As many of you know, I went to the World Cup four years in ago in Germany. There I was lucky enough to see the host country play against Portugal in the consolation game. Along with seeing the Ottawa Senators play in the Stanley Cup finals, it was the most thrilling sports event I have ever attended. Darcy, Mike, and I happened to have seats next to a group of guys that were quite possibly the loudest fans in the entire stadium. With each of Germany's three goals, the stadium erupted in pandemonium the likes of which I have never before or since seen.
I couldn't help but get caught up in the storm, and I traveled to Berlin to watch the World Cup final with great anticipation. We were not let down! Along with hundreds of thousands of fans, we watched the final on a closed down street in central Berlin, where several pairs of back-to-back screens had been erected.
It was one of the funnest nights in Europe out of the two months I spent there. When Zidane head butted the Italian defender, you could hear a pin drop for about two seconds while everyone was processing what had just occurred. Then the following minute was absolute madness, with French and Italian fans shouting at each other, while the Germans and other unaffiliated fans such as ourselves were just going crazy because we couldn't believe what our eyes had just seen.
Needless to say, when World Cup 2010 came upon us, I cared. I watched several games, and in particular enjoyed the Brazil/Netherlands game. However, the finals left me with such a horrible taste in my mouth, I have decided that I have little respect left for the sport.
First and foremost, I am a hockey player. Hockey is full of unwritten rules. In hockey, one of the worst things you can do is dive (i.e. faking an injury). Even if someone genuinely slashes or check's you hard, and you fall down when you could have stayed up, it is frowned upon. I take pride that I do everything I can to stay on my feet.
Maybe twice a season someone will hit me lightly and I genuinely lose my balance and fall to the ice. I'm actually embarrassed when that happens because it makes it seem as if I'm not strong on my skates. I'm no exception - all my friends get embarrassed too on the rare occasion this happens. Hockey players take pride in being strong on their skates and staying up on their feet.
Generally hockey games pass without any dives, but sometimes if the other team is particularly dishonest they will dive five or six times during the game and attract a couple penalties. In my three years playing hockey for Osgoode there is only one team that sticks out in my memory as being particularly prone to diving (fortunately we beat them in the finals).
Anyway, back to European Football - as I sat there watching the final I couldn't help but notice the ridiculous faces the players made whenever anyone made contact with another player. They looked as if they had been shot by a sniper. The Spanish were particularly guilty of this offence, diving or embellishing injuries at a rate two or three times that of the Dutch. Needless to say, I very quickly started rooting for the more honourable Dutch team.
When Spain won, I felt as if they had been rewarded for their bad sportsmanship. They decided they would literally do anything to win, including faking/embellishing an obscene number of injuries. Given how many times I saw Spanish players grimace after being tackled by Dutch defenders, I'm surprised they had enough healthy players to finish the game!
I am interested to hear what more knowledgeable soccer fans thought of the match. While in Asia I spoke to several Europeans about how disappointed I was with all the diving, and literally everyone agreed with me that it was the biggest problem facing the sport. It seems as if it's almost a prisoners dilemma situation (although instead of a one-off situation, there are many trials). It's possible that neither side likes the diving, but they feel that if they don't dive they lose an advantage to the other team.
I did miss parts of the game for bathroom breaks, but while I was watching I don't think I saw one yellow card handed out for diving. At most I saw one. The National Hockey League in North America has suspended players for diving after reviewing game film in the past. I think it's time for FIFA to consider adopting a rule allowing them to do the same.
If they adopt such a rule, and actually apply it, maybe soccer will be able to fix this problem and win the loyalty of people such as myself.
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