The game

Two years ago I found myself in Paris, France for the world cup final. One of the girls at my hostel was crazy about soccer and we decided to trek down to the Fifa fan zone near the base of the Eiffel Tower to watch — one of the most scenic places in the world to watch a game. We only got there about half an hour before the game started and were unable to get seats in the actual fan zone, so we stood along the edges with an alright view of the screen. The French crowed seemed to be about eighty per cent supporters of Spain.

Two minutes before the game started a Parisienne man and a couple of his friends stood directly in front of myself, my friend and a Dutch man residing in Paris. Me and the Dutch man proceeded to ask the Parisienne to leave as we had gotten there first. Fortunately, we both spoke fluent French. Unfortunately, the argument to convince him to leave lasted fifteen minutes. One of the downsides of Paris is that an argument is a commitment and it is not possible to simply tell an individual that they have done something rude and ought to leave/make amends — this is probably exacerbated by the fact that only a certain type of individual does rude things in the first place. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to have a fifteen minute argument entirely in French. After convincing him that he was not entitled to stand wherever he pleased and strategic foot shuffling practiced at several standing room only concerts he left, and my attention turned once again to the screen and the game that I gone to watch.

As the game went on (and our view of the screen was not great) we could sense a restlessness in the crowd and decided to leave at half-time — it was for the best that we did as a few cars were ablaze as we walked past a couple of hours later. As we headed off away from the Eiffel Tower into the streets of Paris we searched for a place that we could watch the game. Unfortunately, there were no bars or restaurants nearby and we began asking locals where we could watch the game or as a rough translation le jeu. They were bewildered and confused by this question. The idea of watching the game is an expression that is ubiquitous in the English language and I had assumed that it would translate for a sport loving country like France. We had to explain to each person we asked that we were looking for a bar or a restaurant in which we could the world cup final, another idea that seemed to confuse many. Eventually we did manage to find a restaurant with a very tiny screen to watch extra time in our own North American way.

Slow-mo

Euro 2012 has made one thing painfully obvious: when an exciting new technology comes along people overuse it — and in this case by people I mean Canadian sports broadcaster TSN. Slow-motion footage of just about anything has been shown, this includes close-ups of players lunging towards the ball, players grimacing, and an exuberant (sixpackless) and shirtless German man jumping up and down. While slow-motion is lovely for select moments in the game — ones that were of some consequence such as goals or someone getting fowled — it seems to be used for just about anything that has happened when there is an extra minute to spare. There are some things that just don’t need to be slowed down such as an exuberant (sixpackless) and shirtless German man jumping up and down. This is about good judgement and moderation. Perhaps as with all technology we will get this one soon and use it only when the situation justifies it.

Keep the diving in pools: What exactly does flopper mean

I am taking the train when I over hear a conversation about the Vancouver Canucks. A guy is trying to justify his dislike of the team to a friend. It is well known that the Vancouver Canucks are disliked and instead of saying it is because of a particular style of play or the Alex Burrows biting incident he goes to the ultimate sports insult: they are a bunch of floppers. Or in other words pansies and cheaters. But are the Vancouver Canucks really worse than any other team in the NHL or is it just that they play a particular skill based type of game that can be either beautiful or is not rough and tough enough?

The idea of diving, faking or flopping is present in sports other than hockey, the most notable sport is probably soccer/football. In my experience the word flopper means different things. On the one hand it refers to a player that falls down to easily or exaggerates a hit, or injury to get a call from a ref. However, it can also be a convenient put down against a team one dislikes. Many national soccer/football teams are accused of being floppers, and always by people who are not their supporters.

1.

I am watching the final of the U20 FIFA soccer world championships between Argentina and the Czech Republic. The Czech team were the tallest in the tournament and played a tough style of game. This is not tough in the hockey fight, enforcer sense of the word. They battled, worked hard, and most importantly after being fouled kept playing instead of madly waving their arms begging the ref for a call. The Argentinians were the exact opposite. They fell down easily and twitched waiting for a call before getting up. Often times they fell down when simply near a Czech player or stayed down when a Czech played got up. The problem is that far more fowls were called for the Argentinian squad than the Czechs, a contributing factor in the outcome of the game.

I resent the Argentinian team who win the game and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Worse in one of the most important games of their young careers elite players (many will go on to play professionally) are being taught that diving works and playing fair does not. The Czechs pay for their honesty and work ethic — returning to the play instead of yelling at the ref or trying to draw a call. The Argentinians fall too easily and too often, and walk off the pitch having learned that it pays to dive.

If we teach young athletes the wrong lessons it will carry onto the rest of their careers.

2.

A friend finds out that I am an Italy fan. They ask me how I can support a bunch of dirty floppers and spout rumours of players being photographed practicing diving properly. I spout the same accusations towards the Brazilian and Argentinian teams. This brings me back to the question of where do we draw the line between diving as a penalty in a game and flopping as a convenient insult. They can’t all be diving all the time and it can’t just be the teams we dislike that are diving.

While the diving call may be underutilized in the NHL it is difficult to come up with another objective measure of diving in hockey. The Canucks were tenth in the NHL in overall diving penalties during the 2010–2011 season with 170. The Calgary Flames, a team that I have never once heard accused of being a bunch of dirty floppers came in first in diving penalties with 192 (1). None of the other eight teams above the Canucks are repeatedly accused of being floppers but then again the Vancouver Canucks are one of the most widely disliked teams in the NHL — enough so to merit a tweet by the Kings to that effect. It seems as though there is a big difference between teams that are called for diving and the team(s) that are accused of diving.

3.

It is possible to do without diving for example a study done by Wake Forrest University found that womens soccer players dive considerably less than men and that it really isn’t a part of their game (2). This goes to show that diving does not have to be a part of sports. Integrity and respect can be guiding principles. This does not mean that in contact sports players will not go down and that bumps won’t happen. It just means that referees should decide what contact is legal and what isn’t separate from whether a player is lying on the ground or seems injured. Players that take it too far should be penalized instead of rewarded. Perhaps then we will be able to move past accusations of floppers and minimize diving in sports, unless they are of course sports that involve diving into water.

Sources

1. “Dirty Cheaters? Sorting Through NHL Penalties A Team-By-Team.” SBNation.com. 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. <http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2011/3/23/2065528/nhl-penalties-2010-2011&gt;.

2. Longman, Jere. “Routine Ruse in Men’s Soccer Tumbles Into Women’s World Cup.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/sports/soccer/at-the-womens-world-cup-drama-without-all-the-dramatics.html?pagewanted=all. 11 July 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.