The offside law is one of the game s hardest to comprehend, especially after it was changed. The law says that offside occurs when there are fewer than two defenders between an attacker and the goal line. Once, players were judged offside the moment the ball was passed forward by their team. Now they must touch the ball or interfere with the play to be ruled offside.
The aim, FIFA said, is to “protect attacking play intended to lead to a goal, which is the ultimate objective in football. FIFA tinkered with the law so that more goals could be scored. The question is whether people will understand how and why the goals are being scored.
An extremely inaccurate survey was thus conducted to see whether there was any truth to the survey. We rounded up three unwitting female victims who were separately asked one question: What does offside in soccer mean? Yasmine said she constantly heard the word being used by TV commentators during games and in postmatch analysis, but never bothered to find out what it meant. Dhalia was better, sensing it had something to do with being alone in front of the goal, but she could not be sure. Reem, (her real name is not used in order to protect her ignorance) politely sidestepped the question and wondered if she could be asked another.
“Okay, what’s a throw in? “I think it’s, like, when you throw up. End of survey.
So women are more intelligent than men on football, but are they better at playing? Those who appreciate the finer points about soccer criticize the girl’s game as plodding.They do admit women can do virtually anything the men can,but when compared to the speed of the modern game, they do it slower, almost they say, like watching men play in slow motion.
Is the women’s game as popular? There is a World Cup and there was Euro 2005.
Egypt has a women’s league; surprisingly, the United States does not. Its professional women’s league shut down two years ago for lack of funds. But in general, the sport is popular, no doubt one big reason being that the players look better than men.
Concurring is Lennart Johansson, who earlier this year said sponsors of women’s football could cash in by promoting the players’ physical attributes.
The UEFA president said: Companies could make use of a sweaty, lovely looking girl playing on the ground, with the rainy weather. It would sell. FIFA boss Joseph Blatter was fantasizing pretty much the same thing last year when he urged female footballers to wear skimpier kits to increase the popularity of the women’s game.”Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball, pronounced Blatter. “They could, for example, have tighter shorts. female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so. You’re excused in this column but not by many women, players and others, who loudly protested at the Blatter and Johansson comments as blatantly sexist. Surely, they cried, sport is about skill and tactical ability first and how people look second.Actually, not necessarily.
Think again.
Think David Beckham.
The FIFA and UEFA bosses might therefore have had a point by apparently being so obsessed with kit tightness.Their goal in the end is to ensure that beautiful people continue to play the beautiful game, which in turn helps men to continue watching women’s football in significant numbers.Allgirl games attract record-breaking crowds and good TV figures. It is also a known fact that men go wild when watching sport in general. Raw emotions are bared; profanity is loud and clear. Do women watch football with the same intensity?
Observation suggests not.Women are far more mature and emotionally healthier. They choose to invest most of their emotional energies in areas such as family, friends and work. However, the success of all professional sports depends heavily not on apathy but on the willingness of the spectators to be pathetic observers, blathering money-spending morons over their favorite teams and players. Perhaps it would be best if women loosen up a bit.
Perhaps they should start imitating a truly committed male fan. So join the fun ladies. You have nothing to lose but your dignity.But who needs dignity when you’re smarter than us anyway, at least in football.
