Paul Parker Article

Diving panel needed

Tue Nov 10 12:14PM

David Ngog's dive to win a penalty against Birmingham on Monday has caused uproar, and rightly so.

What it served to do, apart from getting Liverpool and Rafa Benitez out of jail, is highlight once again the need for action to be taken to combat cheating.

Gaining an unfair advantage through diving has for too long blighted the modern game and it is time it was stamped out for good.

Of course that is easier said than done.

With such a fine line dividing success and failure, and with so many millions of pounds at stake in today's game, a great deal potentially rests on one crucial moment of playacting.

This time, Benitez was the benefactor. I'm sure he will not have been at all upset at Ngog's effort. But next week, who knows? The boot might be on the other foot and Benitez will be the one cursing an opponent's deceit.

Either way, managers need to stand up against this nasty habit and actively discourage their players from partaking in it.

Imagine the effect of, say, Carlo Ancelotti denouncing a Didier Drogba dive on national television after a game. Would the notoriously unbalanced striker go to ground so easily the next time, knowing his manager, the man who picks him, disapproves?

Of course, the players themselves also have to take some responsibility. Not so long ago, they wanted to prove themselves by staying upright and more often than not they did their utmost to score, not win penalties or get opposition players booked or sent off.

Perhaps the most effective way of dealing with divers is to name and shame them. Embarrass them publically and they will be less likely to re-offend.

How about the FA sets up a professional panel, made up of former players and referees who want to see cheating eradicated from the game?

They could sit down together after a weekend and discuss any contentious decisions before reaching agreement on whether a player deliberately tried to pull the wool over the referee's eyes.

The ex-pros have experience of playing, and know the dynamics of competing at that level, while the former officials know the laws of the game inside out.

And forget about any bias - these people should be selected for their mutual sense of responsibility and their desire to stop games being won by cheating.

If found guilty of diving, a player should then be handed a retrospective ban.

At the moment, the odd booking on the pitch clearly does not serve as a big enough deterrent.

Perhaps the guilty should even be hit where it hurts them the most - in their pocket. And should they re-offend, the sanctions should be more severe.

It may seem a bit draconian, but it seems to be the only option remaining in the bid to finally prompt a decrease in the number of players diving.

