Football is not about scoring goals anymore

interesting point

Penalties and free kicks around the box. Heard that its taught from academy level and has been for years

have long felt the same,some lads are so good at it they without doubt practise on the training ground.

RANGERS and CELTIC always played for penalties in 60s and onwards ....nothing new really!

Ref last night never awarded any penalties in MAN UTD game ......

Players over the decades have tried to get penalties....

However, referees fail to award them when players like the LIVERPOOL defender / hit-man ...pulls players all over the box ...yet still they ignore such blatant cheeeeeettttinnnnggggggggggg

INTER defenders were worst culprits last season at using any means to block/ grab / push .....etc etc but refs just ignored them.......

Really should be more penalties awarded .....but if anyone tries to dive for penalty ....send them off....

It needs sorting out, I thought the Eduardo ban might be a turning point but it was overturned

Doesn't help when people say that it was a pen on Hernandez last night either.

yes, let's sort it out!

and when that happens we'll start betting on referees instead of teams, that would be great!

I'm lucky, I bet on football all day long but I couldn't care less how they score goals, or not, I've never liked the sport it sends me to sleep. On a different point, I've never understood why people pay so much money to watch a match, can't they see they're being ripped off? All that money sloshing around in football, huge salaries etc, comes from them. I wouldn't pay a bean to go and watch it, lol. :)

there was a time when physical contact was allowed a lot more than it is today but the result of it was careers shattered because of one single tackle and thats why today things are a lot more subtle and i admit that sometimes they are a annoying but once again it works to both sides

Great point Trevh,
Would add though that everyone with a sky sub (even without sky sports)contribute to the inflated wages.
2-3 more years before the news that one of the big ones goes under,will be a popular announcement too.

Lusitano,
Remember the days you speak of, A cretin like keane sorting Haalands career for him and using the detail to sell a book.
Have to worry though when a ref is told at h/t the guy he sent off actually won the ball and then claims he sent him for excessive force in the tackle, as in the case of Cohen v Leeds.
Jack Charlton was correct, A non-contact sport reshaped for better tv viewing for families.

How can you equate an outfield player stopping the ball with his hand on his own goal line in the final minute of injury time with a last man tackle on the edge of the penalty box at the goal line in the first minute. If football rules were adopted by criminal courts the penalty for murder and minor assault would be the same. Football rules need an entire rethink. Video evidence should be allowed, there should be different grades of penalties taken from various points in the penalty box, sin bins and the clock should be stopped when the ball is out of play (play - real play - 25 mins each half).

Most penalties that are awarded give the team a better chance of scoring than had no foul occurred. To reward them further by effectively rendering the opposition incapable of responding is ridiculous.

Perhaps the penalty should be taken further back, say 18 yards
instead of 12.

Kenilworth, I'm suggesting the distance and angle of the penalty should be dependent on how likely a goal would've resulted in the absence of the foul. In fact in the earlier case I mentioned (an outfield player stopping the ball with his hand on his own goal line) why not just give a goal? A team was knocked out of the last world cup after this happened to them in the dying seconds of extra time (game ended in a draw and they ended up losing on penalties).

I read an interesting article about this the other day, about how penalties are ruining the game. It suggests changing the law so non-goal-scoring opportunities, eg. when a player is running away from goal but is tackled in the box, do not receive penalties.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/apr/20/why-penalty-laws-should-...

I read an interesting article about this the other day, about how penalties are ruining the game. It suggests changing the law so non-goal-scoring opportunities, eg. when a player is running away from goal but is tackled in the box, do not receive penalties.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/apr/20/why-penalty-laws-should-...

I think football could benefit from a 3 dimensional playing field rather than a flat surface.
As part of the team strategy, they would be allowed to erect defensive barriers around the goal (perhaps with a bunker behind for strategic planning).

Or instead of a penalty being award, the offending player could simply be given a sharp stinging slap in the face by the referee.

Here is an artist's rendition of the idea.
http://oi55.tinypic.com/2vc7412.jpg

3d pitch, complete with defensive barrier (barracks) and secret underground lair.

Investor - I think I have played on that pitch!

It's quite simple as to how to deal with the penalties. The referee
should be given complete freedom to deal with it as he sees it,
without being tied to strict guide lines, in other words, he should
judge everything on it's merits, including awarding a goal when the
ball hasn't crossed the line, red cards, yellow cards in the box etc,
banishing the goalkeeper only in extreme circumstances. It's quite
ridiculous at times when a player can be sent off and he hasn't actually
committed a foul. Maybe another card should be introduced, perhaps an orange.

I personally don't think the referee should be given complete freedom, it makes it all too subjective and will cause so much aggrevation and very difficult to be consistant. It may also result in players putting more pressure on the ref at other points of the game so if a penalty situation comes up then the ref may be more likely to give something in their favour.

Also changes need to be across the board from Premiership to grass roots level (and including Italy and Greece!!!!) and don't think this would go down too well + heavily abused.

I do think that the sending off rules should be changed. They should look at the AFL where it is impossible to be sent off, however anything dodgy and the player gets reported and it goes to tribunal. The length of the sentence and subsequent suspension depends on the misdemeanor and how often the player has been reported previously.  Much better game for it and complete respect for the ref now.

Interesting your last paragraph. I think it's important that the
paying public get to see what they paid for, that is (in our case)
11 v 11, and if that can be maintained sensibly, I'm all for it.

And a player who is in cahoots to help his own team lose should be tried for war crimes.

