The Art of Diving

Callum Sparrowhawk

At the risk of offending footballing traditionalists up and down the country, I say this: “I like diving”

The act of diving has become wrongly associated with cheating and any player adjudged to be diving is the subject of intense criticism in the press.

Why is diving, or ‘simulation’, treated differently to any other form of footballing offence? When a defender pulls the shirt of a striker leaping for a header at goal, and gets away with it, we do not label them a cheat. We do not demand that the likes of John Terry, heralded as an old fashioned and ‘proper’ defender, call a foul upon themselves as they intelligently impede an opponent without being spotted.

Similarly, when a defender handles inside the area and the referee misses it, we don’t expect the defender to admit his offence to the referee. In fact, when Steven Taylor handled on the line and theatrically held his stomach with acting that Will Smith and Kate Winslet would be proud of, it was seen as ‘genius’ and was merely laughed off. Rightfully so, it was genius, and the referee was even chuckling to himself as he dismissed the Newcastle centre-half. A few games later, when he did the same thing at Old Trafford and got away with it, Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher had a little giggle and got on with the game. Probably because United were already cruising to victory, but the principle remains the same. At no point following Taylor’s actions was he branded a cheat in the press.

However when Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s finest footballer, takes a tumble we are quick to use the ‘c’ word. Obviously I mean cheat. It's not just Ronaldo though, the likes of Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Andy Johnson, to name just a few, have all been criticised for 'taking a dive'. I, for one, can’t see why it has become such a taboo in English football.

Perhaps the problem we have with diving in this country is that it is largely committed by foreign players. Or, at least, the issue seems to have become more apparent with the growing number of foreign stars in the Premier League. In Spain, Italy and other leagues across Europe, the art of diving is seen as just that, an art. Is it possible that the issue many take with diving is not the act itself, but with the foreign contingent that brought it into the Premier League?

I hope that eventually we embrace the art of diving, just as the rest of the world does. We should welcome it as an element of the game where a clever attacker can gain an advantage with a convincing fall, just as an intelligent defender can do with a subtle tug of the shirt.

What do you think? Is diving an art or is it a disgusting habit that the game can do without? Let us know.