What is "expected contact" in football terms?
It seems to be the buzz phrase at the moment, although some cynics might say it’s a bit of a cop-out for managers to defend their own players from accusations of simulation.
In my own experience as a player, it is being clever and anticipating an opposition player is going to tackle you, and down you go.
It could also be classed in football terms as buying a foul. But, at the end of the day, if you don't get clipped and you still go to ground, that is cheating.
That is conning the referee to get a decision, a decision that is wrong. Plain and simple.
Read more: Ross County 2 Celtic 2: Scott Brown off the hook after red mist descends in the Highlands
Going back to the penalty decision yesterday up at Dingwall, there is no doubt that, when that ball was knocked into Alex Schalk, he anticipated Sviatchenko was going to tackle him. But the Celtic defender was too savvy to leave his foot in.
What resulted was as blatant an act of simulation as you are ever likely to see.
How the referee and his linesman contrived between them to not see it was astonishing incompetence when you consider I was sitting in front of my TV 200 miles away and, without any benefit of a replay, knew immediately there was absolutely no contact.
It is a devilishly difficult job being a referee. I can remember being injured at Falkirk and refereeing a few training games.
I had some of the boys at my throat because I had given a throw-in the wrong way. I hung my whistle up immediately.
So, I do have sympathy with them, especially on the touch-and-go decisions they could get wrong.
With the pace of the game and players nowadays, it can be difficult to tell if a player has been clipped or not. But the Schalk incident was as easy a decision that a referee could ever wish for, and he got it horribly wrong.
He will most likely be punished by his own bosses and may be demoted for a few games for such a dreadful decision.
But that call wouldn’t just have upset Celtic players and Brendan Rodgers. That decision from the officials and that act from the player could have a massive ripple effect at the bottom of the Premiership table.
Imagine, as a Hamilton Accies player or fan, you actually see your club drop down a league position on the back of that ridiculous decision. People's livelihoods are at stake and referees have simply got to get these huge decisions right.
Read more: Ross County 2 Celtic 2: Scott Brown off the hook after red mist descends in the Highlands
I have no doubt that Schalk will get retrospective punishment and be "offered" a ban from the SFA. And rightly so. He conned the referee to win his side a penalty which ultimately gained his side a precious point.
Sadly, though, not according to his manager, Jim McIntyre, during his post-match television interview, who stated that his player "expected contact in the box and went down". So that clears that up then. Will Ross County care at the end of the season if they stay up by a point? Not a jot.
The other side of it is that the player in question will have that unwanted reputation of being a diver hanging over his head for as long as he stays and plays in Scotland. He has to deal with that now.
Now, go back a couple of weeks ago to the Battle of Easter Road which, incidentally, looks like it has never happened.
Then, you had Morton’s Kudus Oyenuga going down like a ton of bricks from the faintest of contacts from Darren McGregor.
The silence was deafening from the club afterwards when it came to condemning the player and his clear simulation, and determination, to get another player sent off.
Whilst I know things are dealt with privately at clubs, and I would never ever expect managers to hang players out to dry in the public domain, wouldn't it be refreshing if coaches just came out, publicly, and called it as they’d seen it?
Something, along the lines of "yes, my player has dived to gain a penalty" or "he’s simulated to get a fellow professional sent off" and that they were "totally in the wrong and we do not condone that at this football club". Even add "they will be dealt with by the club".
That is hardly stitching up the player, is it? But it is being truthful and honest, and not hiding behind clichés or saying these things even themselves out – because we all know that on occasions, they don't.
Maybe if more managers or clubs came out and agreed with what everyone else has seen on TV a dozen times over, then maybe next time players would be more embarrassed to throw themselves down when no contact had been made, knowing a public ridiculing was imminent.
But do I expect that to happen? No, not a hope.
Then again, it seems if you expect something these days you might just get it. Or does that only apply on the pitch or the opposition box?
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