By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
January 7 – Eradicating the worrying resurgence of racism would doubtless be number one on most people’s footballing wish list for 2013. Dealing with diving – or simulation to give it its official terminology – would probably rank second.
The English Premier League looks to be on-course for a record year of yellow cards for simulation. The 2011/12 season saw 19 yellow cards issued to players for simulation.
That mark has already been reached at the half way stage of the 2012/13 season. And a new high water mark of 40 cannot be ruled out of referees continue in their current vein. The highest season to date was 2008/09 when 27 yellow cards were issued for diving.
Diving has been around for as long as most fans can remember but with the game increasingly reliant on vital commercial interests, the sight of players rolling around in agony is being highlighted more than ever before. The calls are for something to be done, but the problems are not receding.
Some experts, especially those in the English Premier, will argue, somewhat myopically, that the influx of foreign players is mainly to blame; that the culture of diving exists far more in southern Europe and South America than it does in northern Europe.
But there is another far more complex aspect: inconsistency of referees who have no firm evidence as to whether a player has dived and have to make snap decisions about whether or not they been conned.
Take the case of Tottenham Hotspur’s mercurial Gareth Bale – the Premier League’s top diver according to the stats. According to some reports, Bale – indisputably among the quickest and most coveted left-sided players in the world – will eventually leave north London, possibly for Real Madrid, priceless though most Tottenham fans believe he is.
Bale recently received a one-match suspension after accruing five yellow cards, at least three of them for apparent diving. Not a player renowned for going public, Bale was frustrated by the inconsistency and spoke out, insisting he only went down after being genuinely fouled and urging referees to be more vigilant before dishing out yellow cards against him.
The problem is, they can’t always tell. The lightning pace with which Bale skips past defenders is one of English football’s most thrilling sights. But when motoring so fast it must also be hard for him to keep his balance when trying to avoid being fouled. At the same time, because his momentum propels him forward, when his legs and ankles are clipped by panic-stricken opponents it
must be virtually impossible for the officials to be 100% certain about whether the attacker or defender is to blame.
It’s not just about Bale. Nowadays, the game is much faster and contact has become a dirty word – actually a dirty foul in many cases. Without the benefit of slow-motion replays, referees can sometimes only hazard a guess and invariably take the view that blowing up for simulation in the box is a much less contentious call than awarding a penalty.
In one sense they are simply obeying instructions – right from the top. At the last World Cup, FIFA encouraged referees to caution players for diving and only recently FIFA’s British vice-president Jim Boyce described diving as “a cancer” that was destroying the game.
All these conflicting factors result in one obvious question: when is a dive not a dive? The answer – and it’s not rocket science – would be to appoint a panel of experts – referees, managers and those who have played the game – to review controversial judgments and determine whether deliberate cheating did or didn’t take place.
I guarantee that if the culprits knew they could be retrospectively punished, diving would be reduced overnight. By the same token, those unfairly sanctioned could have their yellow cards rescinded. It seems such an obvious move but until and unless it is implemented, injustices will continue to happen on a regular basis, bringing the game into disrepute and bad news for players,
managers, fans and those who administer the sport.
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734880260labto1734880260ofdlr1734880260owedi1734880260sni@w1734880260ahsra1734880260w.wer1734880260dna1734880260