Diving tarnishes international football. Luis Suarez and Liverpool Football Club are in the spotlight at the moment regarding this issue. I think Suarez is a cheat and Liverpool should pull his head in, but it’s unfair to point the finger at one player or one club. Diving is endemic in football and needs to be fixed now.
Handing out yellow or red cards is not enough and places too much pressure on referees. It’s hard enough for them to adjudicate the game – we can’t expect them to be drama teachers too. In my opinion this problem needs to be dealt with by governing bodies set up to watch a tape after the game and deal out punishments to fit any crime.
Fines are a waste of time. Unless they start dishing out million dollar penalties they aren’t going to hurt any big players or big clubs. Suspending teams’ best players who have been found guilty of diving will hurt. Don’t suspend them for one match. Suspend them for three and continue to increase the length of suspension for repeat offenders.
This will prevent actors from participating in any theatrics on the field and it might encourage players to push through questionable fouls and take defenses on. Isn’t this the sort of football we want to watch?
