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SOCCER legend Denis Law has called on the football authorities to crack down on shirt-pulling labelling the scourge of the modern game a simple case of ‘cheating’, writes Stan Szecowka.
The fiery Scot who enjoyed a long and successful career as a striker from the 1950s to the 1970s was visiting the kingdom to help promote the VIVA Bahrain Manchester United Soccer Schools initiative.
GulfWeekly caught up with the charismatic retired footballer over a pot of tea at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa to discuss football matters.
And nothing gets him hotter under the collar than the shirt-pulling, pushing, shoving and grabbing antics of today’s players.
“I cannot believe that referees allow them to get away with some of their antics,” he said. “It’s not football anymore, it’s wrestling!
“There should be only two players on the pitch allowed to use their hands, and they’re the goalkeepers.
“It’s becoming horrible to watch in the penalty area when a corner is being taken. Players are simply not being allowed to play football.
“All it would take is for a couple of players to be sent off for the offence and the problem would be solved. No coach would want their defenders sent off and that would be the end of it.
“Instead we have to put up with cheating. I don’t like cheats. And now youngsters are watching their heroes behaving like this and are copying them when they play. It’s illegal, it’s not fair and it has to stop.”
Law was particularly incensed by referee Alberto Mallenco, the Spanish official who controversially chose to ignore an endless series of shirt-pulling and grappling that took place every time Scottish League champions Celtic had a corner or a set-piece in this season’s Champions League clash against Italian giants Juventus.
According to the laws of the game, holding an opponent includes preventing him moving past or around using the hand, arms or body. Referees have been reminded by FIFA to make an early intervention and deal firmly with such offences, especially inside the area at corners and free-kicks.
It would have been interesting to see how Law, now a sprightly 73, would have handled the groping defenders of today. He was well known for being able to handle himself in the days of crunching tackles. One season was interrupted by a 28-day suspension for a sending off that he received against Aston Villa.
Law’s career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, Manchester City signed him for £55,000, setting a then British record.
Law spent one year there before Torino bought him for £110,000, this time setting a new record fee for a transfer between an English and an Italian club. Although he played well in Italy, he found it difficult to settle there and signed for Manchester United in 1962, setting another British record transfer fee of £115,000.
He is best known for the 11 years that he spent at United, where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances and was nicknamed The King by supporters. He is the only Scottish player in history to have won the prestigious European Footballer of the Year Award, doing so in 1964, and helped his club win the First Division in 1965 and 1967.
Law left Manchester United in 1973 and returned to Manchester City for a season. He played for Scotland 55 times and jointly holds the Scottish international record goal tally with 30 goals.
Law is also United’s second highest goalscorer behind Bobby Charlton and holds the record for scoring 46 competitive goals in a single season. During the 1963-64 season he was selected to play for a Rest of the World side against England at Wembley, scoring their goal in a 2–1 defeat. Although he later played for Scotland in the World Cup Finals, he has often described this game as the greatest honour of his career.
He played alongside Argentinian Alfredo Di Stéfano and Hungarian Ferenc Puskás, widely regarded as two of the greatest players of all time.
“They made playing the game look so pure and simple,” he reminisced.
Would today’s superstars such as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi or former United star Cristiano Ronaldo, now shining for Real Madrid, make it in the line-up? “I think they’re outstanding players,” he added diplomatically, “but they might have had to sit on the bench for a time.”
Law thinks it was inevitable that goal-line technology is being introduced next season into the English Premiership because of the enormous financial stakes surrounding today’s game and the fact that similar technology has been successfully introduced into other sports, such as tennis. He ‘would not be surprised’ if something similar was set up to determine off-side decisions within the next five years.
Despite the wobble against Manchester City, Law is confident United will secure the Premiership this season thanks to the points already in the bag, plus the club’s superior goal difference.
United’s 2-0 victory away at Stoke City on Sunday was proof of the pudding.
The game may change but one thing is sure to stay constant, the love of football across the globe. As for his advice to young players in Bahrain? “Enjoy it!”
Now there’s a man that knows the Law.
