The Dark Arts, the bad and wild side of sport, our love

In a game that is often branded as beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, football can certainly have some dark traits, including the dark arts aspect. From feigning injury to footballers, waving imaginary cards against a fellow professional, football can be quite 'ugly'. 

Quite the irony, that I, Ayyaz Malik, a writer, am lost on what's the best word to describe football's alter ego. Lambasting referees by managers and players alike is a tough one too, but one of the real dark arts of the modern game is 'tapping up'. 

This implies that a rival football club approaches the star player of another football club and engages in behind-the-scenes negotiations. To a point, think Ashley Cole and his subsequent move to Chelsea.