OPINION
It was funny to see rival clubs and pundits get sanctimonious over the spygate scandal. Leeds crime? To watch their opponents training from public ground.
It might not exactly be cricket – but that phrase hints at a level of sporting play that just doesn’t exist in Britain.
One of the best examples came from West Brom striker Dwight Gayle in the 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest earlier this week.
With Forest winning 2-1, Gayle decided to fling himself to the ground and won a penalty that in turn secured West Brom a valuable point.
Gayle was banned for two games and rightly castigated, but this is actual cheating that breaks real-life laws.
This is what we need to remove from the game.
Manager Darren Moore didn’t exactly help things when he said that he was unhappy with the diving ban and that he hoped the sense of injustice could spur West Brom on against Aston Villa on Saturday.
It did, they won 2-0, but we can’t understand what he meant, and he angered some Leeds and Nottingham Forest fans too. The bottom line is you don’t have to defend your players when they’ve cheated.
Here are the best reactions from the two sets of supporters:
Is he for real, he literally cheated to get a pen and he's hurt ????
— Gaurav Gupta (@NottinghamGupta) February 16, 2019
The only injustice is that WBA picked up a point through cheating.
— Josh Hobbs (@JoshAHobbs) February 16, 2019
He does it every week!
— Daniel Gathercole (@gather100) February 16, 2019
James, did you keep a straight face whilst this conversation took place ? If so then bravo to you ????
— george dickson (@g_dickson09) February 16, 2019
Poor lad, really feel for him
— Markan Sangha (@M_Sangha1) February 16, 2019
Injustice 😀 even WBA fans after the game were saying it was a dive, sometimes people should accept their just punishment and stop bitching about something where the only injustice was that Forest were robbed of 2 points by a cheat
— Chris Schofield (@Cms186) February 16, 2019
Yep he cheated but he’s not a cheat. Terrible injustice for WBA. Muppet
— John Murtagh (@JohnMurtagh3) February 16, 2019
Injustice? Off his flipping head. What about Forest?? Ffs
— James Pearson (@JamesPearson25) February 16, 2019
Injustice?? He dived, deceived the ref and got caught and punished where's the injustice you pleb?
— PezLUFC???????? (@aperry1986) February 16, 2019
Wtf is an injustice about it? He dived. He got a 2 game ban. His team got a point they didn’t deserve. Get a feckin grip.
— Jonathan Heath (@JonHeath1980) February 16, 2019