Neymar's diving won't convert Australia to football

It's been written a hundred times, but always worth repeating... Footballer players spend 80 minutes pretending they're injured. Rugby (both codes) players spend 80 minutes pretending they're not.

One video angle showed daylight between Neill and the Italian player. The fault for staging lies with the governance of the sport - it's more or less a scoreless sport and the result usually hinges on one goal; goals are easiest to score from a penalty, so teams (all countries, but some more than others) regularly take a dive to try and win this opportunity. There is just too much incentive. I enjoy the World Cup simply because it is the best of the best and has the fanatical eyes of the world upon it, but I also think soccer is a crap sport that would be a lot better if it had more integrity. I've watched 10 games in this tournament (because I'm travelling in Europe) and diving occurs in every game. Cards and penalties have been falsely / controversially awarded as a result.

You are a goose just like some of your other 'sokkah wally's' on here. It's amazing what a complex you all have and how thick all of you are on insults. Mate, I've got plenty of things to do, not as exaggerated as you with thousands but at least I say it like it is and not live on 'fictions of imaginations' like all you sokkah wally's do!

@steveng Glad you're watching. I find RL intolerable to watch, but it's not a problem since I've got a list of at least 1,000 things I enjoy doing more than watching RL. You should try that. Find some friends & see if they'll talk to you and you'll be able to avoid watching the sokkah.

These are sombre times for Rugby League so I'm just glad you get so much joy out of watching Football.

The only 'wallies' here are all you soccer fools that try to justify your code with Neymar's type of theatrics and all the other wallies that try to justify your foolish comments of ’Diving in Football is undesirable but it’s a tiny aspect of the game' can't all of you realise that its giving your game the worst image and a laughable image??? Every time I watch soccer it’s like a comedy 'I laugh my head off' at all these jokers like Neymar when they go down!!! What a joke and an absolute hysterical viewing!!! Get your acts together as soccer is a hilarious comedy sport of 'hahahaaasss'!!! Where is your other 'Wally' mate Pot_hoc whos trying to justify all of the above, youse have got no hope with fans like that, get real!!!

'I will have you know that in the NRL, if you attempt to strip the ball of an attacking player, it is a foul and a penalty'. That's exactly my point you wally. In Football, you try to get the ball without touching the player; in the other codes you try to get the player without touching/dislodging the ball. The reversed focus of the rules between the codes reverses the way players try to take advantage of the rules. A small minority of players in all codes unfairly push the boundaries of the rules to gain advantage. It's just done differently in each code. Diving in Football is undesirable but it's a tiny aspect of the game. Putting up with a few divers is a small price to pay to protect the great attacking footballers from old-time thugs like Kevin Muscat and Vinnie Jones.

‘Redondo’ and I quote you…’In Football, almost any physical contact in a tackle might be a foul. In a Bash code, almost no physical contact in a tackle is a foul. As a result, the concept of ‘diving’ in a Bash code borders on being meaningless (at least in a tackle). That is nonsense and you don’t make any sense especially with this ‘In a Bash code, almost no physical contact in a tackle is a foul’??? What is this ‘the bash code’??? I will have you know that in the NRL, if you attempt to strip the ball of an attacking player, it is a foul and a penalty, then you go on with this ‘Bash code borders on being meaningless (at least in a tackle)’ is another one, the ‘dive’ has been adopted by certain players and they have gained certain fouls, penalties and advantages but, its being very strongly ridiculed by fans and officials alike 'as copying soccer’s theatrics' which soccer is so well known for!!! Now, how can any soccer fan or any other sport fan justify and/or be objective or subjective and take soccer seriously??? When you have Neymar, supposedly the ‘crème de la crème’ footballer of all time diving and making a fool of himself with a nonsensical touch of a boot, finger etc, etc, etc. come on, this bloke is supposed to be your best player ever and he’s going down and causing such a seen that it bordered on an unbelievable shock to any fan that was watching that game. Really, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and just happened!!! Here is Neymar, on the sideline ‘supposedly injured’ and next, he goes into hysterics and excruciating agony, rolling around (like he is just about to die) on the sideline. Watching it, it was a real ‘Shock and Awe’ for me as I’m sure it must have been for any other fan, then and next (after a few minutes of this hysterics and theatrics) Neymar gets up and continues on ‘as if nothing has happened’?? What??? Come on, let’s be real here, these sorts of theatrics have to be stamped out of your game and/or a player like Neymar should be given the red card or at the least, not be allowed to continue to play in a game!!! This is after Neymar was only touched by the Mexican No7 with the toe of his boot on Neymar’s ankle!!! Yes I know that this is not a common incident but, it’s happened in previous WC’s and its cost allot of good teams games, which, is not a fair thing and it shouldn’t happen in this so called ‘the best game on planet earth’??? Yes, there are nations that play soccer very attractively e.g. the English, Belgians, Japanese etc etc and it’s a joy to watch but, when you watch e.g. Brazil, Italy and some of the other south American teams diving and making soccer such a theatrical and nonsensical event to watch. There is a problem in soccer (and none of you can denie that) where ‘the minority spoils it for the majority’ and that is what Neymar (and some other players in WC's and other leagues) do and did and that is why soccer will be ridiculed forever if this is not stapped out of your game!!!

