Down In Instalments: World Cup Double-Standards

From the first moments, when Henry went down in agony, to the last penalty, scored by the superb Grosso, it was a gripping World Cup Final. It wasn’t a great game, but, as they say, it had the lot.

Zidane’s extraordinary assault on Materazzi will be the stand-out image of this World Cup Final. No doubt, every four years, we’ll see endless replays of the moment of impact. I’ve only managed to find one photograph of that actual moment, though.


I have to say I was very glad when Materazzi cancelled out Zidane’s penalty. It would have been galling (forgive the pun) for France to have won their third game in the knock-out stages as a direct result of free-kicks or penalties won through playacting (the games against Spain and Portugal being the others). Malouda’s fall in the box is described as “theatrical” by the BBC whereas my commentator suggested it was "Stanislovski-ist". While the world goes crazy in its scapegoating of Cristiano Ronaldo for diving, the fact that everyone else is doing it too (much more effectively) seems to have passed everyone by.

The 3rd place playoff coverage was characterised by slow motion replays of Ronaldo every time he went down. It was no surprise to see that he was diving. Of course he was. There’s been much less fuss made about Henry’s playacting (although he was much better in the Final: perhaps that collision with Cannavaro early doors concussed him into thinking he was playing for Arsenal again). There’s been no fuss made about Klose, who got Lucic sent off in the second round due to a glorious swan-dive. There was very little fuss made about Pauleta, Ronaldo’s team-mate, who went down more in hope than expectation in the semi-final looking for a penalty. Del Piero played dead in the last moments of extra time in the Final and no one’s talking about that.

The worst diver in the final? Zidane. He went down three times when he wasn’t touched in the first half. Twice the ref waved play on (without brandishing a yellow card). The third time Zidane was given a free kick. There was only one replay which showed that Zidane clearly dived, but it wasn’t repeated four times as Ronaldo’s dives had been against Germany, nor was it slowed down so that every movement of muscle in his face could be seen contorting in agony.

"Get Ronaldo" has become a witch-hunt that everyone’s joining: fans from England, France and Germany have wolf-whistled his every touch since the quarter final; vandals have smashed windows of his Manchester home; even the German director of the TV coverage has ensured there has been intense close-up scrutiny of every connection made between Ronaldo’s backside and the turf. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it. He’s a cheat. I’m just saying that he’s by no means the worst offender, and that if he deserves it, so do all the others.

His other offence, “getting Rooney sent off”, was replicated in the final by Buffon running over to the linesman when Zidane assaulted Materazzi. Buffon accompanied his protest with comical “you need glasses, mate” gestures. Lippi, the Italian coach, joined in by making equally comical (and anachronistic) gestures: Lippi was suggesting the officials look at a replay by miming the use of a camera from what looked like the silent movie era. Is there any difference between what they did and what Ronaldo did? Should Buffon’s house be vandalised by angry Frenchmen? Should Lippi be taken out of the running for the Coach of the Tournament award (if it existed) as Ronaldo was denied his chance of winning the Young Player of the Tournament award?

In the second half, of course, the French should have been given a penalty when Malouda went down (again) under the challenge of Zambrotta. The ref didn’t give it. This is the crux of the problem. There’s no way that refs can make the right decision every time if players are falling over at nothing most of the time. At the start of the tournament, FIFA were banging on about how they would cut out diving by ensuring that the refs gave yellow cards for it and that the players would be fined each time they were given a card. There were only two cautions for diving in the whole tournament: Robben and Adriano. The refs seemed scared to give cards for it. Ronaldo should have been booked lots of times. Zidane, as I say, should have been sent off for two dives in the first half of the final.

So, how has this happened? How has it come to pass that Ronaldo has become the face on the dart board of every fan, journalist and pundit at these Finals? Is it because he did it against England? No, I don't think so. As I've said, FIFA has criticised him and the German TV coverage was out to get him too. The whole world hates him, not just the English.

Is it because he was the worst offender? It depends what criteria you use, I suppose. He was only involved in one sending off - that of Rooney - and he didn't take a dive for that. His dives didn't result in goals scored, unlike the dives of certain French geniuses.

Did he dive more than anyone else or did we just see more replays of him diving than anyone else? Has Ronaldo been a victim of lazy, jump-on-the-bandwagon journalism which has gone out of control? Yes, to an extent, but that isn't the real reason.

The real reason why Ronaldo has become the pariah is that the World Cup needs a villain, just as much as it needs heroes. The carnivalesque nature of football demands it. Ronaldo started off by playing Iago, pretending to be Rooney’s friend while exposing his weakness, casting sly winks as he did it. Unfortunately for him, he’s ended up playing Malvolio, forced to leave his home as a scapegoat, stripped of his position, treated as a pariah.



Is Ronaldo begging for forgiveness here?