Cheating - Just how big is the Problem?
Alex Schalk cheating for Ross County v Celtic
Another day and another dive. There are several incidents every weekend, but just how large is the problem?
Yellow Card Statistics for 2015/16 Season in the English Premier League
Sources: The Premier League
Rule 12 of the Laws of the Game states that a player must be cautioned for attempts to deceive the referee. The two examples given for simulation are feigning injury and pretending to have been fouled (as Mr. Schalk did in the earlier video).
Is the problem really this small? 16 players were carded for diving in the 760 English Premier League matches of 2015/16 season. One caution for simulation in every 47.5 matches. I don't think that is the problem that I see every week!
Getting data on this subject is not straight forward. Even the FAs may not collect the data fully.
In their match reports, referees have to log each yellow and red card, naming the player, his team and the yellow or red card code. Optionally, they can enter more detail in a comment.
There are seven yellow card codes:
Is the problem really this small? 16 players were carded for diving in the 760 English Premier League matches of 2015/16 season. One caution for simulation in every 47.5 matches. I don't think that is the problem that I see every week!
Getting data on this subject is not straight forward. Even the FAs may not collect the data fully.
In their match reports, referees have to log each yellow and red card, naming the player, his team and the yellow or red card code. Optionally, they can enter more detail in a comment.
There are seven yellow card codes:
- Unsporting behaviour
- Dissent by word or action
- Persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game
- Delaying the restart of play
- Failing to respect the required distance from free kicks, corners or throw-ins
- Entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee's permission
- Deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission
Cheating, as I prefer to describe it comes under the first category, but how many of the unsporting behaviour category are simulation (the category also includes committing a direct free kick offence in a reckless manner; commits a foul or handles the ball deliberately to interfere with a promising attack; handles the ball in an attempt to score a goal and a whole range of other offences). Even if the FA were to release their data on the reason for yellow cards, it still may not be clear how many cards are awarded. The statistic that I have quoted in the infographic come from Opta, and so should be trustworthy. That said, I still don't see how they got them! Don't worry, I will ask them as well as approaching the FA for their data. Both can only decline to answer at worst.
But I still haven't answered the question.
Well, there's going to be some assumptions here but I think for illustration purposes and with the lack of data available I think it's fair enough.
The Wall Street Journal, of all people carried out a study based on the 2014 World Cup finals They coined the amusing term "writhing time" meaning the time players spend writhing around on the floor having been fouled. In a study of 32 games in the competition, the WSJ counted 302 separate occasions of players "appearing to be seriously hurt". On just 9 occasions, the player was genuinely injured. On the remaining 293 observations, the player was running around again within seconds.
293 incidents of feigning injury in 32 games. That is 9.16 incidents per match. So if we assume the same rate of feigning injury in the EPL, the maths is as follows:
9.16 incidents per match x 760 matches = 6959 yellow cards!!!!!
....and let's not forget that is just feigning injury. What about the non-feigning injury cheats where there is just a dive?
OK - I'll be the first to say that total is RIDICULOUS!!! I think the initial statistic of 293 incidents in 32 games is probably exaggerated somehow. I obviously have no idea on how the WSJ collected their data. However is an average of one incident per game of either feigning injury or simulating a foul an exaggeration? That alone would be a further 744 Yellow Cards in a season (remember, the referees spotted 16 incidents). That alone would be a 63% increase in yellow cards.
Obviously the figure would not come anywhere near these levels if the players were punished correctly for cheating. So why aren't they punished. The legislation is there in the Laws of the Game so what is the problem?
Well that is the subject of the next article.
Pete
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