A GREMLIN WILL continue to rear its ugly head until those afflicted address the issue.
While 2014 can be reflected on as a year in which football finally took a step in the right direction with the introduction of goal-line technology in many of Europe’s top leagues as well as the vanishing spray, there are still underlying defects that continue to undermine the game.
Football is by no means the only sport to be beset by underlying diseases. Doping continues to impair cycling and athletics while match-fixing in cricket remains rife but the powers of world football remain unconscious of simulation.
With each passing week, there are untold examples of players attempting to deceive the officials. A couple of weeks ago, the issue of diving came to the forefront of conversation once again.
Willian and Diego Costa were both booked for simulation during Chelsea’s game with Hull. Gary Cahill, who was already on a booking, was also accused of diving in the same match but escaped punishment. On the same day, Adam Johnson was accused of going to ground too easily by West Ham manager Sam Allardyce. Those were the major incidents from just two games. There are countless incidents that go unnoticed.
The same happens each and every week, in each and every league around the world.
It’s got to a point when diving is so inevitable that it’s hardly a shock any more when a player fools the referee into awarding a penalty or a foul. Then, there is play-acting.
What can be done, though?
Retrospective action is the obvious solution. In 2009, Arsenal striker Eduardo was banned for two Champions League games by Uefa for being found guilty of simulation against Celtic.
His deception of the referee didn’t have a bearing on the overall result (Arsenal won 5-1 on aggregate) but that is not the point. He had cheated himself, his team mates, the club who he represents, the opposition, the fans that pay good money for tickets and ultimately, football.
But, he won the penalty, scored it and helped his side win the match.
Then, there is the problem of determining whether or not the player dived. If I was to show a video of an incident deemed as simulation to five readers, there will, invariably, be differing opinions.
Much like the goal-line technology issue and the governing body’s reluctance to bring it into effect, there is still uncertainty about what measures will work to stamp out diving but we’ve reached a stage where something needs to be done. Anything.
Football would be a much better spectacle for it.
Whilst the diving scourge is a blight on the game, so is the propensity for abusing officials and pretending to be injured. To judge how superficial the “injury” is, just count how many times the “victim” rolls along the ground after the incident. The further they roll, the less chance there is of them having been actually injured.
Then there is the sickening sight of watching grown men hugging, kissing and fondling each other just because one of them has scored a goal!
I’m a massive football fan but it’s a joke at the minute the way players carry on, they need a system like in Rugby now where they can go back and review things that may have happend earlier in a play, unlike in Rugby where there are finer margins and more things to look at football is more clear cut, it’s either a dive a foul offside not offside or whatever it may be, a simple break of a few seconds for someone in a booth with video won’t harm the game and players will stop when they know they won’t get away with things anymore.
Eduardo ban was a joke,media uproar at the time, “Johnny Foreigner” cheated Celtic out of Champions League, 5/6 years on and how many other retrospective bans for diving have there been. UEFA/FIFA are a disgrace, gutless. So easy to fix.
“Doping continues to impair cycling and athletics”
Christ, cycling and athletics have a monopoly on these? How often are footballers, rugby players, etc, tested? And to what degree? Cycling may well be full of cheats, but they’ve to do a hell of a lot more than other sportspeople to elude detection.
The “obvious solution”, IMO, is not retrospective action. For one thing, retrospective action is frequently guilty of providing partial justice. Certain players will be the focus of intense media criticism resulting in retrospective action, where those who are more popular with the press (several current and former England internationals immediately spring to mind) will never receive a ban for diving.
I doubt there is a “solution” at all to the extent that I doubt you can ever eliminate attempts to deceive officials in any sport, but the use of some sort of replay appeals system would certainly help to correct obvious instances of blatant cheating. If a manager could challenge an obviously wrong decision, such as a blatant dive, that would help referees and disincentivise diving.
At the moment, referees often seem to guess at who dives and who doesn’t. There are plenty of examples (Aguero a few weeks ago against Southampton immediately springs to mind) where players are booked for diving when they’ve done no such thing, so helping referees make decisions correctly ought to be focus here, not post-match bans.
O if only poor mayo could just win Sam
when players dive they ought to do the same as felled horses, would be entertaining to watch.