The Proposal and Its Benfits (In the box penalties)

Review of in-the-box penalty decisions:

How would this work? Whenever there is "contact" in the box, where the referee is unsure of whether or not there was a penalty, there would be instant replay review. This could be done by the 4th official, much like "booth review" in American football. Looking at the replays, if there is a penalty, then one is awarded. If not, then the ball goes where it belongs. If the ball went out the back after the play, it's a goal kick. If cleared to the sides, it's a throw in. If the ball is still in play, then the players can play on.

There are two major pro's to this proposal:

- The referees will get decisions right. I don't think this pro can be overstated or emphasized strongly enough. The worst part of soccer is watching your team get screwed by a bad penalty decision.
I'm an Arsenal fan, and I still cringed when I watched the replays of Eduardo's "penalty" vs Celtic:



Soccer is the beautiful sport because of the skill involved, not because of the acting or incorrect referee decisions. Let's emphasize skill and athleticism rather than diving and inconsistency.

- This proposal would significantly decrease diving. If you are on the attack in the box and there is any amount of contact, you currently have huge incentives to go to ground, regardless of the amount of contact. (I'll leave it to the reader to watch any of the 10,000 YouTube videos titled "best dives ever.") Under my proposal, you now have two options after you experience contact: go to ground or fight on and continue to try and score. If you choose the first option, your acting will be dismissed after replays show you weren't fouled, and you may get a card for simulation. If you choose the second option, you have a chance to score. A significant amount of "penalties" in the box are soft challenges that the offensive player could easily "ride" or avoid.

--Note, that if you take away the incentives to dive in the box, THEPLAYERS WILL POLICE THEMSELVES, which makes the referee's decisions even easier. If you know that you won't get a penalty for diving, then you'll only go to ground when there actually is a large enough amount of contact. This means that instead of making decisions about every little borderline incident in the box, the players will ensure that there are only two types of incidents: actual penalties that the referee can call or VERY borderline cases, which is when replay will be used.

--Note also, that if you decrease the amount of diving in soccer, the spectators win. Instead of seeing players flop, we'll be seeing the best athletes in the world demonstrate the balance and coordination needed to score despite bumps.

--Note finally that if you decrease the amount of diving in soccer, its popularity, especially in America will rise even further. Apart from "we're just not good enough to make it worthwhile," I'd say the number one reason Americans don't like soccer more is because they loathe the degree of pansiness and flopping that goes on.