The Gunners were flying high at the start of the 07/08 campaign. Unbeaten through December, the young team were emerging as true contenders for the title. Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas were turning in goals left and right, leaving Arsenal comfortably atop the table going into the winter break. The team’s early success was in no small part due to the promising play of young Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva.
It was on a fateful Saturday in February when Arsenal saw their hopes shattered along with Eduardo’s leg. A brash and ugly tackle from Martin Taylor saw Eduardo’s leg broken so savagely that Sky refused to show a replay of the tackle. Arsenal were sent reeling by the shear horror of the incident. They went on to lose a comfortable 2-0 lead and draw with a, later relegated, Birmingham City. On paper, the loss of Eduardo did not appear to be dire, but the incident proved to be the turning point of the season. Arsenal went on to draw three more on the trot, giving away valuable points to Villa, Wigan, and Borough. The Gunners were then beaten by Chelsea before they finally returned to winning ways against Bolton. But it was simply too late. In the end they were unable to regain their footing to mount a serous effort against Chelsea and Man U for the title. They finished the season third behind Chelsea and Manchester United.
It was a long hard road to recovery for the Croatian. Almost a year passed to the day before he would don the Arsenal colors for the first team again. Arsene gave him a run-out in the FA Cup and he impressed, but it was clear he had a way to go before returning to top flight play. The Gunner faithful would have to wait till the start of the 09/10 campaign before seeing Eduardo return to Premiership play. There was a buzz about him in the preseason and the rumors proved true as he scored the sixth goal in a route of Everton. Eduardo is back! Just over a week after his triumphant return, we have another tragedy befalling the young striker.
I want to affirm that I do not condone dive artistry. I have often commented that I would like to see a harsher punishment for diving and embellishing. However, to single out and retroactively punish a player in a situation for which there is no precedence is both prejudicial and wrong. As a proponent of the beautiful game and a fan of Arsenal I was highly disappointed to see Eduardo take the dive. If this is the incident that drives football to take a harder stance against simulation then so be it, but to even entertain the idea of imposing a two match ban against him is ridiculous. Over the years and in recent history the Champions League has seen its share of notoriously talented divers, some of them are considered legends of our time. Steven Gerrard is notorious for flopping in the box. Drogba is not above the odd devious dive and wonder kid Wayne Rooney has been known to look for the easy way out inside the eighteen. And lets not forget everyone favorite flailer CR9 himself, Cristiano Ronaldo, flipping and flopping his way across Europe. Where were the pitchforks and torches, where were the nooses for divers past? If a player is caught in the act of simulating during the course of the game, at worst he may be shown yellow. Now, with the Scottish FA breathing down their neck, it appears that UEFA is actually considering a two match ban for Eduardo. Are we talking about the same UEFA that has refuses to review harsh red cards and notoriously refuse to overturn referee rulings on the pitch? We are talking about a sport that does not use replay to determine offsides or whether or not the ball crossed the goal line.
Diving is undoubtedly a major problem facing the sport we love and nothing would please me more than to see it rooted out of the game. Sir Alex said this week that referees need help identifying divers and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. The Premiership has long since had a policy of reviewing and ruling on happenings on the field. This process is widely regarded as fair and rulings are typically respected whether in favor or against. Referees are human and as such are subject to human error. If UEFA would like to adopt a similar policy, very well. I believe that UEFA are essentially setting two new precedences in this case: 1) Harsher punishment for divers and 2) Post match rulings based on video evidence. Going forward, I have a problem with neither; simply let it be known to all of the cheats out there, that if you attempt to deceive the referee and are caught on video that you run the risk of a ban. My problem lies in the retroactive nature of the judgement. What type of organization is UEFA labeling itself with this type of action and what are we saying about the politics of the sport when rules can be so easily manipulated due to pressure from certain entities? If the proposed punishment sticks then I would argue that the Gerrards and Ronaldos of the world should receive retroactive bans for past transgressions as well. Sounds pretty ridiculous right? Lets stop the divers and cons making mockery of our sport, but lets do it the right way. In a fair and well thought out manner, not with a “witch hunt” that makes the sport’s governing bodies out to be weak, impressionable bullies.
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