By Ricardo Guerra
Nearly 25 years have passed since Diego Maradona scored the infamous “hand of God” goal that took England out of the World Cup in 1986. A few months before the World Cup in South Africa, Thierry Henry, the French striker, flagrantly used his hand in a play that led to a goal against Ireland disqualifying the Irish from participation in that tournament. In between these two incidences referees have presided over a myriad of questionable calls and missed opportunities.
Football has changed significantly over the last decades as evidenced in the physiological characteristics of the players. Today’s players are taller, faster, stronger and more powerful than their predecessors. They have an overall higher physiological capacity and thus the ability to cover more ground in less time. The dimensions of the pitch have not changed to compensate for the physiological changes. Consequently, the field became congested. It offers less space for stars like Diego Maradona or Zinedine Zidane to leave their mark as they did in years past.
The rules of the game have not evolved alongside these physiological changes. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that determines the laws of the game, comprised of representatives from each of the United Kingdom’s pioneering football associations, and from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), football’s powerful international governing body, have been slow to adapt. Teams play a very physical, regimented, defense-oriented game, relying heavily on tactical schemes and formations. At times it can be hard to watch the excessive defensive nature of games in a pitch that has become increasingly congested.
No rules have been passed to create more space or open up the pitch and make the game more offensive in nature. When a player is sent off with a red card, the game completely changes. Suddenly, space is brought back to the game. Players are able to use their innate talent and ability to really demonstrate their skills.
Every sport evolves with time: technically, tactically and physically. There are many ideas that FIFA could look into in order to redress some of the problems the game is confronted with presently. Simultaneously, the rules of any sport should be revised to accommodate these changes.
Take for example, the case with the National Football League, the governing body of American football, which has a much more progressive approach as evidenced by the constant revisement of its rules in order to make the sport safer, fairer and more entertaining. In contrast, FIFA has not made a major alteration to the laws of the game in years. The fact that FIFA has done so little so far to reverse such situation or at least promote a thorough examination of the rules of the game is simply inexcusable.
The game requires a major revolutionary facelift in the core of its rules in order to address issues related to the new physiological characteristics of the players, missed calls, excessive stoppage time, incessant fouling, low scoring and violence. Below you will find a series of straight forward suggestions in various domains of the game that may revitalize the sport in a way that would allow us to call this Godsend sport, the beautiful game once again.
The clock/timing device problem
Statistical and data analysis from the last World Cup show that the average playing time during the first and second round of competition was only 54 minutes. All viewers of international football these days know that excessive faking of injury and fouling is killing the game.
Winning teams have all the incentives to stop play, waste time and consequently run the clock out. Some players are so gifted in the art of faking injury that they may potentially be better of on a Broadway stage or with a major acting career in Hollywood. How many times does one see players faking the most horrible injury then only a few seconds later storm back in the field at full speed as if nothing happened? The ridiculous and pernicious theatrics of these actions should be curbed and punished.
Currently the clock does not stop and a few minutes of injury time is given at the end of the match. In the proposed new system of rules, the countdown timing device would be visible for all to see and the game time would stop every instance there is a foul, an injured player on the pitch, a corner kick or a free throw. Therefore, the game time should be adjusted to account for the stoppage. Rather than two 45 minute halves, the game would have two 35 minute halves with no extra injury time. During the last World Cup, fans were only watching about 27 minutes of actual playing time in each half. With the new system, total playing time would be extended. Readjusting the time of each half would be necessary since stoppage within the construct of two 45 minute -halves would be too onerous.
An official time keeper outside the field would start and stop the clock based upon the command of the main referee inside the pitch. The new timing rules would be a major incentive in resuscitating and preserving the fluid nature of the game since there would be no benefit for players to waste time.
Extra referees
Modern football play takes place at an unprecedented pace. A single referee inside the pitch has a challenging task of covering a sizeable area and therefore is required to maintain a respectable fitness level. Sports such as basketball have three officials circulating a court that is significantly smaller in area than a football pitch.
Referees are human and obviously make mistakes and cannot see all that is happening on the field. Research shows for example, that referees call more fouls against the visiting team, and against bigger players.
Currently, the main referee inside the pitch is supported by only two linesmen. Placing additional referees on the field – one on each half of the pitch and behind each goal watching the activity inside the penalty box – would address many of the issues related to missed calls. There have been reports that FIFA currently is deliberating possibilities into adding extra referees.
Ricardo Guerra is an Exercise Physiologist. He has a Masters of Science in Sports Physiology from the Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked with several clubs and teams in the Middle East and Europe, including the Egyptian and Qatari national teams. The writer can be contacted at [email protected].
