tambourine-man
Bluelight Crew
On the whole, I think it's distasteful and it makes a mockery of both the game and the governing body.
The diving and gamesmanship phenomena is a byproduct of the commercialisation of the game. As players became commodities and their ongoing health and fitness represented a monetary investment by their respective clubs, the health risks that came from 'hard' tackles soon presented an unacceptable business risk.
Soon after, the English game was gradually sanitised to it's current state. Take a look at games from late-80s, or even those pre-1993 - they're a very different game. The dickhead commentators at these times like to stoke the nationalist sentiment by wittering on about how the Premiership is more physical than the continental leagues (because, you know, foreigners are puffs), but the difference is pretty slight.
Diving is therefor detestable for two reasons. One, because it's cheating and spoils the 'spirit of the game'. But two, the more galling reason is because such gamesmanship is taking advantage of the cultural and rule changes that were designed, largely, to protect todays pampered players from the crippling injuries of the past.
In some ways, it's changed the game immensely. The Cinderella players of today that are fawned over for their skill and majesty on the ball would, frankly, be ripped to shreds if the game was allowed to played with just one-tenth of the vigour it used to possess.
