Skip to main content
BBC SPORT / FOOTBALL
Graphics Version | BBC News Home
Sport Homepage | Football | World Cup 2010 | Formula 1 | Olympics | Vancouver 2010 | Cricket | Rugby Union | Rugby League | Tennis | Golf | Athletics | Cycling | Motorbikes | Boxing | Snooker | Horse Racing | Disability Sport | Other sport... | Sports Personality | TV/Radio Schedule | Sport Academy | Fun and Games | Inside Sport | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Football Contents:  World Cup 2010 | My Club | Gossip | Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Non League | FA Cup | League Cup | Scottish Premier | Scottish League | Scottish Cups | Welsh | Irish | Europe | African Women | Football Focus | Match of the Day | Final Score | World Football | Skills | Laws & Equipment | Get Involved | Your Game

Wednesday, 1 August 2007, 16:23 GMT 17:23 UK

Scots to use video to beat cheats

SFA head of referee development Donald McVicar Scottish referees will be able to use video evidence this season to punish cheating in football.

New Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith has launched a new scheme to clamp down on diving.

Referees will review match footage and be able to punish players retrospectively if they feel they have dived or feigned injury.

The scheme will start as a pilot this weekend at the start of the new season and come into effect on 1 January.

"It's great news, we've got to do everything possible to clean up the game and make it fairer," Hibernian boss John Collins told Five Live.

"Sometimes the referees miss it and get it wrong and I'm all for cutting out the divers and the cheats.

"It's a part of the game I don't like and I think the majority of fair-minded football people will be delighted with the new rules."

It forms part of a range of measures designed to improve the image of the game in the coming season.

"This is not a clampdown but an effort to improve the game's image"
SFA referee development
Donald McVicar


Smith said: "In recent years, one unhealthy development in the game in Scotland has been that of simulation, the term used within football to refer to cheating by players - either to gain an advantage by 'conning' the referee or to provoke the referee to issue a sanction against an opponent.

"It can often be the case that the perpetrator of the offence is successful in his intentions and also escapes punishment.

"When this happens, there is little doubt that the image of the game is harmed. In these circumstances, the cheat wins.

"It is the intention of the SFA to address the problem by introducing an initiative from 1 January 2008 to target the offence of simulation when committed by players who escape sanction from the referee."

Smith made it clear that clubs and players must address the issue.

"The problem is not a referees' one - it is their job to apply the Laws of the Game," he said.

"If players did not seek to indulge in cheating, the problem would not exist.

Scottish FA chief executive Gordon Smith

"At the top level of the game, players have a duty to set the correct standards of sporting attitudes and conduct for the benefit of current and future participants in football, whether they be young players or spectators."

Collins added that he hoped ex-players would sit on the panel to offer their expert views on incidents.

"I'm not defending diving but sometimes a player may flick his legs out of the way of a tackle - if he doesn't he might get his ankle caught and some damage can be done," said Collins.

"Only a player or an ex-player can identify whether it is a dive from a cheat or whether it is a dive to get yourself out of a difficult situation."

Among other disciplinary initiatives taken by the SFA in the coming season, referees are being told to be tough on a range of misdemeanours, such as holding and pushing in the penalty area, mass confrontations, serious foul play and unacceptable behaviour in the technical area.

Head of referee development Donald McVicar said: "Referees in Scotland are instructed to be particularly strong in identifying these offences and suitably punish offenders.

"This is not a clampdown but an effort to improve the game's image."



E-mail this to a friend

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
FIFA
Football on the BBC
Your say - 606
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



SEARCH BBC SPORT: 

Sport Homepage | Football | World Cup 2010 | Formula 1 | Olympics | Vancouver 2010 | Cricket | Rugby Union | Rugby League | Tennis | Golf | Athletics | Cycling | Motorbikes | Boxing | Snooker | Horse Racing | Disability Sport | Other sport... | Sports Personality | TV/Radio Schedule | Sport Academy | Fun and Games | Inside Sport | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Football Contents:  World Cup 2010 | My Club | Gossip | Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Non League | FA Cup | League Cup | Scottish Premier | Scottish League | Scottish Cups | Welsh | Irish | Europe | African Women | Football Focus | Match of the Day | Final Score | World Football | Skills | Laws & Equipment | Get Involved | Your Game

^ Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage | Feedback | Help | ©