King The Villain and Ronaldo The Victim
Every team has at least one player who dives, or at least goes to ground too easily. They’re the player who has you cringing when the slow motion replay comes up on the screen and you see that whilst your man is on the ground, writhing in pain, that actually no contact was made.
Until we have video refereeing, diving is going to continue to be rife in our game, because the stakes are so high. A dive in the box means you might win your team a penalty, a goal that could claim three points, whilst if you get rumbled, the chance of getting in the book is fairly slim anyway. Even if you do receive a yellow card, it’s worth the risk of winning the points for your club.
Cristiano Ronaldo is held up as the biggest offender in this country, which is a point of view I’d have to disagree with. Every time Ronaldo wins a freekick the opposition is livid, their fans jeering, their players surrounding the referee and throwing their arms in the air in disgust. Let’s be honest, it stands to reason that arguably one of the fastest players in the league, with the quickest feet, is going to need to be fouled if he is to be stopped from time to time. For our opposition to claim innocence every time, to fake their outrage at every freekick, is ridiculous, and also goes entirely unpunished by the referee. Since Ronaldo got booked for ‘dissent’ after wagging his finger at the referee at Chelsea, I can’t recall seeing a player at Old Trafford shown a yellow card for dissent, despite their constant berating of the referee for awarding a freekick for a foul on Ronaldo.
In United’s League Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur, I can only imagine the jeering Londoners, shouting at their TV screens what a cheat Ronaldo was, as referee Chris Foy showed him a yellow card for diving. It will have only been when the slow motion replays were shown that they quietened down and realised how lucky they were for not conceding a penalty with ten minutes to go.
I’m more than aware that Ronaldo has won freekicks when he wasn’t entitled to and there has been the odd penalty, but on a weekly basis he is also not awarded freekicks when he is kicked off the ball. Without even having to dig too deeply in to the archives, there are a couple of incidents from the last couple of months where penalties should have been given, but they weren’t.
February 11th 2009
Sky Sports: Ronaldo looks to be brought down inside the box but no penalty is given. Looking at the replay, he was clearly tripped by Neill, a poor decision by Mr Dowd.
December 29th 2008
MEN: On a night when there was so much talk of burying the hatchet, all that mattered to United was the shot that Dimitar Berbatov buried into the back of the net. And that’s saying something considering Emanuel Pogatetz seemed more interested in burying his fist in Cristiano Ronaldo’s throat.
The Portuguese international was infuriated by a roughhouse challenge from Pogatetz following a corner late on in the first half. The Middlesbrough man has previous — having inflicted a deep gash on the shin of Rodrigo Possebon in United’s Carling Cup victory at Old Trafford in September. Ronaldo though was more concerned about being decapitated than a mere cut to his leg.
Video
The point I’m making isn’t ‘poor Ronaldo’, or to focus on how United are mistreated, rather trying to balance the argument a bit. Ronaldo gets fouled and strangled in the area, yet nothing is done about it. The referee waves play on and the opposition players tell him to get up. Does that make him any less of a cheat for diving when contact isn’t made? Course not, but it makes it more understandable. Yet the moment Ronaldo goes out to even the score, try and win a penalty or freekick to make up for the one he just wasn’t given, he’s torn to shreds.
The most shocking thing about the events of Sunday wasn’t United not being awarded a penalty though, or even worse, Ronaldo being booked for being fouled in the area, rather the reaction by Ledley King. He knew he had fouled Ronaldo, intentionally or otherwise, yet when Foy held up the yellow card, King applauded the decision. He has some bloody nerve and if had been Ronaldo behaving in the same way he would have been strung up for it. For such a well-respected player to behave in such a way is dreadfully disappointing and for all the swearing Spurs fans will have sent in Ronaldo’s direction yesterday, it was the behaviour of their captain that was despicable. King didn’t have his photograph in the any of the papers with “CHEAT” branded on it as Ronaldo has in the past though, unsurprisingly.
No-one will feel too bad for Ronaldo and will instead remember all the times he’s won decisions he shouldn’t have. After all, Ronaldo is a victim of his own behaviour, as much as the boots and hands of our opposition, and for as long as he is in the media spotlight and for as long as he falls over too easily, he will continue to be criticised, and people will continue to forget all the times he has been robbed of decisions.
