3 Feb 2009

Steven Gerrard: Still a diver, but the so-called 'fans' who applaud him for it are so much worse

Steven Gerrard has proved yet again that he is brazen diver on the football field, but it is the alleged ‘fans’ who should be the most ashamed.

A few months ago, I wrote an article slamming Gerrard’s diving antics:

STEVEN GERRARD'S HISTORY OF DIVING

Despite the considerable evidence, many so-called ‘fans’ still refuse to accept the obvious truth: GERRARD IS A DIVER. This was proved yet again at the weekend with his laughable swan-dive against Chelsea, for which he was rightly booked:

GERRARD'S DIVE AGAINST CHELSEA

That Gerrard is a diver with the mindset of a cheat is old news; the more disturbing issue is the disgraceful apathy of the fans over his cheating.

Liverpool fans especially are massive hypocrites when it comes to Gerrard – they’re so willing to overlook his cheating because of their misguided worship of the player.

Just take a look at a sample of what so-called ‘fans’ think, with these extracts from a thread on Six Crazy Minutes:

Fom Ambercabs:

“He does it a bit but fairly selectively, and usually gets us a decison. Cant say I condone it but if we get an advantage from it cant say I get too pissed off!”

From Keniget:

“Maybe it's hypocritical to defend it in that manner, but fuck it, I don't really care anyways. As has been said, he doesn't do it that much and he often gets the decisions”.

From Rafa4PM:

“Fuck it, Everyones been doing it for years now right from the GK's through to the strikers and it seems that its part of the game for good”.

From SummerOfOnions:

“He should stop, but ah well”.

From Ryan:

“Dive all you want Stevie”.

Liverpool fan forums across the net are awash with this kind of cretinous drivel. And if you want another example of what 'real' fans think about Gerrard's diving, take a look at this video clip, where fans on the Kop actually encourage Gerrard to dive.

At one point, you can clearly here someone say 'You should have dived there Stevie and won a penalty':



This is, unfortunately, the depressing reality, not just of Liverpool fans but of many fans in general: They are happy to accept diving if it gives the team some kind of advantage.

Words cannot describe how much such an attitude sickens me.

People who think like this are not true fans – they are weak-minded, morally bankrupt simpletons who don’t have the courage to be objective and tell it like it is.

True fans should be criticising Gerrard, not lionising him as some kind of hero. But that’s not the done thing – apparently, it’s more important to put overpaid primadonnas like ‘Stevie Me’ on pedestals, worship them like gods and ignore their indiscretions, even if their behaviour is damaging the reputation club and sullying decades of tradition and history.

The fact is, many fans and pundits do not have the balls to tell it like it is, lest they be castigated by Liverpool's rabid 'superfans' for not being 'real supporters'. Winning is clearly more important than playing the game with honesty and integrity.

There's nothing noble about defending a player when they've done something obviously wrong. Refusing to be objective because of bias and personal preference is just weak, and does not make someone a better fan.

Anyone who dives in football is cheat. End of story. There is never any excuse for it, and the diving epidemic is just indicative of the corrupt, self-serving nature of the modern game.

Anyone who accepts diving and makes excuses for it is the lowest form of ‘fan’ out there, and it is precisely this type of pathetic, weak-minded ‘fan’ that the club - and football - does not need.

Oh, I'm sorry - have I gone too far?


20 comments:

  1. get a life mate. yeah we all know gerrard dives from time to time. dont agree with it but its unfair to single out one player in a league where players go down too easily in every game. why not write an article on the diving pedigree of andy johnson? or didier drogba? give us a break!

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  2. Why should I write about Andy Johnson and Didier Drogba? What they do has no bearing on Liverpool FC. Every time Gerrard cheats, he damages the club's reputation - *that* is what bother me.

    Look at the way we view divers at other clubs, the likes of Ronaldo/Drogba etc. I don't want Liverpool to become known as a club of cheats - if you're happy with that, then that's up to you but I'm not.

