Aussie soccer will never soar if diving isn’t banned

DG says:

08:06am | 03/09/09

Before we worry too much about diving we really need to improve the qualiy of our referees there needs to be a much higher level of consistency in the referees decisions. This Sunday, the referee in the Sydney match was abysmal. Not one sided, he just missed so many clear fouls and awarded some of the most ridiculous.

Meanwhile, I’m rather cynical about the new diving rules-they (the FFA) can not afford to suspend players every week because it would be an admission that diving is rife. Also, the fact that the referee isn’t fooled by the dive should not be a defence - if they have simulated and have appealed for a free kick they should also be subject to a ban.

Pete says:

08:24am | 03/09/09

what can you expect from a game that’s allowed this for years…the other football codes have beem laughing behind the world’s game…it may be the biggest game in the the world but it’s played by softies…no respect

WC says:

09:05am | 03/09/09

As a league fan who has recently moved to from a rural area to Brisbane I thought I should give all codes a chance now that I have options, I went to the AFL and enjoyed it, went to the reds and died a little in side because of their performance but enjoyed the game and the crowd, and I went to the Roar.  We appropriately booed when the other team flopped on the ground for no apparent reason but when our team did it a sad silence hushed the crowd.  It put a dampener on what was otherwise an inoffensively boring spectacle.

I agree that soccer would be more watchable without flops but lets be reasonable - fans of other codes will never be convinced it is a tough contact game.

Bec says:

09:45am | 03/09/09

Agree - ditch the drama and for sure the AFL fans who are mourning the loss of their games physicality (ie Buddy’s bump) might just be tempted to switch….

R.E.L. says:

09:53am | 03/09/09

Jon, you ask the following: “How can fans of those other sports be convinced that football is a tough, contact game when free kicks are given after absolutely no contact whatsoever?”

The answer is that football is - at least notionally - a non-contact sport (unless you’re Scottish). I remember only 15 years ago that shirt pulling was an automatic foul. The players dive and fall at the slightest contact because they should be awarded a foul for the slightest of contact, but often the referee doesn’t see it.
In fact, the heavy physical contact in the British game is what turns me off. A nudge here and there is okay, but this incesant shoving, strangling and shirt tugging in the box has got to stop. If I want to see a contact version I watch rugby.

Pete says:

09:56am | 03/09/09

To say diving is the issue stopping football being embraced by Australia is said by one who does not regularly enjoy the A-League.  As far as I am concerned we are lucky in the A-League that there are not too many “simulations”.  Bringing in the video for evidence was a good move and I think done so more as a statement of “we don’t dive” rather than to combat a problem of diving in Australia. 
Football may not soar in Australia because our sports fans are fickle and are used to having the strongest competition in the world and best International team in the world.  Yes the Socceroo bandwagon is once again coming to town in 2010 with the World Cup which will win more fans but it will take a few generations for Australia to understand football.

Michael Eggleton says:

10:06am | 03/09/09

Jon, to say ‘notice a pattern’ reeks of anti-Arsenal, especially when the two examples you gave were 6 years apart. Unfortunately diving occurs in almost all teams, including Arsenal, Manchester United, all the way down to the smaller leagues. And for Celtic to come out as the driving force against Eduardo is quite hypocritical, when one of their own players(McGeedy from memory) was caught diving the next game.  He got a yellow. Where is the fairness in the penalty? Even as an Arsenal fan, while I in no way advocate diving, I do not believe the harsh penalty given to Eduardo is suitable. Unless UEFA decide to be consistent and retrospectively punish all divers caught on video, I have to say Eduardo’s punishment is inconsistent and therefore unfair.  I do not think that UEFA will continue to punish divers as they did Eduardo; there have been plenty of dives since the Celtic match, and not a word from them.  I would be happy for all players who are proved to have dived to be punished with a two match ban - or whatever is deemed necessary - but this inconsistency is a disgrace.

Macca says:

10:14am | 03/09/09

Jon, I find it ironic, and a little naiive, to have an Australian claim what will or will not allow Football to grow on the world stage, a game already enjoyed by almost half the world.

I’m a mad Football fan and I can honestly say this; Lucas Neill’s challenge was rubbish and he impeded Fabio Grosso. It was a penalty. Grosso may have not done his best to stay on his feat, but is that any different to a league player retrieving the ball in his own in goal area and then diving / falling to get back into the field of play and preventing a dropout.

Diving is unfortunate, but it is cultural. Anyone who has tried to stand in line at a Paris or Rome museum will understand

'nother old salt says:

10:17am | 03/09/09

Simulation. Pigs bum!!,its cheating . We have been told for as long as I can remember that soccer is the sleeping giant of Aus sport.Well let me state the obvious,‘Till the guys in charge can turn into a game that looks like it is fair dinkum it has no chance.I remember seeing a world cup game somewhere that involved a free kick,the ball hit a defender in the knee,he screamed & grabbed his head & got a free kick.Hilarious, yes,but not real footie.Game for girls played by prima donna’s,& whats with every one chasing after the ref & screaming at him after a decision, I don’t get it.

jinky says:

10:32am | 03/09/09

let’s put this to rest. grosso didn’t dive. lucas neill made a stupid challenge.

Jonno says:

12:13pm | 03/09/09

I like my League and AFL, but I have to admit I find soccer an intriguing game of great skill and tactics with moments of explosive excitement.
Then I see those girlie-boys dropping like hot rocks in twisted and contorted agony…....and I just shake my head and turn the channel.
Until the soccer authorities get serious and wipe diving right out of their game it’ll always be second or third fiddle in Australia.

