as if this was not enough, the Professor kicked a waterbottle (did not talk or complain to anyone) out of disappointment when in the injury time min RVP-11's goal was disallowed for a WG-10 offside and the ref to everyone's amusement sent the Professor to the stands. Shame! a total shame. Although (and rightly), Keith Hackett, the chief of the referees' association (or some sh!t like that) is due to apologise to the Professor for his sending off. Wenger later described the events (in terms of refereeing) as "It was Old Trafford-ish. We know how things work,". And he is right, history (even recent) of English football will tell you what he means. And one arsenal supporter (alwaysafc) rightly welcomes the new term from Wenger's dictionary, he says on 606
"TRAFFORDISH! Thanks Arsene.. We all know what it is... but we needed a word to describe it."
Coming back to the referee, It could be just two big mistakes by the referee and nothing more but then why doesn’t the FA do something about it (poor performance from refs)... i mean any paid professional is bound to be reviewed for their performance (or lack of it). I agree it is a thankless job but then it is also a powerful job and it is a shame when the talking point of a match is poor officiating; spoils the football. Some refs try to be the talking point after the game by misusing their power and there are others who try to keep a low profile by being consistent at both the ends of the pitch and not be the centre of attraction- the latter for me are examples of good referees. So while the authorities want to check players' retrospectively using video evidence and punish those who cheat why can't the same technology be used to evaluate referees' performance and appraise them (maybe relegate the regularly faulting refs to lower league, pay cut... just thoughts) because we all know how much impact bad refereeing can have on teams and their campaigns. After all, not long ago an English referee dished out 3 (THREE) yellow cards to the same player in the world cup. Ring any bells?

the story so far

yeah, i started all pumped up 'warning' you to be careful about what you may end up reading out here...basically trying to create an atmosphere. and for what, a bloody lull...i kept procrastinating and procrastinating (that's almost three years !!!). now that i have finally put fingers to the keyboard i think the best way to start would be to see where i have come from that day to today.
let me remember...December 2006...i was working in Mumbai. having just appeared for CAT after i had realised that my coming back from Leeds to 'prepare' for CAT was futile. i should have stayed there longer (and earned a few more quids) and just appeared for CAT without any 'preparation'. come to think of it, i actually might have scored more :P

Professionally... i was working in an IT company, wanted to do an MBA at any cost to change my sector (or so i told to my bosses who tried to convince me to stay on in the organisation). and guess what, i am back in IT. Once in IT always in IT or was it just the simple fact that the placement season for us was in the middle of the economic turmoil. Damn the western economies, the ripples of what they caused were felt in our college, in the quality of companies that visited my mediocre college. I don't know whether it was this or the (relative) comfort of work in this sector...that i got attracted (once again, the first time was while opting for my engineering branch) to IT. So, basically I have an MBA (err...PGDM actually) degree (err...diploma actually), working in IT industry as a manager. Let's see what's in store for me and how much i like the ride.

Personally... I have grown a lot (not in stature)... around my waist. Have thinned around my head. I have mellowed down a lot from what i used to be..confronting, short tempered. Not to mean that i am not any of those now but it's gone down. Probably, this is called ageing. I have moved from Mumbai to Chennai, parents have moved from Mumbai to Lucknow and so technically i am not a Mumbaikar anymore. This part hurts more than any other, even more than the waist which is fighting a constant battle with my trouser. Oh and yes, i have met the one i would like to spend my life with and it's a wonderful feeling even though her parents have their concerns regarding my age, my hair line and my waist line (what's left). I would be lying if i said i didn't miss being a member of the Horny Bachelors' Club :-). V, the president of the club, would smirk on reading this. He has just one other member (A) to preside over; over the years 2 other significant members (V and K) have had to surrender their memberships for reasons similar to mine.

Footballistically... after having won FA cup in 2005, Arsenal reached the finals of the champions league in May 2006 and failed to deliver a trophy that has long eluded us gunners. I would not call it a successful season by any means as we barely qualified for European action in 2006-07, the season still was one which gave hope. We moved into our new home 'The Emirates' and as expected we took time to settle down and as we were we got a jolt with the news of the departure of TH-4 Va Va Voom in the summer of 2007. Somebody had to step up in 2007-08 to fill the void, and guess what, the WHOLE TEAM DID... and it gave us a memorable 3/4th of a season at the top of the league till the horrific incident at Birmingham City where Eduardo almost lost his foot. We lost the title on the fateful day- first the horrific leg break and then the breaking down of the WG-10 at the end of the match at the other end of the field (whilst the penalty was being converted). 2008-09 was a very average season, notwithstanding the champions league exit which was nothing short of a thrashing then was the FA cup exit at the hands of our London rivals and to this day i can not fathom why the PRofessor decided not to play our best player then- the little Russian, AA-23. So even though the season ended with us in the top 4 it was still very much of an underachieving season (or a team building season if you would). So, it has been 4 long years, after summer of 2005, without any silverware to show for in the trophy cabinet. Let's hope by the summer of 2010 we do have to loosen the hinges of that cabinet to allow some movement. As for 2009-10, which i will be watching on my Sun DTH, the season is just 2 match old (plus another 2 for us to qualify for champions league) and it's premature to comment on our chances just yet. Whatever the chances, yours truely will still back his beloved Gunners till the end. Go gunners!