Simulation has its place, but Ryall needs to be punished for diving

I didn't actually defend berisha in my post.. I said I deemed physically laying hands on someone is more of an offense than making a hand gesture. (So if the MRP are consistent he should get off Scott free like ryall). And I said by any stretch that 3-4 games is waaay over the top. Tell me one precedent of such a lengthy ban for such an offense. And what do you mean about his record? That boschart incident? Big deal. So based on that he gets hung drawn and quartered? Play the ball not the man.. There's justice and then there's a witch hunt.. Maybe his HAL goals v appearances record should be taken into account too (and thereby improving the quality of the league) if you're so hung up on personal records haha

A two match ban too heavy handed? I think it's about right. Blatant diving is bringing the game into disrepute. It needs to be stamped out. It is costing the game in Australia crowds and money and is a complete embrassment to the game if it goes unpunnished. It's an offense to do it and there's a system there to deal with it. Maintain consistent punishments until attitudes within the game change and it's no longer an issue.

1) Non of the examples above as given by Les Murray is relevant to the incident in question (a penalty against Gui Finkler in the match Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory). It is because that this is a mistake while the examples being controversial. Mr. Murray should better go back to school to learn the difference between "mistake" and "controversy". 2) No one knows whether Ryall deliberately dived excepting him, the ones told and God. However, unless there was a conspiracy that the referee, Delovski, promised the Sydney FC players to award a penalty if of them fell in the box, Ryall was tripped. If he simulated (dived) that way he must be crazy or prophetic. Neither, in common sense, so that was a mistake, especially the referee was so close when that happened. 3) No one is perfect. That is for sure. However, this is a "school boy" error, using the famous term used to be used by Frank Farina. How can someone tripped at the back of another player be given a penalty? There is no controversy at all. It is a mistake. A very low level mistake. 4) For this case, there is no need for slow motion to tell that that falling down was not a penalty given infringement. 5) Is this mistake deliberate? If so, Delovski must have some dealings, like betting with TAB. This is another possibility to be eliminated by my bias. Just a mistake. 6) Coaches are always over reacting? Na. This is not the case, sorry Les. To tell you, we were so delighted when we watched that on TV. We expected to see K Muscat to go bursting, fainted, heart attacked and/or having a stroke. However, that did not happen. Strange. In the first half, when Melbourne Victory was leading, he kept yelling and showing anger all the time. That was why we expect something big and bad was to happen to him upon this silly mistake by the referee. However, astonishingly, he did not. Perhaps, he knew that there was only one person at that moment knew that was not a mistake. That someone was the referee. 7) Hating Kev Muscat is one thing while the referee's standard is another. What goes around comes around. The refereeing level is needing improvement. 8) This is such a poor mistake that on one wants to bring up. However, Les tells in a special perspective to elicit others to make attention on this silly mistake.

I played football for about thirty years never once did I ask or was asked was it physical enough for you from an opponent, I feel overall it was adequate not hard but not soft . .

Very little annoys me more in football AZ_RBB as a former defender, than the excuses we see for tackles nowadays. There's a massive difference between a skilful hard tackle and a dirty crude tackle, sometimes you might as well forget the ball as the tackler is nowhere near it. Where I find it particularly irksome is when a promising attacking move breaks down because of a crude tackle. IN the penalty area, such tackles are easily seen(well unless its an A-League ref recently) and punished. What about on the wing. Winger turns the defender inside out is leaving him behind in his wake,its clearly on with a couple of players in the box,out pops the desperate last minute lunge,promising move killed on the spot.,yellow card maybe. Yet the last man lunge,chopping a forward down when onrushing on goal,red card & penalty if inside area. Anybody IMO who is clearly beaten by a clever piece of skill & is chopped should be punished severely in professional football,whether onrushing towards the last defender in front of the goal or not. When you watch the next few games check out how many promising moves break down because of crude tackles made in desperation,because the forward has clearly outskilled the defender.

Im sorry but I just have to say it. Football IS a contact sport. From someone that has played the game at a decent level in this country and someone who has had a leg broken in 2 places and broken noses, I know more than anyone.

