The issue of diving, simulation, sportsmanship, or perhaps just plain old cheating has reared its head again in the past week. It is a part of football that becomes topical periodically. It has been within the game for decades now, but from time to time the actions of a player (or players) will stimulate further debate.
The latest footballer to be frowned upon is Manchester United’s Ashley Young, due to him having the audacity to acrobatically hit the turf and win dubious penalties for two consecutive weeks. Out of all the conversation starters in football, the ‘art’ of diving remains one of the most emotive, at least in the UK.
A majority of the fans throughout the Premier League and the Football League(s) will be irked by a player that dives, especially when it happens in a game against their team. However, unsurprisingly, the reactions tend to be more restrained when it involves a player from your own club.
Still, this is only natural. I am a case in point; I loathe the players that over-indulge in taking a tumble, even more so when they choose to when it looked like scoring would have been easier. But on the other hand, I do not remember caring at all when Michael Owen deceived the officials during the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, both of those penalties against Argentina were a delight!
It may sound hypocritical, and to a degree it is, but the reality is that if Owen had passed up those opportunities he would have been a fool. In those same circumstances Batistuta and co. would have had absolutely no qualms over cheating England.
This leads to the crux of the argument, which is that diving has ultimately spread throughout the game because if you choose to completely refrain from it, then you are likely to be in a disadvantaged minority as a result.
A common line that has been churned out over the years is that the Premier League only became ‘infected’ by simulation when the original wave of foreign players came flooding in during the mid-nineties.
The likes of David Ginola and Jürgen Klinsmann had wonderful technical abilities, but they were never far from accusations of tarnishing the game on these shores. Klinsmann famously reacted in parody when he celebrated an early goal for Tottenham by sliding along the floor in a dive-like fashion.
Whilst it may be true that the influx of players from the continent made simulation more visible to British fans and media than ever before, it is hysterical to blame everything on them- believe it or not British players had done it before! And there can be no doubt that the Premier League has indescribably benefited from having had Bergkamp, Zola, Schmeichel and all those that have followed.
Football in the UK simply woke up to what had been occurring elsewhere for years. The Premier League followed on from the dark days of English clubs being banned from European football (in light of the Heysel disaster), and when it began to attract some of the best players in the world, the metamorphosis and reintegration was complete.
So, does this mean that football just has to accept that the culture of diving is here to stay? The powers that be have always taken the same path as they have with all the difficult decisions, namely to put their fingers in their ears and to walk around in circles singing la la la!
Sadly FIFA, UEFA and the FA are only consistent in their ability to be several steps behind the fans, as they are with goal-line technology. However, as with that issue, the answer really isn’t that difficult to fathom and it was referred to earlier this week by Arsène Wenger.
A system needs to be put into place that will retrospectively discipline players that can be seen to have manipulated the officials. Not by fines, but rather by way of suspensions/ match bans- the one sure way to affect a player and his team.
When it gets to the point that the positive impact of diving is outweighed by the negative, only then can attitudes on the pitch change. Sir Alex Ferguson has gone some way towards demonstrating that this week, he publicly frowned upon Ashley Young and the way he earned his penalty against Aston Villa and has since let it be known that he has ‘had a word' with him.
There is of course a potential that this type of system could open up a can of worms, all based upon differing interpretation. To make it work, as with any system, there would need to be an established criteria and a panel to make the decisions, but with the use of the hundreds of TV cameras available, it really shouldn’t be that difficult.
The people who would argue against such a move would be doing so for all the wrong reasons, and most likely self-fulfilling ones. Developments like this are never that easy- but how logical would it be to argue against improvements based upon a misguided fear of change? Those that run football will probably continue to shy away from the tough resolutions, but perhaps just one day, we can hope they’ll look beyond the easy life.