But, of course, such types abound in football, with television fingering them one by one at Euro 2000 as the tournament moves towards its climactic stages with this weekend's quarter-final ties. He who takes a dive, like Shearer did on Tuesday, is among the most pathetic, as could be seen in the video presentation which UEFA made in Brussels on Thursday as they announced their latest ballot of referees. Ken Ridden, the Englishman on the Referee Committee, commented drolly that this hoaxer's action was worthy of nine marks out of ten in the swimming pool but nought out of ten on the football field. Of course, we've witnessed all forms of cheating in this competition, among them players trying to get others booked or even sent off for no good reason. We've also seen countless examples of jersey-pulling which, in the view of this critic, is especially sneaky.
Yellow cards are too good for the perpetrators of such offences.
They should be off the field, along with those felons whose tackles are designed to hurt or maim, if UEFA's Fair Play ethic is to be upheld. It goes without saying that the far greater emphasis so far has been on the excitement and entertainment produced by the 16 competing nations who, as of Wednesday, were cut to half that number. But, for every glorious moment, there has been an inglorious one provided by some player or other attempting to dupe a referee at the intended expense of a hapless opponent. Shearer owned up to having joined their ranks in the Romanian game although, at the time, he protested vehemently that he had been brought down illegally. Those who might wish to remember him for his great contribution to international football, underpinned as it was by 30 goals in 63 games, were left to ponder something unsavoury about him.