How do we deal with diving (cheating) and playing for fouls?

The questions we must ask are:

• If a player is using the rules to his advantage, is that wrong?
• If a player is cheating, how do we punish that?
• If a player is cheating, how do we determine that and differentiate it from “using the rules to his advantage”?
• How do you know whether the player is going down too easily or was genuinely brought down?
• How do you know if a player goes in looking for the tackle or not?

In my view, if a player is using the rules to his advantage, its tactics. If a player is cheating, he should be punished (retrospectively as well as during the game).

There are some who will argue that playing for fouls and going down too easily are actions that go against the spirit of the game.

The thing is – are the rules according to the spirit of the game, or not? And if they aren’t, how can we change them?

What do you guys think?