Diving (association football)

In association football, diving is an attempt by a player to gain an unfair advantage by falling to the ground and possibly feigning an injury, to give the impression that a foul has been committed. Dives are often used to exaggerate the amount of contact present in a challenge. Deciding on whether a player has dived is often very subjective, and one of the most controversial aspects of football discussion. Players do this so they can receive free kicks or penalty kicks, which can provide scoring opportunities, or so the opposing player receives a yellow or red card, giving their own team an advantage. Diving is also known as simulation (the term used by FIFA), Schwalbe (German for swallow), and, in the U.S., flopping.

The raised arms and look at the referee indicate a possible dive.

Detection
A possible dive in a Persepolis-Naft Masjed-Soleyman match.

A 2009 study[1] found that there are recognisable traits that can often be observed when a player is diving. They are:

  • a separation in time between the impact and the simulation,
  • a lack of ballistic continuity (the player moves farther than would be expected from the momentum of the tackle) and
  • lack of contact consistency (the player nurses a body part other than where the impact occurred, such as contact to the chest causing the player to fly to the ground, holding their face).
  • the "Archer's bow" pose, where the head is tilted back, chest thrust forward, arms raised and both legs bent at the knee to lift both feet off the ground to the rear, is recognised as a characteristic sign of simulation, as the action is counter to normal reflex mechanisms to protect the body in a fall.[2]

Punishment

The game's rules state that "attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)", must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour which is misconduct punishable by a yellow card.[3] The rule changes are in response to an increasing trend of diving and simulation.

Europe

In 2009, UEFA made the decision to ban Arsenal forward Eduardo da Silva for a dive during a Champions League qualifier against Celtic.[4][5] Eduardo initially received a penalty after referee Manuel Mejuto González believed Eduardo had been fouled by Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc, but video evidence showed there was no contact between Eduardo and Boruc.[4] Eduardo scored the subsequent penalty, with the goal putting Arsenal 3–0 up on aggregate.[5] Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger claimed the ban, which was to last two games,[5] was "a complete disgrace and unacceptable",[6] as it singled out Eduardo as a cheat, something which UEFA would be unable to prove.[6] The ban was subsequently overturned on appeal,[7] with Eduardo saying he was pleased UEFA had "arrived at the truth" as he was a "fair player" and was "not the type of player who needs to be dishonest".[8]

In 2011, Rangers player Sone Aluko was banned for two games for simulation by the Scottish FA.[9] During a game against Dunfermline Athletic, Aluko won a penalty which was converted by Nikica Jelavić and which proved to be the decisive goal.[10] Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre claimed it was "never a penalty" as there was no contact, and that Aluko was "obviously trying to get his team into a lead".[11] Former referee Kenny Clark said that, while there was contact, it was "not enough to cause a man to spill a pint in a pub far less to fall over".[9] After a club appeal had failed, Rangers manager Ally McCoist said he was "shocked and extremely angry" at the decision of the panel, which included former referee Jim McCluskey, who McCoist was critical of in particular, saying "his decision making hasn't improved any since he stopped refereeing".[12]

In November 2017, Everton player, Oumar Niasse became the first player to be banned by the Football Association for diving. He received a two-match ban for the offence while playing against Crystal Palace.[13]

North America

Major League Soccer in the United States began implementing fines and suspensions for the 2011 season for simulation through its Disciplinary Committee, which reviews plays after the match. On 24 June 2011, MLS penalised D.C. United forward Charlie Davies with a US $1,000 fine as the Disciplinary Committee ruled he "intentionally deceived the officials and gained an unfair advantage which directly impacted the match" in a simulation that occurred in a match against Real Salt Lake on 18 June 2011.[14]

On 29 July 2011, the Disciplinary Committee suspended Real Salt Lake forward Álvaro Saborío one game and fined him US $1,000 for a simulation in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes on 23 July 2011. Officials noted the simulation resulted in Earthquakes defender Bobby Burling being sent off on the simulation, and the warning from MLS that fines and suspensions will increase for simulation being detected by the Disciplinary Committee.[15] Furthermore, suspensions caused by players being sent off by another player's simulation can be rescinded. For example, if A2 is assessed a red card for a foul when B3 had created a simulation to make it seem A2 committed a hard foul when it was a simulation, the Disciplinary Committee can rescind the red card and suspension for A2.

Oceania

In all football leagues (including youth) a player who dives intently will be subject to a warning or yellow card if caught in a match. If a match is reviewed and a player gets caught they may get a 1 match suspension however if it's the 3rd time in a season they will get a 5 match suspension or until the end of that season (what ever is longer) OFC also has the right to ban players who intentionally dive to get a penalty or free kick. These rules are effect in club matches and international friendly (between two ofc countries)

Diving as deceptive behaviour

Recently, researchers studying signalling in animals examined diving in the context of communication theory,[16] which suggests that deceptive behaviour should occur when the potential payoffs outweigh the potential costs (or punishments). Their aim was to discern when and where diving is likely to occur, with the aim of identifying ways to stop it.

The researchers watched hundreds of hours of matches across 6 European professional leagues and found that diving is more likely to occur a) near the offensive goal and b) when the match is tied. None of the 169 dives seen in the study were punished.

It was also found that diving was more common in leagues where it was rewarded most – meaning that the more often players were likely to get free kicks or penalties out of a dive, the more often they dived. This suggests that the benefits of diving are far outweighing the costs, and the only way to reduce diving in football is by increasing the ability of referees to detect dives and by increasing the punishment associated with them.

