How can we reduce cheating in football?

Question

Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team note: This is the real Rudi Völler. Read the blog for further details: http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-qT1KKPQoRKdVT4lowpJCljbFokkuIzI8?p=2031

Answer 1

The introduction of the 3rd referee with a bank of monitors and the aid of recorded footage has worked well in International rugby, why cant this be introduced into Professional football, the ref on the field cant see everything all of the time, this would be one way to stop cheating, especially if the penalties for cheating were severe enough, i.e. Send off, Financial, or ultimately deduct points from the team. That would soon stop it..

Answer 2

The simple answer is more severe penalties.At the moment players know that they can get away with "cheating" 90% of the time and so it is worth it .With video technology these days it is possible to award yellow cards days after the game has taken place and if players know they can be carded from a television replay then they will do it less.While it will be impossible to take away a goal that is scored from a penalty awarded from a diving player,if the "dive" directly results in a goal i.e. from a penalty or free kick then the offending player should be given a red card.Certain players have a reputation for "diving" and it is a well deserved reputation.If a person robs a bank and is caught they go to prison,if they rob another one then they get a bigger sentence and it should be the same for soccer,the more a player dives the more the ban should be,that way he'll think twice before diving again.

Answer 3

I have to agree with some of the comments above there has got to be retrospective punishment.

FIFA should establish a criteria to be met and the punishment should vary on the severity of the incident's impact upon the game.

The punishments should be harsh with points deductions for the clubs for each incident and large fines for both the players and the club, such as one months wages for players, fining a player like Cristiano Ronaldo £20,000 is like fining most people £5 it is an insignificant sum, whereas the club should be fined a percentage of it's monthly turnover say a ballpark figure of 20%. I'm sure if these were implemented then cheating would quickly be a thing of the past.

However, it must be made clear the difference between a player cheating, by diving for instance and deliberately trying to deceive the officials, and a player genuinely trying to avoid a collision with an opponent by jumping out of the way, the only way to do this would be retrospective punishment. Through replays it would be possible to judge a players reaction.

It must also be stated that the referees should not hide behind such legislation by avoiding controversial decisions by merely allowing a panel to decide on such decisions.

I believe that any such directive from FIFA would have problems iin its' infancy but after a few years I'm sure it would operate smoothly.

Answer 4

Tough question! I love football, and used to play on a young women's team in the USA (and my UK male friends teased me about that saying women can't play!)
At that level we really didn't get cheating much. So I'm inclined to think, it has to be something to do with, the owners, the coaches, the professional players getting so much money, and perhaps loosing respect for the refs and officials and disregarding rules; rather than looking to them as an authority. However, I have found myself watching games and wondering if the ref is 'for' or 'against' a certain team, especially when it's nations playing against each other.
I think it must come down to gaining more respect all around, and I agree with the person who wrote about the rules and attitude in Rugby. I was thinking, about how in Ice Hockey, they get to sit out for a few minutes. Not that I want to see it as violent as that game; but then play can continue, and the whole team is penalised when one person is out. I still wonder if the refs or anyone else would find a way to misuse this though.
It seems too, that with all the switching players, from team to team, and getting paid so much, and the agents probably caring more about that; that's ruining the respect that players had for the officials, or even for their own coaches. Some players, don't seem to care what the public or fans think either. I'm not proud of someone when I see them cheating, and doing something like feigning injury; so I think that ought to be penalised heavily. I like to see the game play flowing, yet these people are the very ones stopping it flow. Taking off the field for a while may work. Then it's more of a 'team matter'. Also, if you give too many penalties, you end up with great players not playing whole games or several games, sometimes unfairly and that's a shame. That method doesn't seem to be working very well, and fines just get paid, and it carries on.
Thanks for asking us! Good luck with it.

Answer 5

I agree with all the previous comments about employing ideas currently used in rugby league & union.

Footballers manhandle and abuse referees (who have a hard enough time being abused by the fans) far too often and should be taught respect. FIFA/UEFA or whichever governing body has the b@lls to do it, should apply similar rules as in the rugby codes whereby only the captain may speak directly to the referee and he must speak respectfully ie don't use abusive language.

Sin bins for a yellow card offence would be a great idea and it would allow players to cool-off, rather than risk getting a red card and getting sent off by further taking their frustrations out on the field of play.
More importantly, it would spice up the game and give an advantage to the opposition for a limited period of time.

Respect is a key thing - I can still vividly remember when Frank Riykaard (sp) spat in Rudi Voller's hair when they were both sent off together in either a World Cup or European Championship game. We don't need this in football!

Answer 6

I think football should look to rugby union for inspiration. Respect for the referee is paramount and doesn't exist in football. No player would dream of touching or cajoling a referee in rugby. And this goes for managers as well. As long as referee's are bullied into making decisions the game will not change.

Also, I think 3 cards should be introduced. 1 yellow is a warning, 2 yellows is 5 mins sin bin, third offence is red and the player is sent off. Unless the offence is judged to be so severe it's a straight red.

It is maintained that any alterations to the game will slow it down but this is nonsense. The game is already slowed by players cheating by pretending to be injured - it's embarrassing to watch sometimes! Knock 5 minutes each way off the game time to allow for a video referee. The crowd will be involved and the players get a rest. This means they should be able to player a faster tempo game for longer periods!

