eduardo wins appeall against 2 match ban for diving

**old git** · 14/09/2009, 9:15 PM

eduardo .. wins his appeall see statement below from uefa .... what a shower of tossers trying to flex their muscles and then an embarasing back down ... they all must be blind if nobody could see referee and assesor were deceived by eduardo's dive and they even used video footage :mad

But a UEFA statement said on Monday: "Following examination of all the evidence, notably the declarations of both the referee and the referees' assessor, as well as the various video footage, it was not established to the panel's satisfaction that the referee had been deceived in taking his decision on the penalty."

**osarusan** · 14/09/2009, 10:08 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...pe/8236689.stm
This quote from the BBC report really annoys me -

"We were able to show there was contact between the keeper and Eduardo and that the decision should be annulled," a Gunners statement said.

The idea that in any situation, "contact means it wasn't a dive" is ridiculous. Eduardo made a conscious decision to let himself fall to the ground. The fact that he received the slightest of slight contacts after he had made this decision doesn't mean he was felled by the keeper.

**Sligo Hornet** · 15/09/2009, 7:25 AM

So based on this ruling, football is now officially a NON CONTACT SPORT!!

Absolutely ridiculous decision

**old git** · 15/09/2009, 1:27 PM

Originally Posted by Sligo Hornet

So based on this ruling, football is now officially a NON CONTACT SPORT!!

Absolutely ridiculous decision

article in paper today seems arsenal / wegner went to appeal with video evidance of other such incidents of players going down under slight contact..

word has it arsenal were going to demand every single incident should now be re-assesed by uefa or arsenal would start a legal challange ... so looks like uefa took easy way out..
eduardo then has the neck to issue following statement via arsenal website ..

Eduardo - We have finally arrived at the truth
Further to Uefa�s decision on Monday night, Eduardo has made the following comment to Arsenal.com:

�I�m very pleased that we have finally arrived at the truth. All we needed to do was to prove what happened and we have managed to do that. This decision makes me feel a lot better.

�I certainly feel relieved now. I have had great support from my family, friends and of course everyone at the Club.

�All I remember of the incident is that as soon as I had possession of the ball I headed towards goal at full speed. I was very close to the Celtic keeper and felt contact on my foot and then lost my balance. I know perhaps more than anyone else that when you have contact at speed it can be dangerous.

�I just want to say that I�m a fair player. To score goals you must take your opportunities and I�m not the type of player who needs to be dishonest to score goals.�

[Monday, September 14, 2009]

bad enough getting off but to then even still lie about the truth

**CF1989** · 15/09/2009, 2:17 PM

must go out and dive in my next match

**Stuttgart88** · 16/09/2009, 11:21 AM

I'm an Arsenal fan - so might be baised! - but thought at the time it was a dive and thought after watching several replays it was a dive.

I watched it on Sky sports News last night and for the first time I saw Boruc look like he actually took him down. Not with his hands which is where everyone was looking, but with his knee. Watch it again. Interested to hear others' views. On the two views I saw of it last night it actually looked like he fouled him. I'd like to see it again.

There was an incident in the last WC involving Ukraine. Shevchenko was running to the ball in the box and went down. Everyone said it was a dive except when it was shown from one angle you could see the defender caught his heel, completely tripping him up in the process.

Edit: just found this:

http://www.croatiansoccerreport.com/...-innocent.html

Not the angle SSN showed but seems to show Boruc's knee taking Eduardo's ankle.

**EAFC_rdfl** · 16/09/2009, 12:44 PM

looking at the angle from behind eduardo, watch both feet, to me it looks like he's already on the way into going down, before the circled 'contact' from boruc's knee. I think the comments about 'me knowing better than anyone' about how dangerous contact can be is a bit much. Is he trying to say that incident was as dangerous as the challenge from taylor? don't think there was any need to bring it up in this context tbh

**rambler14** · 16/09/2009, 8:34 PM

Eduardo has put Arsenal 3-2 up in a game he should be suspended for. He shouldn't even be on the pitch the cheating pr!ck!

**old git** · 16/09/2009, 9:08 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I'm an Arsenal fan - so might be baised! - but thought at the time it was a dive and thought after watching several replays it was a dive.

I watched it on Sky sports News last night and for the first time I saw Boruc look like he actually took him down. Not with his hands which is where everyone was looking, but with his knee. Watch it again. Interested to hear others' views. On the two views I saw of it last night it actually looked like he fouled him. I'd like to see it again.

There was an incident in the last WC involving Ukraine. Shevchenko was running to the ball in the box and went down. Everyone said it was a dive except when it was shown from one angle you could see the defender caught his heel, completely tripping him up in the process.

Edit: just found this:

http://www.croatiansoccerreport.com/...-innocent.html

Not the angle SSN showed but seems to show Boruc's knee taking Eduardo's ankle.

bit biased coming from croatian soccer... blatent dive and he has got away with it... to quote arsene " i did not see it wenger " you can ask 100 people did eduardo dive and 99 will say yes and i arsne will say no "

**Stuttgart88** · 16/09/2009, 9:12 PM

Originally Posted by EAFC_rdfl

looking at the angle from behind eduardo, watch both feet, to me it looks like he's already on the way into going down, before the circled 'contact' from boruc's knee. I think the comments about 'me knowing better than anyone' about how dangerous contact can be is a bit much. Is he trying to say that incident was as dangerous as the challenge from taylor? don't think there was any need to bring it up in this context tbh

That's true. His left foot was planted toes first in a way that would indicate he was about to throw himself. What can't be argued is that Boruc's knee clipped his right foot. Sufficient to knock him over? Not sure, but certainly ambiguous enough to give him the benefit of the doubt in my opinion. I thought at the time it was a dive but also that it was a rash charge from Boruc.

