by bigmick » Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:16 am
It's merely a football cultural thing, and in fairness the bloke did stck his leg out, and there was some minimal contact. Equally, there was minimal contact moments later when Maniche went down like a sack of spuds at the other end. The key here though for me, and I've been saying this for a while now (there's a shock), is not whether or not there was contact, it's whether or not it was a foul.
The two things are not the same. You often see a striker go one on one with the keeper and then knock it past the goalie as he comes out and goes down. They then drag their trailing leg into him to ensure there's contact. Not a foul though. The key question for me, is was the contact sufficient to prevent the player going about his normal business. If the contact is minimal enough for the bloke to ignore it should he see fit, but instead he decides to hurl himself to the ground, then for me it's not a foul. If you're about to shoot as Riera was and the guys leg brushes against yours, not causing you to trip nor even break stride, it's not a foul.
I've long advocated having a panel look at instances from week to week. Divers and play actors should be absolutely hammered. Five game bans dished out willy-nilly. As it is, it's nowhere near as bad in England as it is on the continent. This for me is THE single most significant reason that the English Premier League is the best league in the World, both in terms of quality and spectacle. If you are actually allowed to compete to try and win the ball back, you take more risks going forward. If you are allowed to tackle, to get tight, you don't need to defend in such great numbers.
Riera is no different to many who have come before him. Hopefully he'll learn, and when he does he might just be a really good player.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".