An article by Michael Lynch in the Melbourne Age on November 6 is the ultimate best of both worlds. Lynch has lined up everyone, the oval ball codes, cricket, and others, and then concedes that the diving culture needs to change.
I hope Mr Lynch’s cake was tasty.
He writes: “It’s a bad, bad look, and one that all too often gives head-in-the-sand opponents of soccer a free kick to indulge their mindless criticism.”
Okay, so, admittedly, it’s a ‘bad, bad look’, but he still claims that it’s pandering to ‘opponents’ of football and supporting ‘mindless criticism’. Either, it’s mindless, and therefore false, or there’s an element of reasonable concern about it all.
We don’t all have to be 150 percent exclusive and dedicated followers of a game to be able to make an observation.
I would have thought Lynch might have realised by now that there’s a lot of people who really don’t mind football, though it may not be their number one football code. Perhaps, to him, that defines them as “head-in-the-sand opponents.”
However, the general consensus seems to be that in football, a game that can all too often be decided by a single goal, so the potential reward can be too great a temptation to not have a go at a penalty area dive, or at drawing a red card on an opponent.
Followers of other sports aren’t fools.
We understand that honesty is a luxury. Not every cricketer ‘walks’ like Adam Gilchrist. And nor should they. The umpire is there to ‘judge’.
Mr Lynch has his go at followers of all the other codes until finally he states that “cultures can change. Pay no heed to those who claim that taking retrospective disciplinary action is against the spirit of soccer. Cheating is even more so.”
FFA, which brings a disciplinary culture from other sporting codes (in Buckley’s case, from AFL, in his predecessor John O’Neill’s, rugby union) has been accused of “not understanding the spirit of soccer. In this instance, that’s an advantage.”
I’m left trying to work out whether Lynch just fully justified the opinions of the people he was attacking?
It seems that there is still a thin-skinned element in the football fraternity who just don’t like the message coming externally. It doesn’t matter whether the message is right or wrong, constructive or not.
It’s time for the victim mentality to be put back in the cupboard. It’s not very dignified.
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November 7th 2008 @ 3:53pm
Slippery Jim said | November 7th 2008 @ 3:53pm | Report comment
Oh dear another thinly disguised AFTL propaganda article trying to pass itself off under the football tab. For shame, Michael C.
November 7th 2008 @ 3:55pm
Victer said | November 7th 2008 @ 3:55pm | Report comment
I think the whole thing smacks of insecurity to me. Those people who comment on the game by bringing up references to girls and cheats etc.. will never watch the game anyway. It’s a pointless exercise to defend something to those who are bigoted towards it from the outset. Most people know it happens in the game anyway, you either chose to accept it or you don’t. There are more pressing issues for the A-league to fix such as the quality of play and the salary system that prevents clubs to grow.
November 7th 2008 @ 5:01pm
dasilva said | November 7th 2008 @ 5:01pm | Report comment
Michael C
I think you kind of overreact here.
Michael Lynch is pretty much saying diving/deception to referee exist in various forms in all the sports that Australian played. Football/Soccer is not alone with that problem as there is diving in AFL and Rugby and Cricket. Therefore other sports shouldn’t look down on Football solely due to diving.
he is also saying that Football has to get it’s act together and solve this diving issue because there are journalist out there sharpening the knifes who will pounce at any weakness the game has.
Now I don’t agree we should fix the problem of the game due to the fear of outside criticism as that seems of insecurity and paranoia. (I don’t want to get rid of diving for approval from people who don’t watch the game and are fans of other sports. I want to get rid of diving because it’s pissed me off and other football fans)
Nevertheless he is right that diving is a detriment of the game of football and annoys alot of Football/Soccer supporters does give a sport a bad name and football should do what it’s can in fix it.
This article seems more of a self critical article of the game rather then an attack on AFL.
November 8th 2008 @ 10:01pm
Michael C said | November 8th 2008 @ 10:01pm | Report comment
Slippery Jim -
ah well, ya got me there,………you saw thru the disguise.
what ever you want to think………..if it makes you happy.
November 10th 2008 @ 10:33am
Slippery Jim said | November 10th 2008 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Victer, even stranger that they devote all of their time trying to denigrate other’s codes rather than promoting the other code they claim to follow.