Off topic. I think the Adelaide Utd Football Club should receive more from this deal $$$ wise ,and this event is really catered more so for the Aussie Rules and Cricket corporate sector and the ability to sell " annual" corporate boxes to them . The big winner here is both Liverpool and the Oval based sports Owner and really not the local A League football community the reason why they Liverpool are here in the first place . Interestingly look at the poll survey it reveals too. ( http://www.news.com.au/sport/football/liverpool-tipped-to-make-10-million-off-clash-with-adelaide-united-at-adelaide-oval/story-fndm8jzo-1227222211762) ...

I am not entirely sure why people fall into the trap of using the level of contact as a measurement of worth. Yes, football has less contact than rugby, yet neither are as physically demanding as professional road cycling. I don't see people sitting about watching Tour de France, Wimbledon or Gobi Desert Ultra-Marathon bemoaning the lack of contact and placing a value upon the sport as a result.

Interesting you mention shoulder charges britesparke. Playing football as a lad and into young adulthood in Sheffield in the Sixties,shoulder charging was part and parcel of football,even more so in my Father and Uncles generation. I remember as a young lad going to see my Dad play for his works team. He was the proverbial BSH shape and if he had lived up the road in Dewsbury ,he would have been playing RL. However Football was king in Sheffield and as I remember in this match he was a master of the shoulder charge,winning the ball many times by that method. Personally I lament the loss of the shoulder charge as a skill,because it represented a physicality that was a definite part of the game.

I still have dodgy ankles and shin bones as smooth as a cheese grater from playing football. It's tougher than it looks and anyone who has played the game know it.

Having played both soccer and footy and reasonable levels, I have always said that soccer is a much tougher sport than it looks to the untrained eye and footy is a much more skilful and organised sport than it looks

Agree Az. The people labelling our sport as non contact have clearly never played a game of competitive soccer. And yes it is a game of skill and technical ability which makes our beautiful game all the more attractive. Contact happens though and, god forbid, that we never see a spear tackle in the six yard box! A clean challenge for a ball or a crisp pass to a teamate are skills to be cherished and admired.Not to mention scoring a goal! I am noticing though (maybe its just me) an element of physicality creeping into the game-the Asian Cup tournament (Ivan Franjic shoulder charge and Mile Jedinak hacks from behind) are just some examples. I can also recall a match between Sydney FC vs WSW where Ogenovski "terrorised" the defenders deliberately to put them off their game.When money or prestigious tournaments enter the frame, everything seems to change.

Ehhh I hope we never get to the point where we start priding ourselves on how rough and tough football is alongside other sports. To me, football is a highly technical sport based on skill and knowledge and in a small part physical aggression. A well timed clean tackle brings me much more joy than a crushing two footed sliding challenge.

All those record Melbourne derbies with the media hype and fanfare must be figments of our imagination then...

Just remembered the Franjic shoulder charge on a hapless opponent down the left side of the field AND the numerous hacks from behind that Jedinak delivered in midfield- that was just this tournament! Soccer a non-contact sport-I still think not!

BES I'm not a ref but I can't accept the reasoning: "could the player have stayed on his feet" means no foul. For Victory's opening goal against Sydney, Barbarouses and Berisha were both fouled during the build up. Barbarouses managed to use his forward momentum to regain balance passed to Berisha. Berisha was then fouled but managed to control the ball and lay it off for Barbarouses who continued his run, accepted the pass and scored. The ref to his credit played advantage both times. Just because Barbarouses and Berisha managed to keep their balance doesn't mean fouls weren't committed.

I dare say it would have soured the result, anti-football types in this country would have lamented that the Socceroos could only win a trophy with "diving".

At least I can admit Ryall deserves to be suspended for both the dive & the clip, I spoken to many people around Sydney & yet to find anyone who didn't find the penalty a poor decision & the clip of the head very poor sportmanship. However, Berisha, great player, but last person to be chastising someone for cheating or unsportmanship, yet you defend him & yes with his record & found guilty 3-4 games is not out of the question.

The recent Asian Cup tournament (top flight league) demonstrated that contact happens, although the sport is officially deemed "non-contact". Our own Tim Cahill copped an elbow whilst attempting a header in one match, accidental of course! There were many other examples right through this tournament. Other commenters have stated that soccer is a non-collision sport and not in the same way as rugby union or league. Your argument that soccer is non-contact simply does not hold water. Contact happens right throughout the sport,irrespective of the level in which it is played at!