Gareth Bale

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Booked last night for cheating, diving, simulation call it what you will and today has said "I THOUGHT I got clipped a little bit.".

I just wonder if that THOUGHT was enough to make him go down on it's own? or was it the little bit?.

[GrahamC]

He blatantly dived in a game against Villa earlier this season, too.

Good job he's not foreign, the Match of the day pundits would be going mental.......

[CiderArmyy]

Booked last night for cheating, diving, simulation call it what you will and today has said "I THOUGHT I got clipped a little bit.".

I just wonder if that THOUGHT was enough to make him go down on it's own? or was it the little bit?.

he might of well dived, but have you actually seen it? gary linekar was getting stick on twitter because they edited it out

[luke_bristol]

I thought it was a blatant foul last night, admittedly from looking at a gif of the incident. He is a serial diver though.

[Brizzle Jordan]

Only he knows. Even more reason why he'd suit playing for Barcelona or Real.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

he might of well dived, but have you actually seen it? gary linekar was getting stick on twitter because they edited it out

Saw it, thought any contact was so minimal, certainly not enough to send him tumbling, he could have stayed on his feet if he wanted, but as somebody else said today thank god it wasn't Suarez we would have gone down screaming a rolling around holding his 'ittlle knee.

Rule 12 is it? properly used exaggeration at least.

[Super]

Dempsey dived for the free kick that led to the second goal.

[Aaron-Bcfc]

I hate the guy, he really has no need to dive with the quality he has. Will earn a very bad reputation if he doesn't cut it out soon.

[BCITYFC007]

He blatantly dived in a game against Villa earlier this season, too.

Good job he's not foreign, the Match of the day pundits would be going mental.......

He is he,s welsh

[Tall King Blox]

Good shout Mr. Bung, it's called cheating....**** him and all the bastards that do the same...bastards one and all, unfortuanately it's bred into the game, a bit like my spelling

[Robbored]

I don't get this anger from fans about so called 'diving'. Its always gone on. Even in the days that I played at amatuer level diving was commonplace.No one made a big deal out of it.

Because of TV and close ups of virtually every foul its now considered the wrong thing to go do if a player 'goes down' and wins a dodgy penalty. Does no-one remember Rodney Marsh and Franny Lee? Both of them were diving all over the place in the late 60's and 70's and both played for England. Even Michael Owen won a dodgy penalty against Argentina not so long ago.

Its only we Brits that take a dim view of it, virtually every other country see it as part of the game and wonder why we make so much fuss.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I don't get this anger from fans about so called 'diving'. Its always gone on. Even in the days that I played at amatuer level diving was commonplace.No one made a big deal out of it.

Because of TV and close ups of virtually every foul its now considered the wrong thing to go do if a player 'goes down' and wins a dodgy penalty. Does no-one remember Rodney Marsh and Franny Lee? Both of them were diving all over the place in the late 60's and 70's and both played for England. Even Michael Owen won a dodgy penalty against Argentina not so long ago.

Its only we Brits that take a dim view of it, virtually every other country see it as part of the game and wonder why we make so much fuss.

I think your brains addled from giving up cigarettes, it was never commonplace, not even close to commonplace, it happend occasionally very very occasionally, not like today's football where not content with just diving, the cheat even tries to get a fellow professional sent off by feigning injury, it's ruining the game.

[TRL]

I think your brains addled from giving up cigarettes, it was never commonplace, not even close to commonplace, it happend occasionally very very occasionally, not like today's football where not content with just diving, the cheat even tries to get a fellow professional sent off by feigning injury, it's ruining the game.

I dunno Es, some of those flair players of the 70's loved a good old tumble. Only difference nowadays, divers seem to try and read a tackle to dive over before it cones in.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I dunno Es, some of those flair players of the 70's loved a good old tumble. Only difference nowadays, divers seem to try and read a tackle to dive over before it cones in.

Sorry mate not the game I remember, as I said it was so occasional, absolutely a million miles away from the sterile prayer meetings that they call football these days, ladyboys wearing ballet shoes.

[TRL]

Sorry mate not the game I remember, as I said it was so occasional, absolutely a million miles away from the sterile prayer meetings that they call football these days, ladyboys wearing ballet shoes.

Not disagreeing, as often the dive was part of a preventative measure, but they still went down with out being touched.

