You can hear the disdain in the voice of Jamie Mulholland, an Olds soccer coach, at the mentioning of Uruguay's Luis Suarez chomping down on an opponent at the World Cup this summer.“Oh man, he should've been kicked out of that game right away,” Mulholland said. “(If) any of my kids do anything that's deemed not nice or whatever to the other team, I'll sub them off instantaneously.”From flopping, faking injuries, excessive goal celebrations and even biting opponents, soccer has been a game maligned for what people see as poor sportsmanship. As an U-16 boy's coach in the Olds Minor Soccer Association, Mulholland tries to instill certain values into his players when he teaches the game.Being gracious after scoring would be one and Mulholland has no problem with players enjoying their success.“I don't mind kids showing that they're excited, hugging each other after a goal or whatever but (there's) too much of that showboating going on. Football's even worse,” he said.While he hasn't had to discipline his kids, Mulholland's got one resource at his disposal if they don't get the message – a benching.“We show respect for the other team, coaches, referees, anything and anybody and if you don't, well you can sit down and think about it for a while,” he said.One of the sport's most well-known mockers has been hockey commentator Don Cherry and Mulholland said a lot of the ribbing comes from puck heads.“I've always played soccer quite competitively and that's always bothered me but I don't think there's a whole lot I can do about it,” he said.“My kids all play hockey too and I can tell you that lots of the parents and coaches, they always make snotty comments about soccer,” he added with a laugh.Mulholland says FIFA needs to make rule changes that would discourage players from feigning injuries as a delaying tactic to kill time when their teams have the lead.He proposes that players who go down with apparent injuries must step off the field and let their teams play shorthanded.However, there's a fine, vague line between cheating and what some would consider gamesmanship.Mulholland's son Nathan was the captain of his U-16 team this past season. He said excessive diving is wrong but he is fine with making referees aware that a foul occurred.“When they get tripped a little bit and it wouldn't be that obvious and they kind of go down and sell it a bit, I think that's OK – just try and get the call,” Nathan said.He added he's done so in the past when he didn't think the referees were being fair.“Every now and then. Sometimes I'll get frustrated with the ref, then I'll try to sell calls a little bit more,” he said.With his father, it all comes down to honesty.“Diving or pretending you're dead or hurt or something, to me is the same as lying. So if you're a liar, I'm not going to be able to believe you. So if you're pretending you're hurt this time, when you really are hurt, I'm probably not going to believe you,” Mulholland said.“That's what I stress to my children as well as the kids that play on my team … definitely be truthful to yourself and your teammates and basically to everybody, including the other team and the refs too.”[email protected]
