The game doesn’t need conspiracies, it needs consistency

THE past few days have been frustrating to follow as a football fan, to put it mildly.

A sudden wave of conspiracy theories is washing over us and people who don’t even follow the sport have weighed in, feeding a frenzy that says less about football and more about the world we live in now.

It boiled over during Argentina’s meeting with Egypt.

Contentious calls went against the Pharaohs, and in the aftermath, some fans didn’t just voice frustration — they cried “rigged”.

A few even suggested FIFA were clearing the runway for Lionel Messi and Argentina to lift back-to-back titles.

That theory ignores what Messi has actually done on the pitch. Nothing has been handed to him. He has earned his place among the tournament’s best performers through his own skill and work, not through favouritism.

In the final 20 minutes against Egypt, he took over the game, and when his second goal went in, I turned to a friend and said simply: “He is inevitable.”

To suggest his success is a by-product of Argentina being “the chosen ones” disrespects the work the players have put in on the field.

Whatever happens with officiating, the blame doesn’t belong to the players.

• Where the real complaint lies

The plays everyone is arguing about on social media — the contact on Mohamed Salah, the shirt tug, the Lisandro Martínez foul before Egypt’s disallowed wonder goal — aren’t my concern.

Reasonable people can disagree on marginal calls like these.

What frustrated me was the inconsistency around VAR reviews and the physicality allowed from some Argentine players without cards being shown.

Fairness has to run in both directions when officials are making decisions, and on that front, referee Francois Letexier looked shaky.

The game isn’t asking for perfect officiating — it’s asking for consistent officiating, and that’s been in short supply.

Salah’s composure after the final whistle told its own story — a player who has been through enough big moments to know what’s fair and what isn’t, and choosing dignity over outrage.

Players know better than those raging in group chats.

They also understand, better than most of us, that no match will ever be officiated perfectly. But that should not lower the bar.

The scrutiny of these past weeks should be a wake-up call: the game keeps evolving, more eyes are watching, and the demand for consistency isn’t going away.

• A word on perspective

As a sportswriter, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with plenty of athletes and getting a window into how they actually think. Spending time around footballers changes how you see the game.

It’s also worth remembering that different referees officiate differently, and players adapt accordingly — using experience, and sometimes gamesmanship, to draw fouls. They know the difference between a soft call and a hard one, and they understand exactly why VAR exists.

On that note, I’ll walk back an earlier criticism: I wasn’t comfortable with FIFA fielding an all-Argentine officiating team for France vs Morocco, but they handled that match well. As people who care about the sport, we owe officials fairness in our judgment too — not just criticism when it’s convenient.

• On fandom itself

Then there’s the noise around Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, fans turning a debate about two of the greatest players in history into something closer to a feud. Opinions are fine. Subjective arguments are part of what makes football fun. But turning that into hostility isn’t football culture — it’s something else entirely, and it has no place here.

• Where that leaves us

Still, the answer isn’t to disengage — it’s to keep pushing for what’s right. Supporters can make the game beautiful off the pitch the same way players make it beautiful on it, but that only happens if we also hold the sport’s decision-makers to account.

The players and coaches are the ones who make this game worth watching.

Everyone else — officials, executives, and yes, fans — is there to serve that. Consistency, fairness, and a little more sanity from all sides isn’t too much to ask. The game deserves it.