Earlier this season I wrote about Gareth Bale's diving, my distaste for it and warned him that if he continued to do it, he would gain a reputation as a cheat and find himself on the wrong side of referees.

Sadly, that's just what's happened. Bale has been booked four times for simulation this season, often unjustly. That's what happens to boys who cry wolf.

No player in the Premier League has received as many bookings this season for simulation as Bale, confirmation if any is needed that he has garnered a reputation as the league's No. 1 diver.

No one likes to think someone else is getting away with something at their expense, so it's natural that referees - a breed often driven by a petty need to prove that they are not starstruck by the game’s biggest names - would be quick to punish Bale if they suspected that he was trying to trick them.

This week Bale met with the Premier League referee Andre Marriner to talk about the situation. Bale’s argument is that he often goes to ground in order to protect himself from career-threatening injuries.

There is some logic to this. When Bale’s in full flight, any physical contact with an opposing player is likely to end quite painfully. When traveling so fast it must also be difficult for Bale to keep balance when trying to avoid the lunges of defenders.

However, there have been occasions when it’s been plain to see that Bale has gone to ground easily in order to win a free kick. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine whether a player has dived deliberately or not. Other times it’s perfectly clear.

That’s what the diving issue so frustrating. It would be pretty easy to clear this matter up in a manner that would be fairly satisfactory to just about everyone but it's the divers the fans want to see punished.

All it would take is a panel of experts - referees, managers and former pros - to watch back any controversial issues on a Monday morning to determine if simulation really took place.

If it’s obvious that a player has dived, hit him with a one-match ban. If they rule a player was wrongly booked for simulation, then the panel could overturn the yellow card.

As I’ve said, sometimes there are those moments when there’s an argument to make for both cases. In this instance no judgement would be given.

It seems simple to me. Such panels already exist to determine whether a player has been wrongly sent off, or to cast their eyes over the identity of a goalscorer. Why not add diving to the list of events looked at retrospectively?

That way players such as Bale would only get a ban if they truly deserved it. Bale is just one more yellow card away from a one-match suspension now.

Diving in general would inevitably decline if the culprits knew that they would be punished and we’d be watching a more honest game. As I say, it seems simple, but then so have many decisions in football over the years, that the powers to be deem too controversial to go ahead with.

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