You know what the beauty of football is? Yes, there are the teams and supporters and so on. But then there’s also its rules. You may find it amusing but it’s the rules, that make matches more exciting, more debatable. Just think of it. It is those offside goals that change the complexion of a game and it becomes the base of your argument with a rival fan. Its those extra times in a match that make it more nail biting and fierce.
But don’t the men at the FIFA headquarters don’t want you to be so tensed and agitated all the time. That is why they have come up with a list of bizarre rule changes.
Let’s just go through them one by one. Shall we?
Let’s scrap the Offside Rule:
Director General for Technical Development Marco van Basten said that the offside rule should be scrapped as the game needs more chances and more goals. I’m sorry sir, but there are people who love to see good quality defending rather than countless number of goals. Imagine if there was no offside rule, do you really think that Jose Mourinho’s 10 men Inter side could have held off Barcelona to register that historic win? Ii would just have been another regulation win for Barcelona.
Scrap penalty shootouts:
Those of you who don’t know what exactly a take-on means. Well, it’s what happens in hockey. The player has to take on the goalkeeper one on one and then get past him to score a goal. Don’t you think it takes away all the charm that is in a penalty shoot out? Where a goalkeeper looks into the eye of a player and tries to intimidate him? Or the fans from behind the goal trying their best to distract the player?
You touched the ball on purpose? Ok, that’s fine:
Let’s get this into perspective. So you are telling me that when Suarez famously stopped the ball with his hand during the FIFA World Cup match against Ghana, he wouldn’t get a red card for it? OK. We get the point. And here we are, where players get booked for taking off their shirts.
Only the captain can speak to the referee:
So in a nutshell, every team will now have to choose a class monitor who will represent his side. While the others will just stand there like good boys. Talk about travelling back to school. “Goooooood Mooorninggggggg Teacherrrrrr”
Leave the field if you are a naughty boy:
Van Basten also said that a player will have to leave the field after he has committed a certain number of fouls, quite similar to the rules of basketball. Really sorry Joey Barton, but maybe would shouldn’t read this.
There have also been a few logical suggestions like, Reducing the number of games and Increasing the number of substitutes.
But one a more serious note, these are just initial suggestions and we don’t know which ones with materialise. Maybe we might start liking these rules if they come into effect. Till then, just go and cheer for your team.
