Diving (and how England players get away with it)

[alexf]

Anyone else getting annoyed with the way Andy Gray seems to be encouraging diving? tonight for example when johnson burst into the area, he kept going on about how he was being "honest" and "could have gone down there" when denilson didnt even touch him!! so is andy saying yeah dnt try and burst into the area and create a chance just throw your leg out and drop to the floor cus u can get a pen and that would be 'good play'

 

on the gerrard penalty claim aswell he was saying oh it doesnt matter that hes booted the ball out of play and has no chance of getting it its gerrard he shud get a pen. And when gerrard was clearly asking for a pen it was as if andy was tryin to cover it up by sayin he was asking for a corner when obviously he wasn't.

[timnufc22]

Anyone else getting annoyed with the way Andy Gray seems to be encouraging diving? tonight for example when johnson burst into the area, he kept going on about how he was being "honest" and "could have gone down there" when denilson didnt even touch him!! so is andy saying yeah dnt try and burst into the area and create a chance just throw your leg out and drop to the floor cus u can get a pen and that would be 'good play'

 

on the gerrard penalty claim aswell he was saying oh it doesnt matter that hes booted the ball out of play and has no chance of getting it its gerrard he shud get a pen. And when gerrard was clearly asking for a pen it was as if andy was tryin to cover it up by sayin he was asking for a corner when obviously he wasn't.

 

Yes, totally, he is encouraging cheating to everyone watching, to every kid watching the game. Absolutely disgusting, and he is abusing his position in a really scummy manner.

[Jayson]

it’s a myth that foreigners are the divers. Of the 10 cautions for simulation in the Premier League this season, seven have gone to British players, five of them English.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1235599/Graham-Poll-Divers-foreign-No-British-disease.html

[Heron]

I reckon that the foreign players brought it here first, but unfortunately now it's seen as a perfectly ligitimate way to win games by some i.e. Rooney and Stevie G. I'm a believer in being professional in your gameplay, but cheating I'm not, and I despise diving. Obviously that line is a blurry one between professionalism and cheating but it's clear in my head, at least.

 

I just hope it's not something our lads begin to do on a frequent basis. Gutierriez did an atrocious dive at WBA iirc and I went mental at the tele'.

[Raconteur]

For me there is a difference between "diving" and "simulation".

 

The latter describes what Vialli (and "float one in") is talking about - if a defender sticks his leg out and the attacker falls over it, then there is a degree of culpability by the defender. For example, in the 2006 World Cup Fabio Grosso fell over Lucas Neill's leg, sending Australia home - an event that saw most Aussies foam at the mouth with outrage. But from where I'm sitting, Neill was a bloody fool for having his leg there.

 

"Diving", for me, describes where an attacker goes to ground without any contact from a defender (as well as the rolling and screaming attendant to it). In this case, the defender is totally blameless - he is within the laws of the game yet is being punished by the outright cheating of his opponent.

 

Simulation is bad but excusable but diving is cheating and always wrong.

 

However, there is a grey area - think of our own Jonas who goes down rather easily. Just last season the likes of Owen and Duff also fell over more often that force and gravity should have dictated. Were they diving or simulating...?

 

In the context of English diving v foreign diving, it has alway annoyed me that English players get a free ride from English commentators. Gerrard must be the worst diver in England but is rarely called on it (though karma meant he didn't win a pen on Sunday!). The likes of Owen, Joe Cole and Rooney are consistently trying to cheat the refs - and as the bigfella says, it's not as though diving is a recent phenomenon nor necessarily a foreign one - it wasn't imported by Jurgen Klinsmann!

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think there's that much difference between diving and simulation TBH. In my opinion, if a player can stay on their feet they must try to do so.

 

Obviously referees would need to be better at spotting the  fouls that don't take a player down but should be freekicks/penalties.

[Geordie Boot Boy]

its a myth that foreigners are the divers. Of the 10 cautions for simulation in the Premier League this season, seven have gone to British players, five of them English.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1235599/Graham-Poll-Divers-foreign-No-British-disease.html

 

I think we can discount the Bellamy yellow card from the weekend which, BTW, was an atrocious decision.

[Guest Phil K]

its a myth that foreigners are the divers. Of the 10 cautions for simulation in the Premier League this season, seven have gone to British players, five of them English.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1235599/Graham-Poll-Divers-foreign-No-British-disease.html

 

I think we can discount the Bellamy yellow card from the weekend which, BTW, was an atrocious decision.

 

Reminded me of the atrocious decisions by referee Graham Ashby against Ginola at Arsenal in 96.

Ginola was kicked and punched virtually all game and Ashby gave decisions against HIM.

Even Arsenal fans couldn't believe it. Ashby was actually looking for an excuse to send Ginola off.

The Bellamy decision was one bad mistake, Ginola had it all through the game.