    This stupid fan attitude of acceoting diving because it's 'part of the game' and because 'everyone else does it' is ignorance of the highest order, and it needs to STOP.

    They grey area needs to be eradicated - fans need to condemn EVERY player who dives, irrespective of who it is. If players knew they would feel the wrath and disgust of the fanbase if they ever dived then theyt'd definitely be less inclined to do it.

    It is precisely because so many moronic fans accept and actually applaud (!) diving that players continue to feel fine about doing it. Consequently, the modern game is descending into a cesspool of cheating.

    Players SHOULD be publicly shamed EVRY TIME they dive. They should be embarrased on the front page of newspapers.

    Instead, they get their egos massaged by mewling, sycophantic 'fans'.

    NB. No one forces you to read this site and post comments. If it bothers you so much, don't read!

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  3. 'You should have dived there Stevie and won a penalty' doesn't that make the opposite point though, THAT HE DIDN'T DIVE. If you can't beat 'em join 'em, Or better still drive it out of the game altogether, he was booked against Chelsea for that which is fair enough so he didn't get away with it. But often as not players who 'simulate' do get away with it.

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  4. I wonder if gets tiring looking down on everyone from your golden tower.

    "No one forces you to read this site and post comments. If it bothers you so much, don't read!"

    Thats fair enough but to the same effect I may as well say to you if you dont like this kind of behavior in Football then don't watch the game, no one forces you too. You yourself claim, and rightly so, that the game has turned into a cesspool of cheaters, and that should be more of the focus.

    The fact is that there is nobody that doesnt, at least, make a meal of a challenges and thats excluding the pathetic divers such as the aforementioned Ronaldo, or Rooney's antics in the CL against Villareal this year.

    From Messi ruining his own reputation by spitting in a players face, to a redwood sized Marco Matterazzi leaning into a hobbit sized Alex Del Piero and rolling around in "pain" for 30 seconds because he couldnt' get to the ball and clear it on his own, the game is hideous at present.

    The point being that players embarass themselves regularly whether it is by diving or losing their heads on/off the pitch in any way. I understand the disgust with the man, who himself critized diving once upon a time, and beleive me when I had seen the replay on sunday I cringed in annoyance because I too don't want to see that from the club I so passionately support, and a player that is supposed to be Liverpool's beating heart.

    While i dont agree with fans that actually look for any players on any team to dive or glorify the act for that matter, I also understand the fans that yell at the top of their lungs at Anfield because, realistically, it's not even possible to see whether it was a dive or not until you see it from multiple angles and slow motion at home. I originally thought it was a foul myself in real time.

    But to take away everything that gerrard does on the pitch because he tends to turn a snack into a meal once in a while is ludicrous. You speak of ignorance then you claim that you won't focus on player like Ronaldo, Drogba, etc. because they don't affect LFC, are you serious? So if we play the Mancs and Ronaldo wins a shadow pen/FK and they win the game on it, and ultimately the league, it doesn't affect us? Or if we lose the league by 2 points because Ronaldo, Rooney, Drogba, Deco or whoever brushed by a defender and fell rolling on the ground, winning a decision, then popping up instantly to take it, scoring and sealing the game, would it affect us then? Obviously.

    It's not always a set piece either. Due to the influence of people like Ferguson, who not only turn a blind eye and deflect attention from their own divers but actually have the audacity to pressure refs into handing out cards and pampering their players, its very easy to find yourself a man down if your within touching distance of anyone.

    You dont want LFC to be veiwed as a club of cheats but even if not a one of our players ever touched the ground for any reason, every other group of supporters would STILL call us cheats or lucky or w/e. But such is the knuckle dragging youtube society that we live in nowadays where people fail to think past their initial thought, are spoon fed their opinions daily and are simply devoid of any common sense.

