After a series of complaints from teachers that children were copying their heroes’ unsportsmanlike behaviour, sports minister Richard Caborn has written to every professional club, appealing for their footballers to play fair.
 
"Richard did this not just to remind players of their responsibility on the field to show fair play and adhere to the rules, but off the pitch as well," the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said.

The details were revealed in a report on role models in sport from the Commons select committee that monitors the DCMS.

Alan Keen, MP, a member and chairman of the all-party football group, told Caborn that diving in football had become worthy of an Olympic discipline.

Keen, a Middlesbrough fan, admitted he was partly motivated by a questionable "foul" on Ruud Van Nistlerooy, the Manchester United star, which earned a penalty against his team.