Roy Keane demands respect for referees and wants them to clamp down harder on diving in football
The game of football is believed to be the most beautiful sport around and one that brings the world together. However like any other sport there are some aspects of the game that have come under fire from time to time. Diving
intentionally to win free kicks and penalties has been an age old problem of the game and despite several amendments in the rules of the game and strict measures by the officials it remains to be a talking point of the sport.
Former Manchester United captain and current Ipswich manage Roy Keane is the latest to join the list of former players who have hit out at the players diving in the Premier League.
Keane said that it is absolutely disgraceful to see how players act on the pitch, and it should be dealt with seriously by the officials.
"You see players going down and then two minutes later they are straight back up," Keane said in an interview.
These comments are not something new, as Tony Pulis, the manager of Stoke, also suggested the same after his team’s win against Aston Villa. However Keane has gone a step further and said that a number of managers in the game encourage
their players to dive on the pitch and earn free kicks.
"You have got to have your own bit of pride and you were always told as a kid not to show that you are hurt but it's gone the other way now," he said.
"Players are going down far too easily and staying down hoping the player who's tackled them will get a yellow card or a red card.”
The man who wore the famous number 16 shirt at Manchester United said that it has sadly become a trend in the game, and no longer is it really frowned upon. He said that with due time maybe it would change but according to him
it would only get worse if it is not clamped down hard.
“Unfortunately it's crept into the Premier League over the last few years and hopefully it will change.”
"But I don't think it will. I think it will probably get worse because of the pressures of the game and sometimes players are instructed to try and sway the referee in his decision."
Roy Keane had a reputation of being someone who tackled hard, and often was in the middle of heated arguments with referees. Keane in his playing days was no stranger to regular cards and did voice his opinion from time to time
regarding the lack of professionalism from the referees. However ever since he has become a manager he has changed his stance, and now admits that the officials have a tough job at their hand and at times even they are not able to get everything right.
"I think the officials have the hardest job out there," he said.
"The game is played at such a speed and there's so many camera angles and there's programmes (with pundits) who analyse referees.”
Keane said that Referees are also human and they are bound to make mistakes, but the way those errors are magnified by the media is not correct. The former Irish international said that the British press is eager to jump on to
the most minor incidents in the game and should be more responsible and sensible while doing that.
Keane said, “As you saw over the weekend they've got a tough job and I think we need to be a bit fairer to the referees and players need to be fairer to each other to give the referees the opportunity to try and make the right
decision.
"They will make mistakes, like players do as we've seen this weekend, but I think any media coverage of a mistake by an official is way over the top."
The former Sunderland manager went on to say that it’s not just the players but several managers who tend to bad mouth the referees in heat of the moment. Keane said that managers should be the ones to set the example and if they
can show some respect to the referees the players would also follow in their steps to some degree.
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