Hmm, I personally have my own thoughts on a lot of the issues with referees. The fact that our referees blatantly refuse to send off players for Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity for one - the number of times this has occurred is beyond a joke.
I don't know that shirtpulling is a particularly big problem in this league though, and referees seem to act appropriately on that. Dangerous tackles seem to be a bigger problem.
A few other things that bug me in the game that are accepted that I don't think should be, but oh well.
The problem with diving is you need to be 100% it's a dive to book the player. As a referee sometimes you feel lik it's a dive, but you're not overly certain, so you just tell them to get up. I hate it when a referee has clearly seen a dive though and refuses to take action. Quite often though a player will go down awkwardly, and players always scream for a dive - just because he went down an awkward or unusual way doesn't mean it was a dive.
I remember once sending off a player, second yellow for a dive. Referee commented to the player that it was harsh.
Well.....no. It was a dive.
But the problem with football is that referees, particularly at the high levels, won't award a penalty unless the player goes down like he's been hit by a truck. So players that do the right thing and stay on their feet are punished.
Really, if the attempted trip (or whatever) disrupts the player in a fashion that has an outcome on play, that should be a foul. Disrupt their footing for a few moments which allows a defender to tackle, that should be a foul. But we know that's not how it's refereed.
So players dive becase we, in a way, make them. When a player in the penalty area has his legs knocked but stays on his feet, I always think 'why?' - because even if he loses control, he'll never get the penalty without going down.
When I say 'we', it's easy to say the referees create this situation (because they do), but they referee in a manner that's more or less expected by players and fans (if they didn't, they certainly wouldn't put up with as much dissent!).
I guess holding is another of those fouls where it always affects play 'a bit', but it's kind of an accepted part of the game. Players always use their arms in tackles - why would they if it didn't affect play? And strictly speaking that should be a foul, but it isn't. Just accepted part of the game.
Like how strikers stiff-arm defenders all the time - have you ever seen that penalised?
But on community standards, remember the dive in the Iran - Iraq game, going down at the confrontation with the keeper? So many people reckon it shouldn't be a card because he was already on a card, etc etc (ridiculous reason).
But anyway, the only way to stop diving is suspension via post-match review. But players know that's unlikely, as they'll have to get the benefit of the doubt, which is fair enough. I reckon make it tougher - if the dive leads to a goal and that team draws/wins or an opponent is sent off due to the dive, dock competition points gained from that game.
