Football isn't the only code where diving occurs

Someone obviously doesn't know much about AFL - free kicks are paid for head-high contact regardless of how hard it is, and whether the player receiving the contact reacts violently or not. It's part of the AFL Laws of the Game that the head is sacrosanct.

philipcoates said | April 25th 2012 @ 3:27pm The law of averages would suggest that someone from the AFL might mention A leaguers at some point during coverage. They don't walk around with their fingers in their ears and their eyes closed. As to the commenmt that Australian Rules commentators wouldn't mention soccer in years gone by..... just wrong. Everytime you see someone boot it off the ground in the AFL their is usually a crisp one from the comm box about Viduka or Kewell or whoever's around at the time. Funnily enough you never hear AFL comparisons from the other codes though.... jussayin....

it's variously called many things. In comparable nations with multiple professional football options - such as Australia, there is a greater likelihood of common sense disambiguation. Thus - 'soccer' is used as a short hand for the distinguishing "Association Football". Taking the lead from the 'world' then, we also see even from the games homeland of England examples of one of the most revered "Association Football" magazines that is titled "World Soccer", and then there's the also revered "Soccer Scene" store of Carnaby Street. In the USofA the top league is the MLS ("Major League Soccer") which rightly or wrongly avoids marketplace confusion with the National Football League that players American Football (aka "Gridiron"). In South AFrica the PLS ("Premier League Soccer") is the top comp. The IrishTimes reports on Rugby, soccer and gaelic games, Kickoff.com website interestingly regards itself as "Africa's biggest soccer site", Yep - I can see how this looking around the world at even half comparable nations can be enlightening on this topic. And so - quite rightly, people who live in Australia use Australian localised references. Y'know - similar to how we don't have to dial the country code when phoning someone domestically!!!!

ah, but they are (technically) pursuing a(n Australian) football pathway.

I can't help but ponder your over reaction here - let alone you over simplification. The world is far from black and white, as this equation illustrates, The world is made up of 3 types of people - those who can add up, and those who can't.

In the world its called football and we in Australia live in the world.

For all the doomsayers about the A-League, I'd like to say that you know the sport is having an impact when 25 minutes into the first quarter at the Anzac Day (Ess v Coll) game, Bruce McKavany comments that a Dustin Fletcher air swing could have seen him playing for Brisbane Roar and Tom Harley replies that Dustin didn't manage to draw the penalty kick. AFL commentators would never have mentioned an NSL match in years gone by. Although it was a tongue in cheek quip (I don't think any malice was intended) it shows that the A-League has awareness and recognition even among hard core AFL commentators and they are not afraid to reference it even during one of the most important AFL matches on the footy calender..

ManInBlack It seems to me, broadly speaking, we can divide the sporing world into 2 groups: 1. People, who love Football - they watch, they participate, they learn the rules, they love the culture 2. People, who do not love Football - they may watch some big matches; or they may never watch a single game From my observations on this forum, over the past 2 years, people in Group 2 constantly whinge & whine about football. People in Group 2 - after watching the highlights on the news - offer us advice on how to improve the game to suit their needs. Simply, people in Group 2 are chronic WHINGERS. People in Group 1? Well, we understand Football ain't perfect. - Yes, we understand that the best team - the one that plays in the true spirit of the Game - sometimes doesn't win (how did Barca not win this morning?) - Yes, a player may cheat and be rewarded. - Yes, a player can make 1 mistake in 90' and this team can lose - Yes, the refs make errors. But, people in Group 1 - people, who LOVE the game - love it warts and all. If you don't love Football - warts and all - go away and create a new hybrid sport that eliminates the warts. The, we'll see if your new hybrid sport - which eliminates all the ills associated with The Beautiful Game - can capture the hearts and minds of several billion people in every country on earth.

Mate - if you're primary thoughts as a soccer fan at seeing what you saw was to get defensive and point the finger at other codes - then I suggest you weren't paying the attention to your prefered code that you ought to. Reality is - in all sports, players push the limits, coaches push the limits - of the rules - and it's the shades of grey that are left to the refs/umps etc to officiate on. As a fan of Aust Footy, we've seen a few rule tweaks that have had clear unintended consequences with respect to opening up new scope for 'pushing the boundaries'.

