Why is Suarez the 'filthy' arch-villain yet Bale is protected? We choose to vilify the foreigner, but a cheat is a cheat...
By DES KELLY
PUBLISHED: 22:52 GMT, 8 March 2013 | UPDATED: 02:06 GMT, 9 March 2013
The moment the supremely accomplished British footballer Gareth Bale falls over an imaginary leg during a match, it sparks outbreaks of copycat behaviour right across the land.
Not on our football pitches, but in the nation's television studios and press boxes as pundits trip over themselves, too, in a desperate hunt to find excuses for the player’s behaviour.
Rather than condemn Bale as a cheat and a diver, every euphemism in the lexicon of Footballspeak is dutifully offered up in an attempt to excuse his deeds.
Falling down (again): Gareth Bale was booked for this dive against Inter Milan on Thursday night
Accordingly, we are informed that the Spurs player:
a) Goes down easily.
b) Travels at such speed the slightest contact can affect him.
c) Is often merely trying to avoid injury.
d) Has an inner ear infection that causes him to lose his balance.
e) Was momentarily caught out by the rotation of the Earth.
The ITV pundits examining Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Inter Milan called on a selection of these alibis, but the remarks essentially amounted to little more than an admission that while Bale might be a diver, nobody wanted to call him a cheat out loud because he’s a pleasant lad and he scores marvellous goals.
But no such courtesies are accorded to Uruguayan Luis Suarez. When he tumbles over nothing and waves his arms about appealing for a foul, he’s slated as a cheat. Not with any subtlety, either, but in great big headlines usually proceeded by the word ‘filthy’ and followed by an exclamation mark.
Even when excuses are offered up for his behaviour, phrases such as ‘he dives because he’s adjusting to the Premier League’ are usually wheeled out.
The subtext here is Suarez only cheats because he’s a foreigner. The chap’s from Uruguay, you see? I mean, you could probably stand around for long enough in South America and see people doing that sort of thing on the streets. Those pesky Latinos just don’t understand the British game.
It is a lousy argument. Suarez isn’t doing anything different to Bale. There is no ‘cultural divide’ on diving. Even if Bale dispatches himself over an invisible boot and forms a very British queue of
one in front of the official to politely insist a molecule of air brushed his ankle and caused his
personage to topple over, it is still cheating.
Reputation: Luis Suarez has been vilified for diving, but the Liverpool striker has cleaned up his act
Hotshot: Luis Suarez in training at Melwood alongside Steven Gerrard and Brendan Rodgers on Friday
We just treat the players differently. We choose to vilify the foreigner.
When Suarez and Bale meet on Sunday at Anfield, there is a distinct possibility it could resemble an episode of the primetime show Splash! if the pair parade their least admirable skills.
But it is worth pointing out that while they are playing at a level right now that puts them in contention for the Player of the Year award, only one of them has made an effort to clean up their act.
Suarez is no longer the arch-villain of the Premier League. As things stand — and it certainly makes a pleasant change when he does — the Uruguayan appears to have heeded the entreaties of his manager Brendan Rodgers and senior figures in the Liverpool dressing room to cut out the antics and concentrate on applying his talents.
Bale, however, continues to try his luck and the patience of officials.
His yellow card in the Europa League tie against Inter was the sixth he has collected for diving in the past 15 months and the fourth this season.
I doubt there has been a player in the game that has had half a dozen cautions for ‘simulation’ in that space of time, not even Cristiano Ronaldo during his formative ‘showpony’ years.
But Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted he was pleased Bale was booked. This meant he was clear of cautions for the competition’s latter stages, and he added: ‘With this result we would have asked him to get the yellow card to be clean and ready for the last eight.’
Yes, the manager was glad his player cheated.
Going down: Bale has earned four bookings for diving this season alone - and six in the last 15 months
In fact, if he hadn’t cheated by diving, he’d have asked him to cheat another way ‘to clean it all up’. Anyone else need a shower?
The usually sensible Gary Neville, a hugely experienced defender and now a Sky Sports pundit, had this to say: ‘If you are disgusted by Bale diving, go sing in the choir, go play the violin, or play the recorder.’Just as depressing are those who seek to justify this pathetic charade as ‘part and parcel of the game’.
Actually, I’d even pick up the infernal bagpipes rather than be forced to accept that kind of cheating as the norm.
We know it happens, we see it in every game, but that doesn’t mean — to extend Neville’s strange analogy — we have to beat a drum for it.
Coming over all worldly wise and claiming the rules don’t really matter in this cynical age is simply preposterous.
