Diving competition

Austin Kelley at Slate provides a defense of diving in soccer. It's unclear what the defense is, but he admires a fine dive. Italy fan, no doubt.

In a 2003 article, the Observer presents a list of the "10 Best Football Dives." A few of my favorite excerpts:

Roberto Rojas
Brazil v Chile, World Cup qualifier, 3 September 1989

Overrun and intimidated, Chile needed a way out. The plan: force an abandonment and a replay in a neutral venue. The execution: on 69 minutes, goalkeeper Rojas threw himself into the smoke of a firecracker, which had landed nearby, pulled a razor blade from his glove and stabbed himself in the head. The result: lots of blood, a mass brawl, a walkout, an abandonment - but, after video evidence, no replay. Instead, Brazil were awarded the game, Chile were out of one World Cup and excluded from the next, Rojas was banned for life and the woman who threw the firecracker was signed up by Playboy Brazil.

El-Hadji Diouf
Senegal v Uruguay, World Cup, 11 June 2002

On his way round Uruguay keeper Fabian Carini, El-Hadji Diouf felt the keeper's breath on his shin. The gust blew him up, then down, then all over the penalty area. Replays confirmed no contact - as in, none at all - had been made.

Rivaldo
Brazil v Turkey, World Cup, 3 June 2002

Hit in the leg by a football - always nasty - Rivaldo felt the pain searing in his face. Referee Yung Joo Kim, seeing him clutch his head, sent off the ball-kicker, Hakan Unsal.