This is a difficult question to answer. Here is my take on it. All that is said here is my personal opinion and may not be accurate.

I remember the time when the Arsenal back four were the England back four. Arsenal maintained a high level of integrity and respect. They were a team to be admired. Then came Wenger.

Admittedly Arsenal play the most entertaining footbal in the Premier League when they are playing well but first came the cynical fouls and sending offs. The manager in post match interviews would say, “I did not see the incident.” Sadly he now stupidly admitted it was a lie to protect his players.

Then came the simulations.

Remember the Francis Jeffers dive over Jon Arno Riise earning a penalty and high jacked Liverpool’s season. Then Jeffers dived against lowly Farnsborough in a cup match. It should have been a fairy tale encounter for this brave team of part timers. Sadly a team member became so upset with Jeffers action and had a tussle with him and was sent off. Hey you are playing with the big boys now. They cheat.

Then in the semi final of the FA cup against Manchester United, Tierry Henry blatantly dived when Arsenal did not look like scoring. He was booked. Manchester played Millwall in the Final.

Perhaps the most serious offence was against Portsmouth. Pires dived to earn Arsensal a point. Harry Rednapp spoke out about the injustice. Arsenal was at the time in the middle of their historic unbeaten run. I think this record is underpinned by this cheat.

Eduardo’s dive was perhaps the last straw and a ban was justified. Most will argue that he should be given a yellow card and not a ban but what about the goal. Is’nt that an encouragement for others to do the same when they know they can only get a yellow card?

In the next match, Eboue clumsily dived and was booked.

Questions: What has the manager done about diving? Did Eboue dive against his manager’s directive? Will the club take further action against him?

I agree with Craig Gordon. There is more to gain for the team by diving if the player can get a goal. A yellow card in not enough. It is up to the club to stop diving in football. A fine today is of little value and sending a player off will only dilute the entertainment value for supporters. Perhaps a yellow card followed by a ban and using video evidence before a penalty is given.

There is so much money at stake in these matches. Is it not better to use technology to stamp out cheating? It has been introduced seamlessly in Rugby and cricket in spite of earlier opposition. Can you imagine a test match today without video evidence?

Allowing cheats to gain for their teams is bad for the game and can antagonise supporters.

In the last three years, yellow crads for diving has increased significantly yearly. Cheating is not good. A powerful deterrant must be introduced to penalise the cheats and their clubs.

They say it is The Beautiful Game. We must keep it beautiful by kicking out the ugliness associated with cheating.