Never touched 'im, ref!

Now it's over, what did you think of the World Cup?  I think the right team won, although as is often the case the final itself was a bit of a disappointment.  One thing to come out of it for me was a comment made by one of the TV pundits - think it might have been Glenn Hoddle - when the conversation turned to why players tend to go to ground dramatically following the most minimal of contact from an opposing player.  "They go down" he said "because they know they've no chance of getting a free kick unless they do".  And that's brought me looking at matches in a new light - because he's right.  Holding, shirt-pulling, flailing arms - you'll see it time and again, but if the player offended against stays on his feet it goes unpunished.  So I am now less inclined to criticise players who go down - as I see it - too easily, and more inclined to criticise the referees.  Foul play is foul play irrespective of whether the player fouled stays on his feet or not.  If it were punished as such, we might see rather less of the embarrassing rolling-around in agony and subsequent miraculous recoveries which do nothing for the reputation of the game.