Rooney is no diver

Wayne Rooney has come in for some criticism after he was booked for diving, having spoken out against it in the past, but I don't think that makes him a hypocrite.

There are situations in the game when players anticipate the tackle coming and there is a difference between that and outright diving.

Wayne isn't a player who would actively look to go down under a challenge. After the incident, he was straight back on his feet and didn't even appeal for the penalty.

There is a lot of media hype around the issue of diving at the moment, and every incident is likely to be scrutinized in great detail. Conversely, Steven Gerrard was denied a penalty that should certainly have been given against Arsenal, although I don't think his reputation counted against him in that situation.

These decisions by the referee are so spur of the moment and they are always going to cause debate. Fortunately, players do tend to have their luck evened out over the course of the season.

Manchester City's Craig Bellamy was a victim of a poor decision this weekend which unfortunately led to his dismissal - he was shown a second yellow card for simulation when the replay showed he was caught.

A referee has to be 100 per cent certain if a player is to be booked for diving in my opinion, yet it is difficult to make a law or a rule to support referees in this situation. If a dive is blatant then it must be punished after the game.

This is the only realistic way of cutting it out; if players know their actions are punishable retrospectively, we would see far less diving in the game in my opinion. The game could possibly introduce a panel of experts, people with direct knowledge of the game such as ex-professionals. This panel would then analyse an offence deemed as diving after the game and determine the punishment accordingly.

I think that you see both English and foreign players diving in the game. It is just part and parcel of the game that we all love. Of course, diving was originally associated with the foreign game, and over time we have seen in creep into the English game but nowadays you cannot blame a particular league or nation as it is so commonplace.

I don't think cheating can be justified in any situation, as the Thierry Henry controversy showed. If an English player dived to win a penalty in the last minute of the World Cup final it wouldn't be an ideal situation, as the win would be tainted in the minds of fans. If we focus on our football, England should have no problem in being successful in the World Cup without resorting to that sort of thing.