Divers face bans in FA crackdown

Retrospective action to come in next season

Ruling body to add three women to its main board

The Football Association has announced new powers which will permit it to punish retrospectively players who dive with two-match bans, in a new initiative that will see cheats subjected to trial by video.

The governing body will have the power to charge players whom it believes have cheated to win a penalty or get a player sent off, be that for a straight red card, or a second booking. Only in those circumstances will it be possible to charge a player with the new offence in the FA regulations, “successful deception of a match official”.

As with the “not seen” regulations, where players can be punished retrospectively for acts of violent conduct not seen at the time or in their full severity by match officials, the FA will be able to scrutinise match footage for instances of diving. Once an incident has been identified it will be put before a three-man panel, comprising a former referee, manager and player, who will decide whether the FA should push ahead with the case.

If the player accepts a charge he will be given an immediate twomatch ban. Any player who contests a charge will have his case heard in front of an FA independent regulatory commission as with all disciplinary cases. The power to crack down on simulation, or diving, has long been stated as a key aim of the FA, which introduced the “not seen” measure almost four years ago.

That has been regarded as a success and has been used in some high-profile cases this season, including the retrospective ban for Tyrone Mings for his stamp on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the latter’s suspension for a retaliatory elbow.

However, the FA has felt that match officials have still not gained control of simulation with the danger that the practice will pass to a new generation of players.

There were particular concerns when Marcus Rashford, for Manchester United against Swansea, Manchester City’s Leroy Sané, against Middlesbrough, and Harry Kane, for Tottenham against Arsenal, were all accused of being guilty of the offence over one weekend last month. All of them won penalties for their teams that next season would potentially put them at risk of a deception charge.

Dele Alli won a penalty against Swansea in December for a shocking dive. Robert Snodgrass admitted the penalty he won for Hull against Crystal Palace the same month should not have been awarded, claiming he had tried to “ride the tackle”.

There are no provisions for rescinding cards wrongly given to players for diving and Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce said the rules did not go far enough, arguing there should be a way of exonerating innocent individuals.

The decision to charge players will be made only if all three members of the panel are unanimous that the offence was a deliberate deception. The hope is that the new rules will be an effective deterrent against the practice, as it has proved in Scotland where the measures to take retrospective action have been in place since 2011.

The new regulation was approved by the FA council meeting yesterday. There are concerns that lower-league matches will face a lower level of scrutiny than those at the elite end of the game.

There is no remit in the Fifa rules that allows players to be punished retrospectively for what amounts to a cautionable offence but the world governing body has not prevented the Scottish Football Association from pursuing its policy against diving. The English FA has finally followed the same lead.

The FA has also announced governance reforms, including the re- duction of its main board and the election of three female members to try to see off possible government regulation. The measures are in response to pressure from the current Conservative government to make the FA and its council more diverse.

The FA main board will be reduced from 12 to 10 members and there is a pledge to ensure that by 2018, three are women. There will be fixed limits of three terms of three years. The much-criticised FA Council has voted for extensive reform, including 11 new members that greater reflect the “diverse nature of English football”, the FA said.