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was “Get that kit off, you’re getting sportsmen lose is the referee. There season like a demented spider. He
changed.” are also issues such as the weather has been fined thousands of pounds
Self-serving bias? You bet. But conditions or the pitch. over the years for these frequent,
Sir Alex was anything but a fool, Before the World Cup in South targeted attacks.
superstition aside. He must have Africa, players were lining up to The home crowd can get a serve
known that that winning run was have a pop at the official ball. Tried at times. He has claimed both Real
at least partly based on the players’ on the charge of being “too round”, Madrid’s and Chelsea’s faithful do not
state of mind. If they started looking it was found unanimously guilty. fill their respective stadiums with
inward, the gossamer threads of Interestingly, it was the goalkeepers enough noise to push those draws
player ego could have been blown who were getting their explanations into wins. Even closer to home, in
away. Better to blame a poor, in nice and early, Gigi Buffon calling it the 2015-16 season he turned on
unsuspecting kit. “shameful” and Ilker Casillas claiming his own medical staff, who had the
Another story from football can it was “like a beach ball”. temerity to treat an injured player.
illustrate how whole countries Of course, the godfather of the He argued that treating the player on
can indulge in a bit of mental excuse, the king of the counter the touchline meant that the team
inventiveness to save themselves argument, the master of shadow was down to nine outfield players.
some pain. The 1988 World Cup punches, is Manchester United’s Chelsea drew the game against
final was supposed to be Brazil’s to coach, Jose Mourinho. There is no Swansea, but no one remembers
lose: they sailed through the earlier draw or loss that cannot be blamed that.
rounds with 90% ease and 10% on something other than his players, Which is the point. Changing the
outrageous flair. Then they lost to or - God forbid - himself. headline is a simple game of smoke
France. Simply not showing up on Referees are a favourite, but rather and mirrors, but it is worth the effort
the day was not viewed as an option, than merely question a penalty shout if it means the fragile egos of the
so the conspiracy mill churned. Star that was waved away, Mourinho will players can be cotton-wooled for the
striker Ronaldo (the other one who’s piece together evidence over the next match. Just don’t buy the lie.
fat now) had some kind of seizure at
half-time but was forced to continue
playing.
His team-mates were apparently
so spooked by this – and his being
subsequently forced to play on- that
they could not play in a manner that
would win them a game against the
French team.
Later, the rumour went that Nike
forced Ronaldo to keep playing the
second half, because of the massive
exposure he was getting back then.
Surprise and soul-destroying
finals losses are now something
Brazil is getting used to, and the more
recent reaction to the mauling by
Germany on home turf was greeted
by a great deal more reflection and
genuine engagement for the actual
reasons for the loss.
The reasons behind losses,
according to Lau and Russell’s
research, are much more mundane
than international corporate
conspiracies or invisible kits.
According to their study of hundreds
of newspaper articles and interviews,
the number one culprit when a team
of incredibly-gifted, well-trained

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