With the World Cup winding down, one issue that all fans agree is that diving has increased multiple fold in this competition. And as the WC is a benchmark competition, it can be expected that this trend would spill into club level soccer in increased form soon.
FIFA must take drastic measure just as it has done with the racism issue. It should fight to stamp out this crazy increase in diving, simulation, etc. It destroys the beautiful game. When it comes to soccer, I am also an idealist…I believe in gung-ho, attacking, flair football. FIFA can’t do anything about how teams play, but it can encourage attacking football in a multitude of ways.
There are many ways to increase fairplay, stop diving and encourage attacking, creative football but here are my ideas:
1) DIVING: Players who dive (without contact) should be given very harsh punishments - say 10 game suspensions PLUS fines for their clubs. This is decided by video panel. This kind of punishment will seriously deter a player from just taking a dive - as he knows even if he cons the referee, he will sit out a LOT of matches. It will also relieve a lot of pressure from referees. This should only be for dives WITHOUT ANY CONTACT WHATSOEVER…because it will be very hard to ascertain a dive if there was some kind of contact.
The fine for the clubs or team, will also annoy the teams a lot, and will make each club warn their players seriously.
In a tournament, a diver should be kicked out immediately without the chance of receiving a medal. Some might say this is very harsh - it is. But the very idea, will keep a lot of players on their feet, it will also mean that teams will not “practise” how to dive anymore. Coaches will also look at other ways to win rather than taking the “lazy mans” way.
I think this kind of severe action will really help in tackling this ugly problem.
2) ENCOURAGING ATTACKING AND CREATIVE FOOTBALL:
I believe some innovative new rules might help.
For instance FIFA can promulgate a new rule similar to the one in basketball saying that once the ball crosses the center line, it can not be brought back across the line OR else it is a foul. This will immediately force teams to be more creative and try to quickly get a shot on target or they lose the ball. Either that or they can find a system to keep the ball in their opponent’s half successfully. Anyway it pans out, the fans watching will be entertained by this.
Also FIFA can also ban the backpass to the keeper in anyway. Yeah, I know this will make defending a little trickier…but it will be trickier for both sides, so it will be fair. Chelsea were probably one of the first to really “abuse” this system of always passing back all the way to their keeper. Now every single time I see this happening with a lot of teams. I know this is a very good way to keep possession of the ball but it gives too much of an advantage to defensive and dour teams who don’t wish to be more creative. If the defender is being chased down by an attacker then he should take it out for a corner or a throw in…not to the keeper. More drama! Better entertainment FOR FANS. It will also make teams think more of moving the ball upfield a bit faster.
3) Others:
A keeper is wasting time and violating the six second rule? Dont give a yellow card! Just give a freekick to the opposition.
A referee has just given a straight red card?
The dismissed player should be taken by the fourth official out of the pitch. The referee then reflects on his decision for up to 5 minutes (as the game is going on naturally). He can confirm his decision OR reverse it…by mellowing it to a yellow. I accept this might be a logistics hassle though…but how many times have we heard a referee say that he made a mistake with a straight red…or if he had had more time he might have made a different decision? Countless. So this can be looked into.
Also goal line technology should definitely be introduced to ascertain if the ball has crossed the line, in the case of a dispute.
I believe if these or other innovative AND effective rules are utilized to combat “simulation”, cheating…and to reward inventive and attacking play while promoting a sense of fairness THEN this game can be beautiful once again.
7 Responses to “Cleaning Up Football”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
July 25th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Lots of nice ideas, Fred. I agree that the rampant diving is going to require some heavy-handed intervention from FIFA and the different national associations.
While I like the general idea of a basketball-type center line rule, I wonder how it would affect opposing defense formations. If we saw teams combatting that rule with shifts to the back, it would just move the back-and-forth of the midfield play closer to the box.
Having goal line technology to determine a goal is so ‘NFL’ to me. Putting that on two sides of every professional pitch in the world would cost more than it would ultimately be worth. Quality referees are what the game needs; ones that analyze instead of react.
July 25th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
No, the backcourt rule won’t help anything. It’ll just cause defenses to pack the box & force high balls & long shots.
A simpler solution would just to award more pts. in the standings for the goals you score on top of the 3 pts. for a win. I forget where but there was a lower league in some country that awarded a bonus pt. in the standings for scoring 3 or more goals in a match.
A much easier solution with fruit that’ll actually bear:
Lose: 0 pts.
Any draw, 1 pt.
Lose but you score 2 or more (or 3+?) goals: 1 pt.
Win: 3 pts.
Win with 3 or more goals: 4 pts.
Won’t happen, but that’d be a better system, IMO, anything less than incentive systems will only eventually bring a new negative tactic. This won’t solve the diving & feigning injury problem but it’d be a decent start, I think. The only way to crack down & get rid of the diving is to actually ENFORCE the rulings- book players, no matter who they are for diving & an automatic ban of at least 3 matches for getting sent off for diving, even if it is only a 2nd yellow.
Or to go with your theme of awarding a free kick for time-wasting, if someone is adjuged to have dived, award a free kick to the opposition in the opposite attacking half directly opposite where the dive was awarded. Granted there would be abuses here & there but I guarantee you coaches would start cracking down on those tactics themselves if a penalty such as that would be handed out.
The referee decision idea is interesting but I think just stopping the match & sorting out the situation & just adding the time onto stoppage time would work. Or in the event of high controversy, just STOP THE CLOCK & give the ref his 5 minutes (90 sec. to 2 minutes would still do the trick in my opinion) until it’s all figured out. They don’t have that technology to stop the clock in Europe?
But why stop there?! You want interesting?
ANY professional foul- penalty. Doesn’t matter if it’s 40, 50, 60 yds. upfield- penalty.
A red card for violent conduct- penalty or at the least a direct free kick with no wall from 25 yds. out.
July 25th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Damn auto signout.
That’s me above.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I would like to see players receive treatment on the pitch while the game continues. I think this would stop some of the theatrics. If a player needs attention 30 yards behind a breakaway the attacking team shouldn’t be expected to dump the ball into touch. Obviously, the referee would need to have discretion to stop play for serious injuries or if the player is in a position that interfers with play around the goal.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
I would like to see players receive treatment on the pitch while the game continues. I think this would stop some of the theatrics. If a player needs attention 30 yards behind a breakaway the attacking team shouldn’t be expected to dump the ball into touch. Obviously, the referee would need to have discretion to stop play for serious injuries or if the player is in a position that interfers with play around the goal.
July 25th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
They should over do it on the diving calls. The only way to prevent cheats from faking is to penalize anything that looks like it could be a dive. I hate diving. Its what give football a bad name in the US.
July 26th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
let’s make the goals bigger… by 4 feet wide and 2 feet high…
and…
for the last 5 minutes of each half, play with two balls on the pitch…
That will be really exciting!
Also… lets have one player have a gold uniform, and he will be the “magic” player for each team. If he scores, its worth double!
Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Let’s encourage more shooting. So if you lose, but you have more shots on goal, you get points for trying really hard.
How about 1/2 a goal awarded if you hit the post 3 times in a half?
These sound fantastic.
Let’s change the sport completely!