The Finktank

So the spectre of diving has raised its ugly head again, this time with David Ngog's "embarrassing case of cheating" for Liverpool against Birmingham in the Premier League.

If you haven't seen it, it was a dive worthy of a stunt double in a Michael Bay blockbuster and made infinitely more painful for Birmingham because the resulting penalty decision went against Lee Carsley, who'd come sliding in but made no contact, and got Liverpool another draw.

From the video replay it's clear as day that Carsley is an innocent man and Ngog should be sent to Louisiana State Penitentiary and made to work on a chain gang.



But Carsley's vindication and Ngog's shame isn't going to change the result.

Graham Poll, the former referee whom Australians know well for his inability to count yellow cards and a sometime Fox Sports guest, has suggested an interesting solution to the problem of diving in European football: ask the players directly if they dived.

It's similar to an initiative tried in the Bundesliga where, if there was a suggestion of handball in the scoring of a dubious goal, the referee would ask the player concerned if he touched the ball or not.

If he said yes, no problem – the goal was disallowed and a free kick was given. If he said no, the goal stood. But once the veracity of that "no" was then checked against the video replay and the handball and lie became obvious, the offending player would be slugged with a three-match fine.

Poll goes on to recommend a similar sanction for diving, but upping it to five matches.

All well and good, but I would go further. A five match-ban plus the forfeiting of any points gained by the player's side at the end of the match.

The problem with just banning a player for his dishonesty is the big clubs – Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Arsenal – have such deep bank accounts (or overdrafts) that losing a player for three, even five weeks is not a major calamity. They can easily be replaced by someone just as good, if not better.

Look at the benches for Chelsea and Manchester United on the weekend. Ferreira, Hilario, Cole, Alex, Kalou, Mikel, Malouda for Chelsea. Kuszczak, Owen, Scholes, Gibson, Da Silva, Obertan, Vidic for United.

The combined market value of those 14 players would roughly approximate to the GDP of a small African state.

So the incentive to dive for a Liverpool player is far greater than, say, a first-team player for Portsmouth or Wolverhampton, whose club needs him to be fit and available virtually every game of the season just to survive relegation.

Hence the Poll idea, though well intentioned, would only serve to advantage the rich clubs who can afford as much depth as they like on their benches.

The only punitive measure, unfortunately, that will deter all clubs, both big and small, is to lose points. Points are the currency by which clubs qualify for regional competitions or avoid relegation.

Every point is potentially worth millions when quantified. Clubs live and die by them.

It's time to come down hard on divers. Diving is as bad as it's ever been. Cards don't work. Suspensions don't work. The rewards for diving outweigh the penalties.

Docking points, however, will get players and managers thinking twice.

If their attitudes can change, diving might disappear from the game quicker than we thought.


:: For more Fink musings on the big issues in football, check out Half-time Orange on The World Game.