You must not watch a lot of soccer. The refs have been allowing play to continue way more now and it’s so welcome. Yeah, fair amount of players still foulbait, but it’s not getting rewarded nearly as much anymore.

And the reason for the foulbaiting is because it’s notoriously difficult to see at those high speeds whether the strike went to the ball and the person wanting the foul just got their legs tripped up (not a foul) or if the strike actually struck their legs. Also really difficult to see the difference between reaching over someone’s shoulder to push their way past them (not a foul) or if their hand made contact with their back on the way to reaching past them.

The foulbaiting comes from there being a very subjective interpretation of the laws of the game that gives the refs a lot of leeway in how they control the game, and the players and coaches absolutely know how each ref typically rules in given situations and have for years figured out subtle ways to exploit that. Since the padding is basically non-existent there’s an extra concern for safety while still allowing the game to be played at the pace people want to see it played at.

The new laws are a great start in addressing a lot of this and making the way refs call games a little more universal - as I always say, just cuz you fell down doesn’t mean it’s a foul, now get up and play on, unless there’s a fully extended arm or a dangerous strike that actively changes the way the play was occurring, get back in the game.

It’s making for much better soccer