The problem with vid refereeing is that there will still be debate: the refs organization is claiming the penalty in the opening match was correctly given and nobody seems to agree on the penalty Spain got. ANother difficult thing is: when do you stop? If somebody is given off side, do you stop play… do let play continue? For how long?
My changes:
1). If you dive, Ser Ilyn Payne from Game of Thrones comes on and collects your fucking leg.
2). If a game ends with a draw, a boxing ring is brought on and the team captains must fight to the death armed with pointy sticks while blindfolded.
3). Make the pitch really, really sticky.
4). Players must wear wedding dresses.
5). More free kicks…to the nuts!
6). Video referees. The ultimate aim is Cylon referees but, well…you gotta start somewhere.
7). Paint the ball green. Also, make it smaller. About the size of an orange.
8). All players must shave and wax their heads. I’m sick of stupid footballer haircuts. Balotelli, I’m looking at you.
9). If your goal scoring happy dance is good enough, you get another goal.
10). Gerard Butler to be employed by FIFA to kick the losers down a well.
If you want a serious answer to the question…
What are the primary problems with soccer? The game generally works quite well. I really see only two problems that are frequent enough to worry about:
- Dreadful calls, and
- Diving.
Both can be significantly limited with some instant replay and enforcing anti-diving rules. For a blatant dive (player reacts and feigns injury to something where replay unambiguously demonstrates there was no relevant contact at all) you get a red card.
That’s it, really. Other than that, the game works very smoothly.
My only other suggested change would be a reaction to the thing at the 2010 World Cup where Ghana was robbed by an in-the net hand ball; simply make a rule that hand balls within a few feet of a goal line that prevent an otherwise inevitable goal do not result in a penalty shot, but are simply goals. This sort of thing does not often happen, but it is a bit of a hole in the rulebook.
My problem with video review is that soccer plays with a running clock. How are you going to review something while the game is at full pace. A big part of the game is getting the ball back into play before the other team has time to get back into place.
I would love to see a thread on how a non-us person would “fix” Football, Baseball, or Basketball.
I agree with that. I would limit review only to plays that led directly to a PK, which is infrequent enough but important enough to warrant it (and at that point play has stopped anyway). And rather than having that review initially done by the referee on the field, I’d have someone else review it while the field referee sets up the PK and then only pause if there seems to be something worth holding up for.
Everything else I’d leave alone, because I think the game is close to perfect. I like that the clock is continuous. I like that the referee has a little bit of discretion to not end the game in the middle of significant play, which is my main argument against displaying the “actual” time on the scoreboard. I like that fatigue plays a significant part in the game.
One other thing I’ve gone back-and-forth on: if you’re the one hacked down in the box, should you be the one taking the PK?
These suggestions for improvement tend to fall into two categories: actual changes to the nature of the game, and better implementation of the current rules. As to changes in the nature of the game, I’m not really on board with most of the suggestions in the OP, except for moving the penalty spot back a bit. There’s an analogy to be made with the extra point in American football, where it’s just become a gimme over the years. I suspect in both sports, in the early years, the conversion rate was much lower than it is now. The close-in penalty spot feeds into the problem of diving in the box as well, in that from a strict odds perspective, it’s better to dive than to stay on your feet and try to get the shot off.
As regards better implementation of existing rules, I think there should be a quick video replay of any call that leads to a PK, at an absolute minimum. That would obviate most of the game-changing travesties of the type we’ve seen over the last few days. I realize full well there’s a slippery slope here: what about calls just outside the box? What about non-calls? Etc. But especially in a World Cup context, where every goal and every game is so important, I see these blown calls as something of an existential threat.
Of course, there’s a larger point to be made about FIFA, and its inability to clean up the game on the field or off. They need something of a Second-Vatican-Council moment before we’ll see any real changes. And I think most soccer fans would agree that in terms of things that need to be changed, management of the clock, for example, is way, way down the priority list.
I think the retroactive yellows for diving would do a world of good. However, I am surprised no one has mentioned the most glaring problem: fixed matches. Worldwide gambling has demonstrable compromised the sport. Coupled with bribery during the World Cup selection process, it’s hard to be confident that you are seeing legitimate competition. The NBA and other sports have this problem for two reasons: too much referee power and gambling. Soccer is worse in both regards. I am not sure of the best way to fix those things, but it’s getting to the point where he game is becoming farsical because some idiot referee can literally throw out one team’s best player.
Big NO to unlimited substitutions. One of the best things about the sport is that, once the whistle blows, it’s pretty much the players who will decide the outcome. Three subs is all the input I want to see from the coach. Domestic U.S. sports are way over-coached for my liking.
What, you don’t like the 3rd-down-pass-rush specialist in the NFL!? 
Yeah, me neither.
Maserschmidt suggested this be used for penalty decisions only. I would also want to use it for decisions on whether or not a goal should be allowed.
I hope this isn’t too much of a hijack, but what is the time rule? I know it is 90 minutes and that after that time the referee adds time in his discretion for “stoppage” and “substitutions.” I assume that means he keeps track of time used for injuries, substitutions, and other delays, so they guy on the sidelines holds up a board that adds a certain period of time (say, for example, the number 4).
But in the matches I’ve seen, the whistle doesn’t blow at 94:00 exactly. Sometimes, it is 94:18. Does the referee allow a play to continue? Say one team is pressing for a goal; does the match continue? Does it only continue if the team is down by one goal? If the score is 10-0, does that impact the time left?
ETA: Is stoppage time added to stoppage time? Say at 92 minutes a foul is called and it takes a minute and a half to get everyone lined up for the free kick. Is that time added?
If you mean whether the ball crossed the line, I’d just keep the new technology we’re seeing in the WC. Buzzy wristbands! Or did you mean something different?
Rush goalies and jumpers for goalposts.
Seriously, the use of replays both in game (maybe at the ref’s discretion or maybe “X amount of challenges”, both have their merits) for borderline decisions and post-match for foul play (diving, off the ball incidents and whatnot). The latter of those can happen, apparently but the whens (I believe the referee has to have mentioned it in his report or something) and how often it is used (rarely) neuters it.
Rugby manages it.
An additional one from Rugby: if someone is injured then the trainer comes on the field but the match continues around them. That’ll stop a lot of time wasting towards the end of the game.
Part of the games appeal is the flow. Unlimited subs and replays will just increase one of the things most annoying about some american sports: the constant stopping.
I mean when the ball crosses the line but whether or not a player was offside or fouled another beforehand is in question. It might be best used for obviously wrong calls, rather than borderline cases.
The time on the screen is added by the broadcaster, and is, I think, their best approximation. The referee will allow attacks to continue, although they seem to give more time if there’s a chance to score an important goal. Once the time is up and there’s no real attack going on, they’ll end the match.
Before Sir Alex Ferguson retired, you’d also have to take Fergie Time into account, whenever Man Utd were playing.
On the day of his retirement, the Manchester branches of the restaurant chain Nando’s stayed open five minutes longer as a tribute.
For anyone watching Switzerland v Ecuador, that “offside” decision that cost Switzerland a perfectly good goal is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about.
Abby Wambach nude? Sorry, the mental image isn’t doing much for me.