It is very simple to see why the average American sports fan hates soccer. In a country where football dominates and MMA gains popularity yearly, there is little patience for a bunch of fully grown men acting like babies.
When did soccer turn into this?
I suppose, if I were to look back decades, I would find players flopping in an attempt to win a free kick, but at no time can I recall such a prevalence of this disturbing trend. Today, instead of actually reacting to a foul, it seems that the slightest touch means the end of the world for some of these players. The graze of an opponent's leg, an elbow a mere six inches from one's face, all of these are presently turned into episodes so full of writhing and wailing that anyone watching would be left to expect that there must be a broken leg or nose.
There is a simple solution to this epidemic, in fact there are a few.
You see, as a part of a supremely wired generation, we have more access to information than ever before. This means that we no longer have to accept what our eyes, at full speed and from a singular angle, saw; now, through the advent of instant replay and an army of high resolution cameras, we are able to see, from every angle, exactly what transpired.
This makes the answer very simple. If you want to stop the flops, fine the floppers. If FIFA were to have an individual watch a replay of every game and fine any flopper $25,000, how long do you think this epidemic would persist? If this is too harsh, how about imposing a five minute penalty for any player needing the "magical" water or medical attention during the course of a game? Simply take them off the field and have them watch as their team plays down a man while they recover. How fast do you think the writhing and wailing would last then?
If it were up to me, I would take it a step further. Since the referees are connected via microphone to someone, have FIFA place a referee upstairs who is watching the same feed as the average viewer. After any call, as the center ref is walking slowly towards the player down, quickly relay whether it was a foul or a dive. If it was a foul, play it as is; if it was a dive, instant yellow. If the ref upstairs cannot determine which it was by the time the center referee arrives at the spot, then play it as called.
As a fan of the beautiful game I am not asking FIFA to callously overlook protecting their assets. What I am asking is that they move soccer back to a time when it was a game of equals battling it out with skill, athleticism and drive, not acting lessons.
2 comments:
I would love to see the fines be instituted! We all know FIFA is a money hungry entity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I) and surely it would hit the players pocket books, and quickly. FIFA could also make a pretty hefty dollar by doing so. At least until players figure it out and stop simulation and feigning injuries.
The referees can only see so much and very often are shielded by players or are too far away from the incident to see exactly what happened or how much force was used. They would have to be fairly close to the event in order to see what happened, and that would lead to being out of position for the next play as referees are all not Usian Bolt and can run a million miles per hour.
A 5 minute penalty or whatever is a slippery slope though. Granted, in most cases, any injured player attended to by a trainer on the field has to leave the field of play and cannot return until beckoned by the referee. The referee, by the letter of the law, could just let them stay on sideline for 5 minutes or whatever. I wonder if this would lead to, in the last 5 minutes of each half, teams making stronger challenges and tackles in hopes of them needing the magic spray because they know they would not be able to return and thus have a numerical advantage. As a player, I would take my caution for a reckless tackle if I knew that player would need medical attention and would not be able to return. Then what is to say that their teammate wont do the same to another opponent? On the flip side, if you got whacked hard in the last 5 minutes, you would not want the trainer and try to suck it up for the remainder of the half, possibly leading to further injury. This would change the game dramatically!
I feel the referee in the booth idea would take too long of a time to analyze and relay information to the officiating crew. The referee in the booth would be looking at various feeds and angles and compiling information about the event and I don't think they could do that in the time it takes the referee to get to the spot of the "foul." Stopping the game for the decision from the booth would be out of the spirit of the game, and it would also give a potential advantage to the defensive team as they can rest and recuperate while the referees sort things out. This also takes away the potential for a quick free kick from the offensive team.
I do agree that the flopping needs to stop and referees as a whole need to clamp down on it. Maybe they should just start handing out yellow cards on first spotting. I would imagine the players would get the message pretty quick (if referees can maintain control) and would stop their simulation.
Jared. I think the fact that the on field ref is human was my rationale for the ref in the booth. Knowing that no ref is capable of being in many places at once, I think another set of (multi eyed) eyes is a positive.
In no way do I want this to become what the NFL has become in terms of replays (and I fully believe that in a year or so we will start seeing commercials during these "necessary" breaks). The idea is that the average viewer, from one or two angles, can immediately see what happened. The same should be able to go for the ref upstairs. If they cannot determine by the time the center official has checked on the "injured" player (and remember, this idea is only for fouls where the player is writhing in pain, so play is stopped anyways), the the play resumes as the ref called it.
That is a very good point about the penalty and opponents maybe going in harder towards the end. I would hope that the $25K fine would limit any of it throughout the game, but that is definitely something that would have to be sorted...
Overall I just hate that grown men care more about acting than playing but, as a friend said, "how can you get mad at people for playing within the rules to win?". Something needs to change for sure.
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