Liverpool FC Forum

by **dawson99** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:46 am

Why Diving Makes Soccer Great
In defense of soccer's biggest villains.
By Austin Kelley
Posted Tuesday, June 27, 2006, at 5:20 PM ET
Italian defender Fabio Grosso fallsIn the final moments of Monday's World Cup match between Italy and Australia, Italian defender Fabio Grosso streaked up the left side toward the goal. He shrugged off one defender who tried to drag him down, then cut into the penalty area. Desperate to stop him, Australia's Lucas Neill slid into his path. Grosso made contact with Neill's prone body and sprawled onto the ground. The referee blew the whistle: penalty.

The Italians made the shot and won the game, 1-0. Fans of the Socceroos are now crying foul, saying Grosso fell on purpose to draw the penalty. After watching numerous replays, I agree that the Italian fell to the ground too easily. The referee still made the right call. This World Cup has inspired a mass of editorial bile about the evils of diving. But diving is not only an integral part of soccer, it's actually good for the sport.

Soccer players fall to the ground without being dragged down or tripped. Once they're on the ground, they often roll around on and exaggerate their injuries. A lot of people hate these theatrics and even characterize them as immoral. Dave Eggers recently said in Slate that flopping is "a combination of acting, lying, begging, and cheating." But diving is far from outright cheating. Rarely do athletes tumble without being touched at all. Usually, they embellish contact to make sure the referee notices a foul, not to deceive him completely.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obvious, undeserved flops should be punished with yellow cards. Ghana's Asamoah Gyan was justly ejected (on his second yellow) from Tuesday's match with Brazil when he fell without a Brazilian in sight. Such displays serve to discredit more honest, contact-driven divers like Grosso. Diving is like drawing a charge in basketball. When it is done well, it is a subtle (and precarious) art.

Consider the classic matchup between a skilled dribbler and a big, tough defender. The attacker must use his quickness and wit to get by. The bigger man, though, can always resort to a "professional foul"—an intentional foul in which there is no attempt to play the ball. The defender will give away a free kick, but that will hurt only in certain parts of the field. So, what is the attacker to do? If he finds a flailing leg in his way, he can do nothing except barge right into it. And maybe writhe around on the ground for a bit, encouraging the referee to hand out a card, thus discouraging the brutish defender from trying such rough tactics in the future.

Far from being a sign of corruption, diving is, in certain ways, a civilizing influence. Divers are usually quicker, smaller players. As athletes get bigger and stronger, the little guy gets nudged aside. If professional fouls and brute force reign supreme, creative play and joyful improvisation will suffer.

FIFA doesn't see it this way. Prior to this year's World Cup, the organization issued special instructions to referees to crack down on "simulation." This misguided initiative has failed miserably. We've had more flopping than ever despite a record number of yellow cards and ejections.

Referees are partly responsible for the culture of diving. Officials are much more likely to blow their whistles when they see a few somersaults, and players know they might not get a call if they stay on their feet. But in soccer there is only one main referee patrolling a pitch that measures up to 120 by 80 yards. He cannot see everything, and diving is particularly hard to discern. Even with the benefit of slow-motion replays, it's sometimes difficult to tell a flop from a "natural" fall.

The scorn heaped on divers usually doesn't have to do with the logistics of refereeing, though. In reality, it's distaste for the spectacle. American sports are loaded with comic set pieces—a hockey player tossing his gloves for a ceremonial tussle or a baseball manager kicking dirt at the umpire. Like tumbling soccer players, these performers act to provoke sympathy or indignation. The difference is in the style of emotional drama.

In most American sports, the theatrics are aggressive. They are not operatic displays of vulnerability. To appreciate diving, we must sympathize or scorn the injured player—we must get into the melodrama. Some fans are afraid to take the plunge, preferring to argue that diving makes soccer players seem like babies or, worse still, women. (Former England striker Gary Lineker has called for a special "pink card" to be shown to divers.) Their distaste for the dive is rooted in an idea of masculinity, not in an analysis of the game itself. That idea of masculinity is preventing them from enjoying a pretty good show.

The other most pervasive critique of diving is a nationalist one. Depending on who you talk to, Sunday's flop-heavy, four-red-card debacle between the Netherlands and Portugal was the fault of either Iberian gamesmanship or Dutch fakery. For Anglo-American commentators, crusades against floppers are often laced with a distrust of wily, olive-skinned outsiders. In March, the London Times initiated a campaign to "kick out the cheats." Playacting was said to have infiltrated English soccer from outside. "It's crept into our game lately, but it is a foreign thing," Alan Stubbs, an Everton defender, recently remarked. "They speak good English, it's not as if they don't understand what they're doing."

