FIFA is so concerned that players and referees have no time to rest during half-time that it is proposing to stretch half-time from 15 minutes to 20. According to FIFA officials, the players need more rest at half-time and fans require time to get their refreshments or go to the bathroom. But the idea also appears to be eyeing extra advertising revenue. One suspects the real reason for this proposal has nothing to do with the welfare of players or fans, but to give television companies the chance to increase their revenues by carrying lucrative advertisements in those extra five minutes.
The idea of fans being forced to spend an extra five minutes waiting for the second half to start is not one that is appealing. It takes scant regard to countries with less than temperate climates. It is all very well for a percentage of people who can escape back into the warmness and do various things during that time but what about stadiums that do not have many enclosures and ones built in cold-weather countries?
The real fans – the 90 percent outside on the terraces, braving the weather conditions – just want the game to resume as soon as possible. It can be freezing in the winter and hanging around any longer than necessary is not going to go down very well.
Of course, players wouldn t mind the extra breather, but it is doubtful coaches want to extend the break, because the longer it is before players go back out, the more likely their muscles will tighten up and hamstrings start snapping.
An important function at half-time takes place inside the dressing room and what coaches tell the players during the pep talk, but the downside is players cooling down even more in a longer break.
However, some clubs might welcome an extra five minutes as it would give more time for fans to buy refreshments, which in turn will boost their coffers to an extent. The German Football Federation is backing the 20-minute break in order to sell more beer and sausages. The argument is that 15 minutes are not always enough to get a sausage and return to your seat.
There is an extra Bundesliga income of around ?300,000 if the longer break becomes reality – cash the clubs will welcome in times of dwindling sponsorship and television revenues. The extra five minutes would allow television to jam in more commercials.
If FIFA wants to change rules, it should look foremost not at the money but at the effect it will have on the game. Through the years, FIFA introduced rule changes meant to inject into soccer more speed and excitement. It used to be two points for a win; now it s three. A coach used to substitute only two players; now he can substitute three. Goalkeepers could pick up a ball passed to them by their teammates; now only a header can be handled by the keeper. Goalkeepers could keep the ball in their possession till the next day; now it s only seven seconds. You were ruled offside if you received the ball ahead of two players; now it s just one. Referees would keep to themselves how much extra time they were adding; now everybody knows.
So, will five more minutes increase speed and excitement? In the late 1950s, half-time was only 10 minutes, but those were the days when play was not as fast or as furious as to require a long second wind, and when TV revenues were not a factor. A 15-minute break was later needed and warranted, but that should remain enough.
In crucial, security risky games in Cairo Stadium, especially international fixtures, fans have to arrive something like four hours before game time. Does anyone seriously believe that after having to sit twiddling their thumbs for hours and hours before the game, they ll want five more minutes tacked on anywhere in a match?
Our players in Egypt already take 20 minutes off. By the time they trudge off the field at half-time and lackadaisically walk back from the dressing rooms, 20 minutes have elapsed. If FIFA officially makes half-time 20 minutes, in Egypt, we ll stretch it to 25.
We also don t have bouncy cheerleaders livening up half-time, so why prolong it? Our brand of midway entertainment is usually composed of a bit of banter with other spectators about how awful some of the players are, with the most popular expression being My grandmother could play better than that useless twit.
Anyone who has stayed long enough in Egypt knows time has no deadline. Egyptians wouldn t mind at all the extra minutes, if for nothing more than to go pray and implore the Almighty that their team wins.
But football, not the dead part in the middle, must remain the center of attention. A break of 20 minutes would mean matches losing momentum. Fifteen minutes is more than enough.
