Manama: Two Saudi religious scholars have warned that players who fool referees to score goals or to obtain penalties or fouls are committing a sin and blighting ethics.
"Cheating is deceiving and usurping other people's rights and as such it is wrong. This is not allowed in Islam and it is haram," Dr Abullah Al Motlaq and Shaikh Abdullah Al Maniaa said. "The wrongdoing is compounded when the player swears by God to support his lie. Players should avoid deceiving others, cheating and lying and should set good examples for young people."
The use of negative attitudes to win a match is an ominous indication of the decline in moral values and the transformation of sports from a source of honest competition to bigotry and fanaticism, Al Maniaa said.
"The continuation of these trends poses a threat to the values and morals of our children who like sports and may ultimately make religious scholars issue a fatwa banning attending football matches to avoid the negative practices by players," he said, Saudi Arabic daily Sharq reported.
"We urge players to avoid lapsing into negative attitudes and we call on parents, educators and religious scholars to help instill and promote good values and morals and to tackle the negative phenomena in the sports community," he said.
Officials overseeing sports should take stringent actions against cheaters and liars to help improve the ethics and standards of matches, Al Maniaa said.
Diving, doping and match fixing are considered the three biggest areas for cheating in football, an increasingly competitive game with huge amounts of money at stake.
