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Diving in football on way out: referees' chief

06/05/2008

The Football Association's head of elite referees, Keith Hackett, has claimed that players diving to win free kicks is on the verge of being eradicated from the Premier League.

Mr Hackett made the comments at the launch of the Professional Game Match Officials website.

"Yes, of course it [diving] is a controversial issue but it's under control and at present I don't see it as a major problem in our game and credit must go to the managers and players for that," the Guardian quotes him as saying.

"Ultimately, trying to con the referee is deliberate cheating and that has no part in football in this country."

Statistics however would appear to contradict Mr Hackett's claims that diving is on the way out, with 18 yellow cards being shown this season so far for simulation, more than during last year.

The referee's chief claimed that while improvements had been made, the complete eradication of diving from professional football was impossible.

"The speed of action in the Premier League has increased by around 40 per cent over the last four years alone, which means that it is very difficult for match officials to distinguish between a genuine foul and a cynical attempt to deceive the referee," he said.

"But for this reason, it's vital that assistant referees let the referee know their interpretation of a situation rather than leave them to reach a decision based solely on what he has seen."