The Ethics of Flopping
It may sound funny to hear a lawyer complain about people who pretend to be grievously hurt so that the neutral referee will penalize the opponent. But, good lord, do I hate flopping in soccer. ("Flopping" is the act of greatly exaggerating one's pain, usually while writhing on the ground, after being lightly touched by the opponent. Note: flopping is not done solely by the Italian national team, but they are considered experts.) For a funny article on the World Cup and flopping, read this essay by David Eggar.
Is flopping ethical or is it cheating? It's a deceitful practice that is formally banned but widely practiced and part of the game's customs. So it could make for an interesting essay. Regardless, it's cheating to me. What offends me the most is the mimicry of human agony. It's one thing to pretend that you caught a ball when you really trapped it off the ground. But the deceitful appeal to the observer's natural sympathy for a fellow human in pain is too calculated for me.
Flopping is zealous.
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | June 17, 2006 at 06:59 AM
Flopping is bad soccer playing. While the player is so busy writhing in "pain" on the ground, the other team gets to keep playing the ball...
For many years (in high school, college) I was a soccer referee. I always inwardly laughed at the floppers because it was so melodramatic. But it wasn't too big a problem because I never used it as the basis of a call (and when it became clear that I wouldn't they tended to stop). Either I saw the contact and could call it, or I didn't and couldn't. You can't ref by inference.
Posted by: Cathy | June 17, 2006 at 07:28 AM
Lon Fuller wrote on this subject several decades ago. I don't remember much of it, but he referred, for example, to a catcher "pulling" a bad pitch, to make it look as if it had been in the strike zone. I think he also mentioned a football player, after having been tackled, putting the ball a little closer to the goal line than the point at which he had been tackled.
Posted by: Monroe Freedman | June 17, 2006 at 09:46 AM
Monroe,
In addition to Fuller, Jack Sammons of Mercer has often compared baseball and legal ethics.
Posted by: John Steele | June 17, 2006 at 01:00 PM