There has to be some honour in sport, otherwise it is irrelevant and futile. It doesn’t matter what the excuses are, it doesn’t matter where the participants come from, a cheat is a cheat and we should always say so.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2290379/Gareth-Bale-diver--stop-excuses-Why-Luis-Suarez-cheat--DES-KELLY.html#ixzz2NMofNpjg
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By DES KELLY
PUBLISHED: 22:52 GMT, 8 March 2013 | UPDATED: 02:06 GMT, 9 March 2013
The moment the supremely accomplished British footballer Gareth Bale falls over an imaginary leg during a match, it sparks outbreaks of copycat behaviour right across the land.
Not on our football pitches, but in the nation's television studios and press boxes as pundits trip over themselves, too, in a desperate hunt to find excuses for the player’s behaviour.
Rather than condemn Bale as a cheat and a diver, every euphemism in the lexicon of Footballspeak is dutifully offered up in an attempt to excuse his deeds.
Falling down (again): Gareth Bale was booked for this dive against Inter Milan on Thursday night
Accordingly, we are informed that the Spurs player:
a) Goes down easily.
b) Travels at such speed the slightest contact can affect him.
c) Is often merely trying to avoid injury.
d) Has an inner ear infection that causes him to lose his balance.
e) Was momentarily caught out by the rotation of the Earth.
The ITV pundits examining Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Inter Milan called on a selection of these alibis, but the remarks essentially amounted to little more than an admission that while Bale might be a diver, nobody wanted to call him a cheat out loud because he’s a pleasant lad and he scores marvellous goals.
But no such courtesies are accorded to Uruguayan Luis Suarez. When he tumbles over nothing and waves his arms about appealing for a foul, he’s slated as a cheat. Not with any subtlety, either, but in great big headlines usually proceeded by the word ‘filthy’ and followed by an exclamation mark.
Even when excuses are offered up for his behaviour, phrases such as ‘he dives because he’s adjusting to the Premier League’ are usually wheeled out.
The subtext here is Suarez only cheats because he’s a foreigner. The chap’s from Uruguay, you see? I mean, you could probably stand around for long enough in South America and see people doing that sort of thing on the streets. Those pesky Latinos just don’t understand the British game.
It is a lousy argument. Suarez isn’t doing anything different to Bale. There is no ‘cultural divide’ on diving. Even if Bale dispatches himself over an invisible boot and forms a very British queue of
one in front of the official to politely insist a molecule of air brushed his ankle and caused his
personage to topple over, it is still cheating.
Reputation: Luis Suarez has been vilified for diving, but the Liverpool striker has cleaned up his act
Hotshot: Luis Suarez in training at Melwood alongside Steven Gerrard and Brendan Rodgers on Friday
We just treat the players differently. We choose to vilify the foreigner.
When Suarez and Bale meet on Sunday at Anfield, there is a distinct possibility it could resemble an episode of the primetime show Splash! if the pair parade their least admirable skills.
But it is worth pointing out that while they are playing at a level right now that puts them in contention for the Player of the Year award, only one of them has made an effort to clean up their act.
Suarez is no longer the arch-villain of the Premier League. As things stand — and it certainly makes a pleasant change when he does — the Uruguayan appears to have heeded the entreaties of his manager Brendan Rodgers and senior figures in the Liverpool dressing room to cut out the antics and concentrate on applying his talents.
Bale, however, continues to try his luck and the patience of officials.
His yellow card in the Europa League tie against Inter was the sixth he has collected for diving in the past 15 months and the fourth this season.
I doubt there has been a player in the game that has had half a dozen cautions for ‘simulation’ in that space of time, not even Cristiano Ronaldo during his formative ‘showpony’ years.
But Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted he was pleased Bale was booked. This meant he was clear of cautions for the competition’s latter stages, and he added: ‘With this result we would have asked him to get the yellow card to be clean and ready for the last eight.’
Yes, the manager was glad his player cheated.
Going down: Bale has earned four bookings for diving this season alone - and six in the last 15 months
In fact, if he hadn’t cheated by diving, he’d have asked him to cheat another way ‘to clean it all up’. Anyone else need a shower?
The usually sensible Gary Neville, a hugely experienced defender and now a Sky Sports pundit, had this to say: ‘If you are disgusted by Bale diving, go sing in the choir, go play the violin, or play the recorder.’Just as depressing are those who seek to justify this pathetic charade as ‘part and parcel of the game’.
Actually, I’d even pick up the infernal bagpipes rather than be forced to accept that kind of cheating as the norm.
We know it happens, we see it in every game, but that doesn’t mean — to extend Neville’s strange analogy — we have to beat a drum for it.
Coming over all worldly wise and claiming the rules don’t really matter in this cynical age is simply preposterous.
There has to be some honour in sport, otherwise it is irrelevant and futile. It doesn’t matter what the excuses are, it doesn’t matter where the participants come from, a cheat is a cheat and we should always say so.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2290379/Gareth-Bale-diver--stop-excuses-Why-Luis-Suarez-cheat--DES-KELLY.html#ixzz2NMofNpjg
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