The Morality of Diving
The Champions League quarterfinal, Liverpool takes on AC Milan in the second leg of the tie. It is already injury time and the Italians seem to be progressing on away goals rule, but Luis Suarez gets the ball, breaks into the penalty box, he does a couple of step-overs and then... dives. The referee points to spot and the Merseyside team advance to the semi-finals.
This shows one thing: diving is actually very effective. The question is: Is it actually cheating or just a kind of detention that is in the game? Do we have to take actions against it, if yes, what? Should players –who act that they have been fouled- be punished, or does the hate they get from fans do the trick?
Diving is actually against the rules of football and gifted with a yellow card, when noticed by the referee. The problem is that it’s widely accepted to be the hardest thing on the pitch for an umpire, to tell a well done dive from an actual foul. The instalment of video proof or instant replay is generally considered to be only way to rout out acting from stadiums, because a human can always make mistakes or not see things, but a well organised camera system leaves no stone unturned.
If you go on Troll Football or any site based on football jokes, you can clearly see how the majority of football fans approach diving. It is regarded as one of the filthiest things a footballer can do. Players like Suarez, Young or Busguets – famous for their acting skills – are the targets of the most criticism and subjects of the most jokes. I believe that the hate they get is not only countable by the likes on the pictures making fun of them, but also by the hundreds of thousands of Euros sponsor money they lose.
On the other hand, when analysing controversial situations after football matches it is the referee who is always posed as the scapegoat and never the player who actually dived. Even the experts, sports journalists and ex-players in the studio claim that ‘the umpire...