"Some progressive professional leagues, such as the Australian A-League and the American MLS have already started handing down punishments for players found guilty of diving. This is the best way to decrease the incentive for diving," says Dr. Robbie Wilson of the soccerscience lab that conducted the study.[17]

Some have referred to simulation as a menace to footballers with real, sometimes life-threatening, injuries or conditions. On 24 May 2012, English FA referee Howard Webb spoke to a FIFA medical conference in Budapest about the importance of curbing simulation in football, as players feigning injury could put players with serious medical issues in jeopardy. Earlier that year, he had to deal with the collapse of Fabrice Muamba, who suffered cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match.[18]

Diving reputation

Repeated accusations of diving have resulted in certain players acquiring the reputation of being a "diver".

Over the years, players who have earned the reputation of being divers (by ranking in published or broadcast lists, fines by the league, or news articles and interviews) include:

Neymar lying on the ground during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia
gollark: We could provide some kind of encoding for regular stuff in unprintables.
gollark: Maybe make it '' (the empty string).
gollark: The language name should be unprintable too in some weird way.
gollark: esoteric language idea: a regular language but run through gzip.
gollark: crates.io

See also

References
  1. Morris, Paul; Lewis, David (March 2010). "Tackling Diving: The Perception of Deceptive Intentions in Association football". Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 34 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1007/s10919-009-0075-0. ISSN 0191-5886.
  2. Alleyne, Richard (16 September 2009). "Psychologists help referees spot a dive in football". Retrieved 21 January 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  3. "Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct, 3. Disciplinary action". International Football Association Board. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  4. "Uefa bans Eduardo for two matches". BBC. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  5. "Eduardo banned for two Champions League matches for diving". The Guardian. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  6. "Wenger angry over Eduardo charge". BBC. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  7. "Eduardo walks free after U-turn on diving ban". The Guardian. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  8. "Uefa overturns Eduardo diving ban". BBC. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  9. "Rangers contest Sone Aluko 'simulation' ban". BBC. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  10. "Rangers 2-1 Dunfermline". BBC. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  11. "Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre angry at Rangers penalty award". BBC. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  12. "Rangers manager furious at Sone Aluko simulation ban". BBC. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  13. "Everton's Oumar Niasse banned for two games for diving against Crystal Palace". The Independent. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  14. "MLS Disciplinary Committee fines Davies for dive vs. Real Salt Lake". Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  15. "Saborío fined, suspended for dive vs. Quakes". Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  16. Wilson, Robbie S.; Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel; Bywater, Candice L.; Condon, Catriona H.; David, Gwendolyn K. (5 October 2011). "Receivers Limit the Prevalence of Deception in Humans: Evidence from Diving Behaviour in Soccer Players". PLOS ONE. 6 (10): e26017. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026017. PMC 3187838. PMID 21998745. Retrieved 21 January 2019 – via PLoS Journals.
  17. "Tackling the Problem of Diving in Football". Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  18. Referee: Don't 'cry wolf' on injuries Archived 27 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  19. https://www.goal.com/en/news/2377/top-10/2010/10/26/2184236/video-special-top-10-divers-of-all-time
  20. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1217775-euro-2012-arjen-robben-and-the-biggest-diver-on-each-side-in-poland-ukraine#slide2
  21. Warrington, Declan (26 February 2018). "Harry Kane and Eric Dier dive to defence of Dele Alli after latest controversy in Crystal Palace win". The Independent. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  22. Glanville, Brian (16 February 2018). "When it comes to diving, Dele Alli has form". World Soccer. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  23. Sunderland, Tom. "10 Biggest Divers in World Football". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  24. Pickup, Oliver. "Arjen Robben joins list of top 9 football divers of all time, but where does he rank compared to the others?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  25. "Football's most hated, most arrogant and biggest divers". Marca. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  26. Pickup, Oliver. "20 Worst Dives in Football". Shortlist. Shortlist. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  27. Hodgkins, James. "Football's famous flopping five - the game's biggest divers". HITC. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  28. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/play-acting-footballs-most-memorable-dives-2006702.html
  29. Lynch, Michael. "Arjen Robben: World Cup magic overshadowed by diving reputation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  30. "Don't complicate your gift! - Pele on Neymar simulation". The World Game. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  31. "Pele says he told young star Neymar to stop diving". The Times of India. 23 June 2011. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012.
  32. "Football's failure to punish deceptive players is baffling". News.com.au. 3 July 2018.
  33. "Time to introduce the Pepe Rule after his Champions League final antics". The Guardian. 29 May 2016.
  34. Davis, Callum (4 June 2017). "Rio Ferdinand slams Sergio Ramos - 'I'd be embarrassed to look my son in the eye'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  35. O'Toole, Joe (27 May 2018). "Nigel Owens solution to deal with Sergio Ramos antics will please Liverpool fans". Sports Joe. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  36. "Raheem Sterling defied Gareth Southgate's warning about diving". 4 June 2018.
  37. Hackett, Keith (20 January 2019). "Mo Salah is getting a reputation as a diver - referees need to get tough". Retrieved 21 January 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  38. House, Future Publishing Limited Quay; Ambury, The; Engl, Bath BA1 1UA All rights reserved; number 2008885, Wales company registration (21 January 2019). ""Every time Salah dives, he risks costing Liverpool the Premier League title"". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  39. Lacey, David. "A reputation for diving is hard for referees to forget in a hurry". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  40. "Ashley Young's dives: five of his best for Manchester United and England". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  41. Hunter, Andy. "Ashley Young expected to be warned again about diving by David Moyes". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  42. Jackson, Jamie. "Manchester United's Ashley Young accused of looking for penalties". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  43. "Sir Alex Ferguson 'has word' with Ashley Young over diving accusations". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  44. Jackson, Jamie. "Manchester United's Ashley Young realises he has a reputation for diving". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
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