Cheats tarnishing Bundesliga says Beckenbauer

BERLIN, Apr 26 (Reuters) Diving and playacting are tarnishing the reputation of the Bundesliga, Franz Beckenbauer said today.

''We used to always complain that the Italians were actors,'' Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as West Germany captain in 1974 and coach in 1990, told Bild newspaper. ''But they were heroes compared to our league now.'' There have been a number of ugly incidents in the Bundesliga this season involving players, and even coaches, falling to the ground and feigning injury to influence referee decisions when replays showed they were hardly even touched.

''The image of the league is just terrible,'' said Beckenbauer, a Bayern Munich executive and Germany's World Cup organising committee president. ''There's far too much provocation and theatre.

''It's unfortunately a reflection of the general trend in Germany,'' he said. ''It's no coincidence that our clubs make early exits from the Champions League. I just hope that we'll have clean matches at the World Cup.'' Beckenbauer added he was in favour of using television replays to catch and punish offenders while players who demand yellow or red cards for an opponent should be booked.

''One of the 25 or more television cameras in the stadiums always seems to capture these ugly incidents,'' he said. ''There should be a drastic fine afterwards. Not 10,000 euros but 250,000 euros so that it really hurts.'' REUTERS PM ND1608