So what is it that people have a problem with Robben about exactly?

[Berni]

Is it the fact that he dives or the fact that he dives in such an exaggerated manner that bothers us? Or is it simply that he dives and plays for club teams that we don't like?

After all, every footballer will dive (or exaggerate a reaction)in the right circumstances. Vieira, for instance, used to scream like he'd been shot whenever he wanted a free kick. Pires dived, Eduardo dived, Eboue dived to get us that free kick in the CL final - everyone dives.

The issue is not diving, the issue is refereeing. Players will do whatever is necessary (and - more importantly - whatever they are allowed to get away with) to win an advantage. Expecting them to do otherwise is naive and ridiculous. It is up to the officials to police it better - even through use of video replay if necessary. However, to vilify individual players for doing at a decisive moment what they all do as a matter of course is ludicrous.

[Monty91]

seek to gain an unfair advantage but it takes a different mentality to claim a throw in you know was not yours and to dive. In short, the latter makes you more of a **** than the former and therefore the more you dive the bigger the **** you are.

Ergo, Robben is pretty much the biggest **** in football.

[Berni]

The only difference lies in their respective consequences. The latter is a much better reason to cheat than the former as you can get a penalty or an opponent sent off for it. That may be morally reprehensible, but it is of much greater value for your team (who are your first responsibility). Equally, though, this reward contains a much higher risk - no-one ever got a yellow card for claiming a throw in, after all. This shouldering of risk makes the diver if anything more noble than the claimer of throw-ins.

[Mo Britain less Europe]

successfully argued that cheating is an intrinsic part of his game.

[Berni]

From shirt pulling and shoving in the box, through shielding the ball into touch by obstructing a an opponent, to claiming throw ins you know aren't yours and all the myriad tricks of the trade, cheating is nodded at and even encouraged in the game. So what makes diving different?

[Ashberto]

'what makes biting so different from all the other, perhaps more dangerous fouls'?

It is a taboo, a crossed line of cheatiness. We can spend as long as you like analysing why, but that's what it boils down to.

[Mo Britain less Europe]

game, and goes unpunished, the game suffers. Successful cheating spawns a host of imitators.

Again, there is a reason why punishment for repeat offenders - "three strikes and you're out" and the like - exists. The idea that if someone is committing crimes regularly the punishment has to become more severe to discourage it.

[Ashberto]

Most players do the odd dive now and again. Those who do it constantly like Robben, Gerard and Suarez are in a different category.

[slow&low]

[Berni]

offenders when we as fans know they are doing it all the time, surely? It is the fact that they get away with it time and again that encourages them to carry on doing it. The refs are there to enforce the laws of the game. If those laws are being repeatedly and obviously flouted by certain known individuals, it is their fault.