Why Fifa must act to deter serial divers like Hollands Arjen Robben

The lack of punishment, beyond a yellow card, for match-defining cheating is becoming an embarrassment to football

Whether Arjen Robbens tumble as Hollands game against Mexico stumbled into stoppage time was prompted by actual physical contact or mere desperation, there could be no disputing its theatricality, or that the Dutch winger has something of a track record here.

He is great player, but he was diving all the time, said Noé Pamarot, then of Tottenham, in January 2005, after Spurs fell to a 2-0 defeat to Robbens then club, Chelsea, at White Hart Lane. Robben is a great player and as well a very good diver, said Arsène Wenger, after Arsenals 1-1 Champions League draw at Bayern Munich earlier this year. For a decade Robben has tumbling and his opponents have been singing the same mournful tune, and still he remains free to flop.

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via Football | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1mFPt4L