Ryan Gravenberch Anthony Gordon Darren England, Liverpool Newcastle PGMOL
Credit: Sky Sports via YouTube / Peacock
Keith Hackett
Mon 26 May 2025 12:01, UK
Keith Hackett has criticised “inconsistent” refereeing after Ryan Gravenberch and Anthony Gordon were both treated differently for committing acts of simulation.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the current boss of the PGMOL, Howard Webb, has “got to get a grip” on fixing the diving issue that plague the Premier League.
The act of simulating contact and going to ground has been an issue in English football since the dawn of time.
This season there have been plenty of incidents, such as when Hackett called Yoane Wissa a “lucky man” after he avoided punishment for a dive in Fulham’s win over Brentford.
Meanwhile, both Amad and Tyrique George dived in Man United and Chelsea’s clash, with the Englishman escaping punishment, whilst the Ivorian was shown a yellow card.
Finally, Hackett called for a bold solution after Brajan Gruda’s act of simulation against Liverpool, suggesting that red cards should be shown for dives to fix the issue once and for all.
Ryan Gravenberch Liverpool
Ryan Gravenberch was booked for a dive in the Crystal Palace penalty area. (Credit: Pedro Soares/SPP)
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Anthony Gordon escapes punishment, Ryan Gravenberch sanctioned
The final matchday of the Premier League saw plenty of drama, but one constant that remained was acts of simulation, and the inconsistency in the way they are refereed.
Gordon flung himself to ground in the 32nd minute of Newcastle’s 1-0 loss to Everton, attempting to win a free-kick against Ashley Young.
The England international was successful in his efforts, leading to the Toffee’s fullback furiously remonstrating with referee Tony Harrington to no avail.
But in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, Gravenberch himself dived and was shown a yellow card by Darren England for his attempts to con the match officials.
Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon
Anthony Gordon was awarded a free-kick after minimal contact from Ashley Young. (Credit Imago)
Keith Hackett analyses footage of Ryan Gravenberch, Anthony Gordon dives
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, ex-PGMOL boss Hackett went into depth to highlight how long diving had been an issue for, and what needed to be done to tackle it.
He said: “You know, I’m going back a long time to when I was boss of the PGMOL and acts of simulation were being treated in similar manner. Some referees penalising, others not. We were inconsistent.
“We also had the problem of detecting simulation because, you know, what we then determined was that some players are really good at manufacturing contact, holding the leg out to act as an anchor.
“So what we did was we literally got the referees in a room, we showed them clip after clip after clip. Videos of acts of simulation, and videos where they were not simulation. And we discussed each one thoroughly in order to get a consensus of opinion on the course of action that we would take.
“Prior to the season, and I think it’s still continues, a meeting between the boss of the PGMOL, which was myself, and the managers of the Premier League and the Football League, right, and it wasn’t a big room, it was for the Premier League, we had three separate meetings and they could determine which meeting the manager’s going to attend, but they had to attend.
“And I can remember standing up and showing some clips and saying, ‘Gentlemen, I want you to know, before we start the new season, we’re going to make mistakes because your players are getting better [at diving].’
Cards per position Yellows Reds Number of cards Cards per match
Goalkeeper 59 1 60 1.36
Defenders 568 11 590 2.91
Midfielders 597 8 617 3.79
Attackers 282 6 291 1.77
Total 1,506 26 1,558 2.71
transfermarkt
“And that is part of the coaching responsibility that you have in terms of the integrity of the competition that you play in. Now here, I complement Darren England, I watched, like your company does, a lot of Scottish television. And I do think that there is a greater consistency of penalising simulation in Scotland than there is in England.
“And an example of that is where the referees awarded a penalty kick, the VAR comes in and says, ‘No, it’s not. Have a look at the screen.’
“They go to the screen, they overturn the penalty kick, but they do not then issue a yellow card to the player who’s clearly deceived the referee by an act of simulation.
“So I do think that there are a number of areas of officiating that Howard Webb has got to get a grip of.
“In addition to that, I do think that the authorities, that’s the FA, should have a separate panel that reviews the games, and where there are acts of simulation that have gone unpunished by the match officials, there is retrospective action taken.
“I know that FIFA don’t like re-refereeing situations, but there are times when the referee’s caught between a rock and a hard place in relation to this aspect of the game.
Referee Darren England
Darren England was praised for his officiating by Keith Hackett. (Credit: Imago)
“The players are so good at it. and the thing you’ve got to look out for is the direction of travel of a player, and you’re seeing in that case, Gordon is going down before he’s anywhere near the challenge from Young.
“Now, for me it’s penalised Young, he’s got it wrong, and therefore I think that if referees are ignoring and getting it wrong, then clearly that’s part of the training and education process of the PGMOL to gain consistency of application of the law in the Premier League.”
Hackett then spoke on the fact that one selling point of VAR had been to put an end to diving incidents, but in it’s current form it could not interfere on many diving incidents.
He said: “Well, under the current aspect of VAR it can only come in on goals, penalty kicks, offsides in mistaken identity. And as a result when you get acts of simulation which should be penalised often the offender, the guy that’s diving, is getting rewarded with a free kick.”
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