A-League: Embarrassing dive is a bad look for the game

It was high powered, emotional, and downright ugly at times — and that was just the 90 minutes of the match.

Melbourne City’s Bruno Fornaroli getures as Brisbane’s Jade North lays prone in front of referee Shaun Evans at AAMI Park.

It was high-powered, emotional, and downright ugly at times — and that was just the 90 minutes of the match.

Off the field, rival coaches John van’t Schip (Melbourne City) and John Aloisi (Brisbane Roar) provided even more to talk about after a controversial game ended in a 1-1 draw at AAMI Park on Saturday. There was plenty to talk about in the aftermath of a night that saw:

• Roar defender Jade North accused of diving and trying to get Bruno Fornaroli sent off.

• The sideline antics of van 't Schip and Aloisi, who often exchanged harsh words and dirty looks.

• City goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis racing 50 metres to abuse Aloisi after his side had equalised.

• Roar assistant coach Ross Aloisi throwing the ball with some force at Josh Rose, sparking a verbal tirade from van’t Schip.

All of this coming off the back of the two coaches engaging in a bitter pre-game war of words where Aloisi had called on the referee to clamp down on City’s aggressive style and van’t Schip countering by accusing the Roar boss of being a “whingeing baby’’. The biggest talking point, however, was the North incident, which might attract the attention of Football Federation Australia.

With Roar leading following a first half goal from Jamie Maclaren, City equalised in controversial fashion via Nicolas Colazo just nine minutes into the second half.

In the lead up to the goal, North and Fornaroli had got involved in a little push and shove. The Uruguayan appeared to give the Roar veteran a slight shove in the face, but North fell to the turf in a screaming heap clutching his face.

It was out of character for North but it looked bad for the game, especially coming off the back of an FFA edict six weeks ago urging coaches to stop players from diving and play acting.

The incident was compounded by the fact worse that while the Roar players stopped and waited for some action from the referee, the match official allowed play to continue and City took full advantage to score. Van't Schip did not mince his words about the incident, suggesting North had tried to get Fornaroli sent off.

“I can only say that the referee probably saw what happened, North tried to get Bruno sent off and in the end they got punished by us scoring,’’ van’t Schip said. “Their coach accusing us of diving and then having a player like North doing that?’’

Aloisi tried to defend his player, but admitted he will likely have to speak to North this week.

“Jado is not that type of player (diver),” Aloisi said. “He obviously got hit ... was it hard enough for him to go down? I don't think so. I’ll have a word with Jado about it.

“He is not a dirty player, he is not a player who would ever try and get a player sent off.’’

Aloisi was more upset that his players didn’t play to the whistle during the incident.

“Jado was on the turf and the players still need to keep going and make sure the referee has to whistle (up the play) or the ball has to go out. They didn't. They stopped. That's how they got their goal,’’ he said. ‘‘Having said that, I believe the referee, who had a good game, should have stopped the game. Jado was holding his head, he could have had a poke in thee eye or suffered concussion..’’

Aloisi wouldn't go into the exact details surrounding the Bouzanis incident or the actions of some on the City bench.

“I don’t know exactly what he said, but I thought it was a bit poor for him to run all that way and have a go at me,’’ he said. “That is a lack of respect.

“Others can run a club, a team the way they want to. I’d never allow my players to abuse the other coach.

“There’s no need to come over and abuse or do gestures from the opposition bench and tell me to be quiet so the crowd can see ... that’s inciting (the fans) a bit.’’

As for the pre-game verbal fisticuffs, both coaches said they wanted to move on. “It’s part of the game and something I’m not going to waste too much time on. John’s had a go at us most games, it shows he’s worried about his own team,’’ van't Schip said.

Aloisi would only say: “He's trying to protect his club and team. I’m doing the same. Once it is over we move on and get on with it.’’