If “successful deception of a match official” has never quite made its way into the English football vernacular, then it’s easy to see why.
The FA only introduced the charge in 2017, and since then its use has been so limited that when Tottenham Hotspur Women midfielder Eveliina Summanen was handed a two-game ban on Tuesday, her punishment prompted more bewilderment than a sense that justice had been served. In fact, Summanen is believed to be the first player in the professional women’s game in England to be punished for the offence.
In the 80th minute of Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the WSL earlier this month, Ella Toone was sent off for appearing to lash out at Summanen. What began as a minor shove from behind by the England international turned into a brief tangle, at the end of which she put both hands onto her opponent’s shoulders and pushed her downwards.
Those are the facts, which are all the officials had to work with. Summanen’s response, which suggested she had been struck on the face, may well have been irrelevant. One source told i that Spurs were extremely surprised at the decision to ban the player, especially given a lack of consistency across the game, and are particularly concerned that Summanen’s reputation could be unfairly tarnished over the incident.
It's all kicking off
— Sky Sports WSL (@SkySportsWSL) February 12, 2023
Ella Toone is shown a red cardpic.twitter.com/Ix4iSuFSGR
This has always been precisely the issue with “simulation”. How do you prove it? The Summanen case was not a “dive”, and there was clearly no contact made with her face at all – but where is the line drawn? At minimal contact? What about falling at awkward angles or when running at speed?
The FA’s rulebook says the evidence must be “clear and overwhelming”, which in this case, has to prove Toone would not have been dismissed purely for raising her hands at an opponent and reacting petulantly. A three-match ban would have been harsh, but as she said herself: “Hold my hands up for my reaction and I’ll learn from it.”
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There is as little need for play-acting in the WSL as there is in the men’s top flight, or at any level in the pyramid. But then you factor in the predictable reactions – the century-old diktat that this behaviour is “quite unsuitable for females” – which, at least in part, explains the sudden fixation.
Since bringing in the law which meant players could be retrospectively punished, it has rarely been enforced. Carlisle United striker Shaun Miller was the first player to feel the brunt of it after winning a penalty against Wycombe Wanderers.
In the Premier League, Oumar Niasse was handed a ban at Everton over a controversial penalty won against Crystal Palace. The process was much the same – in all these cases, the player refuted it, but what professional is going to openly admit to cheating?
In 2018, when Dele Alli was booked for diving in Spurs’ 2-2 draw with Liverpool, his then manager Mauricio Pochettino suggested English football was too busy moralising to solve real problems. It was a particularly touchy subject for the Argentinian, who had spent years in the Premier League being told the English didn’t dive, to which he typically had a three-word retort: Michael Owen, 2002.
Yet the most high-profile case of all involved Patrick Bamford, whose “deception” to get Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi sent off was almost identical to Summanen’s. That was four years ago and Bamford’s ban has done nothing to rid the game of the practice.
On the one hand, Summanen’s ban risks opening a can of worms. Punish her, and the FA will be called upon to take action again and again. Alternatively, Spurs could argue that nothing will change, except that they will be without the Finnish international for their FA Cup tie against Reading, and for a crucial league game against Manchester City at a time when they are fighting for their lives, just three points off the bottom of the table.
In that light, Summanen is an unfortunate scapegoat in the WSL’s battle against playacting.
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