Dirty Tactics in Football

Football is an evolving sport.The ‘beautiful game’ it once was has been succeeded by the modern day game.It doesn’t matter whether you look beautiful on the pitch.As long as you win matches,you are a respected team.A lot of teams presently live by the famous motto of modern day football :”It doesn’t matter how they (goals) come , as long as they come “

The desperate need for victories has fast caused the rise of dirty tactics being employed by teams on a fairly regular basis.It is not restricted to a particular team or a few teams.It is an unsaid understanding around the footballing universe that such tactics are are part of the game and are here to stay. It is therefore not surprising to learn of coaching staff frequently teaching their players some dirty tactics.

Following is a compilation of the dirty and most effective tactics used in the modern game :

1. The Shirt Pull

Shirt pulling, according to the rules of football is a bookable offence in any circumstance. These days however, the situation is much different. Dirty tactics most commonly take the form of shirt pulls. In fact ,it is so common, that players often continue to play on without appealing for a foul. Referees only book a player for shirt pulling if it is blatant and causes an attack to break down. Refs need to discourage it vehemently or risk seeing it even more as the game continues to grow and evolve.

2. Simulation (diving)

What do Christiano Ronaldo , Frank Ribery, Didier Drogba & Ahsley Young have in common?

You guessed it. Diving. Simulation or simply diving is a phenomenon which has caught on in the last decade or so in terms of world football. It usually comes in a package of an overtly theatrical fall and subsequent clenching of the legs and writhing in pain while hiding your face. The sheer authenticity of the faked dive tricks the referee into stopping play. How do footballers manage to dive so well and fool referees repeatedly? Well practice makes perfect right? Genuine football lovers always gets a feeling of satisfaction to see a player get booked for simulation, irrespective of loyalties towards their clubs.

3. The Professional Foul

Employed to break down the play or to stop another player from getting in on goal – a professional foul is committed by almost every team once in a while. The player committing the foul gets booked and in doing so apparently sacrifices himself, putting the interest of the team before his own. It is debatable whether this is a dirty tactic since it is useful and sometimes, the only option available to a team. It is, however, against the spirit of the game.

4. Stomp,Knee & Elbow

A lot of players at the highest level of the game look to injure their opposition while the referee isn’t looking, using their feet, knees or any other part of their anatomy. Don’t they (Pepe) know there are cameras all over the sidelines waiting to capture any and everything the players do? Moreover, it’s sad to see most of these acts go unpunished. The authorities need to take a stronger stance on this aspect of the game and perhaps have standard penalties for certain types of actions on pitch which go unnoticed by the referee.

There are other types of tactics like provoking a player using a personal remark or abuse which may be more subtle but probably worse for the spirit of the game.