So which countries cheat the most? A lot of countries in football have various stereotypes and reputations in how they play the game.
One of the stereotypes that has been commented on recently at The Roar is that the Italians are divers. Also South Americans and continental Europe also have dubious reputations in terms of diving and injury feigns. In contrast, the countries with Anglo backgrounds are generally more renowned for staying on their feet but they are also known for playing the game more physically and hence guilty of cynical fouls.
However how much of those stereotypes are true?
Now the people at Fantasy Cheaters League decided to test that question.
If you people haven’t heard about them, they run a fantasy football competition but instead of awarding points for goals and assists, they analyse the match and then award points for players who dived (this includes players who exaggerate contact not just diving with no contact), injury feign, trying to get the referee to card the opposition, cynical fouls, handballs, time wasting, yard stealing and they also award a Cheaters of A Match Award. Right now, Clint Dempsey from the USA tops the charts followed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lucio.
Now recently they have published a chart documenting on which teams are the dirtiest teams at the World Cup.
Now we can objectively determine which countries are the biggest cheats in world football without resulting in crude stereotyping.
The answer is the Brazilian national team. This Brazilian teams are odds on in doing the Cup double by taking the World Cup and the Cheaters Cup. They manage to commit 23 dives, 10 injury feigns, five handballs and 10 cynical fouls this tournament.
What about the Italians, who have the reputation as the biggest cheats in world football? Well they only finished number 11. Now I still think that the Italian national teams have the most flair, dramatic and artistically creative dives and injury feigns in the world. Nevertheless the stat shows they don’t do that as much as other countries and that reputation is a little bit unfair. Although some may argued that the fact that 10 sides in the world do it more than the Italians is an indictment of the game.
I guess the question is why when people talk about play acting do the Italians get the stick whilst the Brazilian get let off? I think it has something to do with Italy being known as a dour defensive team and the Brazil are the side with the Joga Bonito brand that makes people forgive their less savoury side.
I think the example that sums it up was the Luis Fabiano controversial handball goal against the Ivory Coast. Whilst Thierry Henry got worldwide condemnation and mockery, the controversy to Luis Fabiano was a bit mute. The reason why? Because I believe that’s one of the most skillful handball goal ever scored. Even though he touched the ball twice, he still had plenty to do. His ability to juggle the ball, control the ball (with his feet and his arms) to bypass three defenders and calmly finished the goal was outrageous and was awe-inspiring to watch. Even when Brazil cheats, they cheat with the spirit of Joga Bonito. It’s hard to dislike.
What also may surprised people is that the England is ranked number four in terms of cheating clocking up 20 dives, five injury feigns and nine cynical fouls. The English culture has a reputation to be anti-diving but it seems to me that England has thrown in the towel and said “If you can’t beat them, join them” Also USA is ranked number 10 showing that the English speaking nations aren’t immune from diving as well and the stereotype that England stay on their feet should surely be blown away now.
Well who are the cleanest teams who played in the right spirit?
The answer is Cameroon and followed by Nigeria. Considering that Cameroon lost all 3 matches and Nigeria only obtained one point, it doesn’t paint a good picture in terms of playing fair.
This World Cup also shows that the Oceania and the Asian nations are the cleanest Confederation at the World Cup with South Korea ranking 24, Australia at 26, Japan at 28 and North Korea who were tied with New Zealand at 29. It was a good too see our country and this confederation playing relatively fair at the World Cup. South Korea and Japan making the knockout stages also showed that you don’t have to excessively cheat to succeed. Considering that the reputation in Australia that Asian players dived and play act a lot, it’s good to see that the team that the four teams that qualified were fairly sporting and left a good impression to the World.
Australia only had four dives and four injury feigns this World Cup verifying the claims that Australian generally stay on their feet. Nevertheless it also verifies the stereotype that Australia are more physical committing 10 cynical fouls which is the 7th highest in this World Cup. I guess in Australia, that is a more socially acceptable form of cheating. Although I do believe that one aspect of unsporting behaviour that isn’t counted in this table is dissent to referee and the Australian were pretty horrible by that count throughout this World Cup and in the qualifiers.
I guess the most notable worrying thing about the table is that in the Top 16 cheaters in the World Cup, 12 of them made the Round of 16. This gives the message then in football, cheating pays off. Although it is possible that the poor performing nations didn’t have enough of the ball to commit dives and injury feigns, the Fantasy Cheaters League does show quite clearly that Football has a major problem with diving and injury feigns and that FIFA needs to show some leadership on this issue.
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