So this is why Italy got that penalty kick over Australia!

[amunhra]

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... 935045&n=2

[Hitman]

Too right...

[Hitman]

Why the sleeping giant is more like a bad soprano

Malcolm Knox

June 28, 2006

(Commentary from the Sydney Morning Herald)



SO THERE, in a single image, is why so many young Australians turn away from soccer: the somehow aptly named Fabio Grosso squeezing out a three-year-old's fake tears, rolling end over agonised end as if the penalty area is tilted to hell. Sleeping giant? More like a bad soprano.

Thousands of soccer-playing youngsters defect to the rugby codes or Australian football when they gain a certain level of physical self-confidence, and stay with those codes, as spectators, for life. Why can't the beautiful game retain them? Why do the wheels keep falling off the bandwagon? Perhaps it's because children admire physical courage and detest cheating, and see those qualities reflected more clearly in the other codes.

Sport creates the illusion of a clean arena, distinguished from the muddiness of everyday life. Grosso's dive is much more like the real world, where fakes flourish, squeaky wheels get the oil and cheats prosper. In the World Cup, he's hardly Robinson Crusoe. Of course there is cheating in other codes, and there is physical courage in soccer. But pulling a penalty in league or Aussie rules is less likely to have such a conclusive effect as Grosso's, and with so much blubbering, it's difficult to sift out the brave soccer players from the thespians.

Think of the great images of bravery in Australian sport: Rick McCosker batting with a broken jaw, Kieren Perkins's blue face after 30 laps, Garry Jack tucking his knocked-out teeth in his sock and playing on, the countless AFL, rugby and league players stitched up on the field or finishing games with broken bones. Brutal, yes, but indicative of a heroic defiance of pain. (This used to be known as a "manly" quality, until more men witnessed childbirth.) Defiance of pain, in turn, denotes loyalty to others and to fair play.

Does soccer have any equivalents? In this World Cup, the mighty Socceroos have been the child pointing at the Emperor's new clothes: they have shown that team spirit, fitness and a willingness to run and attack can transcend individual skill. They've shown up the cynicism and negativity of football's old world. Australians are justly proud of this team for its physical vigour and what the Sydney Swans would term a "no dickheads" ethos.

Yet our players haven't been blameless in the crying-baby game, which is only a symptom of soccer's real cancer, the disrespect players show referees. Harry Kewell's verbal assault after the Brazil game was disgraceful and would not be tolerated in other sports. It is tolerated in soccer because everyone does it.

All referees and umpires make mistakes but only in soccer are players allowed to crowd, chase, touch, scream at, and otherwise bully officials. FIFA, already a byword for weakness and corruption, condones this by criticising referees, too. Valentin Ivanov, the Russian referee in charge of the Netherlands-Portugal match, was judged to have "lost control" because he issued four red cards and 16 yellows. Wasn't he trying to assert control over players who had lost control of themselves? Why shouldn't he have sent off more until they started behaving? Typically craven, Sepp Blatter said Ivanov should have been given a yellow card. Thanks, Sepp. You deserve a red.

In the NRL, two players have been sent off this year for laying a momentary hand on the referee. Assaulting an official carries a life ban. Most other sports have zero tolerance for contesting the referee's decision, no matter how unjust or incompetent. Sport's integrity relies on accepting the referee's authority.

Participants cheat wherever sport is played but only in soccer is the referee allowed to be manhandled. The diva diving, the whingeing, the bad acting, all follow from that simple loss of authority.

The disrespect for referees and the pathetic theatrics are obviously linked, the latter being an expression of the former. As a type of cheating, diving is far more influential than, say, drug-taking. If a player took amphetamines, or steroids, how much effect could that have on a result? One per cent? Five? Half a per cent? But Grosso's dive had a total and decisive effect on that game. It was as if Ben Johnson had tripped up every other runner.

Soccer has been trying to crack down on play-acting, by stretchering dying players off the field (until they bounce up, Lazarus-like), and by yellow-carding the most blatant dives. It has to go further. There should be an onus on all players to keep their feet, so that if a Grosso does not do his best to stay upright, he receives no penalty.

This World Cup is said to have been more "sporting" than previous ones. Perhaps so, but kids aren't comparing it with previous World Cups. They're comparing it with other sports, and with the standards they learn in home and school. Prima donna con-artistry, faking an injury to get your sibling in trouble, is a form of cheating that parents hope their children will grow out of early in life.

I'd be delighted if my children grow up playing soccer and stick with it over the long term. But it's hard to explain why behaviour that is unacceptable for pre-schoolers is so richly rewarded at sport's showcase event. (OK - I'd have found some explanation if the good guys had won.)

[weaselinarabbitsuit]

This one is pretty good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enWKPnPu77k&search=rivaldo%20turkey

[amunhra]

This one is pretty good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enWKPnPu77k&search=rivaldo%20turkey

Priceless!

There was another play quite like that during the Italy vs. Australia game where one Aussie player walked by an Italian one and the Italian fell to the floor clutching himself, he didn't even touch him It's pretty sad when a sport becomes a theatrecal piece.

I do have to agree with Luis's article too, the players get off with way too much arguing against the ref. A ref's job is to control the game, make sure the plays are done right and if they're not then it's up to him to lay down the rules. You'd think especially in the World Cup that, that would be essential.

Some refs though are pusses or just extremely biased which are both qualities that referees should not have.

I've heard the AFL is quite a tough sport and awesome to watch and the few clips I've viewed of it are promising Zanana, where's my AFL DVD? *shakes fist at you*

[Hitman]

I abhor AFL...

[amunhra]

I abhor AFL...

Why's that?

[Hitman]

Shit game...

I hate cricket too...

[Stasswardo]

YAY GO ITALY!!!! woo yeah
i never watched the soccer once norrr did i even give a shit.
BUT HA! GO ITALY!!! respect!

[Hitman]