Diving and injury feigning has damaged the integrity of football for the past two decades; the World Cup of 1990 being a notable point in time when the problem was increasing. In the years since then, diving has become an accepted part of football, with hardly a top-flight game going by without fit athletic sportsmen falling to the ground and re-enacting the William Dafoe death scene from the movie Platoon. It has downgraded football from a ‘man’s game’, to a sport for over-sized cry babies.

Had FIFA heavily clamped down on this problem after the 1990 World Cup, then perhaps they wouldn’t now be punishing Eduardo for the dive he made against Celtic in the Champions League qualifier. FIFA’s method on clamping down on gamesmanship of this kind has been weak to say the least. Having children bring on banners before a game reading ‘FIFA FAIR PLAY’ hasn’t really had players shaking in their boots in fear of cheating.

The double standards regarding the Eduardo case, from FIFA and the media, has been staggering. Why has this dive caused such an outrage? Arsenal had the game in the bag and it wouldn’t have made a difference to the overall outcome of the tie.

Contrast that to the 2005 Champions League Final, when Liverpool’s Stephan Gerrard ran into the box and fell over without any contact against AC Milan. The resulting penalty levelled the game at 3-3 and affected the outcome of the biggest European game of the season. Gerrard was deemed a hero – no hint of the word cheat.

Indeed, the same media that are currently calling Eduardo a cheat, heaped praise upon Michael Owen when he fell over without contact to win England a penalty during the 2002 World Cup tie against Argentina. Owen was refereed to as ‘Clever’, which is probably not the same word that would have been used towards an Argentina player. No doubt the words ‘Slimy’, ‘Cheat’ and ‘Diving Scum’ would have been used more lavishly.

FIFA and UEFA would be correct to hand out match bans for players who cheat in this way. But they have to apply the punishment consistently. When Eduardo dived against Celtic, we can be 100% sure that his dive wasn’t the only one in top level football on that night.

Football supporters must also all be consistent when it comes to diving. It’s either wrong or it isn’t. It can’t just be wrong if it’s a player of an opposition team that we dislike.

I’m an Arsenal fan, and I’m prepared to say that what Eduardo did against Celtic was shameful, and against the spirit of football. I could tell straight away that it was a dive, and couldn’t bring myself to cheer when the ref pointed to the spot.

Another way to be consistent would be for the football world to acknowledge diving and injury feigning as a skill – a part of football that is here to stay. However, if we do so, then what we’re effectively saying is that it’s perfectly acceptable to get a person punished for something they’re innocent of – not really a great message for football to be sending out to children and the rest of society?