Estimation of Injury Simulation in International Men's Soccer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of apparent injury incidents in men's international soccer and attempt to estimate what proportion of these incidents are authentic. Broadcast recordings of 89 group stage games from 4 tournaments were reviewed to identify incidents in which a player behaved as if injured. Apparent injuries were considered definite if a player withdrew from participation within 5 min or if bleeding was visible. The remaining incidents were considered questionable. A total of 980 apparent injuries were observed at a rate of 5.63/team game. The definite injury rate was only 0.41/team game vs. 5.22/team game for questionable injuries. Definite injuries were associated with on-field treatment (P<0.001) and stretcher (P<0.001) while questionable injuries were associated with fouls (P<0.001), yellow cards (P=0.013), and the first half (P=0.001). Questionable injuries were more associated with the final 1/3 of the second half than the initial 2/3 (P=0.039). For the 24 games of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup there was an association between questionable injuries and a contact mechanism (P<0.001). The range of the rate of questionable injury was 4.17-5.4 by confederation. This information may assist soccer governing bodies in developing plans to prevent injury simulation behavior.

Race Deficits in Pain Detection: Medical Providers and Laypeople Fail to Accurately Perceive Pain Authenticity Among Black People

“…During stimuli creation, still images of professional soccer players experiencing injury versus “diving” during play were compiled and standardized. “Diving” players fake injury for on-field advantage, which is common in men’s professional soccer (Rosenbaum et al, 2010). Despite such fabrications, severe injuries are also common in soccer (American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, 2010), allowing us to collect images of high-intensity genuine and fabricated pain expressions.…”

Estimation of Injury Simulation in International Women's Football

“…The apparent injury rate of 5.74 is nearly half the 11.26 rate found in a similar study of 4 major men's international tournaments (Rosenbaum et al, 2010). The proportion of apparent injuries that were classified as definite was nearly twice as high for women (13.7% vs. 7.2%).…”

“…A lack of association between questionable injuries and the second half or the latter third of each half argues against female players employing injury simulation as a means to rest and recover. This was more definitive than the mixed evidence from the men's game, which showed an association with the final third of the second half (Rosenbaum et al, 2010). …”

“…The 2006 World Cup medical report noted that only half of the supposed injuries observed receiving on-field treatment eventually were reported as injuries by team physicians (Dvorak et al, 2007). In a video review study of group stage games from 4 continental confederation tournaments, only 7.2% of the apparent injuries that were observed met study criteria for a definite injury (Rosenbaum, Saunders, Nelson, & Rosenbaum, 2010). There is no research to date examining whether or not such behavior occurs in the women's game, however.…”