I wish refs would sometimes let these divers get a real hard clobbering, that in some small way would justify a dive. Unfortunately, it is a non contact sport nowadays. Pretty hard to excuse most dives.

[formerly known as ivan]

When I saw this was about bale I thought it was about the way he buried that header to make it 2 1, quality finish!

[Robbored]

I think your brains addled from giving up cigarettes, it was never commonplace, not even close to commonplace, it happend occasionally very very occasionally, not like today's football where not content with just diving, the cheat even tries to get a fellow professional sent off by feigning injury, it's ruining the game.

Now that is a relatively new development within the game as is gesturing imaginary cards at the referee when a players been fouled.

I don't know when you played EMB but certainly during the mid 70's and into the 80's when I was playing at amatuer level diving was fairly common ( not just inside the box either) but no-one seemed to make a big deal out of it. You might call the perpetrator a 'cheating bastard' but that would be just about it. Local refs got to know who the worse ones were and often refused to award anything in their favour so it kinda worked against them.

[Tall King Blox]

C,mon guys, no need, hadbags r 4 ladies, no need 4 cheats, and no need for abbrieviation

[Oops]

Bale's had his jug ears pinned back, if that helps. Last season he looked like an extra from Planet Of The Apes, but now he's amazingly streamlined. Great player though.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Now that is a relatively new development within the game as is gesturing imaginary cards at the referee when a players been fouled.

I don't know when you played EMB but certainly during the mid 70's and into the 80's when I was playing at amatuer level diving was fairly common ( not just inside the box either) but no-one seemed to make a big deal out of it. You might call the perpetrator a 'cheating bastard' but that would be just about it. Local refs got to know who the worse ones were and often refused to award anything in their favour so it kinda worked against them.

I have either played since I could walk and coached and managed at a fairly high level after a serious injury, I have scouted and made up dossiers on opponents, I have also watched BCFC since the late 50's and too be honest, diving, simulation, exaggeration or let's call it exactly what it is ******* cheating, has been so minimal and I mean minimal, apart from the odd dive and a player holding his face after the ball has hit his hand I am hard pushed to think of more than 10 or so incidents in all that time nowadays that is an average 90 minutes worth, it has gone from being an odd illness to an epidemic.

I suspect you are confusing your time at RADA where you trained to be a drama queen.

[Robbored]

I have either played since I could walk and coached and managed at a fairly high level after a serious injury, I have scouted and made up dossiers on opponents, I have also watched BCFC since the late 50's and too be honest, diving, simulation, exaggeration or let's call it exactly what it is ******* cheating, has been so minimal and I mean minimal, apart from the odd dive and a player holding his face after the ball has hit his hand I am hard pushed to think of more than 10 or so incidents in all that time nowadays that is an average 90 minutes worth, it has gone from being an odd illness to an epidemic.

I maintain that 'diving' or whatever you want to call it has been part of the British game for years. Its only in modern times with so much football of TV that its been highlighted largely by commentators most of whom never played the game and TV pundits most who have played the game. How Shearer on MOTD can criticise current players for 'diving' when he used to fall over at the slightest touch. Lineker was the same.

Its all the fault of TV coverage. Because of it the game has changed through the referee's decisions being examined which leads to even more pressure on them. There are almost 3 times as many sending offs now in the PL than when it first started 20 odd years ago.Thats down to referee's being told to deal firmly with various infrinegments including 'last man' and 'simulation'. So many red cards spoil too many games and the game just isn't the same when one team is down a man. Ask Chelsea.....

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I maintain that 'diving' or whatever you want to call it has been part of the British game for years. Its only in modern times with so much football of TV that its been highlighted largely by commentators most of whom never played the game and TV pundits most who have played the game. How Shearer on MOTD can criticise current players for 'diving' when he used to fall over at the slightest touch. Lineker was the same.

Its all the fault of TV coverage. Because of it the game has changed through the referee's decisions being examined which leads to even more pressure on them. There are almost 3 times as many sending offs now in the PL than when it first started 20 odd years ago.Thats down to referee's being told to deal firmly with various infrinegments including 'last man' and 'simulation'. So many red cards spoil too many games and the game just isn't the same when one team is down a man. Ask Chelsea.....

What utter nonsense, the refs don't deal firmly with every infringement FFS, did you not see the WWE wrestling match between David Luiz and Vincent Kompany last week (you and apparently the match officials didn't see it) Shit like that goes unpunished and a player who could stay on his feet goes down under minimal contact and there is a booking.

