THE Football Association has voted in favour of introducing retrospective bans for players who dive or feign injury from next season, with the move based on a law already used in Scotland.
The new offence of “successful deception of a match official” was approved at the FA’s annual general meeting at Wembley yesterday.
Incidents will be reviewed by a panel comprised of an ex-manager, ex-player and an ex-referee, and they watch the footage independently. If they are unanimous in believing a player deceived a match official, the sanction will be a two-match ban.
This process is similar to the one already used for red-card offences which were missed at the time but caught on camera, and the cases will be fast-tracked.
The Scottish Football Association introduced its “rule 201” in 2011 and spent several years trying to convince FIFA that is was not going too far in taking decision-making away from officials on the day — something world football’s governing has traditionally been very reluctant to do.
However, recent moves to introduce goal-line technology and video assistant referees indicate that even Fifa realises match officials need more help and supporters want better decisions.
With England and Scotland having permanent seats on Fifa’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board, bans for divers could soon become a worldwide policy.
One high-profile case in Scotland last month saw retrospective action taken against Ross County striker Alex Schalk.
He threw himself to the ground under no contact to win his side a late penalty against Celtic, leading to a 2-2 draw, but was later issued with a two-match ban.
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