He’s a cheat!

That seems to be the overriding sentiment towards Liverpool’s David N’Gog in the aftermath of the recent game against Birmingham. In a matter of seconds a promising yet unremarkable squad player saw himself held up as a symbol for all that is wrong with the modern game.

It’s not even worth trying to defend the leap that N’Gog took akin to Jonathan Edwards in his pomp. It was a farce. However, the issue of diving goes beyond the black and white of is it cheating or not.

The way in which rules surrounding these types of incidents are viewed gives the game major problems. Since the time of Jurgen Klinsmann when diving was seen as something to be ashamed of, the powers that be have allowed modern-day players to get away with throwing themselves to ground whilst simultaneously kicking out a leg to ensure there is contact between them and an opposing player. Commentators nowadays speak about players being “entitled to go down” as we move further away from the principled basis of England’s beautiful game.

Peter Crouch, speaking this week in an England press conference, captured the confused attitude domestic football currently wrestles with:
“When the tackle comes in and he stays on his feet, doesn't get anything and the team lose … it’s a difficult balance. ‘In a World Cup, if someone took a dive and we went through, would the nation be slaughtering him?”

For one thing, outrage over diving is seemingly limited exclusively to people not born on these shores as we cling onto the deluded notion that only foreign players dive.

The attitude of the public and, more importantly, the media when an English player engages in a spot of impromptu falling down (as Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard have done in the past) is radically different to the witch-hunts organised against foreign players like Didier Drogba and Eduardo.

As is the often used example, if on the 11th of July in Johannesburg, Jermaine Defoe topples over easily against Spain and wins a World Cup winning penalty, he’ll be a hero. If Fernando Torres does it against England he’ll be a pariah.

More mixed messages on the subject came from one of Monday’s main protagonists, Birmingham City striker Cameron Jerome. Jerome said of N’Gog:
“It’s disappointing to see people that sort of calibre diving, it’s terrible. It’s not got a role in football what-so-ever. Now it’s happening more and more and I think the authorities should do something to punish these people that bring this into the game.”

“I’ve dived before. I haven’t blatantly dived, but I’ve gone down easily to win a free-kick.”
...This is how people get confused!

Through his honesty, Jerome – like Crouch – has hit the nail on the head. People aren’t really bothered about diving so long as it’s not happening against them. It’s these types of attitudes that provide the biggest barrier to clamping down on cheats.