English FA Looks To Crackdown On Diving As Retrospective Bans Introduced

For those who love to go down easily in the Premier League, it looks to be a tough one from next season as the English FA have introduced bans for the acts.

In the new rules passed by the governing body at its AGM on Thursday, a panel consisiting of an ex-referee, ex-manager, and ex-player will review footage from the weekend each Monday looking for cases of simulation.

Any player unanimously found guilty of diving would be given a suspension.

The FA defines the new offence for which players will be punished as "successful deception of a match official".

Only incidents that result in a player winning a penalty or lead to an opponent being sent off - through either a direct red card or two yellow cards - will be punished.

The FA says it will act "where there is clear and overwhelming evidence to suggest a match official has been deceived by an act of simulation, and as a direct result, the offending player's team has been awarded a penalty and/or an opposing player has been dismissed".