The reasons for the increase in cards of all colours is because football is barely a contact sport these days, if the governing bodies had the guts they could stop most of the cheating and the eternal wrestling matches at every single dead ball situation overnight, by issuing tough retrospective punishments, football has gone soft and the governing bodies even softer.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

I have either played since I could walk and coached and managed at a fairly high level after a serious injury, I have scouted and made up dossiers on opponents, I have also watched BCFC since the late 50's and too be honest, diving, simulation, exaggeration or let's call it exactly what it is ******* cheating, has been so minimal and I mean minimal, apart from the odd dive and a player holding his face after the ball has hit his hand I am hard pushed to think of more than 10 or so incidents in all that time nowadays that is an average 90 minutes worth, it has gone from being an odd illness to an epidemic.

I agree - diving was almost unheard of in the Football League until the 90s. I remember the abuse that was heaped onto Jurgen Klinsman for his theatrical diving before he came to England, and then when he came to Spurs he performed a perfect swallow dive on the pitch to celebrate a goal, which won over the fans.

[Monkeh]

aren't they told to go down if they think they've been clipped now?

[southvillekiddy]

if you will pardon me, in Bedminster we used to say about someone who was soft that they would fall over if you gobbed on them. The bloke at brighton the other night who was a head taller than Bryan, went over like this after a fair tackle from Joe, was one of those diving, simulating (sod this - cheating buggers) The resulting free kick led to their first soft goal.

Until there are a substantial number of free kicks and yellow cards against what we also used to call "continental" cheating, the most infuriating part of watching "modern" football will continue to enrage the fans and provoke trouble on and off the pitch.

There are so many inconsistencies in the way referees perform these days :

They seem content to be sworn at and abused in every way by the players

they give a penally when a player has had a ball blasted at them from close range which hit their arm through no fault of theirs (Matthew Bates recently)

They allow every kind of niggly shirt-pulling, pathetic intimidation prior to a corner or free kick

and yet

They will penalise a player for a fair challenge when a simulating, cheating disgrace to the game (gobbed on type) has fallen over deliberately in the hope of getting a free kick near goal or a penalty

In other words they should be able to sort out what is intentional and what isn't

(Could be worse I suppose.Thank God we're not watching football in Italy, people rolling around in agony one second, then sprinting the length of the field the next)

[Nibor]

I don't get this anger from fans about so called 'diving'. Its always gone on.

I don't get this willingness to make excuses for cheating.

[Monkeh]

I don't get this willingness to make excuses for cheating.

Unless its advantage to city

[Nibor]

Unless its advantage to city

Not for me no. Only time I've ever booed a City player was Cotterill for blatantly diving. I don't want to see anybody cheating least of all my own team.

[BCFC_Dan]

I was at a Guiseley match (Blue Square North) the other week and one of the players was quite blatantly clipped in the box. He tried to keep his feet and ended up winning a corner. The bloke next to me thought it necessary to tell his young son that the player 'should have gone down.'

It's no wonder it happens with people setting that kind of example to their children. Hopefully the lad takes more from what he saw than what he was told.

[Robbored]

What utter nonsense, the refs don't deal firmly with every infringement FFS, did you not see the WWE wrestling match between David Luiz and Vincent Kompany last week (you and apparently the match officials didn't see it) Shit like that goes unpunished and a player who could stay on his feet goes down under minimal contact and there is a booking.

No they don't. They are given particular infringements to take more seriously than others ( 'last man' and 'simulation') by the Professional Game Match Officals board headed by Mike Riley. If a referee didn't award a yellow card when a player takes off his shirt that referee is given a black mark. Most referee's don't want to red card a defender because he clipped a heel when trying to catch a striker heading in on goal but they have to.

The PGMOB have become the scourge of the game because of TV coverage. They make these decisions to 'protect' referee's but all they do is put even more pressure them and remove considerable amounts of automony. An infringement is just that and should not subjected to 'one infringement is worse that another' scenario. The only exception to that is serious foul play.

If for example the PGMOB directed their referee's to be much stricter with 'wrestling' then we'd see far more penalties and sendings off. Its because of them that so many games are spoiled by red cards and no coincidence that red cards now are three times greater than they were 20 years ago. Its not right to blame the referee's for sending off players when most of the time they are only doing what their instructed to do.