Whether or not you must know English to understand what you're doing, diving is hardly a recent conspiracy cooked up in southern climes. Reports of flopping go back to the early days of the sport, and—surprise!—Brits have been influential in its development. Manchester City striker Francis Lee, for example, was one of the first great divers of the television era. He won theatrical penalties in the 1960s and 1970s, long before the famed Argentine flopper Diego Simeone took his first fall. Fans who champion the "fair play" and the "work ethic" of traditional English soccer tend to overlook the dives of skilled English players like Michael Owen.

There is nothing more depressing than a player who goes to the ground when he might have scored. Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry, arguably the world's best players, will stay on their feet at all cost for the sake of a beautiful pass or a brilliant run at the goal. But the next time you see an artful dribbler derailed by a clumsy oaf, take a minute to think about whose side you're on. Doesn't the dribbler deserve a somersault or two to remind the world that the only way to stop him is through violent and graceless means?

by **simic_ie** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:20 am

flop

by **112-1077774096** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:19 am

dawson99 wrote:The Italians made the shot and won the game,

dont you just want to bitch slap yanks who say such stupid things

:angry:

by **Lionheart** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:22 am

An American with an opinion...now that's new!!!

Of course it's wrong...and that's unusual too!!

by **Lionheart** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:22 am

a bitch slap would be foreplay!!! :angry:

by **laza** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:24 am

If i find out this guy is related to AB there is going to be trouble

by **LFC #1** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:27 am

dawson99 wrote:Why Diving Makes Soccer Great

I stopped reading at this point.

by **Ciggy** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:38 am

laza wrote:If i find out this guy is related to AB there is going to be trouble

Where the bleedin hell is he anyway, havent seen him for months I kinda miss the little sh1t

by **laza** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:47 pm

Ciggy wrote:
laza wrote:If i find out this guy is related to AB there is going to be trouble

Where the bleedin hell is he anyway, havent seen him for months I kinda miss the little sh1t

You miss him, after the Aussie v Croatian game, i been waiting for him to return 24/7

Last i heard he was at Argentian embassy trying to get a new passport

by **Lionheart** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:18 pm

Ciggy wrote:
laza wrote:If i find out this guy is related to AB there is going to be trouble

Where the bleedin hell is he anyway, havent seen him for months I kinda miss the little sh1t

He'd be hiding and so he should be...

Like Laza, I can't wait for him to stick his head up. Boy, is he going to cop and earful over the Australia v Croatia game!!!

by **account deleted by request** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:47 pm

To my mind the Italian that dived against Austrailia only did what Garcia should have done in Champs League final when Nesta went down and the ball hit his hand. If you go down like Neill did in the penalty area you are just asking for someone to fall over you in my opinion.

by **Raoul** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:09 pm

What a stupid article. I'm beginning to hate watching football because of all the diving.

IT NEEDS TO BE SORTED. Here is how I'd do it - TV replays of potential dives should be watched by a couple of referees (after the game), and players who dive should be harshly punished (equivalent of a red card minimum, though I'd prefer longer), and I would actually like to see some sort of punishment (perhaps a yellow card) for players who have been fouled and go down too easily - difficult to police I guess.

Obviously, defenders who have wrongly received red and yellow cards would get them recsinded. Also, if a player is wrongly red carded (or second yellow) because of a dive, then the result of the game should automatically be a 3-0 win to that player's side.

That'll sort them out.

by **corsocomo** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:55 pm

They call it soccer ffs!
Tell that tw@t to stick to watching NBA or their own version of football rather than write such utter cr#p...shaming his own country's muppetry in terms of their knowledge of the beautiful game! :laugh:

by **Sabre** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:13 pm

What a pile of cráp.

This is why I always want U.S. lose in football.

by **Starbridge42** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:56 am

Raoul wrote:What a stupid article. I'm beginning to hate watching football because of all the diving.

IT NEEDS TO BE SORTED. Here is how I'd do it - TV replays of potential dives should be watched by a couple of referees (after the game), and players who dive should be harshly punished (equivalent of a red card minimum, though I'd prefer longer), and I would actually like to see some sort of punishment (perhaps a yellow card) for players who have been fouled and go down too easily - difficult to police I guess.

Obviously, defenders who have wrongly received red and yellow cards would get them recsinded. Also, if a player is wrongly red carded (or second yellow) because of a dive, then the result of the game should automatically be a 3-0 win to that player's side.

That'll sort them out.

I agree with you right up until the bit about the automatic 3-0 win business. I think thats way too harsh. I do agree about rescinding yellows and so forth and punishing divers with the equivilent of cards (after the game) which could discourage but doesn't really do anything during the game. I'm not really sure what can be done DURING the game apart from maybe have the manager allowed to call for say 2-3 video replays per game...

Liverpool FC Forum

An american view on diving - An interesting read...maybe

Who is online