If there is one thing that most football fans would like to see wiped out of the game it is the players constant throwing themselves to the ground if an opponent accidentally brushes past them.

Garry Monk is standing by his comment that Victor Moses "Cheated" when being awarded a penalty for Stoke City against Monk's Swansea City and having seen the incident on TV I have to agree with Monk that is was a dive.

I also applaud Monk for making a stand on the situation, most managers will have a moan about diving when it is against their team, but few actually do anything about it when the diver is one of their own players.

It is something that the FA now need to crack down on and eradicate from the game, the sad fact is that in today's high speed game it is very difficult for a referee to differenciate between a dive and a genuine foul so it is time for the FA to step in and help out referee's.

One option would be to introduce an instant decision via a replay watched by the fourth official, however this would be a little too stop start for the game.

I have a simple solution and one that I believe would wipe out diving very quickly, contentious decisions could be reviewed after each weekend's games, and adjudicated on as per the Dubious Goals panel.

It would of course be farcical to then take away goals or penalties etc, but there is one effective method, if a player is found guilty of diving then he is banned for one game, if he is then found guilty a second time then he gets a two game ban, a third time = a three game ban, but by then I feel diving would be eradicated.

If we did this it would be amazing how quickly diving vanished from our games, a player when faced with losing money from being unavailable for a number of matches will not be throwing money away by throwing himself to the ground, similarly suddenly managers will not be allowing their players to be banned for these offences.

Its a simple method but I feel effective almost instantaneously, one thing though it is needed, football fans are fed up of seeing preening players throw themselves to the ground at every opportunity, for one thing it keeps breaking the flow of the game, look at a Premier match from the early 90's and its amazing how players seemed to stay on their feet back then, now things are completely different, football needs to get its house in order before its too late.

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BoondockSaint added 16:33 - Oct 23 The replay could work-In the time it takes to set up the free kick or penalty kick because of the dive, the officials in the tv booth could make up their minds. It's the same amount of time it takes the ref to restore order when players start arguing with him anyway. Yes it would be stop/start at first, but once the players knew they were going to be caught and red carded for diving, it would stop. Or, you could give managers one protest per half, or game so they would have to use it wisely. If their protest was upheld, then they would would not lose it. This along with your idea of increasing suspensions, would get rid of almost all the cheating. I would also suggest the player has to wear a large "I'm a Cheating Little S#!t" badge on his shirt for every time he's caught-or is that going a little too far?

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SaintGeorge added 17:00 - Oct 23 Shane Long and Sadio Mané both have too much of this in their character
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ericofarabia added 17:23 - Oct 23 RK said he hates players diving ... pretty sure he'll make his views known to any of our players if he thinks they are divers. As per a review committe ... hope they are better qualified than the OG Panel, re Mane's goal now classed as an OG. FFS huge amount of goals scored each week take some sort of deflection, if every single one of them was deemed an og a lot of forwards will see their goal tally's diminish!!

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SonicBoom added 17:52 - Oct 23 I seem to remember when British football was free of diving and then we moaned about how we suffered as a consequence in European and world competitions. We would simply be back there again. Foreign players simply don't recognise it as a problem. It's part of the culture. Also back then it was pretty much the preserve of the foreigners in our game. Nowdays British players are just as culpable. So do we expect the whole world to change with us or just our domestic football?

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Whatsforpud added 17:59 - Oct 23 The 4th official in his present role, needs to be scrapped. He should not be where managers can argue refereeing decisions with him. His current job of displaying the substitution board should surely be done by one of the managers' staff anyway. This, then, would free up the 4th official to take up a place in the stand with an instant replay monitor, rather like a cricket adjudicator. I know cricket has a natural break after every ball, but in the case of a suspected dive, the matter would be sorted in seconds. The outcome would one of three decisions - a dive, a foul tackle, or neither, resulting in a (proper) bounce-up to restart. I know it would be a pity to interrupt the flow of the game, but it would surely eliminate diving if the player knew it was going to be scrutinised. This elimination would eventually improve the flow of the game.

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slynch added 19:15 - Oct 23 I think that it is thought that the professional game needs to be mirrored in the amateur game so expensive cures with extra officials which cause breaks in the game will not be considered. My suggestion is that in FIFA guidance for referees any player so fouled must be seen to be making a reasonable attempt to stay on his feet. A sight trip is not a foul and the referee must be able to judge how "slight" it is, and cannot if the player does an unnecessary swallow dive. If that doesn't clear it up then at least the acting will get better.

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saintpaz added 00:57 - Oct 24 Totally agree with no diving, but does anyone else get really irritated by how much Gary Monk whines and moans?? Every week he has something to complain about and even us earlier in the season. Anyway I want 9 against Stoke!!
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BaselSaint added 04:49 - Oct 24 It is said that blatant, obvious diving / cheating greatly inhibits the marketing of football in the US. They can't understand it. It's damaging on various levels.
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GNSaint added 13:42 - Oct 24 I dont agree, 1 match ban is too lenient. Say a team was losing and there was 5 mins to go, most players would take the hit for their team if they get a pen for the sake of only a 1 game ban. Also you might get a player who didnt fancy the next game (silly I know, but it could happen) so again the 1 game is no deterant. I'd like the panel to get serious, ban them for 3 games, I'm telling you it would stop then.

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Jesus_02 added 14:59 - Oct 24 #SonicBoom. I understand your point of view, but the England Team was also an awful lot better when it stayed on its feet. Diving isn't just bad for the team on the receiving end, it hinders the team that is relying on "winning" a free kick or pen. It becomes a lottery. As our Nige used to say "control the controllables" pen decisions are by no means controllable. Saints have, since Adkins took over and beyond, become quite resilient at not appealing and not letting bad decisions or luck effect us too much. Look at how Sunderland crumbled after a bit of bad fortune and not getting a penalty decision. I have always advocated post match reviews and find myself in complete agreement with Nick. I think that ANYTHING that goes against the guiding principles of sportsmanship should not go un-noticed or accepted by silent consent. Blatter has been on record as saying that he believes that debatable decisions are part of the entertainment. I think that he’s an arse, but I am not confident that the FA have the nerve to make the obvious measures to improve the standard of football in this country.

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