Diving, or ‘flopping’ as our trans-Atlantic counterparts call it, is one of the biggest issues surrounding the modern game, yet no real action has been taken by authorities to stamp out the epidemic.
Some of the games at the World Cup became a farce due to particular players being more interested in winning fouls than scoring a goal (I’m looking at you, Arjen), and the culture of ‘going down easy’ has spread to the Premier League in recent years as well. No one likes to see it. It is cheating, and it makes the referee’s job all the more impossible. It also damages football’s reputation and gives rugby-lovers all the ammunition they need to badmouth our beautiful game.
However, I believe that if the following sanctions were in brought in by Football HQ, in a matter of weeks we would see strikers trying to score goals again rather than fall over.
1. Retrospective punsihments
This is a concept that has been banded around for a while now - it is time that the FA enforced it. A panel who sit down on a Monday morning and view controversial events involving possible simulation and hand out 3-match bans or hefty fines where necessary would act as a huge deterrent to wannabe Tom Daleys.
2. Instruct referees to give more fouls when players stay on their feet
This is a simple and very obvious idea, but I believe it would make a huge difference. If referees made it very clear to players that they will give fouls regardless of whether they hit the deck or not, players would be much more inclined to stay on their feet, especially if there was a better advantage system…
3. Make the advantage rule more like rugby
This follows on from 3). Allow me to explain: in rugby union, if Team A commits a foul but Team B still has the ball, the referee will allow play to continue for a few phases to see whether an advantage develops for Team B. If there is no advantage, he will bring play back and award a penalty for Team B.
However, the current rules mean that in football, if Team X commits a foul but the player from Team Y stays on his feet, the referee has to decide instantly whether or not there is an advantage for Team Y. He cannot call advantage, and then bring play back if Team Y happen to have a donkey striker who boots the ball into Row Z. They could have had a free kick in a promising position, but instead it is a goal kick to their opposition. The player who stayed on his feet is then criticised by his manager and pundits alike, so next time he will go to ground to avoid criticism.
However, to reward a player for not toppling like a drunken giraffe, this rule would allow the team who have suffered the foul to have a free phase of attack for, say, ten seconds, and be safe in the knowledge that if Torres/Aspas/Welbeck messes the move up, they can go back and have a free kick or even penalty.
4. Book players for exaggerating a foul - even if there is contact
This would make life so much easier for referees. So often you see players go down when they don’t need to just to highlight the fact that he has been fouled . In my opinion, even if a player has been fouled, if falls over and writhes in agony he is still trying to con the referee into thinking that the contact was worse than it really was, therefore, in my view, this is simulation. For example if a referee spots some shirt-tugging in the area, but the player being pulled back goes down clutching his face and performs the old ‘roll over once, bang the floor twice routine’ and is clearly milking it, the referee could give his side a penalty and book the player for simulating a contact that didn't happen.
So there you have it. 4 simple and yet quite brilliant solutions to stamping out diving. Easy, eh?
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