padzilla
Hipster
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2005
- Messages
- 3,404
Could you imagine a runner pretending he was tripped by a competitor to get him disqualified in a marathon race? There would be an outcry and rightly so, but it happens all the time, in soccer games, players are encouraged to simulate contact and feign injury. Pep Guardiola's sides are clearly coached to make tactical fouls as soon as they lose possession, as admitted by Arteta. Lamela pretended he was punched in the face by an 80s Mike Tyson to get Martial sent off a few weeks ago and it was seen by many as part of the game and Martial was naive to fall for it. Even the commentators criticise a player if he doesn't go to ground to try and win a penalty even though the contact was clearly not enough to knock him off his feet, I can't think of another sport where this kind of behaviour is not only condoned but widely embraced. In other sports as well when someone fails a drugs test they are practically shunned by the entire sporting community, in football fans gather rank and spend ages defending them and can't wait for them to come back from suspension, the same applies if they are suspended for some outrageous act - from Suarez and Terry's racist comments to Ferdinand missing a drugs test, fans will perform moral gymnastics to defend players on their teams. Diego Maradona failed drugs tests but that has not stopped many from saying he is the greatest they ever saw, Ben Johnson in athletics is dismissed as a drugs cheat because he failed a drugs test, his breaking of the world record dismissed because of the controversy. Then again maybe it adds to the drama and sets football aside from other sports?