Why diving makes soccer great

The 'archer's bow' pose is the biggest giveaway used to identify a diving player, which has them set in a position with their head tilted back, chest thrust forward, both arms raised and legs bent at the knee to lift both feet of the ground to the rear.

According to the Telegraph , such motion is counter to the normal reflex mechanisms used to protect the body in the event of a natural fall. Dr Paul Morris explained: "In most dishonest tackles the behaviour itself does not indicate dishonesty, the deception is revealed in the timing and co-ordination of the behaviours.

The FA's rules state that attempts to deceive the referee through feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled through simulation must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour, and punishable by a yellow card.

In November , Everton player Oumar Niasse became the first player to be banned by the FA for diving, receiving a two-match ban for the offence in a match against Crystal Palace. Most recently, Spurs hotshot Harry Kane was given a yellow for going to the ground in December in a home game against Wolves in the Premier League.

Of course, one of the most tangible punishments for diving do not come through cards, but through the way the reputation of the diving player is affected. Referees tend to have limited patience for those who are seen as prone to go to ground more easily, as opposed to those players who rarely make a meal out of a challenge. And so, similar in a 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' scenario, in the event that a player subsequently does merit the awarding of a penalty after being legitimately fouled inside the box, the referee may decide to simply turn a blind eye.

Article continues below. But soccer stars have honed the art. He deployed his full bag of tricks against Costa Rica on June 22, drawing a penalty kick in the 78th minute. The hand-wringing over these athletic thespians is all too familiar for fans of soccer. The anguish, the contortion, the howls of pain have become an infamous part of the game.

Yet it remains a frequent feature on the pitch. Despite the feigned drama, there is a cold logic behind these actions. The pros have refined diving into an artful tactic that can yield a critical edge in a highly physical contest, even when the eyes of the world are upon them. Far from random crumples and collapses, the evidence shows players mainly take dives when it yields the maximum payoff in the game and match officials become increasingly sensitized to it. Soccer players take dives for one very obvious reason: to draw a foul.

In soccer, this means a referee can stop the run of play, award a free kick, even eject the offending player. Since the clock rarely stops and because every goal is so impactful, drawing a penalty yields a much bigger advantage in soccer than, say, free throws in basketball.

Researchers looking at diving behavior in soccer have found that players mimic patterns of deception found in the natural world, like injured fiddler crabs imitating their healthier brethren to avoid being bullied.

However in sports, deception runs the risk of alienating fans or drawing a penalty, so players face pressure to deceive sparingly. The research team found that a player flopping close to an official was three times more likely to be awarded a free kick than someone playing victim farther away.

The trade-off was that being closer to a referee also made it more likely that the official would see through the ruse and ignore it — or, worse, hand out a yellow card. The researchers watched 60 soccer matches from 10 soccer leagues and classified the kinds of falls the players made, examining whether they were tripped, got tackled, or gave an impromptu audition for a gunshot victim.

At its core, of course, diving is an attempt to deceive the referee by either exaggerating minimal contact or by simply inventing a phony reaction to non-existent contact. If successful, a penalty kick will be awarded, a potentially game-changing decision.

But, consider the crucial difference between basketball and soccer: shot attempts. NBA teams typically take over 80 shots per game not counting attempts on which a player is fouled. So while the basketball team that loses a close game will always look to the one play on which the official made a terrible call at least in their opinion , the fact is that there were plenty of other plays that also entered the equation.

Contrast that with soccer, where depending on the style of play utilized by each team, the weather, the condition of the field, and many other factors, a team may not even have one legitimate scoring opportunity. Flopping successfully in the penalty box that is, fooling the referee into awarding a penalty kick can be the difference between winning and losing, since the vast majority of penalty kicks are successfully taken.

Then, in a few seconds, it goes away. It might look like histrionics, but just remember the stubbed toe pain. But what about the real dives? Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world, gets fouled about three-and-a-half times per game and those are only the ones that get called. Any defender worth his salt will be sneakily fouling him about triple that amount and getting away with most of them.

Ronaldo essentially spends 90 minutes getting kicked. A smart defender will be stepping on his toe any chance he gets. Ever have lbs worth of cleats coming down on your big toe? That defender is breaking the rules every time he fouls Ronaldo. Much of this problem stems from the fact that the referee has way too much ground to cover. And if you still think soccer players are soft, we can do a test I offer all my Canadian friends: get someone to put on soccer cleats, run towards them at full speed and let them kick you hard in the shin.

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