CBC-Sports

Non-reaction to Gerrard exposes English hypocrisy over diving

December 7, 2009 02:17 PM | Posted by   John Molinaro  

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard is one of the best players in the world, but he's also a diving cheat.

Stevie G made his 500th appearance for the Reds in a 0-0 draw with Blackburn on the weekend, a momentous occasion that was unfortunately marred by more play-acting chicanery from the Liverpool captain.

Gerrard tried to win a penalty in the second half, outrageously diving to the ground under the faintest of challenges from a Blackburn defender (there was no contact). He didn't get the call, nor was he cautioned, which is too bad, because he clearly deserved a yellow card.

This is not the first time Gerrard has shamelessly tried to con the referee by diving inside the box in an attempt to win a penalty. He's done it on plenty of occasions before for both club and country, most notably in stoppage time against Atletico Madrid in last season's Champions League (Gerrard converted from the spot and Liverpool earned a 1-1 draw at Anfield).

Gerrard, of course, is not the only one who's taken a dive during his career, but unlike a lot of foreign-born players in the Premier League, he routinely gets the kid glove treatment when he does because of one simple reason: he's English.

Double standard

Curiously, none of the major daily newspapers or media outlets in England made any significant mention of Gerrard's objectionable conduct against Blackburn, further evidence of the double standard with which the British press treats English and foreign players when it comes to the issue of diving.

Indeed, their silence was truly deafening and more than a little hypocritical.

One can only imagine the uproar if, say, if it was Didier Drogba or one of those other dodgy foreigners (note sarcasm) who went to ground against Blackburn?

The British press hacks would spend massive amounts of column inches, newspapers would dedicate prominent editorial space, and Sky Sports TV commentators would wax poetically all day long about how diving and cheating is the ultimate plague of the modern game.

Can you just picture what would happen if Francesco Totti or Cristiano Ronaldo took a dive against Liverpool at Anfield in a Champions League match? We'd be subjected to the same old, tired, offensive (and untrue) cliches that have been trotted out for generations - about Portuguese players being divers, and how Italians are always feigning injury.

But no one dares to speak up with the same level of conviction, volume and vitriol when habitual divers such as Gerrard or Wayne Rooney go to ground because doing so would shatter the myth (and it is a myth) that diving and cheating isn't "the English way," and such nefarious conduct is strictly the province of foreign-born players in the Premier League (yet another myth).

Pure myth

A nauseating and offensive pretence has been accepted as fact, where the idea of playing within the rules is seen as quintessentially an English trait - that it is British teams who virtuously soldier on alone, trying to succeed in a cut-throat soccer world against their Machiavellian competitors who would think nothing of selling out their own mothers for two bits just to win a game.

Complete rubbish.

It's been stated before, but it bears repeating:

Diving, cheating, conning the referee, feigning injury and other acts of skulduggery are committed by players of ALL nationalities.

No one country or group of countries have a monopoly on morality and proper soccer ethics, and it is the height of arrogance to suggest otherwise.

Follow John Molinaro on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JohnMolinaro

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