So what's everyone's take on the Leeds/Aston Villa situation? For me, I didn't have a problem with Leeds playing on, but I can see where people have a problem with the Leeds player acting like he was going to put the ball out, only to send in a through ball on goal. I absolutely hate the idea that teams have to send the ball out because someone is grabbing at their ankle after a hard tackle. Everyone on the field could clearly see the Aston Villa player wasn't hurt, but was trying to slow play down. If a team wants to halt play, win the ball back. Obviously, head injuries are different. With all that said, I didn't have a problem with the Leeds manager telling his team to allow a goal for AV.
The diving and simulation has worked it's way down to the high school and youth level. It is my least favorite part of the men's game. These strong, agile athletes can do amazing things with their feet and a ball; yet, someone brushes them and it's down like they've been shot. It leads to a 'boy who cried wolf' scenario as well.
By comparison, most women's teams (main exception being Brazil) do not take the dive and play on.
Note that late substitutions to chew up the clock is another peeve. At a recent high school game, the leading coach substituted a single player on each of three consecutive dead balls within a very short time period. Maybe put in a rule that you have to play 5 minutes of game time between substitutions. In theory, the referee should be tracking stoppage time here anyway and it just slows the game down.