With all the big financial rewards of modern day football, sportsmanship is fast being over taken by gamesmanship in the quest for victory.

Gamesmanship is now seen as cheating, because most of us grew up being taught about showing good sportsmanship at all times.

I would describe gamesmanship as using whatever method possible to gain an advantage and pushing the rules to the limit without cheating.

Sportsmanship is playing the game with proper consideration for fairness, ethics and respect.

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We all know what cheating is, breaking the rules to gain an unfair advantage.

I don’t agree with cheating, but I don’t have a problem with gamesmanship.

I don’t really like the word gamesmanship as it suggests cheating, I prefer to say ‘being clever’ and I don’t mean by not being caught cheating.

Pushing rules to the limit without cheating is what professional sportsmen do.

All sportsmen want to find that extra percentage or slight advantage in that hunt to be the best or a winner.

The problem is that some sportsmen take it too far and end up cheating by taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Diving is the biggest form of cheating in football and people seem to want offenders to be given a custodial sentence! That’s a bit strong a punishment for me and not one I agree with.

For me, diving is purely just cheating and is definitely not gamesmanship.

So what is gamesmanship – an obvious one is time-wasting and running the clock down at the end of the game when you’re winning.

When players surround the referee to get a decision to go their way or suggest a player is sent off is that gamesmanship or cheating?

Well I’m not sure about the rules, but I would say trying to get someone sent off – which I don’t agree with – is more cheating than gamesmanship. It’s not clever and it’s definitely not sporting.

So what is ‘being clever’ rather than cheating?

Befriending the referee, getting in his head and making him feel you are buddies hoping the decisions go your way is ‘being clever’.

If you are in the final third of the pitch facing your own goal and someone is harassing you trying to win the ball and catches you, you go down to win a free-kick.

The keeper takes it and now your team can get upfield, turning a disadvantage into an advantage.

It’s not cheating or simulation – I think it’s just being clever.

Cheat is a strong word, which shouldn’t be thrown around like confetti.

I disagree with the comments of the Sky Sports pundits and Liverpool legends Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness stating that gamesmanship is creeping into our game and spoiling it.

Gamesmanship hasn’t just crept up on us and hasn’t just started to ruin our game, cheating is ruining our game and there is a massive difference.

One pushes the rules to the limit, while the other one breaks them!