    Anyway I hate that Stevie dives but I also hate it when Torres goes down all to easily and often or Riera, or Alonso, etc. Which they do. So should we take everything they have accomplished from them as well? It's disgraceful but if you take a look around Stevie is a saint compared to most divers and while that may not justify it in any way, thats simply the reality of Football today.

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  5. Thanks for your comments, Anfield1892.

    I agree with you, the game is hideous at the moment and the examples you describe (Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi etc) just highlight how much of a cesspool it has become.

    But who is to blame? Clearly, the players first and foremost BUT the fans have to take the lion's share of blame in my view. Why do players continue to act like fools and continue to cheat unabated? Why do cheats like Gerrard/Ronaldo/Drogab/Insert Name Here continue to prosper?

    Simple: They receive no condemnation from their own fan-base. When these players behave in such a debased way, the fans cheer them even louder and actually praise them for gaining an advantage!

    These so-called fans are the great enablers and the descension of the modern game into hideous quagmire of cheating is largely a result of the widespread fan belief that 'winning at any costs' is all that matters.

    The comments from the fan board I posted in the article are indicative of this kind of poisoned thinking and it just makes me sick.

    "But to take away everything that gerrard does on the pitch because he tends to turn a snack into a meal once in a while is ludicrous".

    It is not ludicrous. Everything positive Gerrard does on the pitch IS undermined by his cheating. I submit that you understate the extent of his diving - please view the examples in the link at the start of the article and then tell me he is just 'turning a snack into meal once in a while'. This is the kind of blind-eyed euphemism so many fans use to make Gerrard's diving sound less outrageous than it really is.

    The provable fact is, Gerrard is cheating on a regular basis. He is cheating to gain an advantage and he *does* gain the advantage most of the time he dives.

    In fact, Liverpool's most significant trophy of the last 18 years is in the cabinet principally because of Gerrard's cheating. He dived against AC Milan to win that penalty, no question about it, and the fans love him for it. Such is the twisted reality of modern football.

    You are right about the antics of Ronaldo et al having a potential impact on Liverpool, but what I meant was, their antics do not sully the proud traditions of the club.

    Being a Scotsman myself, I feel proud of Liverpool's history; from the first batch of Scottish players to pull on Liverpool shirts at the end of the 19th Century, through the unparalleled impact of Scottish players and Managers on the success of the club. I feel an affinity with the club in that respect and I'm proud of the history of the club - a history steeped in FAIR PLAY, HONESTY and INTEGRITY, both on and off the pitch.

    The likes of Steven Gerrard are destroying this legacy with their cheating and that is saddening to me. The fact that fans are complicit in his cheating makes it even worse. if they really cared about the club's standing and reputation, they would not stand for diving in any form.

    Bill Shankly would not stand for it, neither would Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Emlyn Hughes or any of the players in the club's pre-premiership history.

    Fans of yesteryear would not stand for it either, and I'm sure they make up the minority (like me) who rally against cheating in any form.

    People always criticise me for constantly getting on Gerrard's back but what they don't appreciate is that I only do that because, for me, Gerrard is constantly sullying the club's good name.

    But it's okay though because he's a good footballer, right?

    WRONG.

    This is the attitude of the fans but it shouldn't be. Fans should be more interested in preserving the honourable legacy and reputation of the club instead of pandering to the ego of a single player.

    Long after Gerrard is a distant memory, the club will still remain, but what is the point if everything that took 100 years to build has been destroyed?

    If fans continue to turn a blind eye to cheating and things like that, then that is what will happen.

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  6. http://sixcrazyminutes.com/forums/index.php?topic=30999.msg795932#new

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  7. I attempted to get the pathetic cheat-lovers over at Six Crazy Minutes to justify their positive positions on diving but, predictably, I was banned before I could engage them in a proper debate. Just as well really, as their stances are indefensible.

    How the likes of Ryan and Keniget can justify their comments in the article above are beyond me. Fans like that are, quite simply, a cancer of the modern game.

