Bale's diving

[Harry_Snatch]

I'm leaving now before i start to even annoy myself, cheers.

Obviously you are right and I'm wrong but all this stuff about football being a tough mans game and contact sport etc. It's great for sunday league and even the championship but the game I watch in the champions league and every major international tournament is a non contact sport. Sorry if that opinion pisses you off.

 

[Damian99]

Obviously you are right and I'm wrong.

At last we agree.

You cannot have a non contact sport that has contact, or it becomes a contact sport.

You are now getting in to a different debate about football being a "mans game" etc etc.

Football is classed as a Contact sport, the amount of contact compared to other contact sports is frankly irrelevant.

 

[StartingPrice]

I've explained how I perceive Bale's actions on occasions when he thinks he is going to be seriously clattered.
What I call real diving, well, we saw an example of that in United's CL game midweek. The young lad Butterworth, inside the box, not running at great pace, and with the oppos player next to him, felt the slightest touch and did a swan dive. The ref made it clear he knew there had been no real contact, but didn't book him (now there's a surprise*), the commentators made brief reference to it, and then left it, it wasn't brought up in the match summary, he has no rep as a diver, zilch.

And there, in a nut-shell, is why I get so pissed at Spurs fans joining the media witch-hunt against Bale. It may be a bit embarrassing, but the lad is not being given much protection form the refs and he is being expected to either risk serious, potentially career threatening, injury virtually every game, or just give the ball up lamely, under threat (and believe me the self-same folk would be up in arms about that, too). With Suarez it is not only as in the Butterworth incident, above, where he is hardly going to be seriously injured from these minimal contacts, but, as I said above, I personally have seen the odious little twat stamping on the standing shin, studs first, of an oppos player, not being touched himself but throwing himself to the floor and getting up clutching and rubbing his head. There is just zero comparison. But Bale comes across as the type of lad who could get a complex about these allegations, whereas Suarez somehow feels vindicated enough to doing a diving goal celebration.

*I seem to remember a certain Nani throwing himself down theatrically at OT, but lo-and-behold the ref didn't book him. No, he didn't award a free-kick, he didn't award a yellow for Nani handling the ball thinking he would get a pen, he didn't award a goal-kick, which it would have been if Nani hadn't handled the ball. Instead he ignored Gomes wanted instruction, allowed Nani to run in and score, even though if he was playing the advantage that clearly contravened the notion of advantage and something that Huddlestone had been booked for earlier in the season. He then allowed Paul Scholes to push him, even though Paolo di Canio got a ten game ban for the same, he then allowed Rio Ferdinand to stand screaming in his face while he tried to consult with his assistant, he then booked Michael Dawson for asking politely WTF was going on. I also note that, in midweek, Beetroot Head had a go at the ref, who even the commentary team thought had had a good game, and in spite of ignoring Butterworth's blatant dive, on terrestrial television. That is twice, now, that I have seen, that Whiskey Face has called the competence and/or honesty of the ref into question in front of the TV cameras that I have seen, this season alone, and the governing bodies have done nothing (despite taking Martinez to task for saying something everyone knows concerning United and penalties). And he has been doing it season after season. I know we all laughed at the Spanish Waiter for his Fergie rant, but he was bluddy right - oh, wait, did the authorities take action there.

This is the cheating that concerns me in the game - not Gareth Bale doing something a tad foolish when faced with being absolutely fecking clattered and while receiving little protection from the refs!

/rant

p.s. I note Mark 'Clatty' Clattenburg was bang on form for United, yesterday

 

[spud]

p.s. I note Mark 'Clatty' Clattenburg was bang on form for United, yesterday

It certainly looks that way.

For what it's worth (probably very little) I thought that he got the Torres and Valencia dives right, but missed the Young one (there was no foul; Young knew the player was going behind him so flung himself to the floor), reulting in the Chelski player getting sent off.

Never mind.