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Superstars or prima-donnas by Matt Harrington, Radio Sport 927 June 5, 2002 As we settle into watching the early stages of the World Cup, the play is living up to the pre-tournament hype. Christian Vieri's deft touch, Miroslav Klose's soaring headers and the excitement of Japan's Junichi Inamoto has made the beginning of the 17th world championship of football worth all the fuss. But as good as the strikes, crosses and saves have been, how annoying, disappointing and frustrating are the all too common dives, and over-acting displays. Players continually writhe in pain on the ground after receiving what appears to be a career-threatening injury. Yet within minutes, the player is up chasing the next ball without a worry in the world. It's also comical, and sad, seeing a player go down before checking to see if the umpire pays a free-kick - the pain usually intensifies if a free hasn't been paid. Surely you are sick of it. This un-sportsmanship like behaviour ruins a very exciting, tense spectacle. It gives the same kind of delays to the match that American football and basketball has, and that's why we don't embrace those sports This culture that has infested soccer is unbelievable. Imagine if an AFL player acted like this? Faking, and staging is not in our nature as Australians. A player would be branded a sook, and would hopefully be embarrassed by his actions when watching replays. Yet these world class superstars go down in a screaming heap at the first thought of contact, so much so it's hard to take any injured soccer player seriously. Haven't they ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? Maybe that's why the game doesn't have a foothold in this country. As a whole, we don't like whinging, sooking sportsmen
Where did this part of the game begin? It seems to happen more at international level than at club level, given the extraordinary emotion surrounding playing for your country. Players have become so good at taking dives that they must practice it at training (it's usually between practicing for corners and dead-ball situations). Maybe some international stars have gone and watched juniors play the game, and take note at how they overact injuries, or cry when they don't get the ball. The sad part is these kids are actually emulating their heroes, not acting like children. Seeing Brazilian star Rivaldo drop to the ground, in an acting display which would have warmed the heart of Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, was a slight on the game. Rivaldo's over-acting saw Turkey's Hakan Unsal given a red-card for the incident. There is no doubt Unsal should have received a card, but Rivaldo's embarrassing display of holding his face after Unsal kicked the ball into his leg was disgraceful. Hopefully the soccer authorities get it right and out Rivaldo. He should be suspended, possibly for the rest of the tournament. This part of the game needs to be cleaned up and FIFA should implement a stronger trial-by video system. Under this system a player could be suspended for excessive diving, acting, or faking injury. The system could give each player two chances, before a third-dive incurs an automatic two or three-match penalty. A match referee could review each game and impose the ban, on perennial stagers. That's harsh, but it could be the only way to clean up the most disappointing aspect of an awesome sport. This method would ensure a player only goes down, if he's legitimately injured. Then suddenly soccer would have the respect from the public that it craves. . Balls and All.....this month • Roo star under-rated Matt Harrington, 7 June 2002 • Superstars or prima donnas Matt Harrington, 5 June 2002 • Index of all stories |
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