FALLING STANDARDS
Dembele just as bad when it comes to diving... he just hasn’t been caught by our rotten refs
GIVEN the incendiary nature of the week just gone, Don Robertson, serving as one of the extra officials behind the goal at the Old Firm game, would not be human if he did not take a breath, let thought override instinct and err on the side of caution should it all go off in the penalty box today.
The question is: will Moussa Dembele be willing to do the same?
It was somewhat rich to hear those indignant cries of deceit and dishonesty from Celtic in the wake of Alex Schalk’s outrageous dive in Dingwall last Sunday, when the Ross County centre-forward has gained a reputation of his own for — how best to put it? — making the most of the slightest opportunity.
For the accusations of cheating expressed by Brendan Rodgers and his players over Schalk and an incident involving Jamie Walker of Hearts earlier this season, precious little has been said about Dembele, quite the craftsman when it comes to seeking spot-kicks from nothing or next to nothing.
Celtic, of course, can argue that he has not been booked for diving.
Bearing in mind the evidence, that probably says more about current standards of officiating in Scotland than anything else.
It is not the intention here to give Robertson, responsible for adjudging Erik Sviatchenko to have fouled Schalk at the end of County’s 2-2 draw with Celtic when the Dane was barely in the same postcode area, palpitations.
He is already facing an exacting afternoon having been alerted to the fact, most helpfully, by Rodgers that one wrong call will destroy his career and reminded by Ronny Deila and Celtic ambassador Tom Boyd that Josh Meekings’ handball was ignored when Inverness Caley Thistle beat the Parkhead side at this stage two years ago.
However, Robertson ought to know that Dembele has previous against Rangers.
Consider the League Cup semifinal. He spins round to move on to a Scott Sinclair chip, nips between Clint Hill and Rob Kiernan and appears to throw himself when the ball goes out of reach.
Don’t just take my word for it. BT Sport still have the clip on their website. ‘This is a dive,’ exclaims former Celtic striker John Hartson in the accompanying analysis. ‘No contact.’
In the goalless draw at Parkhead last time out, he was at the centre of controversy again. With Wes Foderingham having palmed out a shot, Dembele is chasing the ball towards the corner flag until James Tavernier appears on the scene and he goes down.
There was, at least, contact involving Tavernier’s right arm that time.
The degree of force involved? Picture a Buddhist monk transporting a ladybird from his bowl of tofu to a nearby lotus flower on the nail of his pinkie and you’re in the ball park.
If you can pull yourself away from the footage of Jason ‘Cum Dog’ Cummings’ eroto-grappling in the Hibs canteen, it is featured in a tidy highlights package on YouTube with the mildly pejorative title ‘Moussa Dembele diving again’.
The montage also contains a slow-motion replay of Dembele jumping inside the box at Dens Park last month and kicking his legs out — not unlike Morecambe and Wise skip-dancing off screen to Bring Me Sunshine — to whack the right knee of unsuspecting Dundee forward Henrik Ojamaa.
The legendary Willie Miller certainly accused him of diving in his radio commentary that day.
The YouTube ‘tribute’, of course, begins with replays of Dembele at Tynecastle in August, adopting the bodyshape of a freefalling parachutist after goalkeeper Jack Hamilton had attempted to smother the ball at his feet.
Watch and make your own mind up. That was the match in which Walker won Hearts a penalty, later receiving a ban after Celtic captain Scott Brown had branded him a cheat who should have been diving in the Olympics.
All this is not being dredged up to be critical of Dembele. Far from it. It is a striker’s prerogative to use everything to his advantage.
He will encounter centre-halves pulling the shirt off his back at set-pieces most weeks. That’s cheating, too. Is getting his own back by going down easily any worse?
Rather, this is more about the moral high ground being a dangerous place to inhabit in football.
Schalk, for example, should not have felt forced into an embarrassing piece of self-flagellation passing for an apology in midweek.
He got County a point that might save their skins. They should be thanking him rather than hanging him out to dry. They may need him again before the campaign is out.
And what happens today if it is goalless with ten minutes to go at Robertson’s end of the park and Dembele overruns the ball in the area, only to see a Rangers defender hang out a leg?
It seems clear. Robertson will pray the ground opens up and swallows him. Dembele will divebomb like a seagull spotting a discarded poke of chips. And we will have a build-up to the Old Firm league game at Ibrox almost radioactive in its toxicity.
Would we have the Celtic dressing room rising as one afterwards to brand Dembele’s conduct a stain on the Hoops and order a grovelling apology to Pedro Caixinha? Sporting integrity surely demands no less.