Topics: Carling Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United, Tottenham
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Agree with most of what you say Scott. As I said in my match report on the Carling Cup final it was a case of ‘the boy who cried wolf’.
If Ronaldo conducted himself with a bit more dignity and a lot less arrogance he might get more respect and not be such a target.
It’s not hard to see why opposing fans, and even most of the media, dislike him.
March 3rd, 2009 @ 11:13Why does it matter how a player carries himself? What I mean is regardless if you or the referee thinks a player is arrogant, that referee needs to be professional enough to put that prejudice aside.
A foul is a foul weather or not the person being fouled is Ronaldo or some reservist getting his first run-out.
March 3rd, 2009 @ 19:10I agree completely with this. However, I do disagree with Condell’s comment about arrogance and not being a target. The respect issue should not be an issue when it comes to making calls as a referee. You’re not paid to make judgments on personality, and if this clouds one’s judgment of a foul or hard challeng then you shouldn’t be refereeing. I’m with reism on this one. Cheers mates.
March 3rd, 2009 @ 20:25So give United the penalty – but they should have already been down to 10 men much earlier than that.
March 3rd, 2009 @ 20:35However – Ten minutes before that was when JoS made what should have been a second yellow card.
I can only speak from my own personal perspective, but if on 65-70 mins I was given a choice between have JoS sent off, only to be given a penalty ten minutes from time, I’d have picked a pen and JoS off.
I imagine most Spurs fans would pick keep JoS on the pitch and United not go 1-0 up. It’s not like it was bloody Scholes or Ronaldo we’d be without.
March 3rd, 2009 @ 21:18I totally agree, How can anyone see that challenge by King and not say it was a foul. People are jealous of Ronaldo, thats why they can’t take it if he gets a decision, the refs miss so much hacking from all the other players and people saying “Get on with it” should get kicked for 1 and a half hours every week and see how they hold up, also the boy runs so fast that the slightest of touches can send him off-balance. What I want to see is the referees looking at the crappy decisions they make for AND against Ronaldo and if they were counted the thick skin heads of this country would maybe finally see how wrong they are about the best player in the world.
March 4th, 2009 @ 00:12united fans!!!, even with everything they are currently winning they are nagging over Ronaldo’s antics/tricks. i quite understand your point, scot. The ledley king tackle was a foul, one out of the many that referees will have given or not given b/cos of their inconsistency sometimes. However in this particular instance Ronaldo was beaten @ his own game. the video clip is a prove that ronaldo gets tackled roughly atimes, i get that but there are so many video clips too that proves that ronald dives even when he is not tackled. the truth is ronaldo is a diver, in arguably the same fashion with the stephen geralds, drogbas and even the henrys, if not even more.If there was to be an opinion poll for people to vote for the most diving player in epl/the world Ronaldo will make the top 2 @ worst or even win the award as he has won almost all awards recently (fair play to him). But u see,Scot,Atimes when you have a reputation for doing something in order to get undue advantage over others, u are not taken seriously, even when u have got a legitimate case, that is where Ronaldo finds himself in trouble sometimes. Secondly Ronaldo is arrogant and i don’t expect any man u fan to accept this, probably the word “arrogant” is not it, perharps he has confidence in his ability but in all honesty how many people know where to draw the line between self confidence and arrogance. these are the factors that are responsible for the way he gets treated by referees sometimes and by the players/fans of opposing teams.
March 4th, 2009 @ 05:01Can’t you just accept that referees are human and they cannot get every single call correct, just because Ronaldo is a threat to any team he faces means he gets that much more attention so ofcourse any ‘foul’ or ‘dive’ made on him or by him will be noticed much more than players that do not come with such a danger tag as him, really all I can say in respose is stop the bitching as its petty and if it was against players from rival teams you would’nt give a rats ass. Seriously this is little kids stuff.
