The only was you can possibly stamp out diving is to be able to pick up diving on match review. Anybody found guilty of diving is fined, and suspended.
HOWEVER, under current FIFA rules there isn't anything the FFA can do. A match review committee isn't really intended to pick up cautions, it's mainly for red cards. And as a dive is only a caution at this stage, there isn't really anything 'else' they can do.
We all saw how much diving occurred in the WC, despite a FIFA promise to crackdown on diving. Problem is, FIFA have, in the past, shown a rather gestapo-ish approach to anybody getting a big decision wrong which I believe means a lot of referees are too scared to pull up dives. Add that to the fact that you need to be 100% certain it's a dive, and it is quite difficult to pull up on the field. The ONLY way these cheats will be stamped out of the game is post match review and suspensions.
~Floss~ said:
Even if you can't get a punishment added or revoked after the match, maybe they could review these things just to assess refs' performances?
The referees are inspected every match - and I believe the inspection report isn't written until the inspector views videos of the match. The inspector is usually in a little box near the media boxes, and is also wired to listen in on their radio communications. The referees also undergo weekly training, and receive a DVD of their match along with their inspection report.
However, would you expect politics to be involved in inspection reports? Would you consider there's a possibility that the inspection marks referees are getting may not be an accurate reflection of their performance? It happens at all levels, why not at a national level?
I also wonder what they're being told - are they being told to ignore off the ball stuff? Are they being told to ignore brutal studs up challenges? What about dissent, and aggression and retaliation leading to confrontations? There's a lot that the HAL players are getting away with that none of us would get away with on a weekend. Why is it that these officials are disciplining differently to how every single referee is being taught - and why are they ALL doing it?
I also wonder how much stress and fatigue plays a factor - these officials work full time jobs, undergo quite a bit of referee training, then give up the time to spend with their families to go referee. And the pay is nice, but it's not great. When you consider how much mental focus refereeing requires - just like playing at this level - it is a little understandable why these officials are performing below their own standards. Mark Shield is such a better referee when he travels overseas.
I believe that the management and education of the officials is playing a tremendous part in poor officiating. We've seen clear effects of referees being overworked, yet the FFA hadn't eased up because they have these set rankings, and firmly believe that the referees ranked 1,2,3,4 should referee the match 1,2,3,4 - and to them, nothing else matters.
The stuff behind closed doors is the problem. These ARE great officials, but they're putting in routine shocking performances. The fact that they're all doing it indicates the problem lies deeper than the individual referee concerned.
