Diving (association football)

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]

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.

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]

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

• Giorgos Karagounis[19][20]
• Dele Alli[21][22]
• Gareth Bale[23][24]
• Sergio Busquets[25][23][26]
• Didier Drogba[27][23][24]
• Steven Gerrard[24][26]
• Kader Keïta[28]
• Jürgen Klinsmann[27][24][29]
• Nani[24]
• Neymar[30][31][23][29][32]
• Pepe[33]
• Sergio Ramos[34][35]
• Raheem Sterling[36]
• Arjen Robben[27][24][29]
• Cristiano Ronaldo[23][24]
• Mohamed Salah[37][38]
• Luis Suárez[24][23][39]
• Ashley Young[23][24][40][41][42][43][44]

• Unsportsmanlike conduct
• Sportsmanship
• Gamesmanship
• Timewasting
• Running out the clock
• Flop (basketball)
• Diving (ice hockey)
• Cheating

• "Reuters Soccer Blog: Diving". Reuters. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010.
• "Simulation and the UEFA Ruling on Eduardo". US Soccer Federation Referee Program. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
• Barclay, Patrick (24 August 2009). "Feigning injury corrupts as much as fake blood". The Times.
• Elliot, Debbie (8 July 2006). "Fake or Foul? A Soccer Ref Holds Forth". All Things Considered. NPR.
• Hughes, Rob (1 September 2009). "Hunt for Cheats Has Political Hue". The New York Times.
• Torres, Cesar R. (17 September 2009). "On Diving: Soccer's Integrity Is at Stake". The New York Times.
• David, Gwendolyn (5 October 2011). "Receivers Limit the Prevalence of Deception in Humans: Evidence from the Diving Behaviour in Soccer Players". PLOS ONE. 6: e26017. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026017. PMC 3187838. PMID 21998745.
• Chacoff, Alejandro (6 April 2016). "The fall: how diving became football's worst crime". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2016.