Over the last month Brazilian club '06 World Champs and '10 Libertadores Champs SC Internacional have utilized their Ball Boys for some quick corner kicks. What happens is as soon as a Corner comes about the ball boy quickly places the ball on the spot and Inter's Argentine midfielder Datolo comes running and without touching the ball crosses it before the defense can get organized. They tried this in a Libertadores match a few weeks back and then in The Gaucho Cup and Leandro Damião (National team striker) scored Inter's first goal against Juventude in a 7-0 win. They tried it again this week in a Libertadores match against Rio's Fluiminense and thats when all the Rio sports reporters started bitching about how thats cheating. Not because they do that, but because the ball boys dont do the same for Fluminense players (its not like Fluminense players even asked them to!). You can see the video below that shows first the fluminense incident that almost resulted in a goal in the Libertadores match wednesday and also they show the goal against Juventude. Both videos show the ball boy placing the ball and Datolo running in an angle to kick the ball without stopping. Me personally knowing the Rio de Janeiro press, I think they are full of crap. Rio ball boys do all kinds of delay tactics which is really cheating and they never complain. So I don't see the ball boy SPEEDING up the game as cheating! Here the plays as shown on a debate show. Both Wednesdays and the goal earlier in the month. "
In todays Classic GreNal between Inter and Gremio there was confusion after Gremios coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo attacked a Ball Boy after the ball boy placed the ball on the spot. REDICULOUS!!! But served Gremio well. The next Corner the Ball Boy didnt do that and Inter scored to win the game and the title 2x1.
While it might not be illegal, it sounds cheap and lame. Ballboys should give the ball to the player and not place it on the spot. In doing so they are essentially being part of the actual play itself.
Well for years ball boys delay games. But now we have a hissy fit because ball boys speed up the game! Only in Brazil this nonsense happens. And did you see what happened in Rio yesterday? A Botafogo ball girl put the ball back in play in super speed and was praised! You see in a Rio Sap Paulo x the rest of Brazil thing. They can do it, but not the rest of the country! Here is the Botafogo ball girl getting an assist. Shes a hero...the Inter ball guy a bad guy. What a joke. I bet she pose for playboy next. [ame="[media=youtube]mmetwACnPt8[/media]"]Botafogo 3 X 1 Vasco | Gandula Fernanda | Fiz O Que Faço Sempre - Mérito É Do Maicosuel - YouTube[/ame] here it is in realtime. I actually see nothing wrong with it, but if you are gonna be OK with this how can you be against the ball boy at Inter games.
You seem to be complaining more about the media bias. Let's keep that out and talk about the situations because crying about the media is really pointless. It's true that ball boys have purposely delayed giving the ball to opposing teams when it benefits the home team. That practice happens everywhere. I am sure it has happened with gandulas at Internacional. That problem won't really go away unless the ballboys are provided by the federation and not the home team. IMO, for a ballboy to actually place the ball on the spot for a quick corner to be taken goes a little too far. Their role should be limited to give the ball to the player.
Ok but here is the thing. Ball boys have been putting the ball on the spot for years everywhere on and off. Its never been an issue. But now that datolo busts his ass running to get to the corner quickly it becomes cheating. Come on thats just not right. Also there is no rule that say a Player has to touch the ball on a corner betore kicking so yes a bb can place the ball there. In the grenal the bB actually rolled the ball and didt place it per say. The bb wasnt on the field at any moment. I think this is just sore loser tactics from the people complaining. Note when juventude got scored on they didnt complain. I think its rediculous now for the refs to actually call back a corner as was done in the grenal bcause the bb put it there too fast. Its not logical. Also hypocritical because there is not one team that doent have bbs that delay the game and nothing is done. At inter they spped the game and it gets banned.
Ball boys always hurry when their home team is losing and take their time when the home team is winning, it's part of the home field advantage. This thing you are describing takes it a bit further, but other than the ball boy participation by returning the ball fast (which technically is his job anyway) it's no different than taking a quick free kick. The antidote for that is for the opposing team to have a player stand on the corner kick spot and block it so they can't take the kick until the defense sets up.
Interesting that you bring this up. Sometime in the late to mid 90s, in a match between Lazio and some team from Serbia/Yugoslavia in the now defunct Cup Winners Cup, it was an away match for Lazio and they had a corner. The Lazio player wanted to take a quick corner and placed the ball near the flag and two steps back for the kick. A ball boy, who didn't look to be more than 10-11 kicked the ball away, allowing the home team's defense to reorganize. I know that Lazio appealed about this, but can't recollect what UEFA's decision was. The incident that you mention has some parallels with this one.
JUST FOUND THIS VIDEO From the 2006 FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP FINAL Between Inter and Barça. Inter winning. End of game. Corner for Inter. Japanese Ball Boy rushes to get the game moving (one could say helping Barça) and places the ball on the spot just like was done at the beira rio. NOBODY complained. The ref didnt call it back (as done in Brazil). Inter didnt complain. Barça didnt complain. So this is FIFA approved. As it should be. There is nothing wrong with speeding up the game. Watch
Nothing wrong with that. They are almost like those tennis ballboys. Always ready to give the ball back. Too bad they run away as soon as their team is winning
If you don't get into a defensive position quick enough then you deserved to be punished, a corner is usually after a goal scoring chance created from bad defending, if the team doesn't do something quickly then that bad defending is going to look even worse if the ball boy speeds up the game for the attackers. There is a lot of poor defending in the Brazilian league, sorry, but it is painful to watch that.
If the ballboy/girl does anything other then giving the ball to the player, then they are actively participating in the match. The delaying (or not delaying) tactics are the home field advantage. Just like tennis, the ball boys/girls should give the ball back to the player.
How is that possible when the play has stopped, the game is restarted at the ref's whistle so there will be no active participation from anyone until that whistle blows.
Watch the video in the first post and tell me where the whistle was restarting play for the corner kick? Tell me where the whistle is typically when a ball boy/girl throws the ball to the player.
