Soccer is a broken sport.
It’s a bold statement but all one has to do is watch a World Cup match to see where the game falls short – reffing. In their defense being a soccer ref has to be one of the most thankless and high stress jobs in the world so I am not bashing on them for that. For example, Carlos Fajardo was a semi-pro ref who was murdered in Columbia. Or Dan Etolle who was killed by a mob after the home team conceded a second goal.
The issue with soccer is that it is a relatively simple game. It only has 17 rules. With only 17 rules it leaves an awful lot up to interpretation. For example the yellow card for a fart. No, I am not kidding.
Here are some suggestions however on how to fix the game.
Cards
First, introduce an orange card. Caution – yellow, Warning – Orange, you’re out – red.
The difference between a yellow and a red are too extreme. If you score a goal and pull your shirt over your head in celebration and run around waving it in the air, you get a yellow card. If you do it twice you get a red, are kicked out of the game and your team has to play with 10 men and you miss the next game as well.
In comparison if I run up and punch you in the face while playing I get the same red card and penalties. It seems to me that the disparity between the two offenses taking a shirt of and punching someone in the face should warrant different penalties.
Orange cards could also be for un-intentional offenses like hand-balls or accidental touches like this one from the South Africa/ Uruguay game.
The orange could still be, “you’re off”, but without the extra game penalty attached.
Referees
Get at least one other referee. A hockey game has 4 refs. 2 referees and two linesmen and it is a quarter the size of a soccer pitch. Granted hockey is a much faster game than soccer, there should be a referee to watch what goes on behind the scenes.
If there had been another ref they would have cautioned Materazzi to stop pinching, touching and verbally abusing Zidane. Some (namely the Italians) will argue that that is just a part of professional sports. But what happened to sportsmanship? Do we really want our kids behaving like this? The third suggestion can help deal with this.
Instant Replay
An instant replay in American football can take place in the event of a close or otherwise controversial call, either at the request of a team’s head coach (with limitations) or the officials themselves. There are rules about what types of plays can be instant replayed but it would be pretty easy to figure out for soccer. You could instant replay anything suspicious in the penalty area and anything that could result in a card.
With instant replay incidents like the Thierry Henry handball to get France into the world cup and Ireland out would not happen.
It would also have the added benefit of encouraging players to be more honest. Henry knew he handed the ball but lacked the moral courage to say so. Imagine how much more respect people would have for the game if he had walked up to the ref and said, “Sorry but I accidentally touched the ball with my hand.”
With instant replay refs could have gone back and looked at Materazzi’s behavior before the headbutt and ruled it a yellow as opposed to red. (Zidane was responding to being repeatedly assaulted).
Instant replay could also put an end once and for all to all the fake injuries and flopping around that some teams (Italy) are famous for. Take this latest example from this year’s world cup.
Soccer needs to change if it is expecting to increase in popularity otherwise it is as subjective and fraught with miscalls as figure skating or gymnastics.
Neither of which could ever be called “the beautiful game.”
Very modest, minor changes, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Soccer has a HUGE problem, starting and ending with the lack of scoring. A world cup match with a 1-0 score? Rules should change to promote scoring. Here are some suggestions:
1) Off-sides penalties. A rule that eliminates fast breaks and limits scoring. Eliminate it, or at least allow one player to go “off-sides” legally.
2) Make the goal wider.
3) Make the goal higher.
There. Done. As in complete no-brainer.
The object is to NEVER end a game with a penalty kick, as if everybody got bored in the end and just decided to have a bunch of kicks to get the damn drudge over with.
Goal size adjustments would have a trial period, over a few months during off season games, to set the average scoring by each team to about 8-9 goals per game.
This is such an obvious change that most Americans think the International “Football” Committee (or whoever sets soccer rules) are complete morons.
I even have a name for the new rules. Call them “American Rules”. It might even make the sport popular in the U.S.
I have been thinking about your suggestions regarding the goal and the size of it and I have to disagree.
Complaining that soccer doesn’t have enough goals in it is like complaining there is only one winner in the Indy 500.
Soccer if about creating plays, making opportunities happen, taking chances. Soccer is, in essence a game of give and take.
Look at basketball in comparison. What a joke. 98-101 is not an unrealistic score. Every time someone reaches one end of the court or the other they score. It’s too easy. Most games are decided in the dying seconds. While exciting, why not just cut out the second half and save some time.
Soccer on the other hand is a game of strategy. Not just running up and down a court. American football is also a game of strategy but it sucks because there are too many stoppages in play. Soccer has better flow to it.
The argument that soccer needs more goals is only a reflection of American’s inability to appreciate the nuances and subtleties of the game. I suppose that is why American’s like big flashy spectacles like the Super Bowl.