world cup thread

[Jester]

So, the only penalty that would always be a deterrent would be forfeiture of the game.

Soccer is actually a great example of why even that wouldn't work to end the unsportsmanlike behaviour. The harsher the penalties for breaking the rules, the more incentive to frame the other team. Diving is endemic to the game now, to the point where it's comical. If a yellow card was an instant game loss, then it'd be even worse.

You could give losses for diving too, but there's always the arms race, trying to push what you can get away with to win. It's the sports equivalent of Duverger's Law: no matter how it starts, it ends with two sides pulling out all the stops to win.

-Jester