He's been watching the AFL World Cup, where I assume Alex Race must be winning the golden boot

Aligee, have you been watching the World Cup?

No, at least 6 varieties played here. You could even attempt to name them ?.

You forget the batters or batsmen or whatever they are called, who know full well that they touched the ball and are out but outright refuse to walk! It happens every single game! What do we call these jokers, if not blatant cheats!

So we have Football and football. Isn't that confusing?

I would love someone to write some more about the ‘values that Australians hold dear’.

Yep childish and the collective term would be football.

‘Childish’? The dominant aspect of AFL and the Rugbies is their physicality. Fans of those codes love to emphasise that fact, particularly as a differentiator from Football. Shouldn’t you take ‘bash’ as a badge of honour? If you don’t like it perhaps you could suggest an alternative collective term for the manly codes (AFL and the Rugbies).

Alex Race????

"Neymar’s diving won’t convert Australia to football"......wouldn't expect it to, don't care if it doesn't and if no one can see past what is nothing short of a highly paid cheat, then so be it. Thing is, Football in Australia shouldn't be judged on what Princess Prima Donna Neymar or any of the other W.C exhibitionists do in the Worlds biggest tournament, their blatant diving, falling, flopping or just plain silly theatrics in this years W.C. are IMO only doing themselves harm. OK, it doesn't look good and may only feed the haters or those that simply aren't interested in the game or those that chose to follow something else, and in most scenarios no amount of enticement or money will sway such people to even try and follow Football. So be it. Mind you, I would love to see more people follow it, attend local games, watch the A-League even on TV if in regional areas and cant attend, but its always going to be a battle here in a country that's got so much happening. I remember when I came to Australia, was playing NSW state league and had to laugh at the comments from blokes at work, "soccer's for wogs and poofs mate, your not one of them are ye?" It was all good banter but even back then it was clear to me, you weren't playing a mans game....."like rugby league, mate", lmfao. And of course there were jibes back even in the late 70's about playing the "girls game" with the diving and such, but nothing was even close back then to the diving we have now. It was reported the other day Neymar spent almost 7 minutes laying down v. Mexico whilst screaming for attention, he even changed his hair style after Cantona trolled him claiming it looked like a bowl of spaghetti on his head, so he had a haircut, lol. Even his team mates at PSG have been reportedly ticked off over the 'extra special attention' he gets compared to them, his fellow players. FIFA haven't handled this 'simulation' too well at all. Our 1st game v. France was a joke in how one of the top teams were allowed to get away with cheating, feigning tackles, hits, contact etc and its rolled on ever since with obvious protection or favour being shown to the bigger teams, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this here. So i just wouldnt blame Neymar....Pepe is habitual just like Saurez and others over the past couple weeks, but Neymar does stick out and theres only one way to fix that and thats throw the book at him. Red card, no ifs or buts. I see the impact of junior football at the weekends like others on here, where parents come along, grandparents as well, friends of friends, people who'd normally not be interested in Football come to see the kids, people that then begin to have an interest in the game. Most of them were all saying last Saturday how theyve enjoyed the W.C. All we have to do is continue with what we do with our juniors, teach and guide them about playing fair & firm, whats right and whats wrong, how to enjoy and get the most out of the game and dont resort to cheating......theres already enough of that in our very own Parlaiment. Sorry Post Hoc, wasnt meant as a responce to you, dont know what happened there.

I really shouldn't bother, but the whole purpose of calling other codes bash codes is just childish, so i am going to play Change football to fake code and your post is complete. Really you should embrace the 'simulation', own it, its soccer, we all know it. Aim for a scoreless draw, fake a penalty if you can, then win the coin toss, oh i mean shootout. That's how you win the WC. Is that the response you were seeking ?.

It’s the moral inferiority angle that annoys me most. Somehow it’s better to belt someone and injure them than it is to feign injury? Say what!!, stop inflicting your own warped opinions on how other people think when you have no idea, people generally don't want people belted and injured across any game, although in this case Neymars mum should give him a belting, i bet she could make him squeal. They want people tackled fairly within the rules of game and for those people to accept the tackle without faking or feigning injury or looking for free kicks. i don't think many fans of other codes have responded to this article, but plenty of posters have tried to gee it up looking, mainly because there is nothing really new about a soccer player rolling around on the ground faking injury, its par for the course. I don't think Alex Race has anything to worry about