Neymar is a bit of a meme right now due to his ridiculous acting, but Neymar aside, I watch a few games every 4 years and there is certainly a pervasive trend of players faking injuries, usually on legitimate fouls (but sometimes not). I get that a bit of acting can help draw a foul that a ref might not have otherwise noticed, you see that in basketball a lot, but what’s the point of rolling around on the ground pretending to be hurt for 2 or 3 minutes? They have VAR now, but it’s not like the ref is ever going to say, “Wow, that guy must really be hurt, I better check the video.” He’s either going to see the contact or he’s not, right? Do they see it and then mull it over for a minute before making a call? Do the players use it like a time out?
As a very casual viewer, I find it all very strange, and yet the whole apparatus chugs along as though it’s legitimate – other players, referees, medical staff, TV commentators, everyone just pretends that so-and-so really must be in a lot of pain from this incidental contact. And it’s not like the players are just wusses, because they’ll take hard hits from contact that’s clearly not a foul and they don’t waste any time faking being hurt from it.
I think those kind of guys are gutless bitches who are embarrassing their sport and athletics in general. Soccer needs to start suspending guys who are obviously faking, like a guy I saw lying there half dead who was removed on a stretcher, only to return to the field a few minutes later in perfect health. Disgusting!
I love the sport but hate the faking. (and it is endemic) and I’d recommend several rules.
I’d bring in the rugby rule of allowing medical help on while play continues.
I’d allow a game stoppage only in the case of head injuries and the injured player to then be temporarily substituted to allow an assessment.
I’d also allow retrospective punishment of simulation. If you are seeking advantage by it, you get banned for the next game.
If you approach the ref and you aren’t the captain, instant yellow, if you don’t withdraw at once, straight red.
If you wave an imaginary card then you yourself get a real one.
I predict one week of carnage before they get used to it.
The potential scoring advantage to a penalty kick (over ordinary play) is so high that it’s worth doing one’s utmost to sell any possible foul in the penalty area.
Though it’s not the only sport that does it. Baseball does it too, just in a different way. It’s common practice for a player who is underperforming to be sent to injured reserve over some phantom problem to free up a spot. It’s not even a secret.
Since everyone does it, nobody calls anyone out on it. It’s just a quietly-accepted thing.
Yes, all contact sports do this, but in soccer it seems way obvious and way overused. I think if you fall to the ground grabbing your leg and play stops, you get yourself a nice rest and recovery on the bench for the next 5 minutes so you can be assessed for returning to play. In the mean-time, a substitution is allowed on the field to take your place. This will allow room for real injuries and not penalize the team when one occurs, but will penalize the individual player if he is flopping.
I don’t think they’re really that interested in addressing it, most within the game seem to accept it, and there’s an attitude of “We are the biggest thing on the planet, why do anything different?”
I still think my VAR operated shock collar is the right solution…
Seriously, it’s due to the nature of the game it’s an advantage to simulate. Sometimes it’s necessary to draw attention.
Arjen Robben lost a World Cup Final because he did not dive, after that he became prone to being knocked over by gusts of wind.
Referees seem incapable of striking a balance between letting flow of play continue and punishing egregious tackle. At 00:20 s onward.
It’s embarrassing. Soccer players are total wimps. I’ve seen enough replays. Total fakery with total wimps. Fuck you soccer and your lying fucking wimps.
I’ve always figured this was the case. Back in high school, we had a student whose family moved to the states from Ireland. I still remember his face when he learned the legal drinking age was 21. He was not prepared for that. He found out by asking the coach if he’d like to come out and have a beer after practice.
He was a talented soccer player, and in the off season, decided to join the football team as a kicker. He knew almost nothing about football, but he had one hell of a powerful leg. During one of our games, an opposing player came close to hitting him during a punt. He fell to the ground and rolled around as if in pain and then just lay there. The medics and sports trainers ran out there to assess him. Before they got to him, some of us ran over to him to see if he was all right. “Oh, I’m fine. It’s just really hot and you guys looked exhausted out there. Go get some water and enjoy the time out.” We did. Eventually, the trainers assessed his “injury” and he was assisted off the field. All the while, the rest of us enjoyed a free time out and some much needed water.
I thought it was clever as shit at the time. Later, after seeing how often soccer players do it, I figured it wasn’t an original idea of his, but rather a standard trick among soccer players.
Terry Bradshaw used it to his advantage a few times, even though it pissed off his teammates. He’d get sacked hard, giving up ten yards, then he’d get up very slowly. He’d shake his head and stumble toward the huddle, waving off calls from the sideline.
Then he’d limp/stumble to the center, still shaking his head and looking around like he wasn’t sure where he was. Then he’d take the snap, flawlessly run a complicated play and put the ball in the end zone.
Yes, this is a change I endorse. Use unbiased medical personnel, so genuine injuries/concussions don’t get overlooked.
One of the more disgusting examples of flopping I’ve seen involved our local MLS team last fall, which was thus enabled to get an extra goal advantage so it could move on in the playoffs. If minimal contact is enough to get you on the ground writhing in agony for minutes, then you’re obviously too frail to play the sport or too crooked to be allowed to.
Tell you what, try playing any sport more strenuous than golf for a full hour and a half, with only one break in the middle to sit down (no time outs, no taking a breather on the bench). After an hour, knowing you still have another 30 minutes to run, get down on the grass. See whether you pop up immediately or maybe take a minute to get up. Unlike the gutless bitches and total wimps in hockey, American football and baseball, soccer players don’t spend more than half the game getting splinters in their asses from the bench; basketball player don’t get to sit quite as much, but then again their game is only half as long as a soccer match to begin with.
Yeah, there’s unfortunately a bit too much of a culture of histrionics in soccer-- and there probably will be until FIFA gets a couple more pairs of official’s eyes on the field in real-time, and leagues get serious about after-the-fact sanctions for diving. But one of the fundamental roots of the issue is that even the best athletes in the world can’t go all out the whole game.
