The NBA has announced rules to punish diving, your move football.

The NBA announced new rules last week to punish what they call flopping (what we would call diving) in the coming season.

They also released a video featuring such stars as Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade and Tony Parker, all performing what from this season on will be considered a punishable flop.

In the light of the numerous dives we witnessed in the Premier League at the weekend, wouldn't it be great to see football introduce something similar?

From the NBA press release regarding the new rules:

The NBA will adopt an anti-flopping rule beginning with the 2012-13 season, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced today.

“Flops have no place in our game – they either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call," Jackson said. "Accordingly, both the Board of Governors and the Competition Committee felt strongly that any player who the league determines, following video review, to have committed a flop should – after a warning – be given an automatic penalty.”

“Flopping” will be defined as any physical act that appears to have been intended to cause the referees to call a foul on another player. The primary factor in determining whether a player committed a flop is whether his physical reaction to contact with another player is inconsistent with what would reasonably be expected given the force or direction of the contact.

Physical acts that constitute legitimate basketball plays (such as moving to a spot in order to draw an offensive foul) and minor physical reactions to contact will not be treated as flops.

Any player who is determined to have committed a flop during the regular season will be subject to the following:

Violation 1: Warning
Violation 2: $5,000 fine
Violation 3: $10,000 fine
Violation 4: $15,000 fine
Violation 5: $30,000 fine

If a player violates the anti-flopping rule six times or more, he will be subject to discipline that is reasonable under the circumstances, including an increased fine and/or suspension.

The league will announce at a later date a separate set of penalties for flopping that will apply during the playoffs.

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