The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Alvechurch on 18th March 2006.
Only 83 days to go (as at 18th March) until the greatest football tournament in the World begins! It’s the FIFA World Cup that I’m talking about and not the Polymac Services Cup in case you were wondering. Sadly I’ve just got the word from the FA that my application for a ticket for England’s match against Sweden has failed in the ballot despite my loyalty caps so I’m going to have to find a TV in a bierkeller somewhere in Germany to watch it en route between Hamburg and Munich. Despite my disappointment I do feel that the FA have got their away match ticket distribution policy just about right. All the FA’s tickets are handled via the Englandfans members club. Englandfans has a limited membership of 25,000 and 70% of tickets are allocated on the basis of loyalty with the remaining 30% allocated via a ballot of remaining applicants. So I’m apparently out of luck on this occasion but I’ll be joining again for the Euro 2008 membership period – if nothing else it gives you the right to purchase a ticket to every England home game at the new Wembley.
So why am I still going to Germany? Well, I was lucky in FIFA’s general ticket ballot and having secured tickets for four games. Who knows, if you keep your eyes peeled this summer you might even see a Racing Club Warwick FC Cross of St George proudly on display at one of the following matches:
19th June Hamburg Saudi Arabia v. Ukraine
21st June Munich Ivory
Coast v. Serbia & Montenegro
22nd June Dortmund Brazil v. Japan
23rd June Kaiserslautern Saudi Arabia v. Spain
World Cup tournaments often herald controversial refereeing decisions as the officials dutifully apply instructions from FIFA to clamp down on this or that in front of the eyes of the watching world. This got me to thinking about the laws of the game and which ones would I like to see either created or abolished. Here’s my list. What do you think?
#1. Time wasting at the corner flag – it is totally within the rules as they stand for teams holding a narrow lead to run the clock down by taking the ball into the corner of the pitch and attempting to hold it there. Apparently this is “professional”. Believe it or not this is not one of the things that I pay good money to watch a football match for. Have you ever heard anybody ever waxing lyrical about the skills of a particular player in shielding the ball near the corner flag and wasting time? FIFA have been successful over the years in reducing the ability for goalkeepers to waste time. I believe that it’s time to introduce a new rule: an indirect free kick if, in the opinion of the referee, the attacking team is not attempting to create an attacking move.
#2. Injuries requiring treatment – at present, unless the referee cautions the assailant, if an injured player requires treatment on the field, that player must leave the pitch temporarily until play has resumed and the referee permits him to return. This rule was introduced to stop players from time wasting by feigning injury. The trouble is that, in the majority of cases, players are genuinely injured and forcing the injured player to go to the sidelines puts the team that has been offended against at a temporary disadvantage. My solution? The player committing the foul should also be forced to temporarily leave the field of play. Simple but effective! We could even take this a step further. If a player is so badly injured by an opponent that he cannot continue then his assailant too should not be allowed to carry on. And if his team has already used all of their substitutes then they’d be down to 10 men! Shame!
#3. Players who verbally or by gesture encourage the referee to show a card – this should be an offence in its own right punishable by a yellow card. I continue to marvel at the level of respect shown by Rugby Union players to their officials. Such respect is sadly missing from our game and the continuous badgering of the officials by some teams is irritating to say the least. Recent high profile examples of the referee being surrounded by protesting Chelsea or Manchester United players must have done nothing to encourage players at lower levels of the game to show respect to the man (or woman) in black. In my view, automatic bookings should sort this out pretty quickly (unless the players or benches concerned are particularly thick!).
#4. Contested decision – this one would only work at televised fixtures but let’s try giving each manager a joker a la “It’s a knockout”. This would be available for use only once per match in the event that the manager considers that the officials have made a major mistake that should be reviewed by a fourth official sitting in the stands. In order to ensure that a manager does not used a joker gratuitously, if the fourth official agrees that the match officials were correct then this would result in an automatic penalty kick for the other team. I think that this would avoid the possibility of a stop-start game that many people fear from the possibility of video replay since jokers would be used rarely and only in the event that a manager is pretty sure that his appeal will be vindicated. To take the “It’s a knockout” comparison a step further we could even have the joker paraded around the touchline by a celebrity fan to pass the time while the official in the stands deliberates! Is Pamela Anderson a celebrity supporter by any chance?
#5. Extra time – I think that most people agree that a penalty shootout is not the fairest way of settling a drawn tie. In order to reduce the possibility of the dreaded pens, why don’t we try the following: in the event of a draw, at the end of normal time each manager should be allowed to nominate three outfield players from the opposing side who must be immediately withdrawn. This would leave an eight-a-side extra time almost certainly involving the most tired and least influential players of each side. The extra space and increased ground that the players would have to cover should mean a greater chance of a goal or three. After half an hour of extra time if the scores are still level then why not allow managers to nominate the removal of a further three opposition players. Surely a winner would emerge in a further 20 minutes?
Do you think that these suggestions would further improve our game? Can you come up with other laws of the game in need of attention?
Keep the faith!
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