Of all the complaints the "ignorant ones" (aka people that haven't fallen for the beautiful game yet) have about soccer, the unpleasant prominence of flopping is probably the most understandable. Nobody (except maybe diehard members of the Oranje fan base) feel good when the Barishnikov of flopping (Arjen Robben of course) reacts to a slight nudge as if he's been struck by a cannonball. And, of course, the extended writhing on the pitch as if a limb will require amputation, followed shortly thereafter by sprinting at full speed, doesn't help matters.
And with the eyes of the world upon it, there were plenty of controversial calls during this World Cup - with meaningful impact. Our friend Robben’s flail in the penalty box, which led to the final penalty kick against Mexico as a prime example. Unfortunately, crime does pay in some of these cases.
But, it wasn't always this way. Just like your tough old grandfather who used to walk uphill both ways to school, there was a time when "men were men" on the pitch, referees had a liberal definition of "advantage," and "play on" was a constant refrain. Looking at the footage below, referees seemingly believed in the code of "no fracture, no foul" and unless the ball was kicked out of bounds, the game kept going on. As you can see, around the 5-second mark, Real Madrid legend Pedro de Felipe violently tackles a Barcelona striker. Surely in today's environment this would have resulted in a several minute delay to administer to the striker's "wounds." Yet back then, play goes on and the announcer simply remarks in Spanish, “As is the norm now, the game will not be interrupted.” If you watch on, you'll see that - quite understandably after a brutal tackle - the striker stays down as play goes on before finally being helped off by his teammates for treatment. There are no histrionics towards the ref, and the stoppage of play was surely kept to a minimum.
Now, we're not looking for the truly injured to go untreated, but we at The18 would certainly appreciate a somewhat hardier approach on the pitch so that we can cross off another talking point for the "confused minority" (aka soccer haters) by the time 2018 comes around.
Check out the video below:
