Two types of dives are now prevalent in our games

The year is 2016. It is the Munster club hurling championship game between Ballyea of Clare and Thurles Sarsfields from Tipperary.

It's extra time, the ball is thrown up by the Ballyea defender, he strikes and follows through, no harm intended, the hurley is broken in the process straight across Paudie Maher’s head. How does he react? Not a flinch, nothing, just gets on with it. If he went down everyone would have said he was nearly dead but that’s not Paudie’s way; he was fine and so continued on as such.

This is what helps make Paudie such a household legend amongst the masses. As a primary school principal, when Halloween comes around, I have seen more people dressed as the blood and bandaged Paudie Maher than I have of Harry Potter.

Go back further to the legendary incidents involving Páidí Ó Sé and Dinny Allen, how Tommy Walsh would just bounce back up time and time again after big hits, how Brian Lohan played an All-Ireland final with a torn hamstring. Just examples of what our games are all about and what helps to make these players legends.

So how have we come to the point in our games now where the main topic of debate after a weekend of games seems to be diving? That is not what we are about. We always speak and give out about the antics of professional soccer players, the rolling around for days looking for a player to get sent off and we would remark: "Look at that, that's a disgrace, you’d swear he had been shot and nothing wrong with him", yet now some of this carry on has crept more and more into our games.

I am all for playing on the edge, pushing it to the max to try and get your team over the line but this has gone well passed that line by some distance. I mean it is embarrassing for the players and the