There is a blurry line of what is considered a dive or not. Some players go down willingly after a small bit of contact while some anticipate and exaggerate the contact. A great example is Arjen Robben, a brilliant footballer, gets better with age like fine wine. However, he anticipates and exaggerates contacts while dribbling with the ball. For example, during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, when Holland played Mexico, Arjen Robben won a penalty for Holland. However, the replay showed he had dived, he anticipated and exaggerated the contact, he was torn apart on social media and sports pundits saying he was ruining the sports etc. in his defence you could see, Rafael Marquez, the Mexican defender threw is leg lazily at Robben in the, if Robben didn’t anticipate the contact he would have been caught either way and been awarded the penalty. Players such as Robben that anticipate contact are more likely to be injury prone, don’t want to risk an injury and want to gain advantage for their teams.
What really gets on my nerves is how people who take out attacking players on counter attacks, dangerous situations or if they are the last man are hailed as heroes and called the fouls they commit as a necessary foul, you hear people justifying it as “taking one for the team”. Personally, I see that equally as bad as diving. It is cheating, unsportsmanlike and trying to gain an unfair advantage for your team by stopping the other team outside the context of the rule. It is ridiculous how people view those two situations differently. Both are gaining unfair advantage for your team hence it should be interpreted as cheating.
Another great example is Luis Suarez’s handball on the goal line against Ghana during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Ghana could have been the very first African team ever to get to a World Cup semi-finals. However, Suarez had other ideas, in the final moment of extra time time with penalties looming, Ghana won an indirect free kick. The box was loaded as the ball was swung in, a header was glanced towards goal after a scramble in the penalty area. The ball was goal bound but Suarez was on the line and he handled it, keeping the ball out. He was sent off, but the resulting penalty was missed and Uruguay won the penalty shootouts. If you are a neutral or a Ghanaian fan you would see Suarez as an anti-football character, however, if you were a Uruguayan, you saw him as a hero. Sacrificing his tournament to give his country a chance of progressing to the semi-finals. Would you have done the same? because if I was in his position I would certainly have done the exact same thing. However, this is similar to diving, he tried gaining an unfair advantage for his team, by conning the referees.
When you are playing a match, you are ahead by a goal and you try slowing the game by taking your time with goal kicks, corner kicks, calling for a throw ins or corner kicks when you know the ball had gone off you and ref gives you but you don't tell the referee that the ball went off you last. So why is diving seen as cheating? Because you are trying to gain an unfair advantage for your team by conning the referees and officials.
In recent years’ players have been more likely to go down in order to win a penalty. Referees for some strange do not give penalties if the player does not go down, you hear commentators saying “if it was outside of the box it would have been a free”. Due to the fact referees don’t give penalties when players stay on their feet hence players are more incline to go down in order to enhance their chance of winning a penalty. If referees actually give more penalty decisions for players staying up, this will encourage players to not dive in order to win a penalty. Similar to the referees being instructed to give penalties for shirt tugging in the penalty box, this will reduce the shirt tugging in the penalty box.
During one of the recent matches I was watching, a player got tackled in the box but he stayed up, the referee waved play on, the manager of the player that got tackled shouted to his player after getting tackled in the box and stayed up "why didn't you go down" and at half time he spoke to the player angrily, told him “if they touch ye in the box, go down even if you aren’t sure” this was an underage game, if players are brought up with that mentality, of course they will dive for while playing future matches.
People have been clamouring for Fifa and other higher up football federation bodies to clamp down on players diving by handing out suspensions, fines, and points deduction. However, how do you differentiate between a dive that deserves to be fine, suspended or points deduction? There is a blurry line which I think will never be resolved. There are some instances where players go down genuinely, go down anticipating the contact in fear of getting injured and others just exaggerated the contact. Where do the higher bodies such as Fifa and Uefa draw the line?
In each of the scenarios I have pointed out, you are conning the referees and officials to get an unfair advantage for your team. I am not advocating diving but I think you can’t condemn diving but advocate players being “smart” “clever” “taking one for the team” as a good thing. Where do we draw the line or what is considered a dive and a genuine foul? Because at times while you’re running at pace with a football, a small bit of contact could knock you off your stride and it may look to others as a dive.
Issues such as diving will never be resolved nor erased from football. It is part of the culture, it is part of the modern game and we just have to accept it for what it is and move on.
Author: Monsurudeen Mustapha
4th Year BBS (Hons) in Recreation and Sport Management Student