Was Rooney taken down by Almunia? No, absolutely not. He was on his way down before he even got to Almunia. Was it a penalty? Absolutely, 100%, because Almunia dived, missed the ball and in doing so caused Rooney to lose control of the ball. If Rooney had actually stayed up, Almunia probably would have taken him down anyway.

As for Eduardo's comment: The Boruc tackle wasn't in the remotest bit dangerous.

**Stuttgart88** · 16/09/2009, 9:12 PM

Originally Posted by old git

bit biased coming from croatian soccer

Did they make up the video?

**bennocelt** · 17/09/2009, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

There was an incident in the last WC involving Ukraine. Shevchenko was running to the ball in the box and went down. Everyone said it was a dive except when it was shown from one angle you could see the defender caught his heel, completely tripping him up in the process.

.

Actually Shevchenko tripped himself up that time

**Stuttgart88** · 17/09/2009, 2:03 PM

Originally Posted by bennocelt

Actually Shevchenko tripped himself up that time

Did the defender not clip his heel sideways, knocking one leg across the other causing him to fall, just like you used to do to kids in school, or like a tap tackle in rugby?

Even so, it wasn't a dive.

**bennocelt** · 17/09/2009, 6:00 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Did the defender not clip his heel sideways, knocking one leg across the other causing him to fall, just like you used to do to kids in school, or like a tap tackle in rugby?

Even so, it wasn't a dive.

No, but yeah he didnt dive...........anyway I had him to score that day so I was happy

**Neish** · 19/09/2009, 11:31 AM

I think UEFA realised that if they enforced the ban for Eduardo they would have to enforce similar band for every player that dives and that would mean a lot on bans in the champions league

**Predator** · 19/09/2009, 1:06 PM

I'd have made an example of Eduardo. You have to start somewhere.

He was shameless in his celebration of the goal too. He's a mercenary.

**Stuttgart88** · 19/09/2009, 1:23 PM

Funny thing is, Eduardo strikes me as a very unassuming, undemonstrative type of guy. I actually like his on pitch demeanour. I think it's funny that Eduardo is attracting a lot more vitriol than Drogba ever has. Drogba exhibits nastiness and lack of grace at almost every opportunity and is known as a serial diver.

Worst dive I ever saw was Gerrard against Hungary. There's even a youtube compilation "Steven Gerrard - Hypocrite". Worth watching. I'd like to hear John Terry's opinion of it.

**Stuttgart88** · 19/09/2009, 1:29 PM

I read in the papers recently (FT of all papers) that some academics have studied the body shape of a dive versus the body shape of a proper fall. A dive often takes the form of an "archer's bow", with hands thrown into the air - to attract the ref's attention - and back arched backwards. They use a photo of Drogba playing for Ivory Coast in the FT to illustrate

They also say that hands up in the air is an obviously conscious action, as the reflex action in an unexpected fall is to put your hands down.

In the clip above Eduardo exhibits a classic archer's bow, and throws his hands up instead of down. Textbook sign of a dive according to the academics!

**Stuttgart88** · 19/09/2009, 5:43 PM

Here's that FT article in full (the emboldened bit is my emphasis):

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77a67780-a...nclick_check=1

'Archer's bow' shoots down sports cheats
By Clive Cookson

Knowledge of the "archer's bow" dive would give referees an infallible way to shoot down cheating footballers, according to researchers at Portsmouth university .

Paul Morris and David Lewis carried out an extensive study to discover the actions that distinguish a player who has genuinely been fouled from one who is "diving".

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour , they say that the "archer's bow" position - both arms up in the air, with the palms open, chest thrust out and legs bent at the knee - occurs only in a faked fall.

"This occurs in many dives but biomechanically it does not occur in a natural fall," said Mr Morris. In a real fall, such as when the player is tripped in a foul tackle, the arms instinctively go down to attempt to cushion the fall, or out to the side for balance.

"Although this behaviour is absurd, the fraudulent footballer does it to try to deceive the referee into believing that the tackle was illegal, and the histrionics are necessary to get the referee's attention in the first place," he said. "This behaviour has no national boundaries: everyone does it."

Even if the diving player does not bend his body into a full archer's bow, "the moment both arms go above the shoulder is a clear indication of deception," Mr Morris said. That would appear to confirm that the controversial fall by Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva in last month's Champions League match against Celtic was indeed a dive. The player was banned for two games by the European governing body, Uefa, but that decision has now been reversed.

Didier Drogba formed a classic "archer's bow" during Ivory Coast's game against Argentina in the 2006 World Cup, according to the researchers. But the striker was not booked.

"We speculate that 'the archer's bow' is used by the player to convey a collision . . . so extreme that all normal self-protection mechanisms involved in preparing for the fall cannot be utilised."

The authors, who are psychologists, propose that their findings could be used in professional football, both to enable referees to spot diving as it happens and during subsequent appeals.

**DmanDmythDledge** · 19/09/2009, 5:59 PM

@Stutts: I think video still shows no contact at all; just pause it at 7 seconds and you can see Boruc's knee behind Eduardo's leg before he has gone down. All you can see from the rest of the video is Eduardo's leg in line with Boruc, which from the angle shown does not prove any contact. The way he fell was completely unnatural too.