DC says:

01:00pm | 03/09/09

I Noticeyou includes the statement “How can fans of those other sports be convinced that football is a tough, contact game when free kicks are given after absolutely no contact whatsoever?” without any support for the truth or reasonableness of it.

Why should toughness be the measure? How is that an assumed virtue?
This article could be re-written so as to criticise AFL by focusing on the notion that you can’t get sent off and the opportunities to punch and elbow opposition players when none of the umpires are looking. is it not cheating to use violence on teh field?

You also show your lack of knowledge by including the video of the Grosso incident at the world cup. I can only assume you included it as evidence of a dive. Grosso did not dive. He made contact with Neil and by definition if contact is made then it can’t be a dive.

I think diving is a problem but this article does nothing to redress or help explain the problem.

Big Head says:

01:21pm | 03/09/09

It’s just not on guv, this whole diving thing, I say. Ms Ryan I agree with your comments and Australians will never turn to the dark side and support soccer while it’s played by a bunch of blokes who go down quicker than the titanic

Ben says:

01:30pm | 03/09/09

Hmm, the single example of diving as reason why rusted-on egg-ball supporters can’t even acknowledge the presence of the world game, let alone support it, is wearing a little thin. The rules and culture of football are poles apart from the other codes - comparisons just aren’t helpful. Football is meant to be entirely about playing the ball. In the other codes, except maybe AFL, playing the man is the aim of the game. Physical thuggery is at the core of rl, ru and arf. It has no place in football.
Next you’ll be telling us football is rubbish because they don’t score enough goals . . . Oh please, come up with something a little bit more creative to explain your distaste for the game! Just don’t watch it if you don’t like it and keep your banal comments to yourself.

Blair Baldness says:

01:50pm | 03/09/09

As a bordeline convert, diving is appalling and has been most frustrating when watching the Asian Cup teams try and horizontally dance their way to a draw against the Socceroos.
For mine, the biggest handbrake haulting AFL fans from flocking to the round ball is that, while great soccer is great entertainment, a rubbish game of soccer where the midfield’s partake in ring-a-rosey and everyone goes home consuming a 0-0 draw can be horrendous viewing. Put you off for life. At least even a bad AFL game is generally watchable - there’ll be a winner, there’ll be scoring and there’ll be hits.
Not much that can be done about that I suppose, but it’s good to see the A-League is starting to attract players who will guarantee a show like Cullina and Fowler.
Agree with the basic sentiment though, diving leaves everyone feeling ripped off.

Steve says:

03:10pm | 03/09/09

World Cups.
Italy - 4
Australia - 0

It may not resonate with your average Australian soccer fan, but simulation, if hidden correctly can determine whether your side wins or loses. People may criticise Grosso or other European or South American players for doing such acts, but the fact is, their national and domestic team are extrememely successful in the biggest game in the world.
Unfortunately Australia are small fry. If there is to be success it might be time to stop whinging and start winning.
And to all you ignorant people who simply write off a whole sport for petulant reasons as a mask for your xenophobia….grow a pair and shut up.

S.L says:

09:04am | 04/09/09

It’s easy to say soccer should come into the 21st century and use a video ref in these situations but as any die hard league fan will agree officials in that great game tend to abuse the technology to often extending a game by 10 to 15 minutes in real time. How many times do they call for a video ref when the action was right in front of their faces, in some cases they are sighted where the cameras aren’t. Now that can get boring!

James Murphy says:

04:33pm | 09/09/09

To all the ignorant AFL and NRL supporters, soccer is not meant to be a tough sport. The fact that you can’t seem to watch a sporting match unless it involves loads of male-on-male contact worries me a little bit. Why don’t you head down to a gay nightclub and watch two men jelly wrestle? I’m sure that would get you excited!. Players dive in AFL too, I’ve watched hundreds of AFL games where one player will try to tempt the opposition player into pushing or punching him, then he falls to the ground to get a 50 metre penalty, yet no-one realises this is the same as diving in soccer.  Soccer is the beautiful game, a game that takes more skill to prefect than AFL and NRL put together. Lets analyse NRL, it involves picking the ball up, running 2 metres, getting tackled and doing it again and again and again. How that game can be interesting boggles the mind. At least in soccer you can have individual brilliance. I watched Cristiano Ronaldo when I was in Manchester and I can tell you there is a reason why he is paid around $500,000 a week. AFL is more interesting, a good AFL game can have you on the edge of your seat and has plenty of individual skill but for some reason, no-one outside Australia likes it. Overseas visitors grow bored of it because they do not understand what is involved. AFL fans can tease soccer all they want syaing it will never be massive in Australia, soccer in Melbourne gets around 18,000 people to a home game, but just wait til those fans have kids and their kids have kids, it may take 20 or 30 years but a-league games in Melbourne will eventually attract 30,000 fans. The sad thing for AFL is that it’s at its peak, it will never branch outside Australia for one reason, everyone outside Australia is already playing soccer…

Tim Smith says:

04:33pm | 09/09/09

Diving is already banned in the A-League, do your research Jon Ryan. The FFA sanction players for diving, have you even watched an A-League game before?

Tim Simpson says:

08:05am | 18/06/10

It should just be a straight red card in any league or international game. If you haven’t completely blocked out our pummelling by Germany, remember their player, Oezil that was yellowed for diving early? From that point on he played fair, running into the box when Schwarzer charged at him was an easy penalty to dive for, but he didn’t because he knew he was one bad dive away from being sent off and banned. It should be like this from the kickoff. Also video referees should be used with penalties, like in cricket run outs and (even though I hate the sport) rugby’s try decisions. If it’s such a big decision that could end the game for one team, it can’t be left susceptible to human error.