ROSS COUNTY STRIKER Alex Schalk has issued an apology to Celtic, fans of the Scottish champions and referee Don Robertson after his blatant dive earned his side a 2-2 draw last Sunday.
Dutch attacker Schalk has been issued with a two-match ban for simulation by the Scottish Football Association but has insisted he’s “not a diver”.
Schalk took a tumble in the box in the 89th minute and Robertson pointed to the spot even though Celtic defender Erik Sviatchenko made no contact with the striker.
Northern Ireland international Liam Boyce then stepped up to convert the penalty and earn a valuable point for his side in their survival bid, and consign Celtic to just a fourth draw of the season.
Schalk’s dive was widely met with disgust over the weekend and the 24-year-old has since issued a statement to express his regret over the incident which Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers labelled as “blatant cheating”.
“I really want to apologise, obviously to the referee, to Celtic and to the fans,” Schalk told the Daily Record.
“I’ve seen it back and it’s stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking. There was no contact and I just want to say sorry, really. It will never happen again.
“I’m not a diver. I’ve never dived before, never been booked for diving before — not in Holland or here in Scotland. I don’t know where it came from.
“I did expect contact. These kind of situations happen. I anticipated it and was waiting on him to contact me and it never came obviously because he’s a very clever player.
“I know my apology won’t change anything about it but I do want to apologise, especially to the referee, Celtic and the fans and I’ll take any punishment that happens.
“From now on I just want to let my football do the talking and leave it at that.”
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That’s rare! Fair play to him
Fair play to Scottish FA for having retrospective ban for diving
Fair play to him for apologizing but one of the worst dives i have seen.
2 match isnt enough. They need to stamp out diving from football it’s pathetic. He only apologised because he had to hel be back diving next week
@ryan o sullivan: how about a 50 match ban them.
See I don’t get this. Week in week out in the EPL and CL we see dive after dive after dive from some of the most high profile names in the game. Why aren’t they receiving two match bans. Diving has become a skill in soccer now with most pundits accepting it with’oh there was contact there’.
Never a diver just dived
No point in apologising to Celtic, an apology would be more deserving to the clubs below County who are trying to make the top six.
How about banning those officials of the Bay/Real game aswell
He went for the ball anticipating to be challenged so went down. The Celtic player stopped short … Just like frank costanza! He was going for the peno just looked stupid when no contact came lol. But he earned his team a point