Oh you,mean the one wear they can't tackle ,push or shove ,the one where Any physical contact is made they feign injury ,that manly,sport?
And you do kick the ball in American football to either get a point ,after a td,or to get a point after the last down .
Its based in rugby ,it has rules but my thing like watching soccer players feign and pass out from a kick to the shin then without any sign of tibia,or fibia breaking or nursing back in the game .
Mma,and kickboxing,where shins are fair game and if its broken bones will break through that skin and or the foot is on backwards and the guy legit passes out
It's cos u don't understand the game
We have AFL footy here so i get this complaint a lot from them
I invited many of them into our indoor soccer teams over the years which really helped them put things into perspective. Things like running with the ball at your feet cannot be compared with running with the ball in you hands. If the level of contact was like NFL and AFL then no one would be able to score a goal.
When running fast if you receive just a flick on your feet or legs you will fall.
Upper body contact is much easier to ride and fend off but getting tripped will send anyone down even if only walking. Are they allowed to trip in NFL, i doubt it, it's cos its so easy to fall.
Say your running with the ball at your feet and someone tries to kick it.
In the process they miss the ball and collect your legs making you stumble.
At that point there are 2 things that can happen
a/ the trip makes you fall and you get a free kick
b/ you try to stay on your feet and in doing so loose possession to the opponent
So trying to be macho man only ends up in loosing the ball
Anyone who has received a knock to the bones of your feet would know that the pain is huge in the first minute or two then goes away. Receiving the studs of a football boot on your foot absolutely kills then after a minute or so the pain is gone and your running again
Another good reason for showing pain is to make sure the referee spotted the incident and acts accordingly. A red card for a team makes it almost impossible for them to win so if there are dangerous tackles happening the referee needs to know.
Win at any cost. Getting fouled inside the box earns you a penalty so if a player is clipped his best option is to go down rather than try stay up and loose possession
Diving rarely happens anymore, that is falling without any contact. Players get booked for diving. They brought in that rule in the 90s to stop diving and it really helped. Theres a difference between diving (falling without contact) and falling easily
This kind of professionalism of winning a free kick is not absent in American sport. It is most seen in basketball and is known as a "flop"
Anyway i hope that helps put things into perspective. If you still think its dirty, cheap or weak that's fine. It doesn't really need everyone to like it as it is the biggest sport in the world and has been since the start