Man United boss Sir Alex Ferguson insists players who
pretend to be injured in order to cause stoppages are "killing the
game".
Ferguson's men were involved in a controversial incident during
last Sunday's Community Shield at Wembley when defender Patrice
Evra went down injured but Chelsea played on and scored, with
referee Chris Foy playing the advantage.
The Scot claims referees are finding it increasingly difficult
to differentiate between genuine instances when the game needs to
be stopped to treat injuries and when players are trying to trick
them into blowing the whistle.
A further complication is that the decision to stop play is not
entirely in the official's hands, with some players still opting to
abide by what Ferguson calls the "unwritten rule" to kick the ball
into touch when a player goes down, injured or otherwise.
Ferguson feels if players only went to ground when genuinely
injured, the referee's job would be much easier.
"This unwritten rule has come into the game and opportunist
players have just overdone it. They have overcooked the whole
thing," he said.
"Last week Evra was through and into the last third of the
pitch, the referee stops it and (Michael) Ballack gets up. It could
have been a serious problem so he stopped the game.
"Then when Evra is fouled, Chelsea don't kick the ball out, the
referee plays on and we lose a goal.
"It is a grey area and something has to be done about it.
"The players are killing the game. The players'
unprofessionalism is killing the game. Not the referees. The
problem is how much the referee can tolerate when the players lie
down pretending to be injured.
"There is no doubt that this unwritten rule about players
kicking the ball into touch has been exploited to ridiculous
degrees now."
Ferguson added: "I spoke to my players about it and told them
not to kick the ball out, that they should let the referee decide
when to stop the game.
"But the players wouldn't do it. If players don't put the ball
out they get stick off opposing players and opposing fans.
"If a referee stops the game twice when players go down and on
the third occasion he decides to play on, he makes a rod for his
own back.
"Last Sunday, Chelsea had plenty of time to kick the ball out
when Patrice Evra was injured after being fouled by Michael
Ballack."
