Making Soccer (Football) More Entertaining to Watch

by RubaDub 30 Replies latest social entertainment

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  RubaDub

  FIFA could make the game FAR MORE ENTERTAINING with just a few rule changes, such as:

  1) Make the goal about 1 meter wider and make the posts round instead of square.

  2) No limit on substitutions in each half (up to the number of available players). Then start fresh again in the second half. This would speed up the game with players less tired.

  3) Change the off-sides rule to something similar to ice hockey where there are lines on the field instead of the referee trying to look out of both sides of his head trying to see who is where on the field. The linesmen would just have to stand on the line on each respective side of the field and look across the field to identify anyone offsides. Under the current rule, offsides is mis-called very often.

  4) In overtime, each side loses 2 players. This would open up the field and provide more scoring in overtime.

  5) When someone appears hurt, both the guy on the ground and the one who initiated contact are out for 5 minutes.

  6) Have two 3 minute time-outs in each half (at 15 and 30 minutes) so we can get up, pee, get a beer and not miss anything. This will also give the players a chance to get a few minutes of rest.

  7) Have a real, official clock viewable by everyone and do away with the extra time at the end of the half when the referee pulls some majic number of minutes out of his butt and adds it to the game. If there is an injury, he just stops the clock like they do in any other sport.

  Rub a Dub
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  cofty

  1. Posts are round. Goals are the correct size to make it possible for a skilled keeper to defend. They are already 24 feet wide and 8 feet high. That is massive.

  2. Use of subs is an important part of the tactics of professional football. Unlimited subs are allowed in children's football. Professional players are fit enough to cover the same distance in the second half as the first - approx 11km in 90 minutes. Pro games are astonishingly fast for the whole 90 minutes

  3. Referees don't call offside, linesmen do. They get it right 99% of the time. The current rule enables skilled defences to work as a unit and forces attackers to time their runs and passes to perfection.

  4. We don't have "overtime". In cup competitions there is 30 minutes of extra time if the score is tied after normal time. Playing 9v9 on a full-sized pitch after a normal 90 minutes is ridiculous.

  5. Why should a player be penalised for a fair challenge that resulted in an injury? Its a contact sport. An injured player who receives treatment on the pitch must leave the pitch and wait for the ref to signal them to re-enter the field of play

  6. The continuity of football is one of its strengths. Go pee before the game. Athletes don't need to rest in 45 minutes

  7. It makes no difference whether you stop the clock or add on stoppage time. Added-on time is usually between 1 and 4 minutes. The ref keeps a tab during the game. Stadiums usually do have big timers and added-on time is displayed to the crowd by the fourth official.
• 

  RubaDub

  1. Posts are round. Goals are the correct size to make it possible for a skilled keeper to defend. They are already 24 feet wide and 8 feet high. That is massive.

  I understand that the size allows the skilled keeper to defend it. It's just that he can defend it too good and then you end up with the 0-0 or 1-0 games.

  2. Use of subs is an important part of the tactics of professional football. Unlimited subs are allowed in children's football.

  Maybe I was not clear about "unlimited" substitutions. I just meant that you could use any number of available players and that in the second half any that were substituted for could play again, as if the game were just starting. It would speed things up.

  4. We don't have "overtime". In cup competitions there is 30 minutes of extra time if the score is tied after normal time. Playing 9v9 on a full-sized pitch after a normal 90 minutes is ridiculous.

  You may call it ridiculous, but it is no more ridiculous that ending a game on penalty kicks. It would be like ending a basketball game with guys shooting free throws, or a field-goal kicking contest in American football, or a home-run hitting contest in baseball. Why not just play the game until someone scores ???

  Rub a Dub
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  cantleave

  What is this obsession with high scoring games?
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  cofty

  If I had to watch dismal MLS I wouldn't enjoy football either.

  It reminds me of somebody who has only ever eaten at McDonalds complaining that all food tastes shit.
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  RubaDub

  What is this obsession with high scoring games?

  That's a good question. I guess it's just a cultural thing. Just a matter of us expecting something to "happen". Even though my favorite sport is baseball and many in this country consider that a "boring" sport, an occasional low-scoring game (2-0, 3-1, etc.) can be interesting to watch from a purist's point of view.

  But it is just generally more exciting for most people to see a 8-6 or a 6-5 game than a low-scoring one. So I guess we just need our fix of scoring.

  Rub a Dub
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  cofty

  I think that may be because you don't really understand what you are watching.

  Somebody who understands the game spends more time watching the position and movement of players away from the ball than they spend watching the ball.

  Some of the best games I have ever seen have ended up 0-0 or 1-0

  What you may see in the MSL is a very poor standard of football. It would bore me to tears.
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  Phizzy

  If it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind, but I think that justice suffers rather than entertainment in Premier League football. I really do not see why goal line technology is not used, (though I think it is coming?), but it makes a huge difference to have a goal wrongly given or denied, sometimes it means relegation, a huge financial blow to a Club.

  Same with decisions of the Ref that are clearly wrong and could be seen by someone than just the present officials, who still miss stuff, a moments consultationof the TV footage could again help the Ref to make the right decision. No ? Dangerous play, and perhaps "dirty" play, shirt pulling etc. would be less likely if there was little likelihood of getting away with it.

  I really should not be on this thread, I rarely watch football.
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  cantleave

  I really do not see why goal line technology is not used, (though I think it is coming?)

  Yep it is and I agree that is a good thing.
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  RubaDub

  Some of the best games I have ever seen have ended up 0-0 or 1-0

  I don't see why any game should end 0-0. Let them play until someone scores.

  Rub a Dub