Someone Slipped Under The Radar

Much has been made of Luis Suarez diving antics in the premier league. Not exactly old news but the debate sparked up once again as Suarez was seen to go down rather theatrically against Stoke at Anfield, as he threw himself to the ground under a 'challenge' from Mark Wilson.

Suarez does his best impression of the Chinese Olympic Diving Team

Now those of you who know me know that I’m not a fan of Suarez. As a player or person. He bites, he cheats, he dives, and he offends. It is hard to not dislike a player like that. And quite frankly calling him a diver is like calling a Frenchman French. If I were to make a list of footballers I hate, he would be close to top of the list (fighting for top spot with John Terry). Don’t worry, there is a point to all this. The point I was going to make before I went on the ‘I hate Suarez’ tangent is that Suarez doesn’t deserve all the abuse he’s been getting from the footballing world. Simply because I believe that there is someone else who should be sharing the stick going Suarez’s way.

On the same day, Aston Villa played Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. During this game I witnessed a dive on a par or perhaps even worse than that of Suarez. In the 10^th minute, Gareth Bale beat an on-rushing Brad Guzan to the ball and hurled himself to the ground.

Bale takes a tumble at the Lane

 The funny thing is that if Bale had stayed on his feet, he would have had a good chance of scoring as Guzan vacated his goal. But instead he felt the need to try and gain a cheap advantage and land the keeper in trouble. Bale escaped caution, and it seems criticism. In my and I’m sure a lot of other people’s opinion, this dive was just as bad as Suarez’s so why has Bale got away with it? I’m not going to start a whole discussion about diving because I’m sure football fans will come to a universal decision that it needs to be stamped out of the game. I will say however that if people are going to condemn diving, they shouldn’t single out one player. Even if it is Luis Suarez. Gareth Bale has every right to feel embarrassed and ashamed for his antics. He is just lucky that it seems to have gone unnoticed.