Should Faking Injuries and Diving in Football be punished
Football is a beautiful game but sometimes it can be tainted by faked injuries and diving by players. There are many reasons why this type of behaviour occurs and it seems it is all in a bid to win matches. It seems to have become a big part of the game and organisers and coaches seem unable or unwilling to put an end to it but not for a lack of trying.
Every football match except the very rare occasions, have one or two theatrical dives included for free for the viewing pleasure of the fans. Footballers can be seen flying through the air without having even been touched and then writhing about on the ground in agony. The act of this drama is perfectly explained in the following quote: "The flailing of the arms, the contorting of the face into a grotesque mask of pain and suffering. The miraculous recovery as a player suddenly resumes running at full speed and moving around as if nothing had happened". This is exactly what happens when a player dives or fakes an injury on the pitch.
Why they do it is not all that surprising. Diving can often enough produce a freekick, a penalty or a sending off of an opposing player. "It is too easy for a player to fall to the pitch in hopes of drawing a game-changing free-kick or penalty, and the reward is too great. Indeed, some players have come under fire for not diving enough". Can anyone actually believe that some players are reprimanded for not diving enough? With all the shirt pulling, the pushing and the diving in football you would think coaches would be trying to stop the practice.
Referees in football matches have been trying to stop this practice for years by handing out yellow cards and even red cards in extreme situations. It doesn't seem to stop the practice though. Referees can sometimes get over enthusiastic about handing out punishment to players. A story came to light about a Croatian footballer who was suspected of diving in a match and was awarded a yellow card by a referee. The footballer had actually tragically died of a heart attack. The footballer, Goran Tunjic, was rushed to the hospital but could not be revived.
Faking injuries are up there alongside diving for dodgy sports practices in football. "Diving is strategy. Unlike the constant substitutions that occur in American football and hockey, soccer is played non-stop for 45 minutes at a time”. Just how much of diving and faking injuries is strategy?
There are several reasons for faking injuries to occur. Most dives and faked injuries are seen close to the penalty area or actually in the penalty area of a team's half. This is done to try and get a freekick very close to the box or even try and win a penalty. The problem occurs because the responsibility is squarely on a referee's shoulders. They have to make a split second decision about what happened and this has the potential to change the outcome of the game. This is why on the one hand diving and faking injuries are so important to a team and also why they are so dodgy.
Sportsman spirit seems to have gone out of the window and it seems all of the importance of the game of football is on winning and not about enjoying oneself out on the pitch. A reason is offered by a writer as to why acts of diving and faked injuries occur. The writer shows a link between bluffing in poker and diving in football. "Well for the same reason poker players bluff – they don't have the goods and they somehow have to trick their opponents or the referee into thinking they have". It is an interesting point because it means that players dive or fake injuries when they have lost the ball to an opponent due to poor play on their part and they don't want to admit it and get on with the game.
Whatever the reasons for diving and faking injuries in football, the practice doesn't seem likely to end any time soon and we will continue to see people diving and acting as if they were in the running to win an Oscar.
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