Diving – The consequence of the Modern Day approach to running a Football Club

In recent seasons, the football world has seen many occurrences of simulation or diving by many players. The pace of the game has increased significantly over the years and so many of the world best players along with other flair players try to use this to their advantage in trying to fool the referees with their silly act and unprofessionalism.

In recent seasons, the football world has seen many occurrences of simulation or diving by many players. The pace of the game has increased significantly over the years and so many of the world best players along with other flair players try to use this to their advantage in trying to fool the referees with their silly act and unprofessionalism.

The officials are there to uphold the laws and rules of the game as well as to protect the players but it’s getting more difficult in modern football for them. In the past, diving existed but not with such great reoccurrence and so there is a lot to ponder as to what has caused this disease to be such an integral part of the beautiful game.

In the last decade there has been more money spent by football clubs to develop their facilities and more and more clubs are trying to build an organization focusing on the development of young talents. Clubs such as Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have a strong tradition of nurturing young talents in the hope that they will make it to the first team and perform at a very high level. Due to the success of this approach, there are other clubs adapting this style in an effort to promote stability and future success.

However, this may be having a negative effect on the youngsters as these clubs provide so much to ensure they are well taken care of. These youngsters are dropped off at school, picked up and taken to training by transportation provided by the clubs. There are even youngsters that are paid extravagantly which may cause them to lose focus and there may be youngsters that are unable to keep their feet on the ground. This is a huge contrast for young players 20 to 30 years ago. They had to take public transportation to get to their destinations while some of them had to work part-time get money in their pockets.

Gary Neville and David Beckham gave examples of how they would have to clean the bathroom of the first team players when they were in the academy at Manchester United. They also said that they had to clean the cleats of the players in the first team to get paid. This was a hard experience for them and it made them even more determined to become successful in their pursuit to become professional footballers and first team players at Old Trafford. They even had to take the bus to get to school and training which gave them the ‘street knowledge’ to be tough individuals and knowing how to look after themselves.

The difference in the upbringing of these sets of players compared to the football world today surely highlights an area which former players and analysts refer to as being the major difference in their attitude. Players in today’s world are criticised for not having any spirit, desire and only focused on how much they will earn. Money is very much a major factor in modern football and agents are now trying to get the best deals for their clients which make it even difficult on football clubs to keep hold of their players.

One player who was never tempted to exchange clubs no matter where the offer came from or how much he would earn was Paul Scholes of Manchester United. The ‘Ginger-Bread Maestro’ was courted by many of the world’s biggest clubs over the years but he never considered an exit from Old Trafford. When asked about young players in modern football, Scholes gave his honest opinion.

He was quoted in the Daily Mail saying: ‘Kids are different nowadays, don’t you think? Kids, particularly at big clubs, are mollycoddled. I was talking to Nicky [Butt] because we had the Under-19s this week in Leverkusen: there is nothing streetwise about them. They are almost trying to be manufactured into players whereas when we were growing up, we had to look after ourselves.’

He continued: ‘We had to get three buses in the morning to get to Carrington [training ground], now they are dropped off, they are picked up in a minibus at the training ground, taken to school. They don’t really have the tough part of life of trying to look after yourself. And sometimes it does show. Sometimes they are a little bit quiet when they play, or not as tough or streetwise that you need to be on the football field. I am not saying the players are weak. It is not the players’ fault, it is just the way the world has gone. We had advantages without knowing it.’

Can this treatment of young players in the modern game be the reason they take the easy way out in fooling the referee with their simulation? There are many suggestions that this is one contributing factor. The lack of toughness, being overly aggressive and also lacking street knowledge of taking care of themselves can be something modern day players truly lack. This may lead to them demanding more protection from the officials, not having the courage to take a whack on the legs or other parts of their body then just get up and carrying on playing.

Sir Alex Ferguson also gave his take on the softness of this new generation of players. He said: ‘It’s a different player character we’ve got today than in the past. These players are more fragile than players 25 years ago. They are maybe more cocooned today by the agents or the press they receive at times. They’re less likely to hold their hands up and say they’re at fault for things. If you go back 30 years ago you had a player with a certain pride, a responsibility for their own performance. They were less protected so they could come in and say ‘hands up, my fault’ and that was good. But today they are very protected, more fragile than ever, and that’s a lot to do with the type of people who guide them – like agents, or even to a degree the press, who protect the stars – whereas years ago they didn’t have that protection.’

The way the game is played, the way clubs are managed and the money involved have changed massively in world football today than in the past. The attitude, character and the desires of players have also changed which may due to the way they were groomed as well as their environment. Sir Alex as well as Scholes referred to the softness of modern day footballers due to the way they are treated but this may not be the only reason players are going to ground easily. Simulation is something that world governing body FIFA needs to address in an effort to minimize the occurrence as much as possible. However, the way players are groomed in modern day football may be a huge contributing factor. It is very important for football players to be comfortable but this should not interfere with their toughness because when all is said and done, football is a contact sport.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Yashiema Love

Senior Contributor

GIVEMESPORT Writing Academy

Cell: 862-9107

Emai: yashiemalove15@yahoo.com