Italy penalty 228

I disagree with your buttessment, the player was in his line of running, remember this is all happening at high speed, and why should he have to stop and run round the player to get to the ball, perhaps giving the defender the extra fraction of time needed to put in a tackle. I remember my brother once making a complaint that a player had run into his foot when he had tripped him up! It seems to apply to your argument and the Australian's argument.

Secondly, let's not kid ourselves on that diving is anything to do with being Italian. It happens in Scotland, England (was it Rodney Marsh or Franny Lee that was the expert in the 70s?), everywhere, you'll get some players that dive and some that don't. Let's not kid ourselves on that British football is any better when it comes to cheating either. Cheating happens at multiple levels in a game, whether it's diving or whether it's pulling a shirt at a corner, claiming for a throw in that you know isn't yours, handling the ball on the line to stop a goal, committing a foul in midfield to break up an attack, blocking someone at a corner to score a goal (John Terry), etc etc. For some reason the British get on their high horse about diving, but a foul in the middle of the park is a 'good foul' - nonsense, it's cheating, plain and simple.