Burnley boss Dyche demands a firmer stance on diving

Clarets chief Sean Dyche is calling on the FA to take a firmer stance on imposing retrospective bans to players when it comes to acts of simulation.
Huddersfield Town's Rajiv van La Parra takes a tumble against the Clarets at Turf MoorHuddersfield Town's Rajiv van La Parra takes a tumble against the Clarets at Turf Moor
Huddersfield Town's Rajiv van La Parra takes a tumble against the Clarets at Turf Moor

Despite cries that Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey exaggerated his fall at Turf Moor to win a penalty for the away side, the Burnley boss claimed that he had no issue with the incident which saw James Tarkowski concede the spot kick in stoppage time.

The Clarets, though, have been on the wrong end of players attempting to deceive match officials on a number of occasions this season with Huddersfield Town substitute Rajiv van la Parra booked by Chris Kavanagh for his behaviour while Manchester City's Bernardo Silva's craftiness proved more successful following a coming together with Nick Pope at the Etihad.

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Earlier in the month, Everton's Oumar Niasse became the first Premier League player charged with the offence on review after diving to win the Toffees a penalty, converted by Leighton Baines, in their 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.

The striker's punishment was a two-game ban after his appeal was rejected by the Football Association. Niasse claimed that referee Anthony Taylor had made the correct decision in pointing to the spot, insisting that there had been contact between himself and Eagles' captain Scott Dann.

Those bans have certainly been few and far between, with Carlisle United's Shaun Miller another rare example of being retrospectively punished for the “successful deception of a match official”.

Dyche is demanding that the sport's governing body acts more stringently in an attempt to clamp down on this culture of diving.

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“I hope they are," he said. "Not on this occasion (Ramsey) but I hope retrospective bans are handed out all over the place.

"For me they should be all over the place and all over the pitch. If you're going to do it right and clean it up then clean it up. Don't make it nearly impossible.

"If you look at the rule it is virtually impossible that someone actually gets something happening to them. It has to be a key moment, it has to be hardly any touch if not no touch, it has to be in a danger area etc etc.

“I think they could be a bit more stringent on the rule personally.

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“I'm not saying it's not clear enough but there are that many outs to it that you wonder 'who is going to get done?'. Think how many games have been played before somebody has been affected by the rule."

Dyche added: "If you think how many incidents there's been this season and that's the first one that's been taken care of – and the guy at Carlisle – I think there's a lot more gone on other than those two incidents. It has to be in the box or virtually in the box, a key moment around the box area.

“I just think it needs sorting out all over the pitch. Nobody wants to see it. It's not fair on referees. Let them ref properly on what they see. They're having to give decisions on people going over because there's so many going over.

“It's going to be interesting to see how it moves forward. For me, the moralistic view is 'tidy it all up'. Just for the kids, the future.

"They need to know it's not a game that accepts people who, for want of a better word, use....'simulation'. I'm in a good mood so let's say simulation instead of the word we all know it really is."