About bloody time too. The on-field officials are often unsighted, or have a poor view of any incident, because they spend time watching the ball in play. All we need now is this rule to be extended further to include diving / simulation (like feigning a headbutt - Elmander-esque style) and we'll be able to pick Ashley Young up on a free in January. Not that we'd want the cheating little bustard, of course. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24847724
Sounds like a really good idea to me and certainly one Grant Holt could have fallen foul of on a couple of occasions.
I definately think its a good idea when dealing with example the stamp by the fulham guy at the weekend, what i do think is going to happen is refs are going to give less penalties because they think the players has dived, when he hasn't, so how is retrospective action going to solve that? I'm a great believer that refs should be allowed to ref without fear of being overruled constantly after the game, they need more help during the game to solve issues of diving not after it.
Very valid points, Guru We only ever get a snapshot - often in complete layman's terms, from the BBC, so it will be interesting to get a little more 'flesh on the bones' of how this is to be policed.
Ive said several times on here I'm massively in favour of the introduction of video officials to aid the referees, not necessarily as part of a review system. I do think a panel judging decisions is entirely necessary and the idea that the referee had seen something shouldn't excuse players from punishment if he got the response wrong, there shouldn't be a technicality for violent conduct the whole process should be engineered to provide justice not bureaucracy, this is a good move in that direction. Ultimately I would like to see this extended to diving, a panel meets to investigate incidents and gives out a 1 game ban for a dive outside the box and 3 games for an attempt to win a penalty. Using this system Ashley Young would now be banned for the next 3 champions league games. Diving is cheating, its different from other fouls because it is about deceit and trying to gain an undue advantage, the reaction should be harsh.
the only issue i have is that its not always easy to tell if its a dive or not. often it is clear, and i agree with bath's system, but certainly last season there were a couple i can remember, one where bale was accused of diving and he simply didn't - his momentum carried him over - he didn't even appeal! it wasn't a dive but he still got booked
Diving needs tough penalties, 3 game ban i would say. But i have always said diving is the fault of the governing bodies by clamping down so hard on hard but fair tackling,
but wasn't diving a part of the game in the 70s, when football was played on muddy pitches and hard men really were 'ard! my dad always says franny lee was the biggest diver he'd ever seen but he was so good at it referees never noticed and as there was little-to-know tv analysis it was rarely picked up on.
Oh yeah there has always been diving, not denying that, but it has never been as bad as it is today. Take Ashley young as a prime example, he will always look to make contact with the defending player because he knows it will always be given one way.
It would require a diverse panel, current referees, FA representatives, former players maybe even the PFA chairmen. Under this system I would also get rid of the yellow for diving. The referee just ignores it and it is felt with later when evidence can be easily reviewed.
ok, so lets say there's no yellow for diving during a match but they get a retrospective 3 or 4 game ban, something like that. what happens if in the cup final or play off final or a game of magnitude, a player dives, knowing full well that they will get banned but could win a trophy or place in the premier league? its very difficult. i think diving has to be dealt with there and then, on the pitch. getting it right all the time may prove impossible but if they are strict enough and award a red card for diving in every instance, it should begin to cut down on players taking the risk. its the same principle with the shirt pulling in the box. give every single shirt pull in the box as a penalty. it would be farcical initially! totally agree with the diverse panel. too many referees on the panel at the moment who 'look out' for each other.
Agreed when the result in the day is so important then the system doesn't work so well. Diving can only be dealt with on the field if it is spotted though you can give a red card or nothing but only if it's recognised as a dive. The issues is diving that is rewarded by the ref and that is irrelevant as to what the punishment is if it were recognised. The best way to deal with it at the time would be with video referees, but that is banned by FIFA, the other changes I proposed are within the control of the FA.
Doesn't the FA actually hold the rights to the rules of the game and we basically lease them to FIFA? If that is actually the case surely we can change them and tell FIFA to go **** themselves.
