A farewell to diving

And just like that, ‘simulation’ becomes part of English football’s history.

Okay, maybe I am being a bit over-optimistic here, but there is no doubt in my mind that the decision to introduce retrospective punishment from next season for players who dive or feign injury will go a very long way towards stamping out this disease.

Up until now, some of the less scrupulous players out there have been prepared to dive on the basis that if they get away with it during the game, they aren’t going face trial by television afterwards.

That, sadly, made it a risk worth taking for the cheating minority, players like… well, I won’t mention any names but the initials LS might ring a bell. And just in case they don’t, attach them to the letters ‘uis’ and ‘uarez’ and see if that helps.

But I digress. Under the new rules, players found guilty of trying to deceive a referee by pretending to have been fouled or faking injury will get a two-match ban.

More importantly, they will have all sorts of stigma permanently attached to their reputations. It’s one thing when the world thinks you are a cheat, another when it is a proven fact.

And I have to say I am equally happy with the system being used to...