Finally, there is simply too much money not appropriately distributed in the game. The players act like spoilt brats on the pitch and have no concern if they are a role model to children or not. Fining Wayne Rooney £5,000 for swearing is a joke! To which I am sure he would also find funny! These guys should be incentivised to play for their team - it's like a sales person, low basic - high target! (This last one is a long shot but thought I would throw it in).

Cheers!

Anyway, just a thought....

Answer 7

Wow.... Rudi Voller!!!

1. To stop diving each game must be retrospectively monitored and persistant divers (step forward Jose Mari of Villareal) should be banned for 5 games and heavily fined. This should stop all the play acting and for anyone who keeps on diving then the 5 matches should be extended by a game each time they are banned, and their fine doubled. (It may be a pipe dream but if 75% of their fine went to UNICEF or was split between other charities this would be a good gesture by the FA/UEFA/FIFA etc)

2. For anyone brandishing an imaginary red or yellow card, an automatic one game ban. No arguments, no appeals, a straight ban.

3. As in rugby league (which seems to be quite the innovator) only the captain and offending player are allowed conversations with the ref. Everyone else must keep their distance and anyone encroaching can given a yellow card, even if this is a yellow card given from the stand by another official or as a retrospective card after the game.

4. Video replays. Not for offsides, or penalty decisions as this would be an artificial stoppage of the game. However goal-line technology which is being pioneered by the FA should be brought in as soon as possible.

5. Time-keeping being taken from the referee. This would allow the referee to concentrate on the action, rather than having to worry about how many minutes are added on at the end of the game.

6. Educate all players in the importance of honesty. This should start at school level. Name and shame cheats within 24 hours of their offence.

Hope you like the ideas.

Answer 8

By using technology. If a player dives and the referee misses it, why can that player not be awarded a yellow card or a suspension after the game? If a player is said to have spat at a player or a fan the football governing bodies use video to proove it so why not to punish the players who cheat. If you know you will be fined and suspended for cheating you will not do it with the amount of cameras at games now it will be almost impossible to cheat if video evidence was used.

More clarity in the game would help, using the Italian incident how is it possible that teams can be deducted points one week and given them back the next. Corruption is rife everyone knows it but no one does anything of substance, Juventus were relegated and had points deducted but they are going straight back to serie A this season what does that say about cheaters never prospering? Also how when the police say no crowds at football games in Italy after violence engulfed the game, miraculously AC Milan have fans allowed into their stadium.

Reduce cheating by using technology and also by not having double standards, or weak punishments. For footballers who are paid £50,000 a week a £20,000 fine means nothing, suspension from playing for their team is a far bigger punishment, or if a fine is going to be put in place make it for more than just a week's salary.

Answer 9

If a person is found to be cheating, by imitating a fall to get a penalty kick, this person should be given a red card. And if the same team does a similar cheating offence in the same game, one point should be deducted from the total number of points they have collected in the championship.

If a referree is found favouring/cheating against a team, he should be disqualified from three games at least.

If due to referees cheating , which is determined after the match is finished or the inquiry is completed, a team looses a match, the match should be replayed, and the referee banned for at least five matches and also finacially punished.

The penalty for cheating should be duplicate, financial punishment and banning from a determined number of games.

A record for the referee and players committing faults and cheating, should be maintained in a centralised computer and after certain number of points have been accumulated , say 20 (or any other appropriate number), such person should be banned for a number of years.

These methods will help in reducing cheating in footbal.

Answer 10

Red card for diving EVERY TIME, and IMMEDIATELY book any/every player who verbally "challenges" an official.

Make the minimum ban 3 games - non negotiable

Book any/every player who waves an imaginary card in front of the referee.

Insist that any player who is "injured" leave the pitch and remain off the pitch for 60 seconds after they are ready to return.

Remove the rule that says that a team must have 8 players or more to continue with a game.

Reduce the number of substitutes to prevent a reckless team substituting up to 3 booked players.

Set a limit on the number of bookings a team can receive before their manager is banned from the sidelines. Maybe for every 5 bookings the manager should be banned for two games.

Ban all but the subs and physios from the sidelines when the manager is banned - make it the management team that is banned

Answer 11

Ah, the age old "holier than though" attitude from British supporters. HEY, WAKE UP, BRITISH PLAYERS CHEAT TOO. It's just that they call it professionalism. I once saw a TV interview with Aldridge and Rush talking about the art of baing a striker. Aldridge agreed with Rush that when you're in the box "if you feel contact you go down". HEY, WAKE UP, football is a contact sport and what they were doing is cheating. If I "went down" every time someone touched me on the rail platform I'd need new trousers every week. Also, anyone seen John Terry blatantly blocking players defending free-kicks and corners. That's cheating. Seen players throw the ball 10 yards forward before taking a free kick - that's cheating too. What about throw ins? It's sometimes embarrassing how far players steal yards. And then diving: for every Drogba and Ronaldo there's a Johnson and Owen.

Best solution in my view is the use of a sin-bin and retrospective yellow cards. The sin-bin for misdemeanours (say, 10 minutes off) and retrospective cards for anything missed during the game. Existing red/yellow cards to be applied more liberally for more serious cheating. Oh, and video evidence will help greatly. I'd rather wait a couple of minutes fro the right decision than let an unfair result stand because someone got away with cheating. Oh, and one last idea: anyone needing medical treatment not only has to go off but has to wait 5-10 minutes before coming back on. That'd soon stop the injury feigning and ensure genuinely injure players had time for proper assessment and treatment without holding the game up.