Not really a proper chap perhaps?

[Antony Moxey]

I saw a game online with English commentators at the weekend where a defender put the ball out for a corner, then vigorously claimed a goalkick and won his claim much to the disgust of the striker. That is cheating just like diving but seems not to be a heinous crime like diving according to British fans/media. A deliberately late tackle is also cheating and can injure another player, but people don't seem to regard the perpetrator as being of low moral fibre like someone diving. I just don't get what the fuss is about either - most players who go down do it after contact is made, they are just claiming a foul when they feel the defender has unfairly impeded them. Defenders need to learn when they can't slide into or across players on the ball. If players are going down with no contact they should be booked but the hysteria about it is laughable. The idea that it is the right thing to do to stay on your feet when you are being fouled immediately puts the attacker at a disadvantage - if he doesn't claim the foul he might not get the penalty/free kick. I know it looks bad when you can see players sizing up a challenge coming towards them, move the ball out the way and take the foul - Michael Owen and Gary Lineker were experts at this actually - but it is the defender who has committed an illegal challenge. There is a history of bad defending in England because players were allowed to get away with reckless challenges. Knowing when you can and can't make a tackle is a huge part of being a defender and this is what people should be making a fuss about if anything. We cannot expect the rest of the football world to adapt to our expectations.

Depends whether you consider the faintest brush with your laces as you stretch past an attacker's foot to try to win the ball impeding them or not. Players go down at the absolute merest hint of a touch these days - that absolute merest hint of a touch is not a foul, nor is it impeding their progress, neither does it entitle a player to go down. Football is, as far as I'm aware, not yet a non-contact sport so every time players come into contact with each other it doesn't mean one of them has been fouled and has to go down just to make sure the ref spotted said 'foul'.

 

[flakey pasty]

I just think that cheating, just as diving, is against the spirit of sport and the spirit of football.
It's a terrible example to kids - their heroes are telling them through example (and indeed explicitly in Cummmins' case), that it's OK to be dishonest.
Play hard, play right to the edge of rules by all means, but there are limits as to how players conduct themselves.
We've all known people who are dishonest in life - socially, in the community, at work etc - and it just doesn't make the world a better place. I think that we'd all agree that falling over in your corner shop and attempting to claim compensation for an injury that doesn't exist is dishonest and wrong. Being dishonest, or cheating, in sport IMHO is no different.

 

[grecian-near-hell]

I agree that cheating is never right and shouldn't be encouraged, but what about the burly defenders that are constantly tugging on the forwards shirt and wrapping their arms around them at corners and free kicks impeding their movement, and putting in the first hard challenge to let the forward know they are there, surely this is where the art comes into it? It then becomes a game of chess to see who can out manoeuvre the other

 

[BigBanker]

Honest and stupid

This, exactly.

 

[PeteUSA]

Agree with the above posts. He is a first class chump for writing his article. It makes him out as being sleazy and will also alert refs to his antics. Not to mention bringing the club into some disrepute.

Absolutely right. His attitude is deplorable, and he should be taken to task by the club for making such ludicrous comments. I would have thought if the FA were to pick up on this article, he could be looking at a case of bringing the game into disrepute. Makes me f****** sick!

 

[ZIDERIUPLANDLORD]

Well I'd say he needs to work on his cheating technique because he's rubbish at it.

UTC

 

[Robert S]

Surely diving is only a heinous crime when the opposition do it !

 

[elginCity]

I remember reading an article by Gary Neville where he said that Suarez didn't cheat, as what he did was all done in front of the officials, covered by the rules, and he always ran the risk of being penalised. Match fixing or doping you'd consider as cheating, getting away with a handball or diving is just an injustice to the oppo.

Without doubt it's a direct result of the influx of foreign players, whereas the UK's 'Corinthian Spirit', 'just not cricket', fair play and sportsmanship was once the cornerstone of its sporting culture, that attitude has been eroded by those who grew up e.g. on the streets of Montevideo or West Africa. Where a win at all costs, bending the rules mentality exists, and even admired. Now the likes of Graham Cummins is adopting that same attitude.

Dilemma is, do we just accept it's now part and parcel of the game, or should we sharpen up the officiating and punish more heavily, or perhaps introduce video playback reffing as in Rugby ?

 

[antman]

I just think that cheating, just as diving, is against the spirit of sport and the spirit of football.

I'm not saying that a non-contact (or "non-foul" if you prefer, Ant Moxey) dive is not cheating. I just don't understand why it's not viewed with the same disapproval as a late tackle, time wasting, claiming a ball you know wasn't yours, deliberately winding up opponents you know might blow their top, standing over the ball at a free kick, a tug on a shirt, manhandling players at set pieces in the name of marking, I could go on but I think you get the picture. Many managers (probably ours accepted, and definitely those at the highest level) send their players out to win any small advantage they can but would never admit that in public. Jose Mourinho perceives the English obsession with diving and is constantly pointing to other teams' players doing it cos he knows that's what goes down well in the media, but don't believe for a minute that he would privately approve of one of his own players taking a foul in the penalty area and staying on their feet. Referees are unfortunately far less likely to give a foul if the player doesn't go down.

The classic case of how English football is not compatible with the rest of the world's approach was the 2010 World Cup Final. For some strange reason, English refs are not in the habit of giving a yellow card for a "first foul" by a player, however deliberate, tactical or malicious it can be at times. The Dutch team knew this so they sent out their team to foul the Spanish midfield in the knowledge that Howard Webb wouldn't be giving out serious cards early on. So apart from the obvious De Jong red card that was only a yellow (or nothing, I can't remember) the Dutch team took it in turns to foul Iniesta and Xavi knowing that their first foul wouldn't draw a card. So at half time the Spanish clearly decided the only way they would get Dutch players sent off would be to roll around on the floor and exaggerate every single foul. The second half became a dive fest like the first had been a foul fest.

If English fans worried more about how consistent the refs are with yellow cards than diving, it would improve our football standards all round. for years we've had players like Ryan Shawcross scything players down who go off injured then on Match of the Day they say "Oh, he's not really that type of player though" while a diver might as well be a paedophile in terms of their popularity. I'm just asking for consistency with viewing cheating, I'm not saying a non-foul dive isn't cheating. I AM saying, though, that a player is perfectly entitled to go down for a free kick or pen if they have been genuinely fouled, because if foul tackles are just "part of the game" as people seem to think then our standards of defending will fall further behind our mainland European counterparts.

 

[STURTZ]

Well I'd say he needs to work on his cheating technique because he's rubbish at it.

UTC

I agree and he thinks it's an artform?

More chance of winning a Turner prize than a penalty!