Diving (association football)

In association football, diving is an attempt by a player to gain an unfair advantage by falling to the ground and, often, faking injury to give the impression that a foul has been committed. Dives are often used to exaggerate the amount of contact made during a challenge. Deciding whether a player has dived is often very subjective and among the most controversial areas of football discussion. Motivations for diving include receiving scoring opportunities via free kicks or penalty kicks or gaining a team advantage by invoking a penalty card for the opposition. Diving may also be referred to as simulation (the term used by FIFA), Schwalbe (used in continental European countries; lit. German for "swallow"), staging (for free kicks, Australia) and flopping (North American sports in general).

Detection

A 2009 study 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)

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.

Punishment

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. The rule changes are in response to an increasing trend of diving and simulation.