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David N'Gog's dive is a superb summary of the Liverpool team - TALENTLESS, in every department. Including diving. That was the WORST dive i have ever seen in my life.Not because it was so blatant. Because it was so badly executed. Utterly laughable.They should do a paternity check on the ref or something.
From sunil_mufc on Tue Nov 10 12:23PM
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I dint hear you say the same when the cheating Diver was playing for the Mancs. You are not god to be able to read into Ngog's mind to see if it was delibrate or only a consequence of jumping over an extended opposing foot.
From alibirjandi on Tue Nov 10 12:25PM
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first?
From maggotz_21 on Tue Nov 10 12:25PM
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Hit them them it hurts the most? They are premier league footballers, unless they are fined a week or two's wages they wouldnt even notice!
From mike.winwood on Tue Nov 10 12:27PM
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David N'Gog's dive is a superb summary of the Liverpool team - TALENTLESS, in every department. Including diving. That was the WORST dive i have ever seen in my life.Not because it was so blatant. Because it was so badly executed. Utterly laughable.They should do a paternity check on the ref or something.
From sunil_mufc on Tue Nov 10 12:28PM
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Parker talks about Drogba and Liverpool's diving......what about Rooney, Ronaldo and co's at Salford? Will Whiskey nose ever stand up against diving? Im a lifelong Chelsea fan and ill admit drogba is a pathetic diver and i hate that in his game....however he is not the only one.....
From rush_bach on Tue Nov 10 12:29PM
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The passion present in football presents itself in many different forms, both good and bad, but the drama is the most potent part of the game and if you tamper with that you risk turning the game into a boring farce - if anything the new goal-line officials being tested in the Europa League should support the Referee more in this respect
Yes Ngog dived, but that moment has not rescued Liverpool's season nor has it confined Birmingham's to extinction - there are another 89 minutes and 59 seconds to win or lose a game in
From t4tigger1977 on Tue Nov 10 12:29PM
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This is Karmic retribution for the beach ball incident so the boot has already been on the other foot Parkey
From fahadm150 on Tue Nov 10 12:30PM
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"It may seem a bit draconian, but it seems to be the only option remaining in the bid to finally prompt a decrease in the number of players diving...."
Not at all, PP. Drug cheats are punished retrospectively & severely, why should it be any different with divers? Cheating is cheating, whether they use pharmaceutical or theatrical methods! No punishment can be too severe for those who take the short cut to victory/success. The punishment must be severe enough to act as a deterrent.
From martinkiiru on Tue Nov 10 12:30PM
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whats this spam got to do with article birmingham were robbed...
From mw1900 on Tue Nov 10 12:31PM
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Dear Parker actually I agree about what did you said becuase cheating is bad habit good article just keeeeeeeep going Congratulation
From eihabahmed on Tue Nov 10 12:35PM
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theyve had the beach ball and now all they need is the sandpit for ngog to leap into.
From m.fowler771 on Tue Nov 10 12:44PM
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t4tigger 1977...seeing as ngogs blatant dive resulted in gerrard scoring an undeserved leveller in the 71st minute i reckon birmingham only had 19 minutes to get a winner...unless you know something different
From m.fowler771 on Tue Nov 10 12:48PM
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Either video technogolgy to embarrass the player at the time or a retrospective punishment. One or the other will do and would work.
From tommihew on Tue Nov 10 12:50PM
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8 comments before we get to something rlevant to the article. Yahoo Eurosport sort this out, it's a joke.
t4tigger1977. The point here is cheating, not drama. You are effectively condoning cheating.
From grahamnpotter on Tue Nov 10 12:58PM
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I think not only give the player not just David Ngog but any player that cheats to gain a goal. If the goal is gained from the cheat if first proven that it was a dive etc, then not only name and shame the player also fine the club as said above but also reducted the goal so they would in this case Liverpool would of lost the point and reinstate Birmingham's 3 points I think that would hurt the club and discourage cheating by the club and players. And I'm not saying this to upset Liverpool fans but I will say it if it happened to my club too and all clubs.
From j.s.jones73 on Tue Nov 10 12:58PM
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for 5 years the wosrt diver the prem has seen in ronaldo i have never heard paul parker saying he was wrong.
From davidread8 on Tue Nov 10 01:03PM
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get good refs maybe instead of your diving panel
From skinthole on Tue Nov 10 01:05PM
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If you can't earn it steal it seems to be the philosophy. Can't think why Ngog went to Liverpool.
From grahamdbrownett on Tue Nov 10 01:06PM
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Parker your article today somes up why so many people hate you, yes both Ngog and Drogba are divers but why do you not mention Rooney or Ronaldo both of all arnt/wernt great at staying on their feet and article with out out red bias would be great. Every week you mention Utd unless its about cheating and hey presto the mention of them vanishes quicker than Sol Campbell at Notts County
From liamhorne007 on Tue Nov 10 01:10PM
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Why cant we be like Rugby. The time it takes to argue with the decision the 4th official has had time to look at the decision on a replay and can say yes or no. It is so simple and should be used for unclear penalties and goals only. And so if it adds 2 more minuites to a game at least the paying fans will have the right result.
From handy_andy_10 on Tue Nov 10 01:16PM
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"Imagine the effect of, say, Carlo Ancelotti denouncing a Didier Drogba dive on national television after a game. Would the notoriously unbalanced striker go to ground so easily the next time, knowing his manager, the man who picks him, disapproves?" - no, he'd probably tell him to shove his management up his ar5e and go play for Inter next season. Then Ancelotti would be in line for the sack and think to himself "I wish I hadn't listened to that tw4t Paul Parker and just stuck to being a decent manager"
From jamesgwild on Tue Nov 10 01:16PM
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thieving diving cheating scouse ...does anyone expect anything different?? scousers should be ashamed of thier team, thier manager and the thug gerrard who should be in jail if it wasnt for a cheating lying scouse judge....no justice in scouse land never won it never will....
From stuartxland on Tue Nov 10 01:17PM
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No panel needed - all you need is a Video Ref. It took Lawrensen (ex-Liverpool!) less than 10 secs to declare it was a clear dive and the Video Ref could have told the ref this over the headset. No game delay, Cheat exposed and carded, Game rescued from Corruption. SIMPLES.
From shepdavid on Tue Nov 10 01:17PM
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I didn't see the incident, but I think there is two types of dive. One is to fool the referee when there has been little or no contact, the other is to highlight a foul, in which the opponent gains an unfair advantage, which would otherwise not be noticed.
From larr_murphy on Tue Nov 10 01:19PM
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PP never said his list was conclusive, he happened to mention the most recent examples of play acting, Drogba's spasms did kinda look like death throes, then he was healed enough to argue vehemently about the yellow card!
28, he was one of the best actually.
From rilez on Tue Nov 10 01:24PM
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Any player found culpable in the offence of diving to win favours from referees should be banned from playing some matches. They should also be fined.
From koonlay2002 on Tue Nov 10 01:26PM
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the only way to stop diving is to make the offender wear pink fur trimmed speedo,s ballet shoes and a crop top for the rest of the season.
From ccffloors on Tue Nov 10 01:26PM
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thars the biggest load of @#$% Parker!!.....name and shame?!!...why ..we all saw the bloody cheating dive, so you want a panel to sit down and confirm what the nation already knows,it does not do anything to re-instate the 2 pts stolen from birmingham..and thats the bottom line!!..just do the simple thing and bring in the technology for decisions of this nature, but the FA are running scared of the corruption that is rife in premier league football, thier authority is the value of nil....just look at the behaviour of Man U collectively on sunday and you can then get the idea! rooney says to the nation " 12th man" and the fa say "we are warning you" ...what a load of codswallop..and why are you so afraid to write wht is the blatant truth Parker???...just as scared I guess!!
From jc.kavanagh on Tue Nov 10 01:27PM
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'That was the WORST dive i have ever seen in my life.Not because it was so blatant. Because it was so badly executed.'
Sunil_MUFC, I agree with you Manchester United are so much better than any other team at Diving (shame you lost Ronaldo's talent in that department)...
From wistysboy on Tue Nov 10 01:29PM
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