Stumble and Fall: What punishment should Eduardo get?

By: Rob | August 29th, 2009

First off, hello. I’m Rob and I’ll be here to enjoy the weekend with you. You might know me from the Champions League Offside, or The Premier League Offside, either way, a big hello.

By now you will all have seen Eduardo’s little tumble against Celtic in the Champions League midweek. The controversy from that moment is still ringing on, as the Scottish Football Association kicked up a bit of a stink, and then UEFA announced they would investigate the dive, and possibly ban Eduardo, causing the usually calm and collected Wenger to flip out and use words like Witch-hunt.

So, how are we all feeling about this? Should Eduardo be made an example of? Or is Wenger right and is this an emotional call made very badly?

First off, I think we can all agree, that diving, like handball or deliberately giving an opponent a kicking is A Bad Thing. Its seems like its definitely A Good Thing then, that UEFA is trying to clamp down and setting a precedent. Whoever was first was always going to feel like it was a bit unfair.

But hang on. A dive is not unlike another form of cheating that a ref might get wrong in a match. Usually the line on these things is that the ref’s call on it is final, and the FA’s and UEFA can’t go around contradicting referee’s after they’ve made a call. If its something the ref hasn’t seen, then they’ll act, but when the ref has made a bad call, they are usually defended.

Especially when the ref defends his call. Usually if ref admits he was wrong they might have a look, but no such thing has even happened here. At worst the ref has made an honest mistake, which is all part of the game.

So you can see, from that perspective, why Wenger is so unhappy. Diving is bad, we all know that, he knows that. And while he might be blathering on about the fact that Eduardo got touched, the fact is that he went down with the intention to win a penalty and cheated. But he’s far from the only one.

Its a tricky situation for UEFA, because it wouldn’t just set a precedent for diving, but would set one for all fouls across the pitch. Effectively UEFA would be telling us that any bad call a ref makes, they could just change, and still ban players for after the fact. This would basically render ref’s pointless. We know they make mistakes, but isn’t that part of the fun and games?

What was striking for me, is why Eduardo bothered to dive. At that point in the match, Arsenal gained very little advantage from that goal. At 0-0 Celtic needed 3 goals to win through, 3-2 on aggregate, whereas with the penalty, they needed, well 3 goals to go through on away goals. I can understand, if not condone, players cheating in a game their side really needs to win, but sometimes its just gratuitous.

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Theo

It's ridiculous to prevent a referee from ever refereeing at that level again because thing of all the decisions he has to make and all the games he refereed without incident. Let's face it even as someone who hates all of the big four i say arsenal were gonna win anyway so dont penalize the ref.
Robert

It was stupid and shows what a weak player he is. He deserves what ever he gets!
sscouser

@ Kelly: Firstly, "Arsenal were going to win that match, and that tie regardless. Those of you saying otherwise clearly did not see the matches or they would realize how much better Arsenal were"

Firstly, nobody is disputing that Arsenal were the better team. However, is it always the better team that wins? The better team may have 100 chances and fail to score but the other team may have only one chance and score. Am sure you have seen games where the better team hits the post 4 times but ends up losing the game. Do you remember the game between Barca and Chelsea @ the Bridge?

How do you know that Arsenal were going to win that day? Diaby wasn't under pressure today but scored an own goal. May be the same thing (+ a deflection goal) could have happened in the Celtic game.

@ Kelly: Secondly, "if a ref sees a dive in a match the player is given a yellow card, so how can Eduardo be punished and suspended 2 matches? It is not his fault the ref cant do his job right, but since he did dive he should just be awarded a yellow card after the match."

When a yellow card is given for diving during the match is a penalty also awarded? The answer is no. So why should the punishments be the same? Yes it wasn't E

My take is that players should help refs do their (ref's) jobs right. For example, when the ref awarded the penalty Eduardo should have told the ref that there was no contact and it would be up to the ref to go ahead and award the penalty or not. Ever heard of law-breakers who avoid jail by being government witnesses?
Ian

There are some ridiculous claims coming on both sides of this. No, a year suspension is beyond overkill. Let's talk about something reasonable that might happen - the equivalent of a red card suspension. It's just as ridiculous to say that the ref deserves punishment. There are some decisions that are so wrong that the ref is liable, but if you've seen the play, at full match speed, you know that it was a close call. There wasn't contact, and it was surely diving, but it was close and at full speed without video replay, any of us could have made that mistake. Let's stick to criticizing the refs when they deserve it - there's enough out there that do.
John

lol @ Zito, I like how you threw in a Magikarp reference and then compared a soccer ban to one of the great tragedies in judicial history.
Ben

I'm actually going to defend UEFA here. Let's forget the fact that Eduardo dove against Celtic in what was essentially a throwaway game. Say it happens in a CL quarterfinal. Dude takes a dive in the box, scores the penalty, and his team go through based on it. The team that was cheated just lost millions in TV and ticket revenue because he cheated. Diving is quite frankly embarrassing as a fan. The only thing worse is the fake injuries.

