Southampton appealed against the decision to expel them from the Championship play-off final and replace them with Middlesbrough, whom they beat in the semi-finals.
Tonda Eckert’s Southampton team was eliminated from the playoffs (Image: Getty Images)
Do you make an intern and an iPhone stand next to a tree in a swamp-standard soccer training session? Call it a real cheating scandal?
This is legitimate cheating. As in the case of Lance Armstrong, cyclists draw their own blood, put it in a refrigerator, and reinfuse it before a race to increase their red blood cell count.
This is legitimate cheating. The England cricket captain secretly smeared the ball with dirt in an attempt to influence its movement, as in the Michael Atherton incident.
This is legitimate cheating. As in the case of Tonya Harding, a figure skater who conspired with her ex-husband to hire a perpetrator to bend the knee of her main rival.
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You may continue. At the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, it was discovered that 10 out of 12 Spanish basketball players did not actually have a disability and had deliberately failed an IQ test to feign intellectual disability.
In the grand scheme of things, Southampton’s misdemeanors were minor. But in the context of English football, its impact and the money at stake, the incident was shocking. Reactions from a number of former professional players, including Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, said the punishment seemed disproportionate and suggested the offense may be far more common than most think.
However, this is one of the worst examples of cheating in modern sports. That’s because a) it was spectacularly amateurish, and b) it came before an equalizer that sent Southampton into the most intense one-shot contest in the sport.
If they got caught, and there’s a good chance the guy standing next to a tree pointing his iPhone at something didn’t get caught, the possible consequences should have been obvious.
It was a cheating scheme between two Bobs in which £200 million was at stake. Anyone who admits to this misconduct has no future at the club.
Southampton and their fans will miss Wembley (Image: Ed Sykes/Getty Images)
The Saints aren’t the biggest sinners in sports…but they’re definitely the stupidest. That is why, with Southampton’s appeal rejected, the play-off final will now be played between Hull City and the team that lost in the semi-final.
Being stupid has messed up the royal proportions. Now, Hull City, who reached the final by fair means, are investigating their legal situation, with the owners pointing out that they have been preparing for the game against Southampton and now there has been a last-minute change in opponents for the £200m game. Middlesbrough is very different to Southampton.
I understand what Hal is saying. How can that be fair? And how would they feel if they lost in the semi-finals to a team that had lost two games in a row and missed out on qualifying for the Premier League?
This was a monumental upset, and it all started with one of the most amateurish cheating the sports world has ever seen. And that escape could have been laughed at, punished with heavy fines and ridicule, and everyone could have moved on.
In fact, this unfortunate story is far from over.
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