Tactical edge or just cheating? Diving in soccer remains divisive
Desire to take a dive could be about gaining upper hand, or just needing a breather, experts say
North American audiences may be left cold by the sight of a soccer player taking a dive on the pitch — writhing around in agony only to pop up a moment later and get on with the game.
But one sports writer says they're viewing the game all wrong.
"I think there is this idea in North America that sports are very manly, and you have to suck it up and play the game and man up and stuff," said Sonja Missio, a journalist and co-founder of Unusual Efforts, a publication supporting women in soccer journalism.
"Hockey players are applauded for going out and playing on a broken leg, or with blood gushing down your face."
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By contrast in soccer, she told The Current's guest host Mike Finnerty, players don't wear as much padding as in hockey, for example. An injury can cut a career short, which means they're often taken more seriously.
"A lot of times … you have fans saying 'I can't believe he's playing, he's injured, he should be resting for the next game,'" she said.
Missio said North American audiences also forget that players are running for most of a 90-minute soccer game, with only one half-time break. The chance to stop play, even for a couple of moments, can be strategic.
"When you're used to watching really, really fast games like hockey or basketball that do have a lot of breaks, you don't understand necessarily why players want that couple of minutes or a couple of seconds of extra breathing time."
Paolo Canciani, a producer at CHIN Radio's Soccer City, said that the desire to take a dive isn't just about taking a break.
"[The motivation is] to gain, to cheat on the referee, to convince the referee that something that is minor has to be called, and can be detrimental for your opponent," he told Finnerty.
To Missio, that's all part and parcel of the tactics and the drama.
"There have been so many times I have watched the game and somebody getting tackled in the box and my first reaction is to yell: 'Why didn't you go down?'"
"It is that tactical advantage that even if the ref misses it this time ... you might gain a little bit more sympathy, or he might start watching the defenders a little bit more," she said.
"You do whatever you can [to get] that tactical edge."
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Referees have a tough job to catch players in the act, Canciani said, but at the World Cup in Russia they're getting some help — the video assistant referee (VAR). Video referees watch the game from a control room, and can be called on by the on-pitch referee to help with a decision. They can also intervene if they believe the on-pitch referee has made a mistake.
Paul Zehr, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Victoria, would like to see the practice of diving stamped out.
"The laws of the game actually state that ... it's a foul for unsportsmanlike conduct to be feigning and simulating diving and injury — it's in the FIFA laws of the game," he told Finnerty.
"How many times have we seen Ronaldo go down, when he could have actually kept going and actually scored a fantastic goal?
"Instead the players are rolling around on the ground trying to get a foul that may or may not come."
Listen to the full discussion near the top of this page.
This segment was produced by The Current's Willow Smith, Kristian Jebsen and Samira Mohyeddin.