    I challenge anti-fans like Ryan, Keniget, Rafa4pm etc to justify their ridiculous positions.

    Fans who actually care about the CLUB over individuals should be slamming these morons instead of laughing along with them

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  8. Fowler's Left Peg said...

    Mr. Kanwar you have (unjustifiably, in my estimation) deleted at least three of my previous posts on this blog, none of which have been abusive. To be honest, I fully expect you to delete this one as well.

    However, I felt compelled to post again after reading of your ire at being banned from the sixcrazyminutes forum. How ironic, considering you fastidiously delete any posts that you deem to be unworthy of appearing on this blog. Are you not practicing the same censorship that you so readily deride?

    I might suggest that you were reluctant to debate the points I raised and as a result you proceeded to delete my previous post. It is preposterous then, that you accuse other people of being "cowardly" when it is unequivocally you who is gutless.

    Nevertheless, with regards to this whole "Gerrard is a diver" debate, everyone concedes that he dives. Granted, just because others engage in diving as well does not condone his actions.

    However, it is easy for you in your condescending manner to castigate him for this, but unfortunately this will not change anything. Perceptions change over time, and whether you like it your not, ethical relativism is a dynamic construct and therefore what we once considered to be unethical (for eg. homosexual marriages) is now acceptable. What is ethical does not connote that which is moral. It is a subtle, but fundamental distinction. I don't respect Gerrard for diving, but by the same token I will not trivialize his other achievements in order to assuage some myopic sensationalist agenda against him.

    Your preposterous berating of other fans as "cowardly" and "weak-minded" is absolutely unwarranted. You have no right to determine who is a genuine fan and who isn't.

    I categorically disagree with the utter bilge that you espouse on this blog but I will never resort to farcical taxonomizing of who is a real supporter and who is not. If you can honestly defend your views, Mr Kanwar, then you will not delete my post, again.

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  9. Fowler's Left Peg - I deleted your other posts they were abusive and did not contain anything approaching a coherent argument. If you want to actually debate FOOTBALL then I am all for it.

    And let's get one thing straight: I am not upset at being banned from Six Crazy Minutes (!) - I knew I would be - I registered because I *knew* I would be banned and my point would be proved in the process, namely those who defend and applaud diving and cheating are too gutless to enter into a proper debate about it. Why? Because they cannot defend their indefensible views.

    Re your dubious point ethical relativism - I'm sorry, but I completely disagree. Diving and cheating never becomes acceptable. Anyone who thinks that is just unequivocally wrong.

    And I am not determining who is and who is not a genuine fan - some things are just objectively wrong, and fans that condone/make excuses for cheating and actively encourage it (as evidenced by the quotes in my article) cannot be real fans. That is my opinion and I'm entitled to it, just like all those who try and argue that I'm not a fan because I'm so critical are entitled to their opinion.

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  10. "If you don't like it don't read it".
    Strange comment from a grown man who hates SixCrazyMinutes so much yet keeps going back and registering under various usernames, even going as far as defending one of his alter-egos as if it was a totally different poster.
    If you don't like the site, follow your own advice and don't go there.

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  11. I don't know what you're talking about re registering under various usernames. The only names I've registered under are my own, Kojak and John Matrix. I return to Six Crazy Minutes to remind myself of the lowest common denominator type of fan that are plaguing the club and football - the type of fans who applaud cheats.

    I tried to challenge people like Keniget and Ryan over their views that diving is okay ("Dive all you like Stevie!" but I was banned before any debate could begin. Why? Because such views are indefensible.

    Still, at least SCM proved that, as a site, it agrees with the 'cheating is okay as long as it gans an advantage' philosophy.

