Juventus Bribery Scandal? Get Real - They Don't Get All The Calls

I cannot remember how long it has been since teams, players and fans all over the world have attributed Juventus' success to bribing referees and the like for results. Every penalty they receive would be the act of corrupted men in black on the take. With money from the Juventus petty cash kitty. Scandalous revelations and a legal punishment in recent years have also set the club backward and tarnished their name further.

However, this should be changed with last night's game against Napoli. Not only did they end up the wrong end of penalty decisions, those decisions made were downright controversial.

So should we start to say Napoli had done a Juventus?

So Juventus have been proven to have paid referees for decisions to go their way during crucial games. But to label them cheats each time they receive a contentious decision in their favour would be scandalous in itself. Referees make mistakes, and sometimes these mistakes lead to teams losing when they cannot afford to.

The fact is that soccer still is filled with boys playing a man's game. They lose, they cry.

Crouch Calls Out Referee Mafia

So, Peter Crouch has now called out the referee mafia to acknowledge what Graham Poll had claimed a few weeks back - that referees at the World Cup were ordered to hang him out to dry, to penalise the poor Liverpool striker for every little physical play dished out to opposing defenders.

Crouch has been utterly unfairly treated - look at the guy! He is a giant but incredibly thin - what harm can he pose to defenders in terms of unfair physical play? Shouldn't referees be protecting strikers instead? Defenders are more often the ones crashing into strikers.

I am all behind Crouch on this and hope that some massive changes are applied to referees and their mentalities and standards. The men in black should understand that they are just referees, not stars - and just follow the rules of the book in ensuring the game is played in fair spirit. What they have conspired to do has been totally unprofessional and brings the game into disrepute.

Referee Mafia - Time to Weed Them Out!

There has been much talk and controversy over bribery scandals, players cheating and clubs agreeing to fix matches. But one growing negative aspect of the game is the influence of the Referee Mafia in world football.

A shocking revelation by English ex-referee Graham Poll has revealed how the World Cup referee panel had singled out players for special treatment. In this particular instance, Peter Crouch was mentioned. The explanation was that he was a dirty player, in the way he uses his arms during games to gain physical leverage and all. But let's face it - this is done by hundreds and thousands of players - to specifically single out one is like putting a price on his head - a soccer equivalent of hiring a hitman!

What they should have done is just to emphasise to referees of the kind of play that should not be allowed, instead of pointing out any particular player!

Kudos to the big mouth of Poll in revealing this. This new Mafia should be eradicated and players kept safe from a group of individuals who have clearly grown too big for their whistles!