FA votes for retrospective bans for diving

The English Football Association has voted in favour of introducing retrospective bans for players who dive or feign injury from next season.

The new offence of ‘successful deception of a match official’ is based on a law already used in Scotland and was approved at the FA’s annual general meeting at Wembley yesterday.

Incidents will be reviewed by a panel comprised of an ex-manager, ex-player and an ex-referee, and they watch the footage independently.

If they are unanimous in believing a player deceived a match official, the sanction will be a two-match ban. This process is similar to the one already used for red-card offences which were missed at the time but caught on camera, and the cases will be fast-tracked.

In a statement, the FA said: “Although attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled is a cautionable offence for unsporting behaviour, the fact that the act of simulation has succeeded in deceiving a match official and, therefore, led to a penalty and/or dismissal, justifies a more severe penalty which would act as a deterrent.”

If a player admits to a charge of successfully deceiving an official, or is found to have done so,...