It's a different type of cheat conducted by players like Rooney. We even saw Bale do it in a game not long ago, when he anticipated contact and went over. They almost make the contact happen. As i said before, i've seen players like Lampard do it too. He isn't going anywhere but he seems to manufacture a foul and get a free kick. Players like Messi, RVP, Ronaldo etc are genuinely skillful and due to this, defenders get done and it turns into a foul. Lampard has limited ball skill but he is clever enough to get free kicks in key areas. he sort of like goes over after doing some innocuous little move.
I think Ammaar is correct, the "stretching" for contact, originated in South America, not the continent.