March 4th, 2009 @ 08:23Kyle
March 4th, 2009 @ 16:40Good points and yes, despite being a United fan, I do realise that Ronaldo dives. But tbh if I was him, I honestly think I’d be the same. Those tackles in the video clip are nothing more than the tip of the iceberg. Watch any United game and you will see him get tackled like that around 10 times. I don’t know how much football you play but I’ve gotten that done to me on a few occasions and I’ve been absolutely livid after them. If I got tackled as much as him eventually I would just think, wait a minute, I don’t want a broken leg! So when he sees somebody coming towards him he gets his feet off the ground and this could be the reason for his great injury record so I’m not going to complain
good points everyone on this article, football is a contact sport and so whether delibrately or not when a player of Ronaldo’s pedigree gets tackled, that is just the name of the game sometimes. u get dubious foul calls given by referees and u get legimate ones not given at all. with the player who has a legitimate case, like in Ronaldo’s situation getting even booked for stimulation/ unsporting behaviour or even diving.secondly the pace of the game in the epl is so fast even 4 the referees that is why its only the luxury of a replay that reveals to us (armed-chair critics) that the referee got it wrong and datz why there have been the call for the introduction of technology to the game. so until that happens, this is the price, we all have to pay for poor human judgement in officiating football matches @ all levels. In the light of the above therefore, i don’t see why man u fans or even Ronaldo himself can complain.I Remember couple of months ago the arsenal players were duped “cry babies” cos they moan @ every tackle, even when they had a legitimate case and i remember alot of people in general,and especially fans of the opposing teams ( man u fans inclusive),and particularly fans of the more physical sides, came on this blog to condemn such an attitude. i don’t see how the same thing that we were all condenming is now different cos it is Ronaldo that is involved, this time around. i’m sure if it was a modric or a gerald, a drogba or an adebayor they would not care (i mean the man u fans that are here complaining). As fans we will always be biased, but in fairness to other teams we all have to live with the fact that u win some and you lose some especially when u have human beings as referees.
March 4th, 2009 @ 19:10Nobody has really commented much on the behaviour of King. He applauded the referee’s decision, supporting the idea that Ronaldo had dived, when he knew that he had fouled him. If he was foreign he’d be strung up for it, if he was Ronaldo they’d be even worse…
March 4th, 2009 @ 23:23agreed, scott The attitude towards foreign players in this country is disgraceful, I am also at a loss as to why there hasn’t been a whisper in the papers about King, being English – why would the press string up one of “their own”
March 5th, 2009 @ 01:42Come off it guys – King did nothing different from every single player on the pitch, English or foreign, when they appeal for decisions when fully aware that they have no right to do so. It happens constantly with hand-balls and corner/throw-in calls, when a player knows that the ball has nicked off him and yet will put his hand up to suggest it’s a goal kick and applaud the decision when it comes his way. There’s no need to vilify anyone at all – and doling out that treatment to King because you feel Ronaldo is unfairly labelled stinks of thoughtless mimicry.
The actual penalty decision was incorrect. It was a penalty, without a doubt. But having seen the incident on a number of occasions, I can fully comprehend how it was missed. Ronaldo’s momentum was taking him down before the contact was made, and he was not in control of the ball when the challenge eventually came – if you check the ref’s handbook, this technically means that it’s not a foul (although this a rule consistently, and rightly, overlooked by top refs).
March 5th, 2009 @ 02:42Hugo – King didn’t APPEAL for any decision though. The decision had been made and he applauded it… knowing full well that he had just fouled Ronaldo in the box.
I don’t recall seeing a player applaud a referee for giving them a throw-in tbh. Maybe I don’t watch football as much as you.
March 6th, 2009 @ 00:07Wrong, Scott. It wasn’t a foul. Ronaldo was practically on the ground already the moment he touched the ball. Also, when King put his leg out it didn’t touch Ronaldo, Ronaldo’s leg touched it!
March 24th, 2009 @ 16:46Hugo,your comment contradicts itself. You say is was an incorrect decision but follow that up with “Ronaldo’s momentum was taking him down before the contact was made, and he was not in control of the ball when the challenge eventually came – if you check the ref’s handbook, this technically means that it’s not a foul”.
Sounds to me like you do believe Crissy was already falling down but still want the penalty decision.
I agree with Johnson – It wasn’t a foul. Ronaldo was practically on the ground already the moment he touched the ball. Also, when King put his leg out it didn’t touch Ronaldo, Ronaldo’s leg touched it!
March 26th, 2009 @ 16:46Just to add, since it wasn’t a foul, King had every right to applaud the decision.
March 26th, 2009 @ 18:22