Arsene Wenger believes players can help make life easier for referees and says they must honour 'social contracts' with their team-mates.
Gunners boss feels players should know where to draw the line
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes players can help make life easier for referees and insists they must honour the 'social contracts' they have with their team-mates.
Issues surrounding discipline in the game have come to the fore in recent seasons, with controversial decisions leading to officials coming under scrutiny.
Diving is one of the concerns which has been in the spotlight of late and Gunners boss Wenger, who has previously called for simulation to be punished with a three-match ban, feels players should know where to draw the line.
"They of course have a big responsibility because first of all they have what you would call a social contract with their team-mates, with the club, with the fans," he told the
Official Arsenal Magazine.
"If you are playing a team sport you have a responsibility not to handicap the people who are in the same boat as you. That concerns the whole club, so when you don't respect this contract you let people down.
"Diving, for example. A guy wants to win and is tempted to use all of the tricks to help him. You cannot reproach him on the other side that they go as far as they can to help their team to win.
"That is why I believe it is important they know how far they can go, and if they go too far they are punished. Sometimes it is not [done] with a selfish attitude but with a desire to win and help their team to win."
Problems
Wenger admits some of the problems in the English game have been imported from different cultures in overseas leagues.
The French boss believes the issues should be stamped out early in the players' careers, adding: "The best way is to educate players when they are young [so they] know how far they can go.
"When you want to change the attitude of a player who is 25 it is much more difficult. The big part is between 10 and 20.
"As well I believe a big part is played by the culture of a country. For example, I came from France where when somebody made a bad tackle, everybody surrounded the referee to [pressure him to] give him a yellow card.
"When I came to England and somebody did that it was, 'what is he doing?' I loved that and thought it was fantastic. But now we have brought it here slowly, you see more people surrounding the referee."
