How I’ve longed to see the day when the football authorities take it upon themselves to tackle the increasingly cynical misuse of sportsmanlike conduct where players are obliged to kick the ball out of play if an opponent goes down injured. In the past this custom was observed properly and only use when absolutely necessary but in the past season or two we’ve seen more and more players try to use it as a means of regrouping after being dispossessed and tackled rather than getting up and running on.

The World Cup in Germany was full of it to such an extent that there were games were I personally had to turn the TV off and stop watching. It was cheating of the most despicable kind with players feigning injury one minute, only to jump up and run back into position the next when the ball was kicked out and danger averted.

In the Premiership, Arsenal have been the most high profile exponents of the shaemful practice with even top players like Thierry Henry giving incredulous looks at the officials if the other team dared not to kick the ball into play as he lay down after being fairly and cleanly tackled.

The incident which led to the touchline row between Martin Jol and Arsene Wenger during April’s North London Derby was a major case in point where two teammates collided, the referee checke dthat there were no serious injuries and quite rightly waved play on and Spurs went down the other end and scored. The goal was perfectly legitimate but because Arsenal’s players complained so bitterly (despite it being an indiscretion on their own part) there was widescale condemnation of the Spurs players for following the referee’s direction. Ludicrous isn’t the word!

Thankfully the Premier League have instructed the LMA and PFA to tell their members that from now on the practice is not to be followed due to severe misapplication and from now on the decision to stop play will come solely from the match officials. This should lead to the end of any further misunderstanding and hopefully eradicate this vile unsportsmanlike behaviour from the game.

The authorities are fighting back and while I say it’s about time, I’m glad they are doing something. Next target: players diving.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 19th, 2006 at 12:42 pm and is filed under State Of The Game Opinion. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.