No contact: Lee Carsley slides in and David Ngog
goes over the top in the incident which caused such
outrage
David Ngog's outrageous dive against Birmingham City
could lead to a major change in the way the English game is
governed. The Football Association are ready to act after a series
of damaging incidents - highlighted by Sportsmail’s campaign
against diving cheats.
Sportsmail understands the FA are now looking to make a
significant change to their own rulebook, allowing them to take
action against players such as Ngog.
At present, the FA follow FIFA’s regulations in refusing to
punish players retrospectively who are shown to have cheated
through diving.
The Liverpool striker won a crucial penalty on Monday night when
he went down as
Birmingham midfielder Lee Carsley slid in to challenge. His action,
which led to Steven Gerrard converting the penalty to earn
under-pressure Liverpool a 2-2 draw, has been condemned across the
game.
FA officials recognise the damage such incidents inflict on the
sport and are mindful that UEFA have banned cheats on the basis of
video evidence. Europe’s ruling body banned the Arsenal striker
Eduardo after he dived against Celtic, before reversing the
decision.
The call for action has grown stronger since Sportsmail launched
our campaign to outlaw diving cheats and we have been backed by
managers, players and fans alike.
The Eduardo incident and the one involving team-mate Emmanuel
Eboue against Manchester United in August highlighted the growing
menace in the game.
The FA move comes as Birmingham City defender Scott Dann,
sickened by the incident which cost his side victory, called for
tough action to clear the game of cheats.
Dann, a lifelong Liverpool fan, said: ‘The only way you can stop
it is to suspend cheats and it is up to the FA to sort it out.
‘Rules can be changed to clean up football and this is something
that needs to be addressed and people have to be punished heavily.
Everyone who saw it knew it was a dive. It was so obvious.’
Match referee Peter Walton will be asked to explain his decision
to award the penalty at a special meeting of referees called to
deal with what is a growing crisis in the game.
Referees’ chief Keith Hackett said: ‘I will be sitting down with
Peter on a one-to-one basis, as well as in a group format, to see
how we can best deal with this problem so that errors are
reduced.
‘We will go through what the referee could have done to avoid
this error.’
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is unlikely to take any action
against Ngog but will have to address his side’s shortcomings as a
matter of urgency, as winger Albert Riera reflected on a return of
one win from nine games and admitted it has turned into a mental
barrier for Liverpool’s under-performing players.
Riera and Yossi Benayoun both face up to six weeks out with torn
hamstrings. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are doubts for the
visit of Manchester City a week on Saturday. To add to the injury
problems, defender Daniel Agger has reported more discomfort in his
troublesome back.
Goalkeeper Pepe Reina recently described Liverpool’s precarious
Champions’ League plight as ‘disgraceful’ and Riera was just as
forthright as he bluntly conceded his team’s attempts to halt the
slide are ‘not working’.
