A hot topic in modern day football, incidents of diving and simulation are becoming ever more frequent in the top flight game. But is diving now a part of the furniture of the modern game or can it be stamped out once and for all?
Many footballing traditionalists solely blame foreign players for bringing diving into English football. However when looking at home-grown British players such as Gareth Bale, an interesting debate becomes ever more apparent.
As someone who has only ever played for English clubs, and aside from a handful of Champions league performances, only ever played professional football in England, Gareth Bale defines the old cliché of a home-grown player. Yet despite this, he is still the subject of some notable high profile cases of diving. With Cameras now covering every angle of the pitch, there is no escaping the replays of dives and pundits and the press alike are quick to criticise any obvious dives.
Bale has been booked for simulation in his last two games, taking his yellow card tally to seven for the season, one of the highest in the premier league. It seems that the by enforcing stricter refereeing sanctions towards diving, the FA are attempting to eradicate the not so beautiful from the beautiful game.
Ex Spurs player David Ginola was quick to defend Spurs star Bale, in a recent interview with the BBC Ginola said: ‘You don’t need a big tackle to go down. A little push would be enough to lose the balance’.
That said diving and simulation is a very challenging area to referee. The pace at which the modern game is now played is simply exceptional; the slightest knock to a player in full sprint will inevitably end up in that player going to ground.
Refereeing difficulties aside, It is imperative that the FA and football clubs themselves establish negativity towards diving, demonstrating to aspiring players that it has no future in the game.
By enforcing stricter punishments for diving, players will become more and more aware of the consequences they face if caught diving. Deliberate trickery of the referee to gain an advantage is simply not acceptable and should not be tolerated in the modern game. Even with a host of foreign players introducing completely new styles of play and so called ‘European style’ tactics, we still have no place for diving.
Diving is, and always will be unacceptable in football.
Jacob Landers
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