Cheating or gamesmanship - the jury is out

CHEATING OR GAMESMANSHIP - THE JURY IS OUT

No player has divided opinion more in this current World Cup in South Africa than Uruguay striker Luis Suarez. After a slow start, he improved in the 3-0 thrashing of the hosts before finding the net three times in the wins over Mexico and South Korea. There was talk of a big money bid from a European powerhouse, and the sky seemed to be the limit. But in the controversial denouement against Ghana in the quarter-finals, he made the newspaper headlines for all the wrong reasons. In the final seconds of extra-time, the Ajax striker fairly cleared a shot off the line from Stephen Appiah with his boot. But when Dominic Adiyah headed the rebound towards goal, Suarez saw no alternative to the action he took - he flew across goal, arms outstretch, and parried the ball to safety. This act (temporally at least) denied Africa their first World Cup semi-finalist.
But was this actually cheating? Or, was it gamesmanship and win at all costs tactics at its worst. After all, Suarez took the punishment which they crime demanded - a straight red card and a one match suspension. There doesn't seem to be a great deal more the referee could have done. Ghana had a penalty to win them the game - unfortunately for the whole of Africa, Asamoah Gyan's effort smacked off the crossbar and they lost on penalties. Such is sport, especially at the highest level when it gets to the knockout stages of tournaments, games are decided by such small margins. I think the number of players who can hand on heart say they would not follow the example set by Suarez if they were put in the same situation is small. Gamesmanship has been part of football longer than I care to remember.
Going all the way back to the original 'Hand of God' goal, from Diego Maradona back in 1986 (and Suarez did himself no favours by trying to claim the great man's moniker), we have had people pushing the boundaries of legality ever since. German legend Jurgen Klinsmann became famous for his diving celebration, as he had become famous for 'going to ground rather easily,' and Manchester United's players became famous (or notorious) for surrounding the referee when a decision did not go their way under the tenure of Sir Alex Ferguson. So we should not surprised, but maybe we should be disappointed that is the direction football is going in. After all, Suarez did not go unpunished, and this point cannot be stressed enough. There is nothing else the referee could have done, and the only people who could have changed the outcome, were (surprise surprise) FIFA. But I'm not sure it would be good for the game to implement a 'penalty goal' system for such an offence. So it was an interesting quirk of fate that resulted in Suarez being the 'hero' for some, where he could have easily been the villain, while this turned into misfortune for Gyan.
What I really don't agree with is the reaction of the Uruguayans, and Suarez in particular. It might not have been cheating - but he is definitely no hero. If anyone should have been raised on to his teammates shoulders, it should have been goalkeeper; Fernando Muslera, who saved two penalties in the shoot out; Diego Forlan, who's goals helped carry Uruguay to that position; or Sebastian Abreu, who's dinked penalty clinched the victory. But it was Suarez who celebrated madly when Gyan missed his penalty with the last kick of extra-time, and it was he who was hoisted up when Abreu's effort found the net. More decorum should have been showed here, and maybe there is a cultural difference that needs to be mentioned.
South Americans have their own word for cunning or mischievous, celebrating the art if it's within 'the boundaries of the rules.' In Europe and Africa, we take an entirely different view. But are we right to take the moral high ground? Because we see plenty of incidents of European players (and indeed British players) diving to gain an advantage, feigning injury, harassing the referee, and my own personal pet peeve - a player being fouled, but as he is still falling to the ground, waving the imaginary card to try and influence the referee's decision. So is seems to have became a common factor in football generally, and we can longer just stereotype and blame the sneaky Latin types.
The stakes are so high in the modern game, that players will do anything possible to win. This is more true in football than other sports, as there seems to be a stricter 'code of conduct' in sports such as cricket and rugby. Not necessarily in the rules, but in the 'unspoken rules' - that is how the players carry themselves, behave towards opponents and officials, and how they uphold the spirit of the game. But in football, whatever advantage can be gained, they will try and gain it, whether that action is inside or outside the rules of the game. In the case of Suarez, he knew if the ball hit the back of the net, his country would have been out of the World Cup. A country which has not reached the semi-final stage in 40 years - so a lifetime for all Uruguay's players. I expect to a man, his teammates would have done the same, and he was probably so revered for his decision because they saw it as him sacrificing himself for the good of the team. Ghana captain John Pantsil said his teammates would never have countenanced doing something like that - but it is easy to say that when you are the 'victims.'
It doesn't sit comfortably with me, but that is the way the modern game is. And Suarez took his punishment, but Gyan missed the chance to really make him pay. FIFA and UEFA have bigger fish to fry - just ask Fabio Capello and Javier Aguirre. In the end, though, Suarez did pay for his decision. His brilliant early performances have been tarnished and overshadowed by his handball. But more importantly, his suspension meant Uruguay relied almost solely on the brilliant Forlan against a ponderous Dutch team, and this was not enough for the South Americans to progress to their first World Cup final in 60 years. So, what goes around comes around then!