Platini's Baffling Stance on Divers

Elbowing, shirt-pulling, dissent. Before every major tournament the authorities finger at least once offence on which they intend to clamp down particularly hard. This time around we thought divers were finally going to be made to walk the plank, what with Uefa announcing a few weeks ago that video evidence would be used for the first time in the European Championships to punish simulation retrospectively (it's already used in the Champions League). How bizarre, then, that the body's big cheese, Michel Platini, has chosen now to hint that he has a kind of sneaky admiration for divers and to declare that he used to be one himself.

Platini gave an intriguing interview to L'Equipe in which he covered many subjects. When the talk turned to technology, he reiterated his belief that using video evidence during a match would cause too many stoppages - that it would be "useless" and would "ruin the game". He repeated his preference for stationing additional referees in each box instead. But more oddly given Uefa's previous announcement, he also suggested that he was opposed to using video evidence retrospectively. He even went so far as to criticise the French league authorities for imposing bans on Johan Micoud (for provoking a last minute penalty against Nancy by hauling down a defender and pretending it was he who had been fouled) and Fabrice Fiorèse (for winning a penalty by diving). "It was wrong to suspend Micoud," Platini said. "It was the referee who cocked up ... I was against that suspension, just as I was not in favour of suspending Fiorese."

Asked whether he reckoned Micoud should have been congratulated instead, Platini replied: "No, as Uefa president I can't do that. But football has its ... things. Maybe I'm too old school. People say I'm a romantic, but I prefer to say I'm a traditionalist. When I was a player I simulated to help my team win. Everyone said to me: 'well done'. Referees were getting things wrong back then too."

Perhaps Platini believes that if cheating is clever enough to avoid detection by the referee, then it is a laudable skill, a little like those (such as myself) who can't help admiring Diego Maradona's perfectly executed handball against England in 1986. But what made Maradona's ingenuity acceptable is that that deed is so difficult to do deftly that it is very rare for players to even try. Iit's a bit like shots that go close from 50 yards, which inevitably bring an "ooooooh" from the crowd, but the novelty would quickly wear off if players were to constantly attempt them. Diving, on the other hand, is easy to do, hard to spot in real time and, therefore, endemic.

Nothing causes more stoppages in football than diving. And few things provoke more violence at grassroots. As anyone who has ever played in a park knows, if you're marking a player who goes down as soon as you draw near, then you make damn sure he doesn't get back up.

Uefa has a responsibility to help eradicate the scourge of diving. There must be an effective deterrent. Retrospective punishment can help provide this. It is not complicated. Quite why Europe's most senior football suit can't understand this is baffling.