Yes, it actually makes little difference to the outcome either way.
The best will still end up winning.
Nobody wants that anymore, I think. Mesut Özil's accountant, for a start.
The panto is the reason football is the biggest sport.
What if the fans actually prefer the pantomime, though? After all, as you say, football coverage
tends to focus more on controversy than on the technical aspects of the game and this is a formula that seems to have worked for people like Sky Sports, TalkSport et al.
The football authorities know this. They know that without controversy, their product would be nowhere near as popular as it is. This is why they're so resistant to reforms that would stamp out various forms of cheating.
But as I said, there are frequently matches that captivate viewers/spectators
that are entirely absent of flagrant diving. This alone shows that football fans are not entirely in thrall to the pantomine element of the sport.
Indeed, football provides ample pantomime even without cheating. The sheer human drama of who will win is enough to make it a brilliant sport - as much if not more than the controversy.
message reported to Ian Bell
Right. The law and spirit of the game is merely meant to provide a bland framework for the activity.
That's what decent, fee-paying schools were invented for.
He's actually an incredibly bad diver.
The sneaky clever ******* will leave a trailing leg and adapt the trip and fall in one skillful rolling movement.
This c**t seems to think that by grossly exaggerating a challenge by performing a star jump, or catapulting his limbs in all directions that he can get a decision.
c**t, with very poor execution of the art..
It was why I stoped playing competitively at a certain level.
I agree (although I would argue that you and I have never seen a football match without any flagrant
cheating whatsoever - be it handball, fouling, timewasting, etc, etc, etc).
However, what interests me is that you seem suddenly to have developed a faith in your fellow football fans' love of the game itself that I find surprising and touching. :hehe:
You really think the mouth-breathers who call TalkSport and Sky Sports would just stick around for the football? Really?
