I was reading an article today on BBC Sport about diving after Wayne Rooney’s stinker of a dive the other day against Preston. They asked former football professionals Trevor Francis, Kevin Kilbane and former Sheffield Wednesday Olympic diving gold medalist Gordon Watson a series of questions about how diving.
~ If anyone doesn’t get the reference to Gordon Watson, please go look up his dive on YouTube. At that point of the game I think Wednesday were 6-0 down against Leeds and the dive is just pure comedy gold ~
Diving, after time, can be looked at and laughed about. The Watson dive is definitely one of these moments, another I can think of is the Morten Gamst Pedersen dive against Arsenal a few years ago (give it a watch, hilarious). But in the game it’s enough to turn the match into a riot. The other week my team played against Dewsbury Old Boys Reserves and in roughly the 70th minute one of their players “dived” to win a penalty. penalty converted...lost 2-1. Our right back wanted to kill him. Would’ve done if everyone hadn’t had broken it up haha.
~ Side note: I put “dived” because our right back, strikers and manager thought it was a dive. Me and everyone else near by saw the most clear cut penalty ever ~
I personally think the anger that comes from diving is completely called for as it is, at the end of the day, cheating. The way Kilbane talks about diving sounds as if its just an everyday part of football. Frankly diving in my opinion should be stopped out using harsher punishments and giving strikers less protection. The laws of football should be altered so there needs to be a certain level of contact to make a player go down. I’m sick of hearing “well there was contact…” when they’ve just brushed against eachothers shorts.
I’m even more pissed off that it’s England’s captain that’s done this. Bobby Moore would have slapped “Wazza” in his face if he saw that.
~ Side note: Even though I am one I think goalkeepers get too much protection too. Especially in the Premier League ~
Players in my opinion do practise diving. Maybe not the triple pirouette 720 backflip they do when going down but I do think that players leaving a leg dangling is something they practise and aim to do. I always notice Ashley Young do that whether the defender gets the ball or not. His foot always sees to go towards the defender whilst his whole body goes past them...
Ask any professional football player/former football player whether they were told to dive during an interview and they will say “no”. Ask anyone outside of that scenario and they will say “Yeah of course I was” managers will tell a player “if you feel a knick, go down”...this is just a nicer way of saying “dive”.
One thing which should never be said by a manager is “why didn’t you?”. This is like saying “why did you try and trust your own ability instead of just cheating?”.
Soon a player will get a reputation out of it. We see it a lot over the years. Drogba. Ronaldo. Bale. All were slated for years over their diving and I bet will have gained bookings over genuine fouls. The main thing that bugs me is that because football is on TV every week, everyone knows when you dive. fans, players, managers, referees, everyone will then associate you with diving and it makes the game more difficult to judge. “was it a foul?” “no he’s just a dirty b*stard”.
One player I like due to the fact he stays on his feet is Sergio Aguero. I remember Bale sprinting, feeling a tickle and then throwing himself to the floor. Whereas Aguero could sprint get absolutely creamed by some big centre back (Ryan Shawcross or Titus Bramble perhaps) and still stay on his feet as if nothing happened...probably finish the chance too.
The last question the former pro’s were asked was Did You Ever Dive? I’m sad to say yes I have and I’m glad to say it didn’t come off well for me haha. We were away from home, I remember the ball was bouncing back to me. It was 100% mine but the striker was closing in on me. Just as the ball bounced into my hands the other teams striker stuck a foot out and grazed my rib…
It didn’t hurt at all but I dropped to the ground showing my amatuer dramatic skills, acting as if someone had shot a knife into me...knife gun. Anyways after laying on the floor for 2 seconds I realised the whistle wasn’t going to blow but it was too late to get up. The ball was in the back of the net and we were 2-0 down. Hmph. what I deserved to be fair hehe.
One final point is that Simon Grayson actually thought it wasn’t a dive? his quote on the BBC Sport website was “there was no contact” “it wasn’t a dive. He’s gone to get out the way and taken evasive action.” There’s two ways to avoid an onrushing goalkeeper; you can jump over him or you can dive out the way of him...it was a dive Simon, no one will disagree with you, you won’t get an FA ban. Just say it.
Anyways that’s all I have to say on the subject really.
Diving = bad/naughty/stop it/I’m gonna tell on you/MUM! MUM! WAYNE KEEPS DIVING!
Cheers for reading.
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