"There was half-a-foot of air between them!"
People don't like divers. Read enough articles about soccer and it's clear that pretty much everyone considers it a serious blemish on the game. Fans want us to call dives, but as referees we're in a tough position to determine what's an honest-to-god dive that deserves a caution, and what's legitimate contact that's not a foul (and maybe someone trying to make a meal out of - which could be argued as card-worthy as well). I've admitted to having issues calling it myself (I want it to be that 100% obvious flop, and you just don't get it that often); it's usually much easier to just waive the player up and tell him loudy that he won't get that call today.But then there's that rare situation when you see it just right. I had my second game working the local university's men's club team, this time the second squad, versus another in-state college (nowhere near the mammoth size of the home team), and in the second half a player, carrying the ball into the penalty area, flopped. And I knew. I knew we had a dive, and with no hesitation I blew the whistle and carded the guy.
Here's something you don't read in those articles about punishing swimmers on the soccer pitch: nobody likes being carded for diving, and nobody on his team does, either. A card for diving is not saying, you're being overaggressive, you missed your challenge badly, or even you've lost your temper - it's saying you're a cheat, and saying it blatantly. One of the things I harp on regularly is that soccer (and reffing it) is a game of angles, and I had the perfect angle for this call: I saw six inches of space between the players before he flopped oh-so-prettily, and I made sure everyone knew that. But that call also caused issues for me the rest of the game; mostly a little more back talk, and a frustration foul (well after the whistle had sounded) that earned the visitors a card. Was it worth it? Hell, yes. Man and game management sometimes needs to take a back seat to crime-and-punishment, and this was definitely one of those occasions.
The irony is that, not too much later, the same guy I booked for simulation earned himself a legitimate penalty kick, for doing what he should have done the first time: drive toward the goal. Considering the ensuing penalty kick was skied very high above goal, I think him actually trying to score himself, instead of drawing a PK, may have been his best option.