Although I have only ever been to Spain on business, I never thought of the Spanish as a sarcastic race. Therefore when I heard Rafael Benitez saying during his interview after Liverpool's game with Chelsea, that he had to get down to the hospital to see how Arjen Robben was doing, I wondered if something had happened after the game. Had the Chelsea winger perhaps collapsed in the tunnel?
Then of course, I realised that he was talking about the incident just before the end of the game at Stamford Bridge, when Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina was sent off. He had come out of his goal to try and shield the ball over the touch-line but made contact with the pursuing Chelsea player. As he walked back to his goal, Robben said something to him, which upset him, and he grabbed Robben's face with his gloved hand. Robben dropped to the floor as if he had been rendered unconscious.
It was this little charade that Benitez was referring to, sarcastically suggesting that, as Robben had obviously been seriously injured, he must need hospital treatment. As we all saw, after the referee sent Reina off, Robben jumped up none the worse for his encounter.
Earlier in the season, I was talking to some old Reading footballers, at the annual footballer's reunion, on the subject of diving. It is nothing new, one ex-player said to me. Rodney Marsh for example was a past master. What is different today, is that players over-react with the intention of influencing the referee to get their opponent cautioned or sent off. 'That is something we wouldn't have done,' he said, 'that's the nasty side of football today.'
I'm sure there are many who would agree and there were calls in several newspapers for the FA to charge Robben for his part in the affair. 'But what would they charge him with,' someone asked me, 'play
acting'?
The Laws of the Game have another word for it -
'simulation'. 'Any simulating action, anywhere on the field, which is intended to deceive the referee, must be cautioned as unsporting behaviour.' Another word for it is - cheating.
Many people think that simulation only covers diving but it also refers to pretending to be seriously injured, in order to influence the referee into taking more serious action. So why don't more referees take action against players feigning
injury? The reason is that the referee is not always too sure just how bad an injury is. At a recent televised game, the goalkeeper came out to punch the ball, missed and landed up a heap.
The referee ignored the goalkeeper, knowing that players sometimes stay down in order to get the game stopped. He allowed play to continue and the ball bounced across the goal a couple of times before being put in the net with the goalkeeper still prone on the ground. When the referee finally called on the trainer, the goalkeeper was stretchered off with his neck in a brace. Imagine the referee's embarrassment if he had cautioned the goalkeeper for simulating injury.
This form of dishonestly can prevent genuine injuries getting early attention but another greater problem is that it can create is a mass confrontation. Team-mates of the accused player will have a go at the play actor and his own team mates will take issue with the player who they believe has injured their player. You only had to look at John Terry's facial expression when he rushed in to the Chelsea incident to see how quickly violence can erupt. It is more than just a nasty con trick.
Referees must do their best to spot simulation and take action but the real answer lies in the hands of the clubs. It's not enough to make remarks when sinned against if they don't take action against their own players who cheat.
Dick
Sawdon Smith