The Hindu : Sport / Football : Gamesmanship is not fun

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Friday, Nov 18, 2005

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Gamesmanship is not fun

Gamesmanship is an ugly bruise on the game and should be swiftly penalised, writes Rohit Brijnath

The Australian tackled. The Urguayan fell. He rolled. Once. Call it momentum. He rolled twice. Perhaps this was merely an expression of pain. Then, almost inviting applause, he rolled a third time in slow motion. This was theatre; it was also appalling.

An Australian friend watching this during the recent Australia-Uruguay first-leg World Cup qualifier in Montevideo, was astonished. This is posturing, he cried, showing off immediately his unskilled football eye. Clearly he had never seen Rivaldo once get kicked by a ball on his leg and then fall clutching his head.

The referee shook his head, as if unsure whether to award a yellow card for the tackle or an Oscar for the subsequent performance. The audience howled. This wasn't football, this was Latin American show business.

This is not merely a South American art form, except some might consider they have painstakingly mastered it. A love tap on the ankle is reacted to like an amputation. A goalkeeper's punched fist may only kiss a fellow's hair but he will fall as if decapitated. Of course, once referees summon stretcher bearers all limbs rapidly begin to function.

Alas, slyness works. A Uruguayan shouldered an Australian, but fell down himself, a free kick was awarded to him, taken, and the only goal of the first leg scored. Elsewhere players, despite evident daylight between them and a goalkeeper's outstretched leg, will produce the most alarming aerial gymnastics in the box. Those rewarded with a penalty will send thanks to the Juergen Klinsmann School of Diving.

For some this is cheating, for others gamesmanship, this fine line walked between rules broken and rules bent. In time a sin committed often enough becomes acceptable. As Patrick Viera, bemoaning diving in the box to claim penalties, said recently: "(It's) happening in every country in every league and you accept that now that's maybe part of the game. But that has killed the game and made the job of the referee more difficult."

Not that football is the only culprit. Tennis players will suddenly be compelled to re-tie their laces at break point down, and will incredibly find their bladders inflate when an opponent is serving for the match.

Almost every sport now has a clause for sportsmanship, for behaviour that shows the sport in a disreputable light, but officials are loath to put it into effect.

Cynical

How cynical it has all become is evident in former Argentine international Oscar Ruggeri's recent appeal for time wasting. When Argentina lost to England 3-2 recently, he suggested that his compatriots needed to practise gamesmanship.

"They say that the Argentine player throws himself to the ground and wastes time and that the balls disappear (into the stands) when they're winning," Ruggeri said. "But at international level, these little things can help you win the match and we have to work on them".

"The coach has to spend three days working on these things. If they give away a free kick, the player should lie on the ground, so they bring on the doctor and the stretcher to slow down the game."

Sport has never been puritanical and some contend a little theatre does no harm. But such gamesmanship grates, it leaves a rent in the fabric of honest competition, and when a captain admits, as they often do, that he will do everything within the rules to win then he is often provoking his players to stretch the boundaries of fairness.

Players are averse anyway to police themselves — golf may be the exception — and will point out that this is exactly what referees are there for. It is a self-serving statement.

Gamesmanship is an ugly bruise on the game, it allows truly injured players to be ridiculed, and it should be swiftly penalised. A player rolling over thrice may bring a smile in some parts; it should also bring a card.

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