by thebigbangtheo » Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:21 am
My opinion is that the main reasons why diving is as prevalent as it is and are even more significant than the honesty or scruples of the players themselves, are the managers/head coaches followed by the governing bodies themselves.
I am not suggesting that managers wilfully send players out with direct or indirect instruction to cheat, just that if they had the courage or inclination to take a stance against it then it would effectively cease to exist beyond being the rare occurrence it once used to be.
If a player was to dive and win a free kick and after it was was taken regardless of the outcome or time of play, the manager immediately substituted that player and afterwards explained that he will not tolerate any of his players cheating and if they do then they're off and subject to a self imposed one game ban, things would change.
Of course, if such an action was to remain unilateral with no one following suit then yes it would be no more than an isolated, honorable gesture likely to receive plaudits and criticism in equal measure, much like the Paulo Dicanio incident when he caught the ball to stop play because he recognised that not only was a fellow professional injured, but that it would then be immoral to take advantage of it.
The comment regards the likely influence upon the youngsters aspiring to emulate their heroes is what i find very pertinent indeed.
When I was a junior league coach, I once had that situation less than 10 minutes into a game and similarly did as described. The result was that after the game when it was made clear that that crap was not going to be a feature of my team, star player and at a football academy or not. Not only were the players onboard with it the parents were too and knew that every kid in that squad was gonna get a fair and equal chance to play.
After getting over the shock of being told to replace our star player, the lad went on to have a decent game, scoring twice and getting motm whilst I don't think I've ever had my hand shaken so much by a dad so bursting with pride he was almost in tears, and my lads start to understand the value of teamwork and winning because you're the best team and had earned it with your skill, ability, hard work and character, but none of that would mean shit if we had cheated to do it.
But I guess that the harsh reality is that the interests of the individual, coaches and clubs are now stacked to outweigh the values at the very core of the game and the essence of sportsmanship, and as such the old adage that nothing is bigger than the game no longer rings true.
Last edited by
thebigbangtheo on Sat Sep 22, 2018 1:25 pm, edited 3 times in total.
