Bad idea. The human elements adds something irreplacable to the game. I went to one of the women’s World Cup matches back in 2003 and the line judge on my side of the field was a major babe.
I think one of the motivating factors for starting the English League Cup in the early 60s would have been the fact that the Scottish League Cup had already been going for a few years with reasonable success. The Scottish League Cup started as an unofficial competition in the 1945/46 season, as the league championship and the Scottish Cup had yet to begin again after the war. When the Scottish League re-commenced the following season, the top division had only 16 teams in it, which meant only 30 games in the season.
I believe that the League Cup was founded as an official competition in order to increase the number of games clubs played, so that their income did not drop; originally the teams were drawn into groups of 4 in the 1st round, who played each other home and away. That continued until the 80s, but I don’t think it was ever adopted in the English version.
Totally unrelated question:
Suppose a defender (not the goalie) is standing on the goal line during a corner kick (or pretty much at any other point), and the other team shoots a ball on goal which is clearly going in, except that the defender could use his hands to stop it.
Is there any reason for the defender NOT to do that? (I’m assuming that what would happen would be a red card and a PK, but that seems better than a guaranteed goal, at least late in the game.)
For friendlies, yes. Those games don’t count for anything.
I believe that all FIFA sanctioned games have 3 subs. The Olympics use 4, but that’s not a FIFA competition.
If it’s tied, and late in a WC final, then yeah, that’s a good play. There’s always a cost-benefit analysis that players have to go through. If it’s late in a must win game, then that might be the best decision to make.
I think player suspensions are decided subjectively (ie the football authorities can look at each case on its own merits), and in this case the player could end with a very heavy suspension.
That would vary from person to person and depending on the competition level. I’ve got several refs in the family, including the most-veteran and longest-standing referee in Spain (he was still an Evaluating Referee weekly at 87, occasionally at 90; he’s now officially retired).
In Spain (and I imagine it is similar in every country) a ref begins as a line referee in the lowest local league. They have to pass some exams as well as getting evaluated by Evaluating Referees, people who go to matches and fill in a report on the referees. If they do well enough, they get promoted to the next level, where they can be referees on that lowest tier and line referees on the next higher. They get paid per match (plus salary, only in Primera) and the pay is higher for higher tiers. A Primera División referee can make enough to live on, but that doesn’t mean he will; after all, it’s a job that you can lose because of a mis-step, something less likely to happen for your weekly job. Lower-tier referees usually have a weekdays job. Of my cousins who are referees right now, one is an Administrative Assistant, one a Corporate Laywer and one a Sales Division Manager. Gramps was a salesman for most of his working life, usually a travelling salesman (he would travel for only 6-8 weeks instead of the 10-11 of his coworkers, thanks to being an early riser; when on the road he evaluated and when at home he refereed).