I love football. I’ve been a fan of the beautiful game for as long as I can remember and no matter what happens I will love it for the rest of my life. The reason I mention this now is because I don’t wish for the following to come across as a criticism of the game we all adore. But, like anything, football is not perfect. There are some things that we can’t really change, things that we just have to live with. But other sports have demonstrated that there are certain aspects of our game that can always be improved. Here are a few...
Respect
The lack of respect in the game is often an annoyance, especially for the older generation who remember when it was less of an issue. Any time you are watching a game and a non-fan questions the character of some of the men playing it doesn’t take long for one or more of them to make themselves look like a bit of scumbag. One question, has a group of players crowding around a referee ever resulted in the ref saying “changed my mind, no goal”? No, never.
So, footballers, stop the complaining, stop the petulance and take a long hard look at Rugby. When a referee talks, the players listen.
Media
The coverage of sports in the USA is non-stop, unrelenting. The NFL even has its own TV network. This could lead to people complaining about blanket coverage but no one is forcing you to watch it all of course, watch what you want. But it would at least be nice to have this level of coverage available.
The promotion of games is something that maybe can be heightened. Look at Boxing, everything is important, everything matters. In football there are big games and there are nothing games. If the Premier League or the Media can make me care as much about Stoke vs Norwich as I do United vs City then they will really have achieved something. Wishful thinking perhaps.
Spectacle
Take a look at the NFL, one thing you may notice is that every game looks like a Champions League final. There is a grand entrance, a national anthem, fireworks, all before a ball is even kicked (or thrown). There is even a relatively substantial half time show that really dwarves the interview with singer Lamar that I had to sit through at a Premier League ground once.
Look at Darts or even, god forbid, the WWE. I don’t like watching Darts, I find it as dull as dishwater. But if I accidently catch a little bit of it on TV I can admit that they do a good job of making me feel the players are big stars. Even WWE wouldn’t look quite so fancy if the Undertaker strolled out to the ring, shook hands with his opponent and then began. Although I don’t know if I am suggesting football adopt the no lights and ominous music combo. But maybe a little America-style razzmatazz wouldn’t go amiss.
(Personally I hate the playing of music whenever a goal is scored- Ed)
Refereeing
The officiating or law enforcing of any sport should be carried out with one simple philosophy, ‘each game is refereed as accurately as possible’. Meaning, everything that can be done to ensure that the correct decisions are made should be done. Football stands almost completely alone in its refusal to go along with this philosophy.
You can take almost any sport as a better example of refereeing than football. As it’s topical, let’s take Tennis. Watch any of this year’s Wimbledon coverage and you’ll see officials dotted all over the court. Each able to make a call if they are in the best position to do so (quite unlike the extra officials that were put at each end of a football field), with more added as the game has gotten quicker (are you listening, football?). When even that isn’t enough to be sure of a decision then the technology comes into play.
Goal line technology is pretty much with us, finally, but this still leaves us with so many vital aspects of a game which are left to human eyes alone. And as good as some referees are, humans are just that, human. They are human and they will make mistakes. With all the money that is floating around football how can we possibly justify the fact that in many ways we are still living in the dark ages?
There is the persistent argument that this can’t be carried through to all levels of the game. Quite frankly, so what? I say it again, each game has to be refereed as accurately as possible. This must surely include the FA using every tool at their disposal. They can’t afford to deploy the likes of multiple refs, video refs and hawk eye at every level. But it can be carried out at the top, every league below can simply carry on by officiating games as best they can. Using every tool at their disposal, whether modest or not.
Football doesn’t have to be years behind Tennis, or Rugby Union, or Rugby League, or the NFL, or the NBA, or anywhere else. Football should be at the forefront of rule enforcement, as well as any of the other areas mentioned above for that matter. The money is there, the fan base is there, it’s just that the execution is not.
Why shouldn’t we always be looking to better ourselves? Football should improve, simply because it can.