Michael Owen blames foreign players for diving increase

[Zeppo]

Michael Owen blames foreign players for diving increase

Stoke striker Michael Owen has blamed the growth of diving on the influx of foreign players - but admitted he has also gone to ground unnecessarily. "It's worse than 10 years ago with the influence of players coming from South America, Spain and Italy," said Owen.

But he admitted he went down to win a penalty during a game against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup finals. He told BBC Sport: "I was running flat out, got a nudge, went down. Could I have stayed up? Yeah, probably."

(continue)

[Gamma]

he admitted he went down to win a penalty during a game against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup finals

this is right up there with beckham's comment about how clever he was to take an intentional red card ... STUPID!!!! on the one hand is the foreign players fault but on the other hand you have been diving for over 10 years?!!

[Zeppo]

And it wasn't just with England: I can remember Owen getting booked for diving on more than one occasion in his early days with Liverpool.

[Paul Marin]

Owen hits back at press over diving claim
October 11, 2012

By ESPN staff

'75 percent of players could stay on their feet' - Michael Owen

Stoke forward Michael Owen has aired his views on the recent rise of diving in the English game.

'75 percent of players could stay on their feet' - Michael Owen
Stoke City striker Michael Owen has hit back at claims in the press that he has previously dived to win penalties.

Owen, 32, revealed on Wednesday how he had gone down easily to win spot kicks while playing for England in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup matches against Argentina. However, the former Manchester United man took to Twitter on Thursday morning to attempt to set the record straight, after he believed he was made to sound like he dived to win the penalties.

"Final word on yesterday. Not for the first time, I feel a bit let down by the British press," he tweeted. "To have a headline saying: Owen 'I dived to win a penalty' is disgraceful.

"To clarify, I have never won a penalty through diving and didn't say so yesterday, despite what the headlines say. I have, however, gone down, WHEN FOULED, when I could have stayed on my feet.

"This is a regular occurrence in every league in the World. In two separate World Cups against Argentina, this was the case."
Owen also attempted to stress the difference between what he sees as going down when fouled, despite being able to stay on your feet, and blatant diving.

"As Pierluigi Collina said yesterday, "If touched and fouled, a player has every right to go to ground." If that is wrong then virtually every foul that is seen on a football field is wrong," he tweeted.

"Very few tackles are delivered with the force required to knock somebody off their feet. It is an art for an attacking player to entice a defender to make a wrong decision.

"To clarify: I have never dived to win a penalty without being touched. I don't condone it and I think it should be stamped out of the game."

[Peter R]

He makes a decent point in that if you are fouled in the box and you stay on your feet the ref might be reluctant to make the call, while the same foul outside the box might likely be called by the ref... his comment about foreign players is pure conjecture; bring some cold hard facts to the table.

Anyway, I saw this comment on the story on the BBC Sport site (the one Zeppo posted.).. just had to put it here:

"When Louis Suarez first came to liverpool they showed him videos of recent successful Man Utd teams telling him"this is what we want you to help to bring back to Liverpool"....so after watching Renaldo,Evra,Ashley Cole ,Welbeck and Rooney ,poor Suarez began to dive at every opportunity.After all,you cannot blame him for copying the most obvious things on the videos..."

ha ha ha ... although I don't think Cole played for Manure...

Bottom line is that some people just don't like Suarez for whatever reason and he has now become the poster boy for all things evil... meanwhile other perps get a free pass...

[Paul Marin]

He makes a decent point in that if you are fouled in the box and you stay on your feet the ref might be reluctant to make the call, while the same foul outside the box might likely be called by the ref... his comment about foreign players is pure conjecture; bring some cold hard facts to the table.

Anyway, I saw this comment on the story on the BBC Sport site (the one Zeppo posted.).. just had to put it here:

"When Louis Suarez first came to liverpool they showed him videos of recent successful Man Utd teams telling him"this is what we want you to help to bring back to Liverpool"....so after watching Renaldo,Evra,Ashley Cole ,Welbeck and Rooney ,poor Suarez began to dive at every opportunity.After all,you cannot blame him for copying the most obvious things on the videos..."

ha ha ha ... although I don't think Cole played for Manure...

Bottom line is that some people just don't like Suarez for whatever reason and he has now become the poster boy for all things evil... meanwhile other perps get a free pass...

The most egregious demonstration of media bias is their lack of outcry to the FA about retroactively seeking punishment for Huth because the ref supposedly handled the incident on the field. "Handled it on the field"? That is the biggest set of crap I have ever heard. Diving is one thing, player safety and assualt quite another. Suarez could have been shot in the head and the ref would not have called it. Total effery. Can you imagine the outcry if Suarez was the one who stepped on Huth? :kissteeth: