This topic has risen it's silly head again this weekend. All footballers are taught, from a very early age, to play to the ref's whistle. Despite this, there is a custom, sometimes (although by now means invariably) honoured by players that they will kick a ball out of play if they see an opposing player down. All too often, of course, one senses that this is used by opposing teams to break up play when they are coming under the cosh. There is absolutely no imperative on a player to stop play unless the ref blows his whistle. I think the FA should come out and clear this up once and for all by making a public statement, and state that all teams should play to the whistle, and that any player feigning injury in order to disrupt play will be given a yellow card. Discuss.
It clearly doesn't work by letting players decide, they're obviously incapable of recognising when an unfair advantage is gained. Keep it simple and leave it to the referees and linesman.
I think that it's already been made clear that you're supposed to play on and it's down to the ref to stop the game. Fans don't like to see one of their players lying on the floor injured while the game goes on though, so they give teams stick if they don't put it out. My favoured way to deal with it would be to allow the physio to come on during the game, like they do in rugby. If there's a head injury or anything else serious, then the ref should stop it, but otherwise the game should continue and the player should be treated on the pitch while the game continues. That would stop players feigning injury instantly, as their team would be down a man while they were pissing about.
I'm pretty sure Stoke just ignored one of the ManU players who was down yesterday and i can't blame them as they were in a good position at the time.But there should be a rule defining what to do or just play to the whistle.
Play according to the rules of the game. The referee is the arbiter of whether play stops or not. Unfortunately, modern footballers diving and feigning injury has made it impossible to act in a more "sporting" way, without being taken advantage of. They have, effectively, reaped what they have sown.
