9 February 2024
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
Football fans all over the world are coming to terms with changes to the laws of football, which seem to be ruining the game they all love. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) was set up in 1886 to ‘determine the laws of the game and make changes when needed’, back when it was against the law for a Scottish person to ‘handle salmon in suspicious circumstances’.
This is the most pertinent part of their formation, to only apply changes to the laws when needed. Now it seems that these amendments are being made to silhouette other sports. The problem with this is that they are not comparable at all. What works in rugby and cricket is not likely to be effectively applied to football, with the intention of improving the game.
We have seen with the introduction of VAR, something which works seamlessly in those two other sports, has become nothing more than a laughingstock in the beautiful game. For so many reasons, something that was implemented to get rid of contentious talking points, has become such an issue that we now have a show focussing purely on refereeing decisions and video technology.
Hosted by Michael Owen and attended by PGMOL head clown Howard Webb, seems to be exactly what football fans up and down the country least wanted to see. It is the worst double act since Fred West met a girl called Rose at a Cheltenham bus station. Webb seems intent on getting his five minutes of fame every week and his constant apologies for mistakes by officials now means as much as having better powers of recollection and balance than Joe Biden.
Most football fans are currently tearing their hair out with the ineptness of the VAR system. The crux of the issue is the people whose incompetency demanded the need for the technology are now the ones sat controlling it. This is where the problem begins and ends. The decisions that are being made are not difficult and should be flawless. If errors are constantly being made, it is not fit for purpose and we may as well go back to life before its introduction.
IFAB are now planning on implementing ‘blue cards’ and sin bins to the game. The FA is planning on trialling the idea in next season’s FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup. The rationale for the change is that it has worked well in grass roots football. Yes, that’s right, those games on parks pitches up and down the country where referees are often threatened with physical violence and abuse.
Credit: @SkySportsPL
You could understand how this extra tool in their armoury would allow them to take control of games more without having to worry about being beaten up in the car park after the game. We are talking about the professional game however. Where both players and officials are full-time employees and this is their sole income.
The proposition:
Referees will have the power to send players off for 10 minutes for dissent or cynical fouls.
Two blue cards would result in the player’s dismissal for the rest of the match, as would the combination of a blue and a yellow card.
A trial whereby only the team captain may approach the referee in certain major game situations.
IFAB are all about control and making it easier for referees to do their job on the pitch. The problem with this is those tools already exist in the game. Dissent and tactical fouls can be punished with yellow and red cards. Complicating the game with blue cards and sin bins is just another nail in the coffin of the beautiful game, along with VAR.
The powers that be are trying to implement things from other sports that just will not work in football. This has been underpinned by VAR itself. In rugby and cricket video technology works well and adds to the game as it should. In football, it is having a negative effect and pushing purists to breaking point. They are even contemplating retreating to its lower reaches where the problem does not exist.
Pundits continue to make comments how they love watching and covering FA Cup games now as there is no VAR involvement. Well that will change, once the sin bins and blue cards are part of it. Should a team lose a player to a blue card, his side will do all they can to run down that clock whilst playing in a defensive fashion for its ten minute duration. More negativities brought by unnecessary alterations to the sport.
VAR itself has meant that football matches are no longer for 90 minutes but more like 100 minutes as standard. These pivotal changes to the rules are just breeding more problems within the game. Player simulation in challenges is now the worst it has ever been. Some players are less footballers than they are actors now. The powers that be should look to get video technology right before they move onto their next hairbrained scheme to turn the sport into something other than the game fans fell in love with.
Credit: @TransferSector
Slowly but surely football is being turned into some rugby/American football/ice hockey hybrid. The recent changes are forcing fans to consider turning their attentions to lower league football. The inconsistency in the modern game currently infuriates supporters. The rules are pretty simple to follow, in no other job in the world would you still have employment if you were making so many routine errors every week.
Now blue cards and sin bins seem to be the answer to a question nobody is asking. It is like addressing gun crime in America by announcing you are banning knives. Dissent and tactical fouls can be dealt with by using the current system of yellow cards and subsequent reds. Why these breaches of the laws of the game warrant a ‘time out’ and ten minutes in the corner of the room until you realise the error of your ways is just baffling.
IFAB and PGMOL are the modern day ‘Boston Strangler’ slowly but surely choking the life out of football. The eyes are rolling into the back of the head, the airwaves are restricted…….we cannot take anymore. Give us our game back.
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