WORLD STAGE
Over-actors, sooks, wimps, jokers not welcome in elite sport
IF I didn’t know any better, I’d say Matthew Mitcham is earning big bucks working in Russia right now.
In 2008 Mitcham became the first Australian male to win an Olympic Gold medal in diving since Dick Eve in 1924.
I’m not sure that titbit is important for this column, but I’m a fan of the name Dick Eve, and everyone should know some Olympic trivia.
Anyway, back to diving in Russia.
Mitcham seems to have passed on his skills to more than one country.
It’s an epidemic of World Cup proportions.
The biggest sporting event we witness every four years brings out some of the biggest over-actors, sooks, wimps, and jokers to ever play at the elite level.
A French bloke called Lucas Hernandez was taking tumbles if his Australian opponent Mathew Leckie came within one metre of him.
Aussie fans in the crowd showed their disgust, back here we screamed at our TV screens.
But as for Hernandez, he said: “That’s part of the show, part of the game. It’s true that sometimes I exaggerate a bit, but it’s part of my character”. Character? He’s not in a movie! He’s not doing his best James Bond impersonation.
He was unnecessarily shaking, and we have been mightily stirred.
It’s a bad look in any sport when someone takes a dive or exaggerates contact.
We see it in AFL, but our umpires, and our fans, are less forgiving of the actors.
Damien Hardwick has asked everyone to get off Alex Rance’s back.
The All-Australian defender has come under scrutiny for making sure the umpire knows when contact is made.
Same with Lance Franklin too. Those two do push the boundaries, and our patience for acting, but the only person it looks bad for is the one exaggerating.
I reckon Australians have a really high bulldust detector for this stuff. Most of us are born with it.
If Tim Cahill grabbed his shin in agony and writhed on the pitch in every game he played we wouldn’t rate him at all.
He’d be laughed at. He’d be called out and his game style would change.
It’s really frustrating that the best of the best in soccer seem to think that’s its part of the game.
Conning the umpire or the referee shouldn’t be part of any game.
As Leckie said after the loss to France, “That’s the type of controversy that upsets people about football.” He’s right. It’s cheating, it’s embarrassing and it’s currently on full display in Russia.