The Laws
of the game call it simulation, the media calls it diving and the man on the
terrace calls it cheating. Whatever we call it, it has universally been
accepted as a Bad Thing; indeed Stoke City manager Tony Pulis recently called
for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez to be banned for three matches following a
dive by the Uruguayan during a game between the two clubs. Liverpool manager
Brendan Rodgers believes that his player doesn’t get the penalties he deserves,
although in fact Suarez is now like the boy who cried wolf; his reputation
means that he will probably have to tied to a goalpost and be whacked about the
body by a defender using a corner flag before he gets a penalty. Likewise
Fernando Torres, another player who is no stranger to controversy in the “was
it a foul or was it a dive?” stakes.
The fact
that Suarez and Torres are Uruguayan and Spanish respectively is grist to the
mill of those who believe that diving is an aspect of the game that we have
imported, however the truth is more complex than that.
In 1972,
Francis Lee set a British record for the number of penalties scored in a
season, with 15 of his 35 goals scored from the penalty spot. Lee himself
earned many of these spot kicks, some of which he was accused of winning by
diving, resulting in him being dubbed Lee One Pen. Latterly ex-England striker
Michael Owen has admitted that he could have stayed on his feet when winning
not one, but two penalties in World Cup matches with Argentina. Somewhat hypocritically,
Owen says “I’m totally against diving but.........I have been guilty as well,
at the 1998 World Cup I was running flat out, got a nudge, went down. Could I
have stayed up? Yes probably.”
The
belief that diving was imported along with the influx of overseas players
probably stems from the dual facts that there are now so few British players in
the Premier League together with every Premier League game being covered by TV
with a multitude of camera angles and every decision scrutinised ad nauseam by the panels of pundits.
Back in the day when Franny Lee was banging in his fifteen penalties not only
was there no blanket TV coverage, but those games that did appear on the box
were only filmed by a limited number of cameras. Frequently the pundits and the
viewers had no better a view than the referee. Diving is probably only a little
more common now than it used to be, it’s just that these days there is no
hiding place from the TV cameras. Whatever diving did take place back in the
1970’s was however, highly frowned upon when or if it was spotted, and if it
was exposed it was often at the time of the incident and by an opponent who had
little compunction in taking matters into their own hands, either immediately
or later in the game. It would have taken a brave forward to dive in games
against certain 1970’s defenders who were renowned for administering their own
justice, regardless of what decision a referee might have made.
The media
have rightly taken against diving, or cheating, or simulation or whatever you
want to call it, although sometimes they can be somewhat sanctimonious on the
matter, as though they are shocked by the idea of sportsmen in general, footballers
in particular, and especially British footballers, cheating. Once the rewards
are great enough, the possibility of detection remote enough and the penalties
for being caught slight enough, it will happen in professional sport, just as
it happens in finance and politics and whether the media likes it or not, in
journalism.
This piece first appeared in the programme for the Romford v. Heybridge Swifts match in Ryman League Division One North, 24th November 2012.
Ironically, perhaps, the day before publishing this piece here, Liverpool visited Stoke City and guess what? Liverpool were awarded a penalty, their first of the season, for a foul on Luis Suarez that not even Tony Pulis could contest. Not that it did 'Pool much good as Stoke ran out 3-1 winners.
Ironically, perhaps, the day before publishing this piece here, Liverpool visited Stoke City and guess what? Liverpool were awarded a penalty, their first of the season, for a foul on Luis Suarez that not even Tony Pulis could contest. Not that it did 'Pool much good as Stoke ran out 3-1 winners.
