Diving me Crazy

March 30th, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

Last night when I was watching Mexico play against Paraguay, I found myself on a couple occasions yelling at the television set because players on both teams were diving to the turf after little or no contact. I had absolutely no rooting interest in the match, but I soon found myself rooting against the players that were flopping around like fish out of water. I’m not going to suggest that diving is a new phenomenon in football, but it is something that really takes away from my enjoyment of the game. I don’t think I am alone in this regard.

That is why I am pleased that there has been increased attention paid to cheating lately and more importantly that there are ideas being floated around that might actually help reduce the number of times you see a player fake penalties.

A proposal by England’s Football Association that would punish players after a potential dive is reviewed on video tape makes a lot of sense to me. If players know that they will face suspension or fines when they dive, and if the technology is in place to offer clear video evidence of the infraction, then this could go a long way towards reducing the incidents of diving.

Let’s face it. If you are a referee you have to make split second decisions and what looks like a penalty in real time often turns out to be a dive when viewed on a television replay. Why not use all available technology to clean up the sport?

I know my television sure could use a break from me yelling at it.

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http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/a-pink-card-for-diving.html A Pink Card for Diving – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

[...] A few days back I suggested that television reviews of instances where players dive might be a good way of reducing cheating in the sport. Another idea is now coming forward, proposed by former England captain Gary Lineker among others. The idea is to award players who dive with a pink card. Two pink cards in a match and the player would be ejected. In other words it would be the same thing as a yellow card, except it would be pink. Apparently the stigma of the color pink would be so humiliating and such an affront to a player’s masculinity that it would make players think twice before they resort to diving. Huh? [...]
kapcro

Very good post about flopping fish. As I’ve enjoyed international play for some three decades it seems the dramatic dive has escalated over time to epic proportions. What has made classic matches such is long stretches of pure play. Now we hear whistles constantly and resulting stoppages of play. The stoppages break the flow and infuriate most of us. I hope that a solution is adopted so that the game can be enjoyed for its speed, playmaking and individual effort. Maybe play review and assessment of post-game penalties is a step in the right direction.