I’m publicising this petition called Reclaim The Game which has been started to campaign for the elimination of cheating and a return to general levels of decency and fair play amongst the fat cats who run our game and play it at the highest level.

Reclaim The Game’s Manifesto: ” WE, the undersigned, strongly believe cheating within the game has now reached pandemic proportions.

We are currently at the stage where cheating has almost become ‘part of the game’ and gained widespread acceptance.

We represent a broad cross-section of football fans and we urge the domestic and international governing bodies to take the firmest action possible in arresting the decline of our national sport as a matter of the utmost urgency.

Football is guilty of setting the worst possible examples of behaviour to our children who look up to their footballing heroes and copy their behaviour wherever they play. This must stop.

We believe the pursuit of financial gain has deflected the focus away from fairplay and decency on and off the pitch and we suggest a raft of new punitive measures be implemented to correct the imbalance - measures stringent enough to dissuade further transgressions by players, managers, and coaches at all levels of the game.

The insidious practice of ‘tapping up’ or ‘unsettling’ players of other clubs needs to be stamped on as it completely undermines the ideas of fairplay and decency and, in that regard, managers and coaches have an extra degree of responsibility.

We further believe that financial penalties are largely meaningless to the biggest and richest of clubs and points deduction for those clubs found guilty of cheating is an option which must be seen to be used.

Individual players found guilty of cheating on the pitch should be named, shamed and fined, not up to a maximum of two weeks wages but perhaps up to 10 weeks, coupled with a one or two match ban. This would dissuade players from trying to gain unfair advantage during the game, knowing any such transgression would result in such penalties.

It is our firm belief that ultimately we all want the same thing. A cheat-free world game. A game free from diving, feigning injuries, mobbing referees, constantly appealing for throw-ins, freekicks, corners and penalties when it?s clear there should be no such award.

Perhaps only the two captains should be allowed to approach the referee at any time, as in Rugby Union.

We are encouraged by the overwhelming support from fans up and down the country for cheating to be stamped out of the game worldwide.

PLEASE LET US GRASP THIS OPPORTUNITY TO RECLAIM THE GAME FROM THE CHEATS WHO HAVE STOLEN IT FROM ALL OF US.

We will be sending this petition after the World Cup Final to Fifa, Uefa and The FA.”

Click through here to Reclaim The Game and sign the petition to give us our football back.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 at 9:11 am and is filed under State Of The Game Opinion. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.