A penalty is just a foul near a goalpost , what very very strange is why the ball gets moved to 12 yds out  and becomes a free shot - I can't thnk of any other offence that allows the ball to be moved to a different place .strange stuff

Following on from scotbet's post, why not just award a foul where it happens but allow only the number of defending players in the box that were in the box at the time the offence happened. Any attacking player can enter the box though.

FNE - how would you "manage" that? An impossible task, as each time you would need to confirm what players can be allowed in the box......the whiskey must be good today!

scotbet - If you did it as you suggest ...taking free-kick from where offence occurred .......the game would become a farce! Players would stop their opponents at every given opportunity ...at angles difficult to score from. Numerous free-kicks awarded....and cheeee tttiiiinnnnggggg would increase.

With penalty being taken where it presently is.......players know the punishment for committing a foul in box........

Why not award a penalty against the player's team who dives in box......?

This would rapidly cut down on diving players.........

Cheeeeeeeeeeee ttttttttt inggggggggggggggg should be punished!

In fact for any player, other than keeper, "diving" to try to get a free-kick.................anywhere on pitch......awad a penalty against that team.

Players are diving all the time.....it is making the game a farce.

Punish teams that try to win by cheeetttinngggggggggggggg......We would then see just how good Mourinhio was as a coach

Case in point last nights porto penalty. Ball cut into box, strikers first touch sends ball heading 45' away from goal and going out, rather than make any attempt to follow ball guy jumps and throws feet to right out of line of travel and into approaching keeper doing the 'make sure they make contact in dramatic way' trick, free equaliser. At speed you can see how it might fool ref but on replay it's *cough* 'gamesmanship'.

Video refs + retrospective red cards imho.

DFC ......I think the game is farcial as it is , that is a player tries to con the ref knowing if he's successful ...he could get an free shot at goal and worse still an opponent sent off

then you get the stuation when a player with no intention of scoring gets a pen , and you get a few teammates celebrating prior to the spot kick with the "fouled victim" ..... that tell me that the punishment is too severe and the rewards are too high

Football is a low scoring sport , getting a free shot at goal is most welcomed


I'm not really sure why you think cheeeeeee tttiiinnnnnnngggg would increase given a free kick system  ....surely it would decrease ....in the knowledge that 2 things can't happen

1 open shot at goal
2 a player being sent off



surely that's the a strong incentive to cheat ?

If a player gets to byline and is into box....defenders WILL stop them crossing by any means possible......especially if no penalty to be awarded.

Also defenders can waste a lot of time in creating such free-kicks from angles where difficult to get shot past wall of defenders....

Still believe the award of a penalty against the diving forward's team would sort "problem" out!

Almost every game recently seen this week ...in COPA ...EUFA ...CL ...etc ...has been just a procession of forwards, and outfield players diving....A to get opponents booked/sent-off ...or to win free-kicks/penalties.

This really HAS TO STOP.....and I know my solution to forwards diving in box would "work"....they soon would have to stop this tactic.

FNE - how would you "manage" that? An impossible task, as each time you would need to confirm what players can be allowed in the box......the whiskey must be good today!

I didn't suggest they go by names and addresses DFC. I'm sure the ref & linesman could approximate how many defending players were in the box at the time but I'm in favour of just checking's video refs anyway.

"Still believe the award of a penalty against the diving forward's team would sort "problem" out!"
THIS is a brilliant idea. Did you come up with that? Genius. Gets my vote.

YUP .......maybe I should change my name on ear to FECK N. Genius

Trouble is DFC cheeeetttiiinnngggg, as you call it, goes on all the time, all over the pitch. Players appealing for every throw-in, goal-kick, corner, off-side, etc, etc when they KNOW the correct decision is against them. It's pathetic to watch at times - snarling at linesmen is a real beauty - especially when the replay shows that the throw-in or whatever was clearly not theirs. Depressing to watch at times, but it has gone on for umpteen years.... sad thing is you see kids in mini-leagues on Sunday afternoons doing it as well.... Rant Over !

Why not allow the ref to revert position on cheee tttiiiinnnngggg player....if they are claiming a corner, and ref is aware they should know it isn't .....then award corner to other team at other end of ground etc

Same with false claim for throw in ........award it at other end of ground to other team etc etc .......

Just an "idea" .......but something should be done re this pathetic display of begging in public .......

The cheeeetttttssssssssssss will then be made to look like the eeeejjjiiittts they are!

While we're at it they could crack down on players taking a throw in 70 yars from the proper place

YUP .......the ref then awards throw in at corner of the player's team that cheeettttteeedddddddddddd....against the ch eeetttttt

Hmmm, I think it would be better if anyone who is caught cheating has to pay 20% of their salary as some kind of premium charge to the Premiership. Maybe they could call it the Premier Charge.

That charge could then be used by the Premier league to promote itself in different countries. Any different non-cheating related fines could be offset from this Premier charge.

If any player was particularly unhappy with this charge because they did not feel that it was fair they could decide to go and join the Clydesdale Bank Premier league who do not implement said charge.

The club would just pay it for them.

Like I said, it's all about penalties.

Seriously though it about what it always has been about, winning titles, trophies and self-preservation.

The question is if the system allows you to do something that can give potentially large profit if done sucessfully against a potentially small loss if done unsucessfully, is the fault with the people who try to do this thing or with the system for allowing it?

Trying for a penalty is a bet to nothing most of the time
and perhaps the referee should book players more often, that
may put an end to it.