On one hand, I understand that. It's a simple truth.

There are some players however, that do it more often than others. To me, this reveals character flaws in them as a person more than anything. For some, it's how they were raised to play the game; one can easily exploit a certain situation to win a foul. An example of this (and I'm saying this as an ardent fan of Manchester United) is Adnan Januzaj - he's a young player who, too many times, will be ready to fall in 1v1s at certain points (at other times, he's a beast on the ball and uses a great weight distribution to fend off multiple defends along the lines). For others, they have a mindset going in to many confrontations and battles on the pitch where they are ready at any moment to drop to the floor.

Then there are the standouts.

Luis Suarez is simply someone who should not be allowed on a professional pitch anywhere in the world. I'll preface this by saying that beyond any doubt, he has top class skill and ball control - were it not for his character, I'd want him on my team in a heartbeat. But this guy takes diving and playing like a weasel to a whole other fucking level. Stomping on ankles, biting, dishonest play, and diving, when combined in the form he manages to, have no place anywhere and are an absolute fucking disgrace to the game.

I'm open to what some more seasoned supporters of the game have to say about this. I'm a Canadian who played competitively from ages 11-18, so I might have a bit of a more 'rough-and-tough' interpretation of how football should be played - stay on your feet unless you're shoved to the ground, and more importantly, when you do go to the ground, get right the fuck back up and get back into the play. Where I'm from, the tenets of hockey were equally applicable on the footy pitch. But I don't understand how someone can look upon something that is at its base, just so flagrantly dishonest and shallow.