Figo managed to stay on the pitch despite having head-butted a Dutch player, and then conspicuously went down in an apparently mild challenge and got another Dutch player sent off. A total of four players were dismissed in that game, and this only magnified the incredulity generated by the referee. And despite Figo's deplorable behaviour, we can only feel sorry for Portugal, who will go into the quarterfinal showdown with England a crippled team thanks to the avalanche of cards. At the time of writing this editorial, 23 players had already been fired by the referees, easily breaking the France '98 record just halfway through the tournament.

Fifa has balked at reasonable proposals mooted to make the game fairer, which would in turn give players more justice and thus reduce cheating and aggressiveness. The organisation has ruled out the use of immediate video replays to help referees in crucial and controversial circumstances, claiming the measure would disrupt the free-flowing entertainment of the game. Some Fifa officials even go as far as to imply that "wrong" decisions are part of the "charm" of the sport.

That attitude makes scapegoats out of the players, especially the hot-headed ones. To add insult to injury, Fifa won't compromise on trivial matters that it considers will bring more "fairness" to the game. Some players have been given yellow cards for time-wasting tactics that took just a few seconds off the match. Players can't even challenge a referee in anger now because they stand a good chance of being severely punished.

In other words, Fifa has equipped the referees with greater power and imposed stricter rules without supplementary measures to ensure fair implementation. It has refused to use video replays to support off-side decisions, which have been proven wrong 50 per cent, if not more, of the time. "Fairness" should start with the most crucial aspect of the game - the scoring of goals - not with the issue of players spending 5 seconds more than they should while taking a throw-in.

The imbalance between overly strict rules and poorly equipped referees has affected many teams, and several controversial refereeing decisions have proved crucial blows. Having started the tournament so well, the Czech Republic had to play with 10 men for the entire second half in the decisive match against Italy, and was shockingly dumped out at the group stage. England had to rest Steven Gerrard in an important decider with Sweden because he had received a yellow card in an earlier game. Other teams have also had to switch players and tactics, and thus been unable to demonstrate their full potential, either because of the consequences of dubious refereeing decisions or due to fears of being on the wrong end of them in coming games.

Many important games in this World Cup from now on could be showdowns between team reserves, and the motivation to play beautiful, manly games will be checked by the need to get the best out of free-shooting referees. One blogger on The Guardian's website was spot on when he deplored what the world could have got from the Portugal-Holland match, which saw an unbelievable carnage of 16 yellow cards. The game, he said, "should have been one for the ages. Instead it degenerated into a cynical fandango of cheating, skulduggery and rampant play-acting" and only Fifa is to be blamed for the circus. He pleaded for the use of technology, but Fifa, which seems content to put on show this kind of circus, is likely to wave it off again.