Diving in Football and Hands of gods

aarhus

Long live King Frederik X
Jun 10, 2008
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The other day I wached the first half of the Italy - NZ game and I found a comment from the commentator Ruud Gullit very interesting and even somewhat DR related. It was regarding the Italy penalty which helped Italy draw the game. A NZ player pulled the shirt of an Italian player just for a second or so and then he let go. The Italian "Dived" and rolled over as if he had been fouled badly. It was in the penalty area so Italy got a penalty and scored. Ruud Gullit said about the incident that the "Italians would call that being clever whereas the English would call it cheating". To me it kind of sums up the difference between Latin and Anglo culture. Similar to Maradonas famous Hand of God in the game between England and Argentina in 1986. He felt no shame afterwards that he had used his hand to help him and Argentina win the game. It was not really cheating. It was being clever. I heard him once in an Interview say that he had done that often in games in Argentina. Latins just play by different rules as the English/Canadians/Americans. Something that in Anglo culture is perceived as cheating the Latins see as perfectly fair game.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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No love lost between Argentina and England :)

Many Dominicans aspire to be like the people that are stealing from them or cheat them. Being screwed here is so normal, many people cannot see the difference :)
 

belgiank

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Jun 13, 2009
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I'm sure you are right in a lot of ways... but I think the problem lies a little bit deeper then only culture...

the other day I saw a game... and I forgot which one... but some European took a dive on purpose and was rightfully punished by a yellow card...

I do believe you are right that winning for their country, is so important to the Latin players, they will revert to "cheating"...

On the other hand, the financial rewards offered to players from Europe, and prob the US, are so big, they will also revert to cheating, if for another reason...

So hence the question, which I would not dare to answer... is it more honourable to cheat for your country and honour, or for the big bucks...:ermm:

(I would like to add I personally know one of the top-players of Belgium, and he chose to go and play in a first division team in England (not premier league, but below that one), simply because they paid him 4 times the money he earned in one of the top teams in Belgium. A lot of people in Belgium cursed him for that, but his explanation that soccer was all he knew, and he realised that he had to make his money before he had to retire from the sport, made perfect sense to me...)
 

Berzin

Banned
Nov 17, 2004
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Latins just play by different rules as the English/Canadians/Americans. Something that in Anglo culture is perceived as cheating the Latins see as perfectly fair game.

There is cheating in all sports, and Anglos are not immune from this.

Have you seen the amount of cheating that goes on with steroids in US baseball and football at all levels, from high school all the way up to the pros?
 
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Berzin

Banned
Nov 17, 2004
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Back on topic, I consider flopping a more egregious form of cheating than using your hand to score a goal because a handball is something that is supposed to be called by a ref, and it is pretty cut-and-dry.

You either used a hand to score a goal or you did not.

But flopping is done purposely to deceive, and it is much more subversive because it is impossible to quantify the degree to which someone is really hurt on a play or not.

There isn't one national team I've seen, Anglo or not, that doesn't engage in this sort of behavior. Some take it to more ridiculous extremes, but the overacting when fouling or getting fouled is what ruins what truly is "The Beautiful Game".

Which is why I love watching Brazil play. They believe in "Joga Bonito" in all it's forms...:cheeky::cheeky::cheeky:

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