No good deed goes unpunished

From: Soccer America's e-newsletter

In an Italian Serie A game on Sunday, referee Nicola Rizzoli awarded a penalty kick to Lecce against Messina after Lecce's Uruguayan midfielder Guillermo Giacomazzi tumbled in the penalty [area] amid a crowd of Messina defenders.

After Giacomazzi sprang to his feet he admitted that he fallen on his own; that he hadn't been fouled. Rizzoli reversed his penalty-kick decision. But no good deed goes unpunished, and Rizzoli yellow-carded [cautioned] Giacomazzi for simulation.

"He was being honest," said Messina midfielder Massimo Donati, whose team lost, 1-0. "I don't believe he deserved to get a yellow card. I hope they rescind it."

Soccer's international governing body FIFA talks a lot about fair play. It even has a formal campaign to that effect that rewards clubs with good disciplinary records. But if you really want good sportsmanship, then try cracking down on officials who punish good sportsmanship

I'm all in favor of eliminating diving from soccer, along with its Siamese twin shirt-pulling. But this is unbelievable idiocy from a ref with a God complex.

Simulation (the official euphemism for diving) is done for the sole purpose of deceiving the referee into awarding an undeserved foul or penalty kick. If the player drew the undeserved foul and then told the ref "Hey, I just fell on my own," then the fall was obviously not down with deceptive intent.

It's the ref himself who deserves the yellow card.