Mak'shar Karrde
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Posted - 2006.06.19 02:28:00 -
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Edited by: Mak''shar Karrde on 19/06/2006 02:31:05
Everyone wants the refs to ***** (bloody filter) down on diving but if just one of their players gets wrongly carded they will call foul.
Either call for the introduction of video replays or accept the game for what it is: An entertaining game moderated by people who can only see a situation once, not always at a good angle/distance. Sometimes decisions go against you, sometimes you benefit from them. The downside is that you would get a very stop/start game unless you set a limit on the times each team is allowed to 'appeal' in a given game. Nobody wants Football to turn into American football. The flow of the game is very important.
My prefered method to reduce diving would be for the officials to review a tape of game afterwards and give out match bans for blatent offences not caught during the game. It would not reduce the flow of the game and it would reduce diving so long as the penalty is harsh enough. I imagine the Chelsea BOD would start getting really frustrated if they kept losing Drogba every other game. (just an overexaggerated example (I'm not a fan, I admit it)). Obviously, whatever is decided, the result of the game must remain the same.
Having said that, I didn't have a lot of problems with the three sending offs in the USA v Italy game. If I recall, it's only happened 4 times in WC history. The ref may have been strict but he didn't push the players into sliding in with studs showing. I know it's hard for the losing side to accept but sometimes you just get the tough refs. It's a lot easier to see a foul than a dive (why do you think so many players do it).
You can lay some of the blame on Fifa for demanding that refs get tough on stud-showing-tackles but it's not a new thing. Wasn't it tackles from behind in the last World Cup that they tried to eradicate? They're not introducing new rules from nothing though, they're only encouraging them to enforce (albeit over-zelously) long standing rules. The players are partly to blame, especially if someone gets sent off for such a thing 'after' the USA/Italy game.
Although I still like the idea of allowing each team one appeal per game. It would only be allowed when the ball is not in play and would prompt the ref to contact someone in a position to verify his last decision. Give the job to the 5th official or something, It's not like he ever does anything anyway (I know he is a backup linesman). It certainly would have helped France today with their disallowed goal... Or maybe not, considering no French player seemed all that bothered (still, I liked seeing them draw, HAH!).
(Please forgive any basic factual errors In this post, it's gone 3am now. Can I also use the same reason to excuse any waffling? As for spelling errors, I don't apologise for those... I tried!).
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