Professional fouls and fake injuries continue to rob football of its charm

Perhaps, a bit of the gentleman's spirit that still persists in cricket is what football needs. (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

A total of 11 yellow cards were shown during the match between Switzerland and Serbia in a Pool G game of the ongoing FIFA World Cup. Sure, it was a winner-take-all game, with the Sebians needing a win to advance to the knockout phase. In the event, the Swiss took the honours with a hard -ought 3-2 game which increasingly became more and more ragged as players pushed and shoved each other even as the referee’s whistle was a constant irritant.

It summed up what’s the most pernicious part of modern football: the constant interruptions which disturb the normal rhythm of the game all the while turning the referee (now backed by VAR) into a major protagonist.

A video doing the rounds on social media, shows a football player writhing in pain on the ground, apparently felled by an opposing defender. Seconds later one of his colleagues scores and in the next instant the fallen player, who until then couldn't even raise his head, is now up on his feet racing to celebrate the goal with his colleagues.

Funny as it seems, it encapsulates one of the ugliest aspects of modern football. Faking injuries has become such an integral part of the professional game that top coaches now encourage their players to work on getting a foul in their favour.

Best results are achieved by going down at a feather touch inside the penalty box. With over 75 percent of penalty shots in normal time resulting in goals, many attackers aim just to achieve that by getting into contact with a defender. Not surprisingly, in all the world’s top-tier football leagues, penalties are on the rise since referees are now likely to punish the slightest of touches in the box by awarding one. For added bonus, a successful appeal against a defender can also lead to a red card for the latter.

The genesis of the faked injury lies in the professional foul, a time-honored practice of stopping a marauding forward at any cost, often in subtle ways which don't catch the referee's eye. In the event, the player who's been brought down unfairly has no option but to stay down in the hope that it will draw attention to the foul.

The foul isn’t a piece of petulance or anger. Rather it is a tactic to take out the most dangerous player in the opposing line-up. Thus, in its game against Serbia, Brazil's star forward Neymar was the target of 9 of the 12 fouls against Brazil clearly indicating how he was targeted. And not for the first time. The 30-year-old who plays for French club Paris Saint-Germain, came into the tournament as the player who has been at the receiving end of the most fouls throughout the season in the five major European leagues. The problem is that Neymar along with stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez have built a reputation for going down dramatically to grab a free kick or a penalty. The exaggerated Neymar fall at the World Cup in Russia in 2018 became a social media hit with hilarious videos of players aping his writhing.

The combination of such fouls and fake injuries robs the game of the natural flow that makes it so fascinating. For spectators it is frustrating both because it spoils the rhythm of play and can end up taking out a brilliant player, often from subsequent games as well. Thus, Neymar's injury in the first game against Serbia kept him out of the remaining pool games.

The problem is both these elements have been normalised and accepted as part and parcel of the game. Its ripple effect can be seen on playfields in schools, colleges and maidans where younger kids, at a nascent stage of their careers, think nothing of hacking down, elbowing and pushing opponents. On the flip side, there are those taking a dive at the slightest provocation, ending up rolling on grass in theatrical imitation of their heroes.

Is there anything FIFA can do to curb this menace? One option might be to force players who take a tumble during a match to compulsorily spend 5 minutes off the field while continuing with the game. The prospect of seeing their team play with just 10 men in that duration, might force players to reconsider faking injuries. In addition, with the increasing use of technology, it shouldn't be difficult to detect habitual fakers and impose a 4-5 game ban on them.

Perhaps, a bit of the gentleman's spirit that still persists in cricket is what football needs.