Mr FIUL - no need to get so personal. However, an attitude like yours towards anyone commenting on the game is only counterproductive towards attracting people to the game. But - obviously, you like it and therefore it's perfect and beyond reproach?? What else do you like that I'd best not ever coment upon??

In Australia, AFL is football, some Footballers dive, but it is not as bad as it is in Soccer, Soccer players dive at every oppurtunity.

"talk to any street fighter...". I have to say fuss this one made me laugh. Exactly how many street fighters do you know???

Am I "proud of a ‘sport’? Proud ... you're kidding right? FUßBALL IST MEIN LEBEN! :-) PS: I hear the Australian National Team coach is inconsolable upon hearing the news that your kiddies won't be pursuing football pathway.

are you proud of a 'sport' that uses the head to attack the ball and the feet to attack an opponent? heck when you put it that way I had a moment of clarity and I'd now never let my kids near a soccer pitch!!!!

Mr FIUL - with all due respect, you're full of it. Greg Baum and Richard Hinds are both multi sport journos. AFL is amongst the sports they comment on. Hinds' title is "Chief Sports Columnist". How does that make him an AFL journalist?? If I check out his recent efforts the following headlines show a far from AFL focus: 1-Medal mix-up just part of A-League's year of shambles and shemozzles 2-Old Trafford, new EPL: different but better 3-Real currency of one-club players comes out [NRL] 4-Demetriou's stain removal just won't wash [AFL] 5-Webber's chances cooked after rare starting mishap [F1 GP] 6-My not-to-do list for the ARL Commission 7-Return of Thorpe and Co adds soap to the water 8-Liberation of women's sport just a pass away 9-Billionaires' brawl puts Lowy on the ropes 10-Pugnacious Punter has chosen to finish with his pads on Do you really call him an AFL journo?? and the Greg Baum profile - as 'Senior Sports Writer' at the Age : Greg Baum is a multi-award winning columnist and feature writer for The Age. Since starting at The Age in 1989, he has covered international cricket, football, soccer, tennis, golf, motor racing and many other sports. He has written on Olympic and Commonwealth Games, two Ashes tours, two cricket World Cups and more than 20 Grand Finals. Greg also covered various sports at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, writing columns, comments and feature articles. So, stop trying to label anyone you don't agree with as an AFL journalist. It's tiresome. As very general and senior sports columnists - it's actually their JOB to write on such topics. So - in answer to your question I ask you which AFL journalists wrote about the A-league GF???

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/stop-staging-for-kicks-diver-monfries-warned-20110714-1hg2k.html ''Players probably make contact look a little bit more severe than perhaps it really is, trying to get a free kick. ''That's been happening for a long time [and] the AFL have tried to stamp that out. I don't think we've been too successful''. ''Everyone actually pushes the boundaries, so it's up to the adjudicators to work on that … If they get free kicks from it, they're going to keep doing it. It's a matter of maybe umpires being a bit tougher and sterner in those situations.''

ManInBlack There's obviously so much wrong with football - cheating, diving, soft players, corruption at all levels, not enough scoring, goals to small, no reward for missing, can't punch players ... did I miss anything out? So, here's a thought - how about you STOP WATCHING FOOTBALL and STOP WHINGING about everything. I like football just the way it is - as do several billion people. If you want to change the rules - change the rules and call it another sport - see how many disenfranchised football fans you can muster. I can't believe the level of whining and whinging comments about Football from people, who don't like the Game.

There's always the magnification that occurs in soccer where by the 'reward' for a dive is so great (potentially) and a penalty kick in the scheme of such low scoring games is pretty well an extraordinary reward - let alone that the sides specialist penalty taker gets the kick. We also see the clock chewing tactics used in many cases either to just kill time or to halt the momentum of the opposition. In US sports.....just call a time out!!!

The harmes incident was 10 minutes before the end of the match and the Pies had several forays forward after it .

The harmes incident was 10 minutes before the end of the match and the Pies had several forays forward after it .