That being said, the 2 match ban (while appropriate as a scapegoating exercise) isn't the way to go. First off, you don't stop the game to check a camera. Everything needs to be done after the final whistle. Have a panel of referees review the game and assign and rescind cards after the fact. Say a winger goes down the line and takes a dive and gets the fullback a card. The review panel would rescind the defender's card and apply one to the winger. In terms of suspensions just apply them as though they were issued during the game. Add one caveat, a dive to win a penalty is a 1 match suspension. Hell, fine them wages for being suspended while you're at it. It may not work in the short term, but it would gradually diminish diving.
Kelly

Firstly, Arsenal were going to win that match, and that tie regardless. Those of you saying otherwise clearly did not see the matches or they would realize how much better Arsenal were.

Secondly, if a ref sees a dive in a match the player is given a yellow card, so how can Eduardo be punished and suspended 2 matches? It is not his fault the ref cant do his job right, but since he did dive he should just be awarded a yellow card after the match.
sscouser

Today's Man U penalty just proves how a single goal can be a game changer. Had Celtic scored first nobody knows what would have followed.
phantompong

Al, in cycling a first-time doping offense gets you a two-year holiday - or, should we say, the first time you're *caught* or confess (if you're like that) doping. To suggest that a dive should carry half that penalty is ludicrous.

The problem with diving is that it is, unlike many other ways of messing with the result, it isn't a black and white thing with regards to intention/motive (oh boy). If a player loses his balance in the area and is adjudged to have been fouled, it's easy for someone watching on TV to assume he dived, and then it becomes his word against TV evidence. You can say he could deliberately miss the subsequent penalty, but then look at what Walcott said about Arshavin last season: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:r_eO2371J9UJ:fourfourtwo.com/n...

It's really not that clear cut. We all agree that Eduardo dived, but undermining the referee's power (however crap the referee is) could be equally damaging in the long run. Where do we draw the line - can a panel revoke a penalty decision? A poor offside call? I'm not saying do nothing, mind you, but it's not that obvious what should be done.
Zito

lol Al can you recommend what drug that you are on? I need to escape reality after that comment.
Al

1) a 2 match ban is too short. He should be kept out of international competition for one year because we need to actually start getting serious about stopping diving
2) The official should be looking for other work and never be invited to work another top level match. There is too much dodginess, fixing, etc. at this level and the rulers of the roost must a) rid the sport of those officials who create the need for video then b) get video replay and use it sparingly
sscouser

@ Joel: "But, seriously would Celtic even have beaten Arsenal and qualified for the Champion’s League even if a penalty was not awarded?"

That Arsenal are superior is besides the point. What happens when Team A beats Team B 100-0 and it is later found out that Team A fielded a suspended player? Though Team A would still have won the game without the suspended player the other team gets awarded full points.

In boxing, when boxer A punches boxer B below the belt with seconds left, Boxer A still gets disqualified even though he won all the other rounds.

No one knows what the scoreline would have been had the penalty not been awarded considering that at Celtic the 1st goal was through a deflection and the second an own goal. Anything can happen in Football. Didn't Burnley beat Man Yoo 1-0?
Matthew

I think this is absurd. Everyone dives. Defenders, midfielders, forwards, and on rare occasions keepers. I dislike diving, but if it is to be handled in a fashion such as this, there will be no players left on the field. The number of dives that go uncalled, or called, is incredible and if all games are reviewed by FA or UEFA or whoever, and divers are suspended, nobody will be left on the field.
Joel

Before I start sorry to any Celtic fans or admirer I offend with this.

But, seriously would Celtic even have beaten Arsenal and qualified for the Champion's League even if a penalty was not awarded. Of course not. The skill and quality or Arsenal is miles ahead of Celtic. For that reason nothing should be awarded. It wasn't a close game in any respect and everybody knew Celtic was going to lose when the draw came out. Like Wenger says it is a witch hunt. If he gets banned this will open the door for any club to challenge a decision a referee makes.
Zito

I don't see why he's been crucified, Ronaldo's first profession is diving and the worst that he's gotten is a yellow card. Gerrard flails to the ground like Magikarp every time the wind picks up and all he gets is the occasional tap on the wrist. It was wrong we all know, but It's not like he dived and then murdered Buroc's son in the process. The Salem witch trials were more fair than this.