There's different forms of cheating though. In football, diving, feigning injury, rolling around like you've been shot, trying to get other players booked or sent off etc is despicable. It ruins the image of the game, makes the players look like pussies and cheats and is just a general turn off. There's no respect or honour in it. There isn't really a comparison in rugby as it's a full contact sport, so not much room for gamesmanship.
Now if you compare that to say, pulling shirts during set pieces, handling the ball on the line to deny a goal or the last defender taking the attacker out and committing a professional foul, that's also cheating but it's acceptable IMO. And the guilty party is usually rewarded with a red card. Luis Suarez was given a rough time for handling the ball on the line against Ghana, but it was all a load of nonsense really. He did what he had to do, got sent off and Ghana bottled the penalty. It wasn't Suarez's fault that Ghana missed the penalty or that the poor African team didn't make a semi for the first time. You could also say that winding up opposition players verbally or giving a player digs off the ball is cheating, but again I think that's acceptable and part of the game. This is the kind of 'cheating' that also goes on in rugby, and to be fair it is an art form. You just have to make sure you don't get caught.
Football's problem is the gamesmanship, the diving and the feigning. If they can eradicate that it will be a great game again. Retrospective banning and straight red cards are the only way. Rugby is enjoying a purple patch at the moment here in Ireland, but that will only last as long as the success lasts. The working man does not grow up with rugby here - most grow up reared on GAA and Soccer as these are the local clubs in most parishes and towns. Yea, he might 'follow' rugby while the bandwagon is in full flow, but let's see if he'll stick around when the wheels start coming off. It's already happening here in Munster, the fair weather fans and glory hunters are dropping like flies!
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