Soccer is the Greatest Game

Soccer is the world game. It brings together people around the world and allows countries to settle their differences on the sporting field. It is a game that takes supreme eye and ball coordination and a superb touch and mindset to judge the correct vision of play. Although our beautiful game of soccer is being brandished by the new art of diving. This art has been successfully employed by Christiano Ronaldo and other predominantly European players especially the Italians as seen by Fabio Grosso's dive that ended Australia's world cup hopes.

Diving is not in the spirit of the game and it is faking an action that a defender has supposedly committed. Showing how diving is cheating. At world cups fifa also needs to make sure referees are not favouring the major teams to much as seen throughout the last world cup. Countries like Ukraine and Australia were constantly giving a hard time where as there big and well known opponents were shown favouritism.

Our game is great and it brings the world together but there are some terrible aspects that is bringing the beautiful and world game down. One for instance is diving and Fifa needs to start banning players doing it as it is cheating and players like Christiano Ronaldo constantly do it. Corruption is not a problem in the world game and the last step fifa have to take is to ensure the referees give small countries and large countries an equal chance at future tournaments.

Fabio Grosso should have been banned for a long time after his dive ensure Italy victory over Australia. Christiano Ronaldo needs to be penalized as well, as he does it every week and gets off usually jet free.

http://www.easychum.com/

The Rules of Soccer: Game Etiquette Toward Officials

Unlike some sports, soccer gives its officials nearly total discretion over the conduct of the game. With few exceptions, fouls are matters of opinion or judgment, and the rules encourage the referee not to call fouls when doing so would help the offending team. The continuous nature of the game means that it the opinion of the referee ? and nobody else ? that determines whether a challenge is fair or foul, whether a high kick presents a danger to another player, or whether a particular incident justifies a caution or send-off. And under the Laws of the Game, the referee?s decision on any point is final, and is not to be questioned.

Under the rules, the referee?s authority starts when he arrives at the field of play, and stops only when he leaves. This means that once he shows up, and whatever his age or level of experience, the referee is in command of the field. Incidents occurring before, during, or after the game are within his jurisdiction, and subject to his control. Coaches or players confronting officials after the game have no immunity, and are still liable for any misconduct that the referee decides to punish, even if the game is over.

Dissent
From the perspective of coaches, players, and spectators, the least understood justification for a caution is probably the offense of "dissent." The rules provide that participants can be "cautioned and shown the yellow card" for showing "dissent by word or action" from any decision of the referee. This is to make sure that calls are not subject to the endless committee discussions that sometimes interrupt other sports, and that the game resumes as quickly as possible.

Most referees will not punish outbursts of disappointment that fade quickly, and will gladly explain a particular call in response to a polite inquiry. Still, each referee has a different tolerance for griping and, under the Rules, each limit is equally valid. In other words, a coach or player who utters a word of protest at any call by any of the officials may be ignored, admonished, warned, or cautioned, at the referee?s sole discretion. And the permissible level of grumbling for any game depends on that game?s referee, who is well within his authority to punish any showing of disagreement.

In most leagues, coaches are responsible for the behavior of their team?s spectators. This means that a referee whose patience is gone may choose to treat any adverse comments from the sidelines as coming from the coach, and take action against the coach. Or, if he prefers, the referee may simply suspend the game until the offending party leaves. From a practical standpoint, this means that referees may banish anyone, or everyone, from a team?s sidelines. They may refuse to continue the game until everyone dismissed from the field has left ? to any distance they specify as a point of retreat. Or, they may simply declare the match abandoned, if the offending parties insist on staying. The rules grant the referee full authority to take whatever action he deems appropriate to maintain or restore order on the field.

Still, despite the wide range of their power and authority, most officials are reluctant to dismiss participants or spectators. They hope to calm emotions rather than inflame them, and do what they can to keep everyone in the game. Forbearance is not a right, however, and coaches need to remind their parents of the need to avoid "riding the refs." This, in turn, helps keep the sidelines under control, and the players focused on the game.

