Measures against "diving" in football

[Kraut and Tea]

Usualy when got to talk football in recent months it always revolved arround the rather depressing subjects of FIFA corruption or my club (Dortmund), being really rubbish this season.

I met an American friend over the weekend with whom I got to talk about how the sport is evolving in his country and one of the points he kept making is that as long as diving (they call it "flopping") is widespread in this sport, people in the US will not find it appealing. We ended up having a long converation over how diving could be reduced. Granted, this is also a rather depressing subject, but I guess it is a conversation that is worth having and I would really like to read your opinions on the subject.

Diving really only got into football during the 1990s and I have to admit that the German clubs and national team started with it. Today this stupidity has almoust become a part of the game with some clubs being rumord to train players on how to dive and fake injury. It might be frustrating for fans to watch, but what we shouldnt forget is that diving also significantly endangers the safety of others, mainly when players who actualy get injured do not get the needed medical attention as a result. This is especialy dangerous if a player has a cardiac arrest during a match and collapses without another player touching him.

One rather disgusting example is that Suarez tackle in the Dutch league where Suarez broke a players leg and then pretended that he was hurt:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So how would you propose that tackling should be minimalised? My American friend told me that diving has slowly started creeping into the NBA and that diving is punished there with a post match suspention which banns the player for the next game. Do you think a drastic measure like that would have a positive effect? What do you think of punishing clubs if their players dive with fines? Should the media be encouraged by the leagues and federations to mock diving? Have you ever thought of a solution?

[Halie Satanus]

I'd say it was rife in the south American leagues long before it became noticeable in Europe and even then is was far more common in Serie A. No coincidence they were the first league to really invest in south American players.

These days it's just part of the game. We hate to see it as neutrals, even more so when an opponent does it against our team. We feel some shame when our own players do it and get booked, but there's really only a slight twinge of guilt when one of our own payers gets away with it.

I don't think there is a solution. Players get booked when it's obvious but it isn't always obvious. If FiFA enforced post match trial by video it would soon get ridiculous.

[Kraut and Tea]

I'd say it was rife in the south American leagues long before it became noticeable in Europe and even then is was far more common in Serie A. No coincidence they were the first league to really invest in south American players.

These days it's just part of the game. We hate to see it as neutrals, even more so when an opponent does it against our team. We feel some shame when our own players do it and get booked, but there's really only a slight twinge of guilt when one of our own payers gets away with it.

I don't think there is a solution. Players get booked when it's obvious but it isn't always obvious. If FiFA enforced post match trial by video it would soon get ridiculous.

Yeah I agree. I wouldnt let FIFA handle anything, it`s the kind of organisation that I would hide children from. I am pritty sure if FIFA would tell UEFA or the individual European federations to enforce such measures and have them managed by FIFA it would be a final straw that could lead European federation to sever ties with FIFA, especialy after all the other recent scandals.
If measures were to be implemented they can only be implemented by the national federations in my opinion (because I no longer trust the heads of UEFA either).

So if something like this were to be done, it should be done by the FA of one country and implemented in one of their leagues. After some experimental time we could then draw conclusions. If that doesnt work we can only hope that it stops by itself.

[Ybbon]

It never used to be common in the UK, Klinnsman whilst a good player was notorious and some of his dives were almost Oscar worthy, but it wasn't common because the fans roundly booed players trying it and other players didn't like it. That said, it didn't mean the English game was not inflicted with other "professional" behaviours - some tackling was industrial to say the least and that was equally dangerous plenty of players had their careers shortened by some robust challenges.

When refs starting handing out red cards for blatant dives, when the fans cheer to see players sent off for it then it may change but I don't see it disappearing anytime soon if ever.

[Azog 150]

More retrospective punishment would be the best way to go about it I think. Coupled with, as Ybbon says, more fan criticism of divers from players own fans as well.

The trouble with bookings during matches (unless it is really very obvious) is that officials aren't exactly unknown to get things wrong.

Something has got to be done though. The thing is its got to the stage now where players are diving when they could potentially retain possession and set up a goal scoring opportunity. Embarrassing and stupid.

[Ishoss]

Diving has always been a thing in football, both in latin countries and northern. It's nothing new. The difference is today every match is recorded and everything is looked at intensely. Even players who are jumping and falling to avoid being tackled are called divers today due to slo-mo distorting the incidence.

Not to say diving isn't a problem. It clearly is. But it's not a new problem. What has changed is that we now have the opportunity to punish people retrospectively. I am not sure if we should use it, however. Mainly because I don't trust football associations (at least not the norwegian or the english) to make unbiased retrospective punishments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaGLlHmYqOY

[the_mango55]

It might not solve it in general, but one relief would be to treat calls based on the contact and not on whether the other player was injured. Might at least curb some of the rolling around in "pain" then making a miraculous recovery after some "magic spray" is applied.

However this has started to crop up in the NFL also. Not for the same reasons though. People in the NFL don't dive/flop to draw penalties, but instead to stall the game. In American football playing defense generally requires more effort and energy per play than playing offense (Offense knows where they are going, defense has to be ready to follow them anywhere and also keep up) and the defense is only allowed to substitute players if the offense does. However, if a player is injured a short timeout is taken for that player to be able to get off the field, he then has to sit out for a play. When against "uptempo" offenses that play after play after play without huddling or subsitututing, sometimes defensive players fake injuries to be able to take a break and bring new players in.

This is the most hilarious and egregious example I've ever seen, where 2 NY Giants players flop after the same play.