" . . . went down posthumously." Comic gold!

Ok, I'll admit to knowing almost nothing about soccer, but what's the issue here? Was he being penalized for falling down? It looked like an honest slip to me, but is it just a phony attempt to try to keep the ball in play?

"Fully deserved censure... if not ridicule. That's disgraceful, really..."

If only American announcers were that eloquent.

moon: he faked going down when he realized he wouldnt get to the ball. the fake dive is a soccer disgrace

Was he faking a foul? Was he trying to make it like he was pushed or tripped? I'm with Moon here, I'm not a big soccer fan, but I'm intrigued.

Yeah, that's exactly what it was, Karaidl. He, after taking 3 or 4 full strides after the trip, fell down when realizing he wasn't going to get the ball. He faked being tripped. I don't think it was an honest slip either, because he didn't slip on the grass or show any indication of losing balance. It's like during the strides, his mind was thinking "Should I fall, or should i try for the ball? Well, the ball is out of reach, so I guess I'll fall", not realizing he was a few strides away from everybody else.

I think it goes to show just how awful the dive really was considering anyone who doesn't watch soccer sees it and thinks "....why did he fall down?". Was truly a horrible dive, and that's taken more seriously in soccer than any other sport.

Diving also exists in basketball and hockey, but the players aren't nearly as insulted by the fans when they do it in those sports.

If they could only introduce the yellow card in basketball . . .

Like lawyers in court, sports are usually about who is the best actor anyway

Tags changed from "soccer" to "fall,tripped,penalty,referee,fake,ball" by gold star member karaidl.

Was truly a horrible dive, and that's taken more seriously in soccer than any other sport.

Heh, that's a different sort of dive. In football you dive to win something in the match, not lose the whole match.

Gilardino (the attacker who dived) made a right muck of it. He realised he'd touched the ball on too far to keep it in, so he decided to pretend that the defender tripped him in order to get a penalty kick. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realise that the defender was miles back and ended up looking like a right tit. This is called "simulation" but in practice, everyone calls it diving.

Unfortunately it's pretty common and is more likely to work than end up as an embarrassment. Also the reward is a penalty or free kick and possibly a yellow or even red card for an opposition player, whereas the punishment if caught is a yellow card which probably meaningless, so there is little incentive for players not to dive. Yellow cards for diving are awarded about once every 20 matches, whereas dives take place every match. No wonder they keep doing it!!!

I wish they'd bring in post match analysis of dives, I'm sure this is the only way to tackle it. Rather than have the referee make an instant decision with no replays, no slow motion and only one viewing angle, he should continue as is - book (give a yellow card to) players for dives he spots and just take a note or something of suspicious moments. Then a panel reviews footage of the match, looks at noted incidents and makes an informed judgement. Then ban guilty players for 3 matches. That would put a stop to it, if your chances of being caught are 10x as high and the punishment worth worrying about. Shame the authorities refuse to do anything that might make the referee appear weaker or marginalised. Also, it could get messy like what if a player goes down, gets a penalty which is scored, but then the panel decides he dived. The goal should be chalked off, right? What if he wins a free kick and 30 seconds later they score, that's not a direct result of the free kick but it's related to it...

Good post, Quboid.

Interestingly enough, the idea of video playback has been debated hotly in the highest levels of FIFA officials and refs. Thus far, the main reason given for not allowing such review is that it would, as you pointed out, either require rather lengthy play stoppage or cause problems if play continues but a different decision is reached. In addition, video playback would in effect be a counter-measure to the authority of the 1st official, who is considered the ULTIMATE VOICE OF JUSTICE on the field. Any questioning of his authority can't be tolerated, and for good reason, in some cases: angry players, coaches and particularly fans can be rather rowdy and dangerous. In fact, mistakes discovered after the fact cause so much second-guessing and shouting and rioting that there is a rule that the ref's decision is final, even if there is proof positive that he screwed up. Thus, video playback being used to determine an incorrect play has been declared, for the time being, "against the spirit of the game" and won't be considered until the next major laws overhaul, which is years from now.

The real solution, I think, is changing the mindset of most referees of the yellow card, and there is a bit of that coming into effect. For decades, the dive has been rising as a foul-drawing tactic, and nothing's been done to stop it, so refs (who have pretty much all played themselves) are already used to the idea that faking a dive isn't such a big deal, and that giving a yellow card is over the top for such a petty misconduct. Now, at least for the USSF refs, we are constantly being told to not be afraid to pull out the yellow card if we see a simulated dive. It's gotten me a number of angry coaches up in my grill, but I think I'm slowly starting to see less dives in the league I ref.

there is little incentive for players not to dive.

Well hopefully this humiliation will provide incentive in the future. Can't imagine the ridicule he must be facing right now, but I bet other players are taking notice.

Simpsons calls them "floppers". :-) (Ronaldo.... awaaayy!)

Anyway, yeah, this is pretty friggin common in football (soccer). The yellow card was introduced as a penalty for this, and should definately stay, in my opinion.

This player probably should've read THIS before trying to pull that retardedness :

http://www.wikihow.com/Dive-in-Soccer

<hugs Internet>

Unfortunately diving is common in football with this being a painfully obvious display of cheating. The decision as to whether a player has been fouled, dived or just fell over is rendered far harder by players who insist on cheating. In a way you can't blame them. You either get a penalty or hopefully a nice free kick.

Bleeding scum!

I have little or no interest in soccer or football, but diving is such a damn cowardly wuss thing to do, it actually pisses me off a little, I'd say straight to red card for a dive, and a 3 match lockout for good measure. that would end the nonsense, and bring back some integrity, style and guts to this game.

but soccer is dumb, they welcome nonsense, because they love to argue after the matches.

it could be easily fixed, but it won't (or it would have already been).