Problems of Modern Football
There are many problems in the modern game of football, most of which are caused actually by the sheer popularity of the game. Here we will focus on the main problems, which are the spectators, players, sponsors, stadiums, and the scoring of goals.
Violence Among Spectators
Violence among spectators has always been a big problem in the modern game of football. Angry crowds are difficult to control and many cases of death due to violence in football matches have been plaguing the modern game of soccer ever since it began. In 1963, 300 people died in a match in Peru when spectators started fighting. Four years later in Turkey, fighting broke out again, this time killing 44 people. In the 1954 World Cup match between Brazil and Hungary, spectators attacked each other with broken bottles. The players and referee were also attacked after the match. Since then many such incidents have occurred, tainting the image of football. Today, when World Cup Finals are held, hundreds of policemen have to be called in just for crowd control purposes. This violence has also discouraged many from watching football matches.
Players
Today football is big business, players can be worth millions and be very well paid. Other than weekly wages, they can also earn money by appearing in advertisements or writing about football in the newspapers. Because they are paid a lot, they are also expected to play well and hard. They are constantly under a lot of pressure. This often leads to tempers flaring on the pitch and violence among players, and violence among players often snowballs into violence among spectators.
Another problem that often arises is due to the immense influence players have on their supporters. Many problems have risen due to bad examples and controversies surrounding players, coaches, anyone in the limelight, about their actions both on and off the pitch. Coaches have been caught on television smoking while a match is being played, and this gives bad influence on supporters, especially those watching the match on screen. Players have also often come into controversy, a common example being the great Maradona, who got banned from at least one world cup because of drug abuse. Paul Gascoigne is also another "infamous" one, with his temperament getting the better of him very often. These "role-models" whom others look up to, often fall short of the good example that they should be setting, and it is hard to tell how much really this has had a bad influence on soccer fans.
Match-Fixing
Match-fixing is another problem that comes hand in hand with the popularity of the modern game of football. Though not so serious a problem now that tougher measures are taken to stifle it, especially in European countries, it still exists and is synonymous with bribery and cheating. A major source of match-fixing, would of course be from betting (mostly illegal). Football is so popular in the world now that people bet hundreds and thousands of dollars on results of matches, and this raises the temptation on the part of betting organizations to actually bribe one or two players in a team and therefore "guarantee" that the odds are on their side and they will definitely win. This match-fixing is especially common in Asian (especially southeast Asian countries). A household name in Singapore would be Abbas Saad, who got banned from playing professional soccer ever again in Singapore because he was found guilty of a match-fixing scandal. He was like the "Maradona" of Singapore, although not as skillful. In fact, it is so infamous that during Malaysia Cup matches, players and referees could be booed with chants of "kayu" and "kelong" from the crowd, "kayu" meaning play-acting, or in other words…match-fixing.