The issue of diving, simulation, sportsmanship, or perhaps just plain old cheating has reared its head again in the past week. It is a part of football that becomes topical periodically. It has been within the game for decades now, but from time to time the actions of a player (or players) will stimulate further debate.
Twelve years have passed since the FA closed the doors to the original Wembley stadium and saw to it that the famous twin towers were gone forever. With five years of the ‘New Wembley’ now behind us maybe we’re at a point where we can ask ‘was it all worth it’?
The common consensus among aficionados of the beautiful game has it that referees, for all that they obviously play a critical role in ensuring we have a game of football in the first place, should never enjoy prominence in the grand scheme of things. In other words, to borrow an old-fashioned saying that used to be adopted by adults of a certain vintage when describing children, match officials should be seen and not heard.
We have heard before that the Premier League is considered by many to be the best league in the world. But if so then the Npower Championship must surely be number 2, or maybe even number 1A.
In the end, it bore the inevitability of a Mario Balotelli red mist moment, but Celtic’s confirmation as SPL champions at the weekend was raucously celebrated by fans who hadn’t savoured a championship triumph for four long years.