Last Friday night when Matthew Breeze pointed to the penalty spot after Cristiano’s blatant dive, you could almost hear the sound of thousands of football fans around the country sigh in disbelief and frustration. Well, maybe not the Adelaide fans as they celebrated taking the lead against their arch enemy. And probably not the Victory fans, who probably were either screaming abuse at their televisions or the referee for the those attending the referee. But for a league, and a sport, fighting for some sort of parity in the footballing landscape, its a frustrating issue.

I was watching the game on Foxtel, and both Robbie Slater and Simon Hill were both quick to lambaste Cristiano for his actions and rightly so. Although I found Hill’s comments about diving being a South American thing, a bit odd. Doesn’t he remember a certain Round of 16 match between Australia and Italy? But for the good of the game here in Australia, its something needs to be stamped out.

Many pundits, Slater included, have been calling for the FFA judiciary to take a look at the incident, with the possibility of Cristiano receiving a ban for his actions. Whilst there is no precedent for a suspension for such an action, earlier in the season they did give a one match ban to Adam D’Appuzzo for handling a goal bound ball in the clash between Melbourne and Newcastle. I am not sure where I stand on this issue, I hold an extreme disdain for those who dive, especially one so blatant, but I am not sure if it is the domain of the judiciary.

But surely, our referees are smart enough to pick up something so obvious. Its not like its the first time that Cristiano has gone down a little too easily, whether it be inside or outside the area. I am sure Mr Breeze and his fellow referees do have access to videos of previous matches. One good thing, depending on your viewpoint is that with so much attention being given to the incident, I am sure all referees will be thinking twice about awarding a free kick when Cristiano is involved.

And that’s the one thing that I don’t understand, is why Cristiano feels it necessary to constantly resort to these tactics. He has been one of the recruits of the season and with five goals is one of the leading marksmen in the league. In the press on Sunday, Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar in the Herald Sun said he could also find reasons, if not excuses, for Cristiano’s act, stemming from a tough upbringing.

“Look, Cristiano’s a fighter, there’s no question about that. The day he was born he was fighting and that’s his upbringing.I’m not going to condemn him for what he did, no. But, certainly, it’s not in the spirit of the game and FIFA has also changed those rules. And certainly it’s not the style or game that Australians are known for, anyway. As I said, I’m not going to condemn him for it, but I certainly will speak to him to see if he can improve in those areas.”

I don’t quite follow that excuse, surely a fighter wouldn’t get very far feigning injury. Vidmar’s avoidance of the issue after the game on Friday was much smarter as both Hill and Slater probed him on the issue. And as Simon Hill did point out there is some cultural reference to this issue. In Chris Taylor’s book about football in South America, The Beautiful Game, Mauricio Taricco, an Argentinian who played for Ipswich Town, talked about the very same issue. He stated:

“The mentality of the people here (in England) is different. Here they don’t accept that (gamesmanship). I understand that. While I’m here I accept it, but I can’t completely agree with it. If I have the chance to dive or to put it in with my hand withouth anyone seeing, well, fine, no one saw.” (author’s notes in brackets)

And that mentality is the same here in Australia. For Cristiano, he needs to understand the cultural differences of playing football here in Australia and that diving and to a certain extent gamesmanship is frowned upon by fans and officialdom alike. Vidmar, should be suggesting to him that he is good enough to excel in this league, and in my opinion he is, without having to result to blatant cheating. He will get a lot more fans onside with his footballing skills and not a figure of derision.

Neil Zimmerman is the editor of the84thminute and also runs the Victory In Melbourne site. Another place where you can find him is on the au.fourfourtwo.com, where he blogs about the Melbourne Victory. On most weekends Neil can be found at a football match, be it either A-League, Victorian Premier League or a match that he happens to come across whilst walking his dogs. Neil is also growing a moustache for Movember, so check out his mospace page and donate some money to a good cause.

Photo credits: f1power on Flickr via the84thminute photo pool.