Those of us who can recall the playing days of Rodney Marsh and Francis Lee in the 1960’s and 70’s, will know that today’s commentators bemoaning players’ diving to gain penalties, as a modern blight, are totally wrong. Usually those same commentators betray their Little-Englander instincts by adding that diving was a direct import that came with foreign players and that all us solid British types would never have gone down this road without the lessons taught by and learnt from foreigners.
At least one of them, Gary Neville, had the balls to state quite categorically that diving had been commonplace amongst players that he played with and against. And he included himself, as well as naming English icons such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Steve Gerrard as all ‘going down easy’. However, Neville went on to differentiate going down without contact and going down with contact. The former being a cheat, the latter as not cheating. Needless to say Sky Sports, who had broadcast his views, was inundated by supporters appalled by his easy dismissal of the practice as part of the modern game.
Again, those of us who have followed football over the last few decades could certainly attest to numerous incidences of players winning penalties with little or no contact. RTG can even recall a teenage ‘butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth’ Gary Lineker doing his aquatic acrobat stuff with Leicester City. It can also recall Glenn Hoddle specifically encouraging a raw Michael Owen to learn the dark art of diving to ‘improve’ his game at a press conference in France ’98. Michael certainly learnt quickly, as he found Argentine legs to plunge over in that World Cup and the next one. That the first one was balanced by an earlier equally dubious Argentine penalty is beside the point.
The real question is: does it happen more often than it did? With multiple cameras, better technology and rolling 24 hour coverage, more dubious cases are more able to be spotted, highlighted and endlessly debated nowadays. We just don’t have the data available from previous eras. Sadly, therefore, it is a question of which RTG can only provide an answer based on anecdotal evidence and experience.
Yes it is more common, but then with potentially multi-millions of pounds at stake resting on one incident, it’s really not that surprising. What has changed is that, increasingly, modern players, pundits and supporters see it as ‘professional’ and a ‘duty’ – as illustrated by Neville’s recent public pronouncements.
There has been some wild talk of retrospective punishments for divers using the camera technology available now as routine at Premiership grounds. But until someone comes up with a camera that measures the force of a push and the brain waves of intent, no current technology will solve the problem. Retrospective refereeing is frankly an area we should not go down at all for reasons that RTG will cover in a later piece.
No, the real danger in redefining the modern morals of sport is best shown by a story from American Baseball. In 1994, the top batter for the Cleveland Indians, Albert Belle, was accused of using an illegal corked bat. One umpire removed the bat for testing, locking it up safely in the umpires’ room. One of Belle’s team-mates, Jason Grimsley, acting the cat burglar, broke into the umpires’ locker room and replaced the tainted bat with a legal one. The deception was easily spotted by the fact that it looked totally different and had a totally different player’s name on it. The dim-witted Mr Grimsley was treated as a hero by fans and colleagues alike and Mr Belle got a paltry minor ban. Hmmm…dim-witted sportsmen….sounds familiar.
This relaxed view of cheating has led directly to wide spread performance enhancing drug use within baseball. It has directly affected results and the record books. RTG is not saying that football will go the same way, if it hasn’t already, but collectively we need to address this moral issue. And fast.
But then who amongst us England supporters would genuinely complain if Ashley Young’s 89th minute dive wins us the European Championship this summer? RTG would like to think that it would bother us.
Help join the debate to Reclaim our Game.
At least one of them, Gary Neville, had the balls to state quite categorically that diving had been commonplace amongst players that he played with and against. And he included himself, as well as naming English icons such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Steve Gerrard as all ‘going down easy’. However, Neville went on to differentiate going down without contact and going down with contact. The former being a cheat, the latter as not cheating. Needless to say Sky Sports, who had broadcast his views, was inundated by supporters appalled by his easy dismissal of the practice as part of the modern game.
Again, those of us who have followed football over the last few decades could certainly attest to numerous incidences of players winning penalties with little or no contact. RTG can even recall a teenage ‘butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth’ Gary Lineker doing his aquatic acrobat stuff with Leicester City. It can also recall Glenn Hoddle specifically encouraging a raw Michael Owen to learn the dark art of diving to ‘improve’ his game at a press conference in France ’98. Michael certainly learnt quickly, as he found Argentine legs to plunge over in that World Cup and the next one. That the first one was balanced by an earlier equally dubious Argentine penalty is beside the point.
The real question is: does it happen more often than it did? With multiple cameras, better technology and rolling 24 hour coverage, more dubious cases are more able to be spotted, highlighted and endlessly debated nowadays. We just don’t have the data available from previous eras. Sadly, therefore, it is a question of which RTG can only provide an answer based on anecdotal evidence and experience.
Yes it is more common, but then with potentially multi-millions of pounds at stake resting on one incident, it’s really not that surprising. What has changed is that, increasingly, modern players, pundits and supporters see it as ‘professional’ and a ‘duty’ – as illustrated by Neville’s recent public pronouncements.
There has been some wild talk of retrospective punishments for divers using the camera technology available now as routine at Premiership grounds. But until someone comes up with a camera that measures the force of a push and the brain waves of intent, no current technology will solve the problem. Retrospective refereeing is frankly an area we should not go down at all for reasons that RTG will cover in a later piece.
No, the real danger in redefining the modern morals of sport is best shown by a story from American Baseball. In 1994, the top batter for the Cleveland Indians, Albert Belle, was accused of using an illegal corked bat. One umpire removed the bat for testing, locking it up safely in the umpires’ room. One of Belle’s team-mates, Jason Grimsley, acting the cat burglar, broke into the umpires’ locker room and replaced the tainted bat with a legal one. The deception was easily spotted by the fact that it looked totally different and had a totally different player’s name on it. The dim-witted Mr Grimsley was treated as a hero by fans and colleagues alike and Mr Belle got a paltry minor ban. Hmmm…dim-witted sportsmen….sounds familiar.
This relaxed view of cheating has led directly to wide spread performance enhancing drug use within baseball. It has directly affected results and the record books. RTG is not saying that football will go the same way, if it hasn’t already, but collectively we need to address this moral issue. And fast.
But then who amongst us England supporters would genuinely complain if Ashley Young’s 89th minute dive wins us the European Championship this summer? RTG would like to think that it would bother us.
Help join the debate to Reclaim our Game.
