Broadcasting of action replays to the crowd have certainly transformed the mood at cricket matches, where the umpiring (refereering) decisions can be much more difficult. Contrary to what I feared, this has not been for the worse, and the umpirese seem to have broad enough shoulders to live with their mistakes being publicly dissected.

I remember the England v South Africa test a couple of years ago when a replay showed Atherton had not only been fairly caught out of Donald's bowling but also must have known. He chose to stand his ground and go with the umpire's mistake, which is what sport is reduced to these days. Donald spent the next hour or so trying to kill Atherton with truly venomous bowling - a dual all the more appreciated because everyone knew what it was all about.

In my view Rivaldo should have been banned from the competition for deceitfully getting someone red-carded. The fine clearly didn't bother him, because he did the same thing again against England - clutching his face when his face hadn't been touched. I put this sort of stunt in a different league from Maradona's hand-of-God trick and football needs to crack down on it.