Diving in the World Cup isn’t exactly a flop of a problem
The World Cup.
It’s the time when seemingly everyone tunes in to the one month long football fiesta to witness their or a favouring nation’s pride exerted into just 90 minutes of the round ball game.
With rugby, cricket, tennis and league fans all included into this equation, there is a perfect opportunity to give a large chunk of Australians the best taste of what the A-League provides on a weekly.
If we’re going to get fans of rival Australian sporting codes to turn to our league in what is looking to be its brightest era, it’s all about the image we present.
This season could possess the best style and flow of play we have ever seen in the past decade, there could be narrow wins, crushing defeats and emotional moments.
But if on one Australian summer’s morning we wake up to hear an A-League player has been admitted to flopping to the pitch floor for all the wrong reasons, it puts the game into jeopardy.
The image that usually presents itself in the minds of those yet to appreciate the game of football is one of a 2002 World Cup diving Rivaldo. The ball is kicked into his left kneecap and he immediately clutches his face and drops to the ground faster than you can say pretty-boy. This is known as the theatrics image of football.
This World Cup has presented a series of cases within the drama department. Only a week ago, Dutch powerhouse Arjun Robben admitted faking he was hurt by Rafael Marquez during the Netherlands’ clash against Mexico in order to get a penalty. The Netherlands were awarded the penalty which they converted, with the game finishing 2-1 in favour of the Netherlands. You can only imagine the frustration of the Central Americans.
Milking penalties in the wrong way occurs in all sports. Though it seems football has gained it as its specialty stereotype.
If we peer over to our sporting neighbour, Rugby League, exactly like Football, this sport has gained its own special stereotype over time, the stereotype being all rugby league players are ’boofheads’ meaning they act like they have a low IQ by performing acts of juvenile behaviour and aggression.
This too has its origins, 1978, Manly vs. Wests, Silvertails vs. Fibros, dubbed as the game of ‘rich vs. poor’. It’s pregame, and a player by the name of Tommy Raudonikis and his buddies are slapping each other ferociously for a straight minute to anger themselves for the game. They go out there with one objective, to smash those Silvertails right back to where they came from. Which they do.
Though even worse, this game was only the pre-season, immediately news broke of more than 6 players hospitalized over this aggressive match and Rugby League was put into a spotlight of shame, this was arguably a low point in the game’s history.
Fast-forward to now and the game of rugby league is again in disrepute. Cronulla player Todd Carney has been photographed while urinating into his own mouth. What outsiders to the game may claim a ‘boofhead act’, the media is now in frenzy and the image of Rugby League has again been put into jeopardy.
The reaction to this event all proves a vital fact that can be applied to any sporting code, especially the developing A-League.
A sporting code’s image is most harmed when a negative stereotype is revisited that could turn newcomers off the game.
The stereotypes in these sports are not at all true, I know it and you know it.
FIFA is only discussing clamping down on serial divers by giving referee’s the power to send players to the match review committee for a lengthy ban
The idea of penalizing someone for a dive has always been around and always will be, though on a world scale like the FIFA World Cup, diving must be clamped down on more severely. It not only hurts the opposing team’s chances at winning, but it also damages the image of the game and those who play it.
With only a few games left of the World Cup and one being the final, strict action must be taken to help the credibility of the competition.
Back to Rugby League, the NRL has now announced next season it will start enforcing a ‘no dickheads policy’ that shall apply to all players who put themselves on the naughty list. This rule also helps the clubs to move on from the sacking of these bad boys economically with refunds on the player’s contracts
Fans and those in association of the NRL have heavily praised the rule as it shows there is an effort being made to justify the current situations in the game and diminish them
This rule is a big step for the NRL and a big example for FIFA.
The referee’s in this World Cup have not lived up to the expectations when it comes to clamping down on diving, and it’s not just Arjun Robben at the feat. Multiple issues have occurred where players over-exaggerate an injury either to soon or later return to play.
If a player shows traces of faking or exaggerating his already injury condition it should be a straight yellow. If a player decides to dive out of the blue and has clearly made no contact with another player it should be a red.
The footballing world and body may take a while to adapt to these strict re-enforcements, but all in all, this is for the better of the game and those who play it.
And who knows, maybe if Arjun Robben had been given a red-card as soon as he dived, the stereotype on football players may have lost some power?
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