23
« on: January 09, 2025, 05:35:23 PM »
Picture this: two sets of players line up crowded inside a very small space. A ball is injected between them. There is mauling, grappling, wrestling to the ground, pulling of jerseys (hair too occasionally) and blocking. A player is specially trained to receive the ball but the opponents try to smother him from moving.
Am I describing Rugby Football, American Football or Association Football aka Soccer?
Pundits, agents and other parties with a financial interest tell us that it’s the Beautiful Game. But the shenanigans that take place on corners, long throw-ins and free kicks does not to me look beautiful at all.
Is our football a game to be won by a side, for instance like Arsenal over Spurs, where there is a planned choreography to prevent Vicario coming and challenging for the ball? If we want to watch a game tailored so that the team fielding the biggest, tallest, brawniest set of players will most likely prevail then we could go and watch Rugby.
We could go right back to football’s origins (all codes) where the game is played with an indeterminate number of players and no rules - the ball can progress by any means. Perhaps an artificial stream could be put along the centre line. Alternatively, we can progress the game to accentuate the skills and movement that most of us allege we value.
The decision may be taken out of our hands as the evidence that repeatedly heading the ball game after game, training session after training session is having a permanently deleterious effect on the brains of the players is becoming a) incontrovertible and b) no longer possible to ignore - especially for those under 23 years of age. Getting the ball under control with the chest will be the only way to control a high pass.
The question is what would we replace corners with? Perhaps something like a short corner in field hockey where the sides are separated: attackers on the edge of the area (which might become a semi-circle) and a limited number of defenders allowed on the goal line (2) and the by-line (4) – others on the centre line . The ball is kicked in from a point on the by-line half-way between the centre of the goal and the edge of the area.
Why when a free kick is given do we have this boringly long pause to allow defenders to line up against attackers and the tiresome marking out of lines of separation. It causes more grappling etc. As long as it’s stationary and positioned where the foul was committed, just take the damn thing. Defenders must get 5 metres clear or the free-kick advances 5 metres and repeat. If the defence has not assembled itself and combed its hair whatever - too bad.
Change will come. What form would you like it to be?
Show Posts
