From price caps on tickets to sin-bins to promoting youth for PSR, some of the six ways to improve football...
Doing some BBC radio yesterday, I was asked by the presenter what I would change in football to reinvent the game. Auntie was running a feature and inevitably drew thousands of responses from listeners, viewers and contributors across the country. The Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott was even asked at England training and suggested that “if you score a ‘worldie’ goal, an unbelievable goal, it needs to be rewarded more than just a singular goal”. England’s goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, promoted the idea of a captain’s challenge for VAR as in cricket and rugby league, limiting the number of referrals.
The former England player, Danny Murphy idea, a master of free-kick execution during his time at Liverpool, proposed the allowance of quick free-kicks where the taker can play it to himself or herself. Anything that keeps the game moving should be encouraged.
Many fans offered views of VAR from scrapping it to using it better via the Pickford pick of a challenge system. There was plenty of desire to improve offside, and there seemed an understandable nationwide loathing of late flags because of the waste of time and/or risk of injury to a player. There were more extreme proposals such as no points for stalemates, four points for an away win while the Lionesses legend Ellen White went off-piste in suggesting that goalkeepers have to come up for every corner.
So, when asked, these were my six suggestions, in no particular order which I gabbled about on air…
1. Sin bin for dissent. Most minds would be focused by the threat or experience of 10 minutes’ cooling off, being mocked by opposing fans on the naughty step, and having to watch chastened and helpless while your depleted team-mates try to keep going. Players moaning at officials is one of the most frustrating sights in football, guaranteed to cause apoplexy amongst grass-roots officials who know how kids copy the stars. Without drifting too much into societal issues, a bit more respect in life might not go amiss.
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2. Time limit on VAR. I suggested 90 seconds on the basis that if a judgement cannot be reached in 90 seconds then the original decision is not a clear and obvious error. We have to balance the time-consuming, forensic pursuit of perfection with the need to preserve football’s breathless flow. Other say that two minutes is probably fairer and gives Stockley Park a decent opportunity to address wrongs.
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3. Time limit on throw-ins. If you can have an eight-second rule for goalkeepers to release the ball, then why not similar for those taking throw-ins? Eight seconds might be too short. But the current often laborious process of players moving into positions like some NFL play, drying the ball with shirt or conveniently-placed towel, stepping back and running in and launching the ball can eat up 25+ seconds. It’s not throw-ins killing enjoyment, they’re simply another weapon and have been used since the Victorian era. It’s the time taken. The law-making International FA Board is considering time limits which is good to hear.
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4. Stronger punishment for those who fake facial injuries. Certain players have reputations for going down clutching their face when hit elsewhere, often accidentally anyway. The game is rightly concerned about head injuries, but it seems some cynical players pretend to suffer them either to stop an opposing attack, get an opponent booked or even a goal over-ruled because of an alleged offence. Referees aren’t mind-readers. It must be hard to judge whether to let a game continue or to stop just in case a player, writhing on the ground clutching his face, is genuinely injured. If VAR can quickly look and ascertain that a player was, say, caught in the shoulder rather than the face, then punishment for simulation should be more consistently enforced.