It’s time Scottish football stood up to the curse of the diver
Stamping out simulation is an unenviable but necessary challenge that faces the game
AMID all the anger and criticism directed towards referee Don Robertson on social media and the airwaves after his unfathomable late call in Dingwall, it was easy to lose sight of a simple truth. The true villain of the piece was Alex Schalk.
In theatrically throwing himself to the turf inside the penalty box of the Global Energy Stadium, the Dutchman evoked a level of ham acting normally reserved for Hollywood B-movies.
Two things distinguished his reprehensible deed from other acts of simulation that routinely pockmark the game.
First was the absence of any semblance of contact. Erik Sviatchenko, who was adjudged to have fouled the Ross County substitute, was so distant that he could not have touched his opponent even if he wanted to.
Secondly, the dive itself was about as convincing as a £5 Rolex in a bazaar. Yet both Robertson and his assistant Stuart Stevenson bought it.
Even before Liam Boyce had converted the resultant penalty kick to give his side a share of the spoils, County boss Jim McIntyre turned to Brendan Rodgers to concede it should not have been awarded.
The Celtic manager described the decision as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘incredible’, while labelling Schalk’s involvement as ‘cheating’.
Later that night, the former St Mirren striker turned TV pundit Steven Thompson described the flashpoint as ‘the worst dive I’ve ever seen in all my years watching football’. Truthfully, few could recall any that came close to matching it.
A retrospective charge for Schalk from the SFA for simulation seems about as inevitable as day following night, as does the 24-year-old accepting the offer of a two-game suspension. Rest assured, though, that privately County will view this as a small price to pay for a point that inches them closer to safety.
Celtic may have left Dingwall having extended their unbeaten run in domestic matches to 40 games but, for Rodgers, his players and their supporters, there was just no diluting the bitter taste of denied victory in such circumstances.
Kieran Tierney, who had opened the scoring, drew parallels between Schalk’s dive and that of Hearts’ Jamie Walker on the first day of the season against Celtic.
Certainly, the accumulation of such incidents lends the impression that simulation is not only as rife as ever but that the introduction of retrospective punishment by the SFA in 2008 has been futile.
Gordon Smith came up with the rule change which allowed offenders to be cited after the event when he was chief executive of the governing body.
And he admits that diving remains a scourge of the game across the globe.
However, while the Schalk incident shows that players in desperate situations will always be prepared to gamble in order to win an advantage, Smith is adamant that the threat to belatedly bring them to justice has gone some way to cleaning up the Scottish game.
‘We were the first country to bring this in because I felt it was required,’ he said. ‘It was happening all the time.
‘It’s essentially to protect the referee. He’s the person who has been conned and fooled.
‘It was also for the sake of all the young players watching these games. We don’t want players believing this is the done thing — that you should try to gain an advantage.
‘I think it has worked in the respect that there was more simulation happening previously. For me, there are less cases now.
‘I feel it has had a positive effect. Maybe some players out there don’t realise what can happen to them but most know the lie of the land. ‘There is still cheating going on. We still see it. But I think it has worked to a large extent.’
While an empirical comparison of the levels of diving before and after the introduction
of Smith’s brainchild is impossible, there’s no question that the elongated nature of the current system makes incidents linger for longer in the minds of the paying public.
If it seems that — like cold pies, late postponements and timewasting — diving will always be an unfortunate part of the game, there is no good reason to not at least try to eradicate it.
Smith, for one, feels that, while the system he championed was a sure step in the right direction, more can be done to stamp out acts of brazen cheating.
‘The other thing I wanted to do was to extend it,’ he revealed.
‘So if a player who’d been punished once with a two-game ban was cited again, the penalty would increase.
‘If he was found guilty on more than one occasion, the ban would increase to the extent that his reputation would be totally damaged because, for want of a better word, he would be known as a simulator.
‘I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with a player getting a reputation as a cheat if it’s merited. He might then change his behaviour.
‘The proposal had to go to a committee, so I didn’t have the final say on it. It was decided to stick with a straight two-game ban.’
Would Schalk have thrown himself to the deck had the penalty for blatant simulation been an immediate red card? There are those who feel that is now the only deterrent that will work.
‘I still think a yellow card suffices as the heaviest punishment in a case where the referee sees the incident at the time,’ Smith (left) countered.
‘I know some people will say a red card would stamp it out but I feel that’s going too far. A two-game ban handed out retrospectively is still pretty severe.’
That may be true. But Schalk’s prospective ban does not give Celtic back the two points that were taken from them.
There is still cheating going on. We still see it