Diving in England

On Wednesday, Eduardo dives to earn a penalty and he is branded a cheater and a disgrace.

On Saturday, Rooney dives to earn a penalty and he is deemed a clever footballer.

Eduardo's dive against Celtic, as well as Eboue's many dives for Arsenal over the years, are not defendable and the appropriate punishment, a yellow card is deserved for anyone who tries to trick the referee is deserved of that yellow card.

If the FA or UEFA or FIFA was inclined to make a new rule, where diving to earn a penalty in particular was made a red-card offense, then Eduardo's proposed 2-game suspension from Champions League competition would be appropriate if he was sent off. But there is no such rule in effect. It would be ludacris to suspend a player for two games on a yellow-card offense.

The fact that the "pundits" in the English media are such staunch supporters of this suspension makes no sense.

But the fact that the media calls for Eduardo's head while labeling Rooney's dive as "clever," and the media's non-questioning of Mike Dean's decision to give the penalty when clearly the replay showed Rooney to have begun falling before contact was made is despicable. Rooney and Gerrard get away with diving all the time, Ashley Young dove to win a penalty at Anfield two days before Eduardo's dive but nothing was said about it, but Drogba, Ronaldo, Eboue, and now Eduardo, are branded as divers.

It is hypocrisy for the British media to ignore their English divers. Gerrard, arguably England's best player, is a diver and a cheat at the highest stage. Rooney, the bright young hope up front as the World Cup approaches, not only tries to deceive the referees, but he abuses them as well. The English's media's choice to turn a blind eye to these players is obvious.

As an example, the Guardian had this to say about the claim for a penalty:

"Wenger was waspish in his verdict of the penalty decision that gave United their equaliser. 'Oldtraffordish,' was the neologism he coined for it. True, when Manuel Almunia, the Arsenal goalkeeper, came flying out to challenge Wayne Rooney, the England striker started to go down before contact was made. But there was substantial contact, unlike with the Eduardo incident, so it was a penalty. Rooney converted from the spot."

The report says, Rooney "started to go down before contact was made," and still said it was a penalty!

If you start to fall before contact was made, you are diving. No contact was made on Eduardo because Boruc is an excellent keeper. Almunia clumsily made contact with Rooney, but after he was already going down and already had booted the ball into the stands. Rooney played for the penalty and was given a free pass, plain and simple.

Its a shame that the best football league in the world has the most biased media to cover it.