Diving

[JH]

Why is it that dives only seem to be punished inside the penalty area? Pedro has dived twice tonight but not in the penalty area so Friend simply played on.

 

[CapeTownRef]

Some years ago my local RA's guest speaker was a body language expert. He was excellent and used video clips to support the points he raised. One particular example was showing that if a player arches his back as he feels contact, it is a dive. It a player goes airborne at the point of contact, it is a dive (unless of course the offending player has literally kicked him up in the air!) If the player goes down, arms outstretched in a swallow dive shape, it is a dive.The natural instinct when anyone falls over, or is tripped up, is to try and cushion the fall by extending his arms and trying to stay on their feet. When I issue a card for diving, I tell the player why I am cautioning him (old school) and normally add, "The judges have given you 5.5 for artistic impression and 3.2 for degree of difficulty"