In recent weeks we have seen too much of diving . It really getting out of hand . What is your solution ?

Sin bin like Rugby. They dive, they off the field for 10 mins.

In my opinion there should be video replay technologies involved either during the match or after just like they review some fouls or gestures or remarks towards other player and later on give appropriate punishment which most of the time is match ban .

@Wolfie don't you think they will dive on purpose sometimes to get some rest ?

How about each time a player dives a team loses one substitution?

Why the F would they do that?! O_o

Straight red card for diving. If diving for a penalty is able to give your team a winning advantage, then you should be able to take the risk of causing your team a losing disadvantage. Too many players dive knowing very well the reward is great but the risk and level of punishment is low.

Ban them for 5 games.
They are cheating, and should be punished.
I think a player will definitely think twice about diving if they will miss this many games.
Not only will they be worried about the ban, but the fans will get on their back for doing something so stupid.

Its these players that are diving which give this beautiful sport a reason to be spoken bad of by ignorant people.
It tarnishes the sport, the club, and the player.

@Wolfie: Substitutions are a really important part of a game. A substitution can help change the score or keep it the way it is. Subtitutions are also needed in case a player is injured or is tired out.

So if a player dives, take away one substitution spot from the diver's team. He'll get some furious glares and lectures from the manager, players, and fans like that. That would immediately give the diver second thoughts about if diving is really something he can't live without.

Damn @tdot and @Shnadsy, those are some harsh ways to stop diving.

@Wolfie , My bad something different went through my mind . Your solution will most like slow down the match as he has to walk off with all the arguments and then has to comeback on into a game and everytime game would have to be stopped . Plus how accurate will referees be when they make decision to send him off for 10 min ? There should be solution not just to punish players but help referees to make right decisions and quick decisions during the match .

@tdot @Shnadsy yeah little too harsh . What if player did not dive ? I am still sticking to theory that there should be more tools available for referee to make quick decision . As far as punishment I agree match bans is best way to punish . It should be based on number of violation during the first half of the season . Like when a player gets 5 accumulative yellow cards till 31 December , he automatically gets one match ban . Ofcourse , I think for every match player dived there should be yellow after 2 accumulative yellows there should be ban . I would go as harsh as just one yellow for dive should result in match ban . If that repeats let say 5 times during first half of the season he should get 3 match ban in second half of the season . Similar to yellow card rules .

Apparently from reading all your comments here, none of you had a professional football career as a player. I used to play as a striker for 6 years and suggesting a punishment for diving as that is way too harsh. Sometimes you need to dive and even jump as a rabbit to protect yourself from an injury in football, especially when playing against the likes of real madrid (Pepe) kind of players. I would rather be concerned more on the heavy tackles in football rather than diving.

Here is my opinion. The main issue with diving, is that very often, referees get it wrong. It wouldn't help that much to give red cards for diving, because people would still get penalties, and people who deserve a penalty would get a red card. I think there must be some after the game examination, like how teams can appeal for red cards, have a bunch of referee watch the replay, and decide if it's a dive or not. If it is, then the player gets a ban. I think a yellow card for diving is fair because there is always the possibility of a mistake by the ref.

So the downside is that the diving would be punished after the game. And if the diver DID get a penalty, the opposing team wouldn't get the result they deserve. But knowing that every controversial decision is going to be examined and divers punished with a ban would in my opinion reduce the frequency of diving.

@alex jumping over a bad tackle and diving is not the same. If you jump over a bad tackle, then fall like a dead fish and roll on the floor, it becomes diving. If the referee is doing a good job, you shouldn't have to dive for him to punish the player doing the bad tackle.

@KH no mate you got me wrong or I didn't explain myself good enough. The main purpose for that is to protect yourself not to get a penalty or to send the other player off. but yes also pretending that you are dying while he didn't touch you at all is totally unfair. But in the same time the other player should get a yellow card even tho he didn't touch you at all but you are good enough to dive or in other way to jump and avoid the heavy tackle in this case you should get a foul and the other player a yellow card to not repeat it anymore and keep the game clean. there are only rare cases where the player dive for nothing even without a tackle then yeah I think that should be forbidden in football.

@KingHenry

Your statement on the difference between diving and avoiding fouls is spot on.

As for my opinion, I'd say that there should be an evaluation after the match for any forms of diving or cheating. If a player is spotted making a blatant dive, they should automatically get either a ban, or play their next match with a yellow card over their head (with a chance of getting sent off, his defensive play will be limited. And if this yellow card applies to the next game the player plays rather than the next game the team plays, it will be quite efficient on most players). I mean, if teams can appeal for red cards and yellow cards to be removed after a match, I think they should be able to appeal for an instance of cheating by an opposing player.

@Alex

How can you judge that none of us has played football on a high level? I have played across seas and I would stick to my harsh decision. Football at international and top club level is a serious thing. There is a lot of money involved and it is full of passion and heart for the viewers and players. You say you play top level, so imagine one day losing a CL or WC game because of an opponent player diving? That would break your heart as a player and anger all your fans.

One simple dive in the box can cause another team a red card and penalty conceded to change the game completely, so why can't the diver also be red carded for his own team to be punished? As I said, the reward for a successful dive is too great compared to the punishment received.

If a straight red was the case, coaches would be encouraging their players NOT to dive, instead of to dive or fall easily in the box. Because I do know many coaches in the top level encourage their players to dive. *cough cough*

You guys call this harsh, but do you not see what they do in other sports such as Basketball? This is nothing. Divers are the reason why footy is considered a pussy sport to so many people and it's sad to see how being able to cheat in the world's most popular and money-involved game is easier than any other sport.

What I would add to this suggestion is a way to tell if the player dived for sure or not, such as a ref having access to an instant replay.

Straight red.

Nothing can be done during the game because a straight red card would only put more pressure on the referees which would make it less likely for them to call on a dive.

Ive said it before.... There should be some kind of comity or a group of people (hopefully refs) that review after each game with controversial dives, the specific plays and then determine if it was or wasn't a legit dive. Then after reviewing the play an economical sanction and match bans can be given out to the player.

I think a player would think twice about diving if they know after the game the play would be under review and that they could get 2 match ban + economical sanction...

Now a days if a player insults racially another player during the game, flips the finger to the crowd or any sort of things like this happen, there can still be a sanction for the players because people watch replays after the game... why cant this be done with diving? is it really that hard to tell when a player dives?

@Tuanis, referees already give red cards for quite a lot of challenges that aren't deserving of a red card. If a referee is confident that a player dived and there was no contact, he should have the right to send the player off automatically. I don't buy this whole pressure BS. They get paid to do a job and we should trust their decision-making. They are not perfect. They will get some decisions wrong (like they do almost every game presently). But that's because the present system relies so heavily on them rather than video technology. If this doesn't happen, then you'll continue to see dives which only get punished with a yellow card.