• by TJ Ferguson, writing from Boston

In light of the Manchester United versus Liverpool FA Cup match that took place over the weekend, I have decided to address the issue of diving. It is Football’s biggest problem. When my friends that do not like the game tell me why, they usually say it is because it’s boring, or they don’t understand it. Those excuses are starting to go away though, at least the boring part.

Right now, the people I speak to that do not like the beautiful game cite the excessive amount of diving and the lack of punishment being handed out to players who dive. In no other sport does pretending to get fouled or injured play such a huge role as it does in Football. The only one that comes close is basketball in which some players fall down on purpose to draw charges on the opposition trying to get an easy shot at the rim.

In basketball however, a player who gets called for a foul after his counterpart dove, still has to commit five other infractions before he is ejected. A Footballer who gets a foul called against him because the player he was defending dove, could be ejected just for that offense. Also in Basketball, the difference on the scoreboard is two points, maybe four or five if the other team scores on its ensuing possession. In Football, the difference could be a goal and we all know that a goal in football is worth way more than two points in basketball. Like in the Man Utd – Liverpool game, the goal was 100% of the games scoring. Two points in basketball will likely be anywhere from 1-2% of the games scoring, but could easily be less than 1% and quite rarely more than 1.5%.

It’s pretty safe to say that diving plays a much larger role in football, than in any other sport. On top of its potential impact, it is also against the laws of the game. Not only should it result in a free kick for the other team, but it can be a bookable offense. It seems like everyone realizes it’s a problem, yet no one seems to want to fix, or know how to fix it. Referees are told to look harder for it, be harsher on players they judge to have dived. But it hasn’t changed anything and some refs, still either don’t see it, or refuse to call it. Players still do it, and they still call out other players for doing it and admit to doing it.

photo by Andrew Wilkinson

My solution to this problem is to start holding both the individual and the team responsible for the incident. Players who commit red card infractions get a mandatory one game suspension, but the leagues governing body can look at the incident and suspend them longer if they feel it is necessary. So, the league should also look back at incidents where a dive may have occurred, or if a Manager feels that diving occurred, he can file a complaint with the league, and have them review the play. If the league decides it’s a dive and the ref made the wrong call, punish the player, and his team.

In the incident on the weekend involving Dimitar Berbatov, take the goal away, the result would be a scoreless draw forcing a replay at Anfield. That is how you punish the team. To punish Berbatov, suspend him for the replay. Had United gone on to score more goals, then Berbatov gets suspended for the next round, but United keep the win. Had Liverpool equalized, then the Reds would be going through, instead of the Red Devils.

In league matches, this is where it becomes a little difficult to punish the team. You could institute replays for matches in which a dive resulted in a critical goal, or take points away from the team who committed the dive. But this is a very grey filled approach to take. I will run through some scenarios to better illustrate my thoughts.

Lets say a game is tied late in a match, its stoppage time, the teams are looking like they are headed for a draw. Player A gets the ball in the box, puts a move on Player B, goes right by him, but oops, his touch was too hard, the ball goes flying away from him, he sees this and falls down grabbing his ankle. From the refs viewpoint, it looks like Player B tripped him, he awards a penalty, the result is a goal, Team A wins and takes all three points.

How to fix it: Player A receives a one game suspension, Team A is docked two points in the standings, Team B is given a point. This new method would require a new category in the tables, lets label it Point Difference. The teams records would be kept the same, so Team A gets a win, and Team B gets a loss, but, Team A gets a PD of -2 and Team B gets +1. So, if it’s the first game of the season, Team A is 1-0-0, with one point, while Team B is 0-0-1 with 1 point.

Scenario two: Team B is down by a goal, Team A is withdrawn and defending the lead. Player B dives outside the box and draws a free kick, and Player B is shown his second yellow for a red card. Team B scores off the free kick and the game ends in a draw.

How to fix it: Each side gets a draw, but Team B gets a PD of +2, while Team A gets a PD of -1. Player B gets the red card and the second yellow rescinded, so he doesn’t have to serve a suspension, unless the first yellow put him over the yellow card limit. Player A is handed a one game suspension.

Basically, if a dive results in a goal, and that goal changes a result, points get altered. If say a team is winning, then commits a dive that gets them another goal, nothing happens except the player that dove gets suspended and if another player was booked, that booking comes off the records. If a team is losing and dives, then still loses, no points get changed around, but the suspension and taking back the cards does.

An alternative could be that the Point Difference doesn’t have to be applied to the teams point total. Instead it could just be used as a tie breaker in the event that two teams are level on points. It may seem harsh to take points away that may have gone where they ended up going, but in the event that two teams are level on points at the end of the season, don’t you want the team that actually earned its points to get that spot in Europe, avoid relegation or win the title?

photo by Nigel Wilson

As a Manchester United fan, I am very happy that the team won, I am very disappointed though, in the way that they won. Had Fernando Torres dove in the other 18 yard box, and Steven Gerrard converted the resulting penalty to give Liverpool a 1-0 win, I would be furious. I expect that most Liverpool fans are furious with Berbatov and Howard Webb right now for the way that play went down, and I don’t blame them. Most people may be saying, “Well, stuff happens, it didn’t go your way, you got unlucky.” And if the sides switched, each side would be saying the things the other side is saying now.

But nowadays “stuff” doesn’t just happen. With more and better technology, replays can be seen from multiple angles, and in a matter of seconds. Do I think football should use instant replay in matches? Yeah, for some things, but that is subject for an entirely different discussion. What can be done, is reviewing matches after they are finished, and taking the calls that got messed up and making them right, assuming they had a large impact on the game. For instance, if a player dives at midfield, and no cards are handed out and the resulting free kick doesn’t yield any goals, then it doesn’t need to be examined.

There is no way to know what would’ve happened had Howard Webb not awarded the penalty to Manchester, but what did happen was Liverpool were on the wrong end of a bad call that resulted in the matches only goal, and their elimination from the FA Cup. The status quo may be good for the rest of the world, but for the game to grow in the United States of America, the problems that can be fixed, need to be fixed.

There may be no way to eliminate ties, and that may be the thing that annoys American fans the most. When casual fans, or people who just want to tell us footy lovers how to make the game better, make suggestions, it is often coming up with ways to see that every match has a winner. But there are ways to eliminate bad calls, and altering what happened on the pitch as a result of a bad call, is the first step.

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