Telling A Player To Dive Is Not A Smart Idea, It Turns Out.

By: chris | August 26th, 2009

Whilst Australia is cracking down on diving, their Asian brethren Japan are reeling from a slightly stupid – or tremendously stupid, your choice – remark by Urawa Red Diamonds gaffer Volker Finke (who is not, in fact, Japanese) which derided a player for not going down in the box. This has, predictably, resulted in a massive backlash from the Japanese FA and people who dislike diving, notably most not named Cristiano Ronaldo.

The quote which sparked the controversy went a little something like this:

Inukai’s comments were in response to Finke’s criticism of striker Sergio Escudero for not going down under a challenge in the penalty box during Urawa’s 2-1 defeat to Hiroshima on Saturday.

Finke fumed: “That’s what I’m the most angry about — him getting fouled and not falling down. I’ll give him a fair play medal.”

The Japanese FA was not best pleased by these comments, and lashed out in kind:

“He’s not qualified to be a manager,” Japan Football Association (JFA) president Motoaki Inukai was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Japanese media.

“It’s unbelievable he said that. It’s hopeless. Is that how low we have sunk?”

Unfortunately he’s right, and I’m of the particular opinion diving is the greatest evil facing football today. That and London nightclubs.

Much like the end result of Dick Advocaat and his criticisms of the suits in the plush chairs, this will probably be a pretty good excuse to fire a guy for poor results. Urawa should be a title contender; they’re not. So Volker can expect that termination notice any day now, along with a sudden bout of amnesia which renders him unable to remember anything that happened in Japan.

Some will surely call for his head on a platter and his coaching license revoked for the comments on diving, but I’d be a bit more worried about his choice to say this aloud than keep it to himself. It’s one thing to think something of this nature, another entirely to say it. In the immortal words of Puppet Jose: just shut up, numpty.

Now while the comments are bad enough, there’s another curious parallel to this story. That name Sergio Escudero rings a bell, and it rings a bell with diving. So a quick google reveals…there are two Sergio Escudero’s: one who won’t dive, and one who, well, he’ll do absolutely anything.