Student Corner Are bad calls part of sports?

By Haley Cha

During the 2010 World Cup round of 16, England scored a golden goal while playing against Germany. However, the referee, not paying enough attention, shockingly disallowed the goal.

At the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Kim Dong-sung was robbed of his gold medal by Anton Ohno. Every single bad call is tremendously stressful and disappointing. But what’s more unendurable is that these misjudgments are likely to happen over and over again.

However, international sports organizations are approving such bad calls as part of the game and consider it as a convention of sports.

Let’s recall the Round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup. Germany was leading the game by two goals while England scored one. The match of the two rivals was heating up. A following goal from England evened the score against Germany and drove the English fans wild.

But it lasted just until the referee disallowed the goal, making the fans mad. The goal was clearly over the line, but it spun out as the referee eventually saw it. Consequently, the severely discouraged England was defeated 4-1.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was asked for video technology to assist umpires to be introduced. But his answer was no.

“It would break up the rhythm of the game and possibly deny a team the opportunity to score a goal. It would also not make sense to stop play every 2 minutes to review a decision, as this would go against the natural dynamism of the game,” he said.

If the dynamic rhythm of the game is what he really considers, then what about the rhythm of the England players that was seriously hampered by the unwise call that could have been fixed so easily by the single replay of a video?

Meanwhile, tennis has adopted the video recording system called the “Hawk-eye.” Players can ask for a video-check when they feel there was a wrong decision made during the game. In order to minimize the disturbance of the game rhythm, the claim is limited to 3 times per set.

This way the system is minimally used only if damage from a bad call is obvious. Likewise, other sports competitions, including the World Cup, should seek for similar regimens, instead of inattentively leaving wrong judgments to repeat in the future.

This time, let’s go back to the 1,500 meter final game of men’s short track speed skating during the 2002 Winter Olympics. In the final, Kim crossed the finish line first, while Ohno came in second. But the referee disqualified Kim for blocking Ohno by committing “cross tracking.”

The International Skating Union (ISU) regulation states a player who attempts to pass should be cautious of impeding and is responsible for possible clashes. It was in fact Kim who was proceeding and Ohno chasing. Hence, it was Ohno who should have been held more responsible. Following the incident, the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) applied for arbitration to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and a review was held.

The review decided that even if the call was based on a wrong judgment, the call is still valid, unless it was on purpose. They followed the same convention as FIFA, stressing that calls, including bad ones, are part of the game. Second, if the bad call was made intentionally, the complainant must come with sufficient evidence to support the allegation.

But this depends on conscience and sportsmanship, making is very hard to substantiate. In other words, once a bad call is made, it is irreversible whether it was intended or not, creating a huge loophole in sports judgments.

International sports competitions like the World Cup and the Olympics are held once in every 4 years. Most of the performances, such as speed skating, last no longer than 5 minutes. This means players are allocated only a small amount of time to present what they have, compared to the rather long 4 years to prepare. In other words, the umpires’ mistakes should not be forgiven so easily. We need more accurate and precise ways to produce fairer results.

Moreover, this is not only a matter of players whose efforts can’t be accordingly compensated. Sports are something the whole world is engrossed in, and the message from such sports events is globally effective.

The social concept that values justifiable effort and correspondent compensation is shown in these events, thanks to acceptable calls and judgments. Thus, bad calls shouldn’t be regarded as part of sports, nor should they be tolerated.