>>(SNIP)
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>>>>Personally I'd be happy to see players found guilty of cheating (and there is usually plenty of TV evidence) suspended from playing for several games and hit with a big fine (big enough to hurt)
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>>>That would be good. But that would only fuel the debate after the match. I'd also like this video evidence to be relayed to the ref immediately, when it comes to contentious decisions like this. They have it with Cricket, don't they, and maybe rugby? Definitely with tennis, where they have the ref called out if the umpire can't be sure, and there's always "Hawkeye" to consult (which is used in cricket too).
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>>Replays are used in American football and remain controversial. Some like them because they improve the chances of getting the call right. Others dislike them because the action comes to a half for several minutes while the referees confer, then the head referee goes over to the sideline to watch the replay (often several times and from several angles), then they discuss it again, then the referee announces his decision, then play resumes. It throws off the flow of the game. And bear in mind that American football is by its nature stop and start (an estimated 12 minutes of action in a 60 minute game), not continuous flow like soccer. The distortive effect would therefore be even greater.
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>Like i said, they have calls in tennis (a fast-paced game of almost continuous action) but they're used very sparingly, and then only a certain number per match. I propose a similar frugal attitude to their use, only at times, say, when the ref is being mobbed by an indignant team insistent on their righteousness. After all, the delays from such take a lot of time from the game anyway.

Not if the referee remains in control of the match. IMO soccer teams, especially coaches, are born indignant and insistent on their righteousness. Opening a door to calls actually being overturned would increase this behavior by orders of magnitude.

PS -- tennis is not continuous action or even close to it. A match consists of many, many separate plays, each of which results in a point. (Whoops, 15 points. What merry madman devised the tennis scoring system, anyway?)