Things that bug me about football

As the rugby season winds down, I need something to fill the gap and football fits the bill quite nicely. However, as a newcomer to the game, there are a few things that really bug me.

As a little background before I get into this I should say that I am not a rugby fan coming over to bash football. I played for my high school’s First XI many years ago and have been a casual fan for years, watching World Cups, Champions League games and FA Cup finals.

Perhaps it was the age group referees or perhaps we were just really bad at it, but when I played there would be several foul throw calls per game. In fact it got to the point where I would hand the ball to a teammate rather than take a throw myself and risk getting pulled up.

But over the past couple of weeks I have watched games from the UEFA Champions League, Euro 2008 qualifiers, A League and even a game from MLS and every single one of them had multiple foul throws that the referees turned a blind eye to.

Has that law been amended? Can a player twist his body while throwing? Or throw with one foot in front of the other? Sure, this is just a minor thing, but some these are supposed to be some of the best players in the world and young players will emulate what they see on TV, how can youngsters be expected to get it right when the professionals don’t?

Another thing that has been blighting football since almost time immemorial is players faking injuries. Football players go down, writhing in agony after a defender breaths on them, then pop back up to take their ill-gotten free kick and wonder why they have a reputation for being soft.

Despite what the rules say, football is a contact sport and some challenges hurt. But if UFC World Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture can defend his title with a broken arm, why can’t football players get up after being clipped in the ankle and run it off? Perhaps a mandatory five minute stand down period for any player who goes down injured would magically cure some players.

The last thing which really bugged me as I watched the Wellington Phoenix game, aside from the incompetent referee, was a fan who had a whistle which sounded exactly like the referee’s. Several times I thought the Phoenix had been whistled for fouls or offside, only to see the game continue because the whistle had come from the stands and not the man in charge. Surely it would not be difficult for security to find this annoyance and confiscate the whistle or eject them from the ground.

But even after that rant, I am proud to say I have indeed caught the Yellow Fever and am proud to say I am now a Phoenix supporter. Football is truly the Beautiful Game, but it does need tweaking from time to time.

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The Things that bug me about football by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.