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  12. I quite agree with you mate. Its a disgusting practice and the idiots at Six Crazy Minutes need people like you to show them their idiocy. But trying to debate them will never work. They won't hear it. Its a sad state of affairs when they think they're "true fans" when they are just sad fucks who probably sit around regretting that they'll never be able to do anything decent with their miserable fuck lives. Fans of this sport and this team know what honor is. SCM people like keniget wouldn't know it if it shagged them up the ass.

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  13. Completely agree with you Jamie,I can't stand Liverpool's crappy style anymore.Rafa needs to be given the boot(Poor Keane!!!),it seems there is a certain Frank Rijkaard out there looking for a job.

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  14. Thank god you're back Jamie.

    I groaned so hard watching that dive against Chelsea. The same hands in the air, eyes-shut "the snipers got me!" overacting. He looks like Willem Defoe in Platoon every time he pulls it, for god's sake.

    It sickens me that Gerrard is the face of our club, and clearly an incredibly gifted player, yet he resorts to this same ugly tactic time and time again.

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  15. typical scums fans choosing not to blame themselves. others are always at fault. killing people is also others fault.

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  16. Your incessant criticism of Gerrard is now so predictable that it elicits mirth. Yet your knowledge of Liverpool's history in particular and football in general is so egregiously myopic, that after reading the utter bilge you espouse, it would be remiss of me not to post a response.

    Contrary to the fiction you blatantly disseminate, diving is not a modern phenomenon. Furthermore, as shattering as this might be for you, Gerrard is not the only Liverpool player to have engaged in simulation.

    I recall, quite distinctly, Steve Heighway diving against Bruge in the first leg of the UEFA Cup in 1976, to win a penalty for Keegan to duly convert. Perhaps you might take the trouble to search for a video of this on youtube. While the quality is admittedly grainy, the commentator categorically states, "I think Heighway helped it...but very difficult for a referee...".

    The proliferation of modern technology, with multiple camera angles and such, has simply highlighted the age-old phenomenon of simulation.

    But naturally, none of this matters to you. Why bother to examine the facts when it is expedient to instead bloviate about the malaise that plagues modern football, excoriating the likes of Gerrard for his blatant "cheating" and fulminating supporters for "lionising" him?

    Nobody supports cheating, Kanwar. But I do take exception to your endless castigation of Gerrard to assuage some preposterous agenda to depict him as symbol of the club's descent into a miasma of corruption and abandoned ethos - this is not "critical realism". It is sophistry.

    Maybe reading Paul Tomkins would do you some good.

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  17. Is it me or has this little snake disapeard lately?

    He must be foaming at the mouth after the past week, the horrible piece of filth.

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  18. 'Horrible piece of filth'

    Haha! I don't know why but that just cracks me up :-)

    If you're interested in a serious debate about LFC, I'm all for it. Of course, that would presuppose you could hold an intelligent discussion for more than 3 seconds without reverting to the terrace yob stereotype.

    Seriously, if I'm so wrong about everything, let's discuss it. If you can...

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  19. I'll debate with anyone about football, even a manc. But I draw the line at mentalists posing as Liverpool fans.

    Get some help.

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  20. What is this, The feckin Twilight Zone?! :-D Why is it so the so-called 'fans' have such a problem with the concept of a critical Liverpool fan?!

    Anonymous - your post is simply a cop-out. To stop yourself being embarrassed in a debate with me you have your ready made get-ou clause of 'but he's someone posing as a Liverpool fan so I won't debate with him'.

    Are you aware of how laughable that is? All this nonsense that I'm somehow posing as someone else on various message boards and that I'm a merely posing a Liverpool fan?!

    Who has the time!? Certainly not me, hence the lack of articles recently!

    Still, I know it makes you feel secure and gives your life some meaning to think I'm some imposter, so by all means, carry on!

    I challenge you - or any of my detractors - to a debate about any pertinent issue re Liverpool FC. Come on - this is your chance to show me up! Why don't you take it?

    You won't of course; you'll just keep wheeling out the same old tired excuses.

    *awaits the the next lame excuse/insult with bated breath*

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