Soft Tackles Glitches of the Real Game

OK.  I will try to prevent this from turning into a rant, but an issue I think needs to be addressed is that of players going down too easily.  It was a massive problem last season and judging by the performances of the first two weekends of this season, it seems set to continue.  All the examples from the past couple of weeks involve Phil Dowd – nothing against the man, he just happened to be the referee. 

West Bromich Albion vs Liverpool:

Liverpool concedes a penalty as a result of what appears to be a shove in the back on Shane Long by Daniel Agger.  On closer inspection, Agger makes minimal contact and the force would have hardly displaced a small child, never mind a grown man.  Soon after, Martin Skrtel makes a hash of a clearance and accidently trips our man-of-the-hour Shane Long in the process.  Again, there is minimum contact and if it was not in the penalty area, Long would probably not have bothered to bamboozle us with his expert diving skills.

Chelsea vs Newcastle United

The incident in question is another penalty. Torres charges into the box, leaping over Anita’s leg gaining the penalty for Chelsea.  Down at the other end, Cisse picks up the ball about thirty yards from the goal, runs past David Luiz, who makes the same action Anita did, but Cisse does not go down.  If Cisse had have been inside the penalty area he would have most definitely thrown himself to the floor.

These are just a few of the many examples of how the rules are being taken advantage of, playing into the hands of the players who break them.  In my opinion, one of the most annoying phrases used repeatedly to evade the issue by managers and pundits alike is “well… in the letter of the law…” This is essentially just an accepted excuse for cheating and I think fouls awarded for incidents like this should be stopped.  The rules are being manipulated and it is to the ruin of the game.  It reminds me of the glitches you experience in football video games.  I remember a particular glitch, in a popular football sim, that meant you could always score straight from a corner if you took it a certain way.  In another, you could run down the wing, take a shot from a thirty-degree angle and the keeper would just palm the ball into his own goal every time.

The point I’m trying to make is this:  Due to the unfair nature of the glitches, at the beginning of every match between my friends and I, there would be a gentlemen’s agreement put in place to stop the glitches from being exploited and ruining the game.  This applies to football in the sense that the penalties awarded as a result of diving, are comparable to the glitches in a video game.

My solution to the glitches is to stop referees from playing into the hands of the offenders. There should be much harder punishments for diving.  I would even go so far as to say, if a player dives,  instead of receiving a booking he should pick up a straight red card and an instant three-match ban.  It sounds extreme but it would be effective in rooting out the glitches once and for all.

Rant over…   

~John Lavery