Whoever came up with 'he felt a touch, he's entitled to go down' has a lot to answer for.
also agree with thisSomeone falling over does not equal a foul.
Ref not giving a foul does not equal a dive.
It's a contact sport and some times people will fall over.
Its also why a challenge system (a la tennis/nfl) is a long way away from being introduced into football. It will open up a whole can of worms. the way football is currently played today, theres a foul every other second. if a challenge system were to be introduced, the way football is played will change dramatically.
It would if the challenges were numerous, but if it was limited to one or two instances a game it could be workable. Actually I don't like the idea myself but it would be interesting to trial it. Who decides which incidents to challenge would be also be interesting as I don't think the head coach or anyone at the sideline for that matter would be objective enough to make the smart call.
but if the appealing team won the challenge, they would get their challenge back (at least thats how it works in tennis). if a team challenged because an oppositon player gave a slight tug, the officials (maybe the 4th official) would look at video evidence, and would have to award the foul (because the rules state that you cant obstruct someone in this manner, with no mention of degree). currently, a lot of these small niggles are ignored, and the game is played and officiated in this manner.
if challenges are introduced, initially you will get a lot of succesful challenge appeals of this type, until everyone adapts to playing football in a totally different manner to the way we are playing now. i think this is why fifa are so hesitant to bring in video challenges. because they know football isnt played by the rule book, its played by precedent.
examples of what i mean when i say football is officiated and played by precedent:
-a foul often needs to be more severe to be awarded in the penalty box than outside.
-grappling/holding/shoving are not generally allowed, but some leeway is given at corners.
-making slight contact with the attacker (which often offbalances them) as you then proceed to tackle them is allowed
-goalkeepers are allowed far more than 6 seconds holding the ball usually
-it is far harder to pick up the 2nd yellow card than it is the 1st
-swearing and using foul language is usually accepted as being totally fine
-a player never gets booked when he has exaggeratted contact/simulated in a situation where he has clearly been fouled.
the list is basically endless. football isnt officiated solely by the rule book. thats why cheating of all forms is so rife in football.
when you ask someone why they dont liked diving/ divers, their usual response is because it is cheating.
when they are then questioned on why they dont like all other cheats and forms of cheating, they then change their tune somewhat.
i.e in the case of this thread, they dont like diving because it is "cheating twice". thus, insinuating that "cheating once" is now ok. (i know, im exaggerating a bit here)
but basically what it shows is that people dont really know why they dont like diving. they just dont like it because. and when they are asked why they dont like diving, they try to find all sorts of reasons to differentiate it from other forms of cheating so that they can continue to single out diving/divers.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you are defending diving or trying to diminish it. We should be all for trying to improve the game and cut out all forms of cheating, diving is one example that we could at least attempt to try and lessen in the game. You will never eradicate all forms of rule bending, but any way we can try to limit it should be welcomed.
Start with what is fixable now and least disruptive to the game. Goal line technology. Post-match penalties for diving. The latter can easily be extended to other forms of cheating (e.g. holding).
i just dont agree with singling out of divers when it is no worse than any other form of cheating. the moral questioning of divers is just disguting imo (ie. Monk on Moses), when Monk and his team do things that are morally on par with diving. thus making him a massive hypocrite. and yes i am trying to dimish the act of diving, because the act does not deserve the level of criticism it often receives.
like ive said before, we should either try to eradicate all forms of cheating (which is basically impossible now imo, its become part of the way we play the game), or we set the line at assault/ serious foul play (which is what i think we should be trying more heavily to do).
I'm curious as to why you think diving doesn't deserve the criticism it gets. And why you think trying to win a free kick or penalty AND trying to get someone booked or sent off in the process is no worse than shirt pulling. I don't agree that all forms of breaking the rules are the same, stamping on someone is worse than shirt pulling for example. There are different levels of cheating.