Dealing with Mistakes
Under the rules, everyone must accept and deal with any decision by the referee during the game. Mistaken or not, the referee is part of the game, and organized soccer regards the referee's decision on any point of fact as final. This does not mean that you can do nothing to protest the conduct of abusive or inept officials. However, the right way to make a complaint is not by shouting and screaming at the official during the match, but by documenting the incident in writing and filing a report with your soccer club. Your club will review the report and, if appropriate, send it to the proper authorities. Before you do, though, there are a few things you need to know:

First and foremost, formal protests will succeed only if they involve a referee?s mistaken application of the rules ? and, even then, only if the mistake had an effect on the outcome of the game. By contrast, informal "protests" can do much to improve the quality of officiating within your club. By bringing mistakes in rules or judgment to the attention of your soccer club, you help educate the referees by alerting their supervisors to officials who need to be monitored more closely, and those who need special help. You also may help identify the rules that are giving your referees particular problem in application. The procedure for making an informal complaint is usually simple: just bring the matter to the attention of the club?s referee coordinator.

The Referee?s Judgment
Judgment calls belong to the Referee: you cannot change them, screaming about them will only get you in trouble, and protesting them will not change the result of any game. In addition, referees cannot see everything, or they may see a particular play differently than you do, and expecting them to call a "perfect game" from your team?s perspective is simply unrealistic. If, however, if your team was the victim of a pattern of favoritism or bias, it may indicate a shortcoming on the part of the official which needs correcting for future games. To document such a pattern, your report should contain a "foul chart," detailing the official?s discretionary calls: this chart should contain a separate listing for both teams, indicating (whenever possible) the player fouling, the player fouled, the timing of the foul (by minute), and noting in some way whether the resulting free kick was direct, indirect, or a penalty kick. This can be time-consuming and frustrating, and you should also be aware that disparities in calling fouls often reflects nothing more than differences in playing styles: for example, a team relying on its speed and quickness to win the ball may foul less frequently than one relying upon the physical strength of its players; and an aggressive, attacking team will often commit more fouls than one which relies on ball control and finesse. Therefore, your report should acknowledge this, and contain some indication of the styles and playing levels of both teams.

Coaches, parents, and players watch the game with their hearts, and complaints about officials often reflect nothing more than sour grapes. The same referee whom the losing team regards as an idiot may get high praise from the winners. Therefore, any complaint you make about an official should be as objective and unbiased as you can make it.

If you are going to complain about the officiating at your game, make sure that neither you, nor your team, gave the officials any cause for complaint at the field. The surest way to have your complaints ignored is to allow the referee to respond: "They were on my case the entire game, they complained about every call that went against them, and when their coach wouldn?t keep quiet after his first yellow card I finally had to issue a second, just to get some peace and quiet."

Lastly, it is often tempting for players and parents to blame the officials when a team loses. But coaches who permit or encourage such attitudes should make sure to give the referee all the credit when their team wins.

A Neutral Set of Eyes
Referees do not care who wins or loses. They are there to make sure that nobody wins by cheating. Like the players, they trying their very best. And just like a player will not deliberately try to pass the ball to an opponent, or score on his own goal, no referee will ever make a mistake on purpose.

Soccer is a wonderful sport, and a source of joy for fans and players around the world. But to play the game we need referees to provide a neutral set of eyes to settle the inevitable disputes. It is a game of passion and adventure, and cheering for your team with all your heart is a large part of its appeal. But we must all be careful not to let our enthusiasm turn into hostility toward the officials when things don?t turn out our way. There will always be another day, and another game to play. And like the weather, you may find next week?s referee to be more to your liking.

This does not mean that next week?s referee is better than this week?s, any more than rain is inherently better than sunshine (just ask any farmer). Referees are just a condition of play that both teams must deal with on a given day. But while adapting to wind or rain strikes us as perfectly natural, many of us feel free to howl at the referee when things aren?t going our way. Perhaps it?s because screaming at the referee gives us someone to blame for our troubles...while screaming at the rain would make us feel foolish.

Jeffrey Caminsky, a veteran public prosecutor in Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. Both his science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the first volume in the Guardians of Peace (tm) science fiction adventure series, and The Referee?s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating, are published by New Alexandria Press, http://www.newalexandriapress.com.

2010 World cup soccer - A property marketing opportunity for South Africa

After the euphoria of winning the bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, South Africans in all sectors must now work together to ensure that this opportunity is fully utilized for the long-term benefit of the entire country.

