I think its fair for the media to point at Soccer, diving is a massive problem, its a culture thing. AFL, NRL and ARU do not have that culture these codes players after getting drilled would prefer to stand up to prove it didnt hurt, soccer would prefer to roll on the ground to prove how much it hurt.

Back to the topic
Its great the AFL is stepping in to prevent this culture creeping into the game Kudos

Thanks
Zac
The Roar

before then, it’s not within the ‘spirit’ of the game,

but, we know all games have law related ‘grey areas’, and loopholes – it’s NOT cheating to work in that environment, but, it MAY be poor sportsmanship.

The AFL has now defined this activity as cheating becuase it’s covered in the laws.

I recall when Mr Trinidad took his dive that Ross Aloisi I think it was had a bake for him on SEN – but, the reality is that the background Trinidad came from – it was okay and just part of the game.

worst presently is Brad Johnson,……(Mister Football??), and anyone from Collingwood (esp Didak and Medhurst).

greatest discipline and mental strength?!?!?!?

in AFL, you may only make a half a mistake and you may concede a goal – - – in soccer, you may make half a dozen mistakes and have nothing to worry about because of the inherent protection of the combination of off-side, x-bars and goalies with hands!!!!

what soccer has is it’s own unique requirements of mental discipline and strength. but, ‘greatest’ – - – get over yourself.

Good for them, they can enjoy their Big Macs and Nike runners.

“..and imposing a socialist system ibn football means scrapping the unrivalled drama and virtual ‘life and death’ of promotion/ relegation….( remember Leeds and Newcastle United ?? )”

What drama…? You mean the drama of guessing which of the Big Four will win the league (year in year out)??

Or perhaps the drama of seeing the mediocre bottom sides fighting for… a chance to be at the bottom next year!

Its up to the umpires to make the calls, which is what they do now so nothing will cange and like the three strikes drug policy, no one will get caught or publically get named and shamed.

Mmmm….seems just a few others have a different view..

the relative status of the EPL is reflected in the fact that just one of its high profile ‘big 4′ Liverpool have an estimated 50million supporters just in in asia…

..contrast…i may have spotted some backpackers with Bombers singlet in Bali.. thats about it..

..and imposing a socialist system ibn football means scrapping the unrivalled drama and virtual ‘life and death’ of promotion/ relegation….( remember Leeds and Newcastle United ?? )
a concept unique to football and adds to its global success…

else…what do you have instead in your socialist code?.. oh ..the ‘wooden spoon’.
How….quaint.
..and utterly meaningless.

Lazza, if upsets occur all the time then why are they called upsets.

You really have been shown up time and time again for not thinking about what you say or reading what others write.

Milne, Didak et all must be named and shamed, personally i think the staging is a by-product of soccer in this country.

On the flip side you do see some good goals scored soccer style during the year.

Once again, success isn’t handed out you have to play well in order to succeed. Don’t know how many times it needs to be said, but it will be repeated until you comprehend it.

You have to win as a team and you have to develop your gun players. But being a fan of a sport where champion players are typically bought and assembled by playboy billionaires, I can see how this went over your head.

If your arguement made any sense, Richmond & Melbourne would be dominant powerhouses. They’re not. Heck even Collingwood has had some troubled years, even a wooden spoon and yet still no premiership forthcoming. In short, your argument that the system is not competitive has been smashed.

The salary cap discourages rich teams from purchasing their premiership (i.e. “success is handed to you” as you said) with their chequebook. This system encourages the development of sports science and other aspects that will give your team a comparative advantage, as you simply cannot rely on buying your way to victory.

Funny thing about tanking is, these past few years 3-4, teams get labeled as tanking and then of course they breach the max wins and everyone shuts up. Invariably when multiple teams are consistently accused each year, one will eventually fail to post the wins as predicted. So far zero evidence presented of teams deliberately conspiring to lose a match, so put up or shut up.

Losing on purpose does not create a winning culture, Melbourne is all too familiar with this.

With all those incentives to cheat then it’s no surprise that tanking is rife in the game even if the AFL doesn’t want to admit it.

Not to site administrators, something is way wrong!! I also get this timed out notice!!

We shouldn’t try and infer that the emergence of the Big 4 has actually *caused* the EPL’s popularity to boom. They were simply the clubs who have benefited the most from the rising tide. I can also think of a lot of fans who are slowly becoming turned off by the tedium of watching the same clubs win all the silverware year after year. I am one of them.

So how does that invalidate the point? I can give you examples of two sh!thouse teams and the underdog winning. But frankly I don’t think the local D Grade footy is of interest to the The Roar.

“That would never happen…”

Because AFL teams don’t play state league teams. I have no problem in believing the likes of Melbourne or Freo going down to a VFL or SANFL team.

“…but it occurs in Soccer all the time…”

If it is so frequent how can it be considered a massive upset? You yourself admit that toppling the better side is comparatively easier. So by that logic I argue that ‘upsets’ are comparatively diluted in soccer.

“No one wants a socialist collective in soccer where every team gets success handed to them.”

Success isn’t handed, it has to be earnt by good performance on game day. The starting pieces (league structure) are evenly distributed (as can be), what you do with the pieces is what determines a winner (or a loser). Fremantle for example has had numerous comparative advantages handed to them by the AFL, yet they still suck hard.

I’d prefer a socialist league over a socialist game structure.

In basketball, they call it flopping and it occurs also.

In all honesty its no surprise that staging is occurring in AFL , remember its a lot harder to determine if someone is faking a stage if hands are in the back and someone falls.

AFL players have what we call in italian become “furbo”. In case you did not know, it means crafty, clever, smart, sharp, astute and sly.

“As opposed to the Big Four dominating the EPL? Now that is a silly bore”

The EPL has become the biggest and most popular sports league in the world since the emergence of the big 4. No one wants a socialist collective in soccer where every team gets success handed to them. Where’s the satisfaction in that?

You’ll get a lot more inner peace once you realise you don’t need to defend the honour of your sport every time its slandered. Some are worth replying, others… just simply aren’t.

The trick, or test, to see whether or not the argument is of worth is to ask yourself ‘did they pass year 12 english?’…!

Beast-A-Tron, I wasn’t accusing you of using diving as an excuse to bash soccer but to deny that many do is just nonsense.