WAR ON DIVING
Two-game bans for stars who trick refs
DIVERS who con referees will be hit with two- match retrospective bans next season as English football finally gets tough on cheating.
Sportsmail revealed a fortnight ago that the Football Association were discussing ways to stamp out simulation by bringing in new rules. This was confirmed yesterday when proposals were ratified at an FA council meeting and a new offence, ‘successful deception of a match official’, was added to the rules.
A three-man panel, made up of one former referee, one ex-manager and one ex-player, will independ-
Diving bans next season?
Sportsmail’s story from 3 May ently review footage each weekend looking for cases of simulation.
Only incidents that result in a player winning a penalty or leading to an opponent being sent off — through a red card or two yellows — will be punished.
Those found guilty of diving by a unanimous decision will face a twomatch ban while opponents who have received a yellow or red card in the incident will have the punishment rescinded. The panel will also respond to incidents flagged up by managers and players. If a club appeals against a ban — they are able to submit their own written and video evidence — it will be referred by the FA to a threeperson commission.
The need for a crackdown was highlighted earlier this month when Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Manchester City’s Leroy Sane were accused of diving to win penalties. In December, Robert Snodgrass admitted to diving to win a penalty for Hull against Crystal Palace.
Both West Brom manager Tony Pulis and Burnley’s Sean Dyche had urged the football authorities to bring in new measures to prevent the cheats profiting from tricking officials.
The change required the approval of the Premier League, the EFL and the Professional Footballers’ Association.
The FA said in a statement: ‘Where there is clear and overwhelming evidence to suggest a match official has been deceived by an act of simulation, and as a direct result, the offending player’s team has been awarded a penalty and/or an opposing player has been dismissed, the FA will be able to act retrospectively under its fast track system.’
That system was introduced in 2004 to allow the FA to deal with disciplinary cases after a match and has been used to review redcard offences that were not seen by officials but were caught on TV.
An FA delegation visited their counterparts in Scotland earlier this year to discuss how effective their review panel system, introduced in 2011, has been and they have adopted similar measures.
They also looked abroad at the system in Italy where they punish divers retrospectively with two- game suspensions. But the system has its critics.
‘It’s utter rubbish,’ said Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce. ‘What about the lad who gets booked who didn’t dive, what are they going to do with that?
‘They’re going to say, “That’s unlucky, next time we’ll try to get that right”.
‘Bring technology in and we can look at it on the day and then bring a sin bin in so we can put them in for 10 minutes then put them back on.’