Hosting this major sporting event will be a massive boost to our economy and it is expected that almost R 30 billion will flow into South Africa, spurring economic growth to between 5 and 6 percent, while creating an estimated 150 000 jobs. The impact on the property market will be enormous.

South Africa is currently enjoying a strong position and consumer confidence is buoyant. International buyers, locals and expatriates are major buyers of South African properties.

The property market will do well to use the 2010 Soccer World Cup as a platform to aggressively market property in South Africa, which is still undervalued in global terms and offer exceptional value for money.

South African property is likely to receive a major boost from 2010 - if the World Cup is a success. Paris "France" property prices escalated by as much as 55% over a one year period before and after the 2002 Word Cup and property across the city made astronomical gains with the prices of apartments close to some of the stadiums rocketing by over 100% over the same period.

Some neglected neighborhoods in Paris were completely rejuvenated. The same will happen in South Africa, because although we have had a good run, in global terms our property is still undervalued and the macroeconomic outlook is very favorable.

Hosting an Olympic Games or World Cup encourages urban regeneration and is usually accompanied by an improvement in facilities, transport links and overall infrastructure. Yet, a closer look at the lessons of the Olympic Games hosted in Athens means a lot of work needs to be done - especially in marketing South Africa as a destination.

There is a lot to be learned from the Greek Olympic experience on how best to sell South Africa as a desirable country and etch ourselves into the minds of tourists and investors for a long time to come. Greece did not fully capitalize on the Olympics to promote itself and its property market to the extent that former Olympic host cities Barcelona and Sydney did - and lost out on some of the benefits of hosting a major international event.

Perhaps they were a bit complacent and thought just because they?d secure an event like the Olympics people would come running. The key learning is that Barcelona and Sydney went out of there way to make themselves outsider and investor friendly and strongly promote themselves through a fantastic marketing effort as a great place to buy a second home. And the Spanish in particular are probably the best in the world at selling their own property and the sensual and relaxed Spanish lifestyle. This has translated into massive job creation and social upliftment through increased tourism and a very favorable country perception. Around 60 000 UK citizens bought a home in Spain in 2003.

Just think if South Africa could increase its visitors by tens of millions a year to get close to the number of people who visit Span each year. We would have an incredible success story for job and wealth creation. When Sydney hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, they pushed not just Sydney as a city but the howl of Australia as a desirable place to tour, live and own property. There was a unified strategy between the government, the tourist board and the property industry.

In South Africa we can?t afford to just promote the cities that will host World Cup Soccer games. We also need to promote the true spirit of South Africa as a highly desirable investment friendly and stable country. Well planned government expenditure aimed at local regeneration will give impetus to host cities in creating a more suitable and attractive inner-city environment - that?s because public infrastructure that would otherwise have taken years to complete due to red tape will now be fast-tracked.

For example, the R 20-billion Gautrain high-speed service between Johannesburg and Pretoria will certainly be completed in time for the 2010 World Cup, creating a wealth corridor and increased property values across both cities.

Other projects that stand to benefit from the event include Coega?s giant "signature bridge", the Statue of freedom in Port Elizabeth and Durban?s new international airport at La Mercy, North of Durban. All of these will be fast-tracked into reality by 2010. In Cape Town , the N2 Gateway Project has been launched by the Housing Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, in an attempt to replace the tin and cardboard shacks along the highway to improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of locals and remove an embarrassing eyesore before the influx of millions of tourists into the Mother City for the World Cup Soccer finals in 2010.

2010 is also having an effect on building costs. Many building contractors are holding out for money spinning 2010 World Cup contracts, creating a shortage of builders. Stadiums must be build, renovated and expanded in time for this major event. Many stadiums are also being build especially for the event like Nelspruit?s Mbombela stadium scheduled for completion in 2007, at a cost of R 350 million.

However, most of the benefits from hosting this event come in the form of multiplier effects of each rand spent on all goods and services in the economy leading up to, during and after the event. The increased health of the economy will have the biggest overall effect on property prices.

International property investment specialist: Jannie Botha is an independent sales consultant (property broker) based in tropical Amanzimtoti, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.