Retrospective Diving Punishments

One of the unfortunate by-products of having one of the best leagues in the world, is the diving culture that has developed from the number of foreigners brought into the game, and this incessant desire to win imbedded within almost every player in the league. I am not too nationalistic to say that it is only foreigners that dive in the Premier League, as we know only too well this problem has come to affect the likes of Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen to name but a few.

Recently the Premier League, as well as Uefa, have insisted upon yellow cards for diving offences (or "simulation" to be politically correct), but this punishment does not match the crime. In truth, the only reason the player is issued with a caution is because on the pitch it can often be difficult for a referee to know for certain whether a player has deliberately taken a dive to deceive, or whether there has been some contact. Diving is cheating, and so should be met with a red card, and personally I believe a minimum of a two game suspension. So whilst it is difficult for the referee to notice the blatant dives... perhaps television evidence could be used for a retrospective punishment to be handed out.

I only refer to the instances where it is clear that no contact has been made, and so one can know for sure that the player has deliberately "simulated" a fall to deceive a referee. This weekend saw two such instances, Emmanuel Adebayor vs. Fulham, and Nicolas Anelka vs. Wigan. What almost offended me more than the dives, was the lack of response from the referee, and from the television analysts after the game. It is clear that we are all too used to diving occuring in the Premier League that even when it happens so blatantly, we are not even bothering to comment on it. In order to solve the problem, retrospective two game suspensions should be introduced. That would make those diving cheats think twice.

Aplogies for not finding any videos.