Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,280
Only thing i slightly disagree with here is the last point, as there may be no other player near the ball and it would therefore speed the game back up if the closest player can return the ball to the point of the free kick otherwise all very good ideas.The more complex you make any system, the more likely it is to fail. VAR has forced more complex definitions of the laws of the game and hey presto, every decision becomes more complex. Bin VAR. Hand ball goes back to being ball to hand. Offside becomes the Wenger Law (only offside if clear gap between defender and attacker) and is judged by on pitch officials and not VAR. Football goes back to being a contact sport where contact does not mean a foul. Players must make a clear attempt to stay on their feet otherwise a foul can not be awarded. So no dragging feet to initiate contact and no swan dives. If a player makes a clear attempt to stay on their feet then ref will judge where contact significantly impacted their ability to play the ball normally. All laws to be reviewed with a view to simplifying the game. Things like don't stop the game for subs (unless injury sub). Only captains can talk to ref (booking for non compliance). Once a free kick is awarded, the team against whom the freekick is awarded can not touch the ball in any way until play restarts.
Needs something about the opposition having retreated far enough from the point of the free kick within so many seconds too, rather than being able to stand a couple of yards away and slow the quick counter attack down by preventing the ball being played forwards, or as quickly as the attacking team may like. Maybe punishable by a yellow card and the free kick moves forwards 10 yards (or half the distance to the penalty area if the free kick is less than 10 yards from it to start with)