Heurelho Gomes exposes what has become a worrying trend
Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes became the latest critic of diving this weekend as he claimed former team-mate Darren Bent kicked him before collapsing to the ground. Gomes saved the spot kick to preserve justice in this circumstance but it’s one of many diving cases as the Premiership continues to suffer from the act of simulation. Gomes, who was the best player on show as Tottenham beat Sunderland – keeping his team ahead through a string of good saves, also criticised the controversial penalty United were given against Spurs last season when Michael Carrick went down under a challenge from the Brazilian ‘keeper.
Diving has been criticised by players, managers, fans and the media for what feels like a long time now but it continues to happen, despite the departure of serial-diver Cristiano Ronaldo to Spain – a league jam-packed with diving. The official word on diving is that a player attempting to deceive the referee is to be yellow carded and, whilst some players have been booked for diving on occasions, the majority of the time this is ignored as the referee doesn’t want to be involved in a media storm. So he either gives the penalty, like with Bent this weekend, or he just ignores the incident. So the image the referees are giving the diving players is that they will either win a penalty or nothing will happen thus they have nothing to lose – no wonder diving continues to happen! It’s time the FA played hardball with diving, enforce punishment – if the referee is too cowardly to give out a card when the incident happens then there should be an alternative – perhaps a ban given by the FA after the match for cases ruled to be diving. The prospect of having to miss a match would surely put players off diving.
The diving debate has gone on before but I will go over it once more; many Premiership fans/players/managers are more than ready to blame the current spate of diving on the influx of foreign players into the Premiership. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Pires and Didier Drogba have done nothing to dispel this idea. But English players are just as guilty of the offence – see Carrick in the aforementioned incident from last season for example. Alternatively, there are videos dedicated to the dives of Steven Gerrard on Youtube.
If the FA do pull their finger out and actually do something about diving they are going to have to be very specific as it’s a very fine line between diving and not diving. A player falling over through their own momentum without being touched by an opposition player would technically be diving by falling in the area but it would not be their fault and this would have to be put into consideration in the analysis of the incident. But something must be done, players are getting away with diving with no punishment and it is defining games and becoming even more important in the way the Premiership is going – it has to be halted quickly.
For the sake of the footballing nation this will hopefully be sorted out. And I don’t mean for the sake of defending goalkeepers, my sympathy lies with the fans of the cheated team, not goalkeepers, they are far from immune to cheating – see Jens Lehmann and his theatrics for a good example – although Gomes, a devout Catholic, seems to be one of the Premiership’s good guys (his transformation from joke ‘keeper to good ‘keeper’s been remarkable, hasn’t it?). So what kind of punishment should be dished out for diving? And who are/were the worst offenders for consistent diving? Unfortunately I think a number of Premiership players would make that list.
I don’t think the ref in the Spurs game wanted to avoid a media storm, or had bottled anything.
He had been deceived and did what he thought was right from what he saw.
Phil Thompson and others after the game were still bemused why Gomes hadn’t been sent off, even with the benefit of the replays!
It seemes that sometime after the game everybody suddenly cottened on and stopped the tedious “Sunderland were robbed@ angle and opened their eyes to see what actually happened.
Now Steve Bruce is only complaining about his team being wasteful and it’s all gone quiet from them regarding the penalty incident.
Says it all.
Also whilst I acknowledge they played well, I don’t subscribe to the issue of them being SO dominant. I mean in two areas Spurs came out on top. Firstly our keeper versus their attack, and secondly our attack versus their keeper. Gomes being the best player doesn’t ‘not count’ just because he’s a keeper. The scoreline shows we defended better and ultimately our attack was better – that’s how you get a 2-0 scoreline.
Ah, I didn’t mean this incident with Bent when I referred to referees trying to avoid media storms, I instead refer to when they completely ignore the player flying about in the penalty area. In this case the referee gave the penalty so it couldn’t have been a bottling case as he made a firm decision, wrong though it may have been
As for who dominated the game, it’s irrelevant in the end as the scoreline’s the important factor. Spurs have had a poor few games which left confidence low but this win over Sunderland’s the perfect confidence boost and could lead to improved form
I agree with Fuzzy dunlop on your sound comments.
I can’t believe too that some sunderland players like Reid after the game keep on going that the game would change significantly if Gomes was sent off for bring Darren “Cheat” Bent down. In perfect slow motion, Bent brought his own hind leg to trip the other going down before Gomes reach him and drag his legs to catch Gomes’ hands & body which was already doing avoiding actions to not touch him. All EPL refs should be trained to see this, if not able to catch one but at least catch one or two. Then FA will need to review each case and set a standard punishment for this cheating acts.
Obvious contenders for divers of the year so far Drogba, (asn’t it great to see him acctually get kicked on the wkend ((Well done Jonny)) and still get a yellow for it, his reputation preceeds him). Faubert, Eduardo?
In my opinion each contentious decision should be review by a group of 3-5 referees. If the player is found guilty of simulation he should be banned for one match and be forced to donate a weeks wages (regardless of how much he earns) to a charity of the FA’s choice.
The whole of the Man ure dive and whinge and moan,they are encouraged to do it by the bosses at the theatre of corrupt dreams,as a fan of a non top four team it was good to see Man u get whipped on Sunday,they don’t like it up em..
It’s all the same old story. Look who are the worst cheats in the EPL. Manure, Cheatski and the Arse. Now look at who has one all but one of the EPL championship titles since it began. It’s no coincidence!
The worst thing about the incident was Alan Shearer on Match of the Day, praising Bent for “winning the Penalty” “yes he was already on the way down but he made sure he made contact with the keeper”
Is it a wonder diving is inherent in football if kids get to see this type of play praised on TV
Well, firstly I do think Sunderland were dominant! I saw this because Spurs played poorly and scored their only 2 chances. Sunderland hit all shots at Gomes. Secondly, Shearer correctly said that the penalty incident shouldn’t be a red card – especially since Bent had NO intention of trying to score and there were defenders covering. The last point (that no one mentions) is that every time Gomes has a one on one, it ALWAYS ends up with him bringing down the player. I am most worried about that. Conceding a goal is preferable to getting sent off (apart from in dying mins of game…)
I don’t see why divers can’t be punished after the game, though prehaps the club should be fined for each incident and not the player. That would force managers to get on players backs about it and would also make players prone to diving far less valuable (and rightly so). Ronaldo wouldn’t have been bought for 80million if this were the case thats for sure. This should only be for clear-cut cases, however, as even with replays a dive is often difficult to spot.