The Bear Minimum

It seems to be part of the play-book for many teams in the World Cup.

Football can be an extremely enjoyable spectator sport, especially on an international scale, but there’s one aspect of the game that I personally find very frustrating. I intensely dislike the faking of injuries that so many players engage in. It’s not limited to any specific nation, nor any specific continent, though some nations aren’t as bad as others.

For instance, Italy is playing New Zealand at the moment, and they have to be one of the worst offenders for this type of behaviour. A few of the Italian players have received a tap here or have fallen there, and they writhe around on the ground as if they’ve received a kick to the back of the head. Very dramatic, I must say. On the other hand, I saw a few of the Swiss players take quite a fall due to tackle, and get right back up with nary a bit of theatrics, in spite of the tackle seeming quite aggressive.

I know that the players think that if they play up their pain, they may be slightly more likely to receive a free kick or even perhaps a penalty, but at the same time, where’s their sense of sportsmanship? Are they really that okay with the thought of essentially cheating the system? Are they not embarrassed at behaving in such an obviously fake way? I know I certainly would be, and I wouldn’t want to be seen as being either weak or a fake.

So far the World Cup has been pretty enjoyable, save for the inconsistency in refereeing decisions. I feel like there should be better communication between all of the referees to ensure that certain types of behaviour aren’t condoned by one and penalised by another. For instance, a red card was awarded to Australian player Harry Kewell last night, for what the referee suggested was a deliberate hand-ball. Rosetti, the ref, also awarded Ghana a penalty shot for that same incident which is how Ghana tied the scores. Now, in a match played between Serbia and Germany a few days ago, a referee denied gave a yellow card and a penalty to a Serbian player for a hand ball. This happened twice during that match, yet neither time was a red card.

Oh, and for an amusing little anecdote. North Korean citizens weren’t allowed to leave the country for the World Cup, so instead, North Korea - known in the cup as Korea DPR - has hired Chinese actors to stand in as fans at the team’s games. I personally think that’s incredibly funny.