Simulating the Beautiful Game

The Global Game, a good blog about the intersection of soccer and politics, had an interesting post about diving.

Diving, or 'simulation' according to the official jargon, is considered one of the worst plagues in the Beautiful Game.

It's interesting, though, that perceptions on diving often differ depending on the culture. In Britain, divers are angrily berated as cheaters and as unmanly; some suggest bringing back capital punishment just for them. The attitude is the same in British-influenced soccer cultures like the US and Australia.

There seems to be a more tolerant attitude toward simulation in Latin America and Southern Europe, where it seems to be excused as 'gamesmanship.' Maybe they realize that defenders have all the advantages. They can bump, grab, mug and shirt tug the forwards. But if a forward barely brushes against the arm hair of the goalkeeper, it's a 'foul'.

In that sense, it's a bit surprising that diving hasn't been embraced by America's win-at-all-costs sporting culture; destroying your body with steroids (and sending that message to kids) is ok but embarassing yourself by flopping on the ground is heinous?

I loathe diving. There's nothing more obnoxious than a forward collapsing to the ground and writhing in agony like he was shot 27 times merely because some fan in the upper deck sneezed... only to get up the instant he realizes the referee isn't buying it.

But I think that many soccer commentators and fans are so eager to decry simulation, that they forget about equally grave affronts to the sport. There is no way you can talk about diving without mentioning its evil Siamese twin: shirt pulling.

When you watch high level soccer, it's a miracle that anyone ever scores off a free kick or corner kick giving how much shirt grabbing takes place. Why is it that shirt pulling lauded as tight marking but diving is angrily condemned? They're both cheating.

There's a dirty little secret about diving: it's often the only way to get a legitimate foul called. 'Savvy' defenders know how to foul a player without getting caught. A little tug to the shirt or a little bump that maybe the ref can't see because of the angle or because his vision is blocked. If the forward doesn't go down, the ref doesn't know anything has happened. And even if the ref does see it, he often won't call it. Refs often conclude that if the player didn't fall down, what happened couldn't have been severe enough to blow the whistle.

In that situation, many forwards say to themselves, "I am truly getting fouled but falling down is the only way I can make sure a legitimate call gets noticed." Otherwise, the forward is punished for adhering to fair play.

I watched a Major League Soccer match last year. A defender bumped a forward who was running on to a through ball pass which would've given him a clear shot on goal. The forward stumbled but stayed on his feet and the ball went out of bounds. Amazingly, the ref still called the foul and awarded the attacking team a penalty kick.

It occurred to me that I don't think I'd ever seen that before. Sure, the foul was legitimate and the penalty deserved. But 95% of the time, the ref will not call a foul unless the player goes to ground, no matter how legitimate the infraction. When it comes to awarding a penalty kick, it's more like 99.99999%.

Soccer various governing bodies launch sporadic crackdowns on simulation. This usually consists of encouraging officials to give yellow cards (cautions) to divers. This results in a brief binge of cards, often for players simply falling down or stumbling due to the natural flow of play... something which is an infraction on neither player. It's not that hard to tell the difference between a diver and someone falling down accidentally, because the diver (after writhing in agony for several seconds) will immediately look to the ref and scream for the opponent to be given a card. Someone who fell down accidentally will get up immediately and try to find the ball. Yet this overzealous enforcement inevitably traps many of the latter. After this brief binge, things usually return to normal.

There is a better way, if the soccer braintrust could see the forest for the trees.

If we truly want to end diving, fans must demand that officials call legitimate fouls that don't result in a player falling down. If you want to discourage simulation, officials must not simply punish divers. They must reward those who engage in fair play by staying on their feet.