Jewell Quiet As Rankin Is Vilified

Thursday 21st January, 1999

Did He Dive or Was He Pushed?

Paul Jewell skipped over the 89th minute penalty incident that incensed Crystal Palace at the end of the 2-1 victory on Tuesday night. "We have had some bad decisions in the past ... notably Norwich" was all the manager had to say on the subject.

The general consensus on the Rankin’s (right) fall seemed to be that he made the most of the tackle, that he dived. With the Palace game being one of only two games on Tuesday night the national media had struggled North and were determined to find out what was this young upstart called Paul Jewell. His close mouthed policy did him credit.

Jewell's player however, was less well served by this. From a viewpoint on the Kop (or what is left of it) it looked a clear penalty. Replays showed Rankin storming through, the Palace keeper Kevin Miller charging out at him a la Dave Seaman against Argentina and one of the Palace defenders coming in from behind him. If there really was not any contact then Rankin must be a ghost. Of course there was contact.

Palace’s complaint was not that Issy feigned contact but rather that he made the most of any touch he had, supposedly he was looking for it. He might have been, that’s not the point. He got touched/contacted/manhandled/fouled/whatever in the box. Contact maybe but Palace’s opinion was that Rankin would not have been able to score from the angle which beggars the question that if this was the case then why did both Miller and the defender have to make the challenge.

Aside from the usual bias towards the more fashionable team, media-hot Palace, there is a more foreboding force at work. The dive debate, whipped up by the antics of Tottenham’s David Ginola in the weekend’s Spurs Wimbledon game, is turning the morals of football on it’s head. Skilful Ginola has introduced himself to the turfs of every Premiership ground ever since he signed for Newcastle yet he is a respected player.

With reporters and pundits calling dive whenever a player falls a player like Rankin, who gets fouled in the box, has to defend himself against cheat allegations because he has not been able to keep his feet as one man charges towards him and another charges behind him. Do we really believe that all footballers would cheat their own Grandmother as soon as look at them or is it time we looked at the incidents with a fair mind and asked not "Why was that not a penalty?" but rather "Why was it?"

Was it a foul? Your opinions to MichaelWood@Iname.com