Diving in football?
The term “diving” or simulation as it is referred to by
FIFA, refers to the act of falsifying an injury in order to deceive the referee
into gaining an unfair advantage for your team. The advantage could be a free kick
or most commonly a penalty in the box. The increasing presence of diving in today’s
game has led to controversial decisions which have seen teams eliminated from
major competitions and seen players receive severe punishment for their
actions. Most notably Australia’s 2006 World Cup exit to Italy in the Round of
16, where Fabio Grosso dove in the penalty box after Lucas Neil tackled for
the ball. Replays have shown there was no contact on Grosso yet he fell to the
ground, thus leading to a penalty for Italy in the 90th minute of
the game, and eventually Australia’s exit. Italy went on to win the World Cup
with Grosso.
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| Lucas Neil and Fabio Grosso- the penalty incident |
This unsporting behavior leads to yellow/red cards and fines.
Recently the A-League and MLS football leagues introduced severe punishment for
players caught diving such as long term suspensions. Players and coaches alike
know the consequences of an obvious dive yet continue to do it. Not only is it
unethical but it creates another problem, the problem of telling whether or not
a player is feigning an injury or not. This can have serious consequences as,
if a player is really injured and the referee does not call a foul, medics
cannot get to the injured player. This makes it even more difficult for the
referees to get the right call in determining a genuine injury and call a foul.
According to FIFA Law 12- Fouls and Misconduct, if the
referee believes a player was in the act of simulation he can then banish a
yellow card as a caution. On the spot referees are under intense pressure to
make a decision and therefore do not always get it right. Let’s not forget a
referee has only one view of an incident with no replays whereas we have
several. The man with the whistle is also influenced by the surrounding players
and environment within the stadium. Yet even with all these pressures referees
mostly make the right decisions.
Diving can never be eradicated from the game; however it is
down to the players and coaching staff to set an example and promote fair play.
Even though diving sometimes looks genuine, in some circumstances it’s blatantly
obvious and humorous.
Just take a look at these dives and judge for yourself.
By Riyaz
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