Hello everyone. Only one real place to start this week, and that is with the sad news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II recently. To say she served this country impeccably is an understatement. She was a true leader and she evolved over her many decades on the throne. We will quite literally never have anyone like her again during our lifetimes. She will be sorely missed.
Having said that – and I realise this might be contentious before I say it – I do think the postponement of football on the weekend after was the wrong choice. I completely understand the reason the decision was made, but I think it was the wrong one. No other sport completely stopped. Shops, pubs, and theatres remained open. We were all expected to go to work still. And yet football stood alone. Rather than allowing communities to come together to mourn as one, with special tributes paid, the games were called off.
And look, I know that these are just games. But think about the fans who had already paid for travel and/or accommodation, particularly those coming from abroad. Think about all the staff on zero hour contracts who were expecting to work in and around the grounds, who were likely relying on the money they would have earned. Think about the amount of food that was likely wasted.
Some say that football did the right thing, and maybe it’s true. It’s hard for me to say definitively. But what I would say is that I haven’t seen too many people suggesting that the cricket or rugby associations showed a lack of respect for going ahead. Make of that what you will. Anyway, the lack of football gave me inspiration to talk about some of the changes I’d make to the beautiful game. Hope you enjoy.
Clock stoppages
Is there anything more infuriating than the opposition time-wasting when you need a goal? Goal kicks and throw ins seem to take an age, players go down with mysterious injuries and umpteen substitutions are made as you desperately try to claw your way back into the game.
Of course, when your team is winning and they’re running down the clock, you love it. The best example of this recently – and I mean this as a huge compliment – surely has to be during the Women’s European Championship final. The Lionesses expertly saw the game out by keeping the Germans penned in their own corner, and even resorted to attempting to read tactical notes over the shoulders of the German players.
And it’s all part of the game, right? Well, not if I had anything to say about it. For neutrals watching (and probably most partisan observers too), surely the ball being in play is more exciting than waiting minutes for play to resume? Studies have shown that on average, the ball is only “in play” for 55 minutes per match. So for all those who pay for season tickets or go to the odd game – with the associated travel/accommodation costs – and those who pay expensive subscription fees to watch 90 minutes of football, they’re all getting less than an hour’s worth.
My idea* would be to reduce the match times to 70 or 80 minutes, with an independent timekeeper stopping the clock every time the ball goes dead (similar to rugby). Not only would this remove the time-wasting from the game, but it would also put an end to the tedious arguments over how much stoppage time is added at the end of a match; you play exactly to 70 (or 80) minutes and then the ref blows the whistle.
*I should point out that other people have suggested this in the past. This is simply me throwing my support behind it.
Removal of International Breaks
Another idea which isn’t an original thought from me, but one that I love: remove the international breaks from the club season. I hate the international breaks. It’s not that I dislike watching England per se. It’s more that I’m so heavily invested in following my club (Arsenal, since you asked), that being denied Premier League football for a couple of weeks three times a season grates a little.
This isn’t helped by the fact that international football can be pretty dull. The pace of the games tends to be slower, and because the players don’t play together too often, the play usually lacks the technical fluidity we’re accustomed to seeing at club level.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that England are far too dominant during the qualifying games for either the World Cup or European Championships. We regularly find ourselves in groups with the likes of Andorra or San Marino, teams who provide no threat. Yes, it’s great to see us win games comfortably, but it gets rather boring without any real sense of peril.
And don’t even get me started on international friendlies or the Nations League. I just don’t care one jot about them.
But do you know when I love watching international football? During the summer tournaments. They’re great entertainment, with real stakes. So why not move the qualifying to the summer and have international football we can look forward to every year?
I know it’s a bit of a weird year, with the World Cup taking place soon in Qatar. But essentially, this would be the rough plan:
- Summer 2023: Euro 2024 Qualification (you play all 8-12 group games, with the playoffs taking place directly after)
- Summer 2024: Euro 2024
- Summer 2025: World Cup 2026 Qualification
- Summer 2026: World Cup 2026
- So on and so forth
Sure, there might be some logistical issues, not least with ensuring non-European tournaments such as the AFCON or Copa America could also be accommodated with this kind of schedule. But if these issues could be squared away, the benefits could be huge. Not only do you avoid breaking up the club season, international players will get to spend significant time with their compatriots every summer, rather than just a couple of weeks here and there.
International managers will get bulks of time with their players, perhaps allowing them to use more sophisticated tactics which might take longer to implement on the training ground. But most importantly, it would be great for the fans. Having meaningful football to look forward to every summer is surely a goal we should strive for?
VAR
VAR (Video Assistant Referees) has been a disaster for the game in my opinion. As far as I’m concerned, VAR is only truly good at one thing: disallowing goals. Given that most fans seem to enjoy goals, this technology is surely anathema to the majority in the stands.
Every time a goal is scored, VAR is there, looking for any possible reason to rule out the goal. West Ham had a perfectly good goal against Chelsea chalked off a few weeks ago for no reason. Well, the official reason was for a foul on the Chelsea goalkeeper in the build-up. But no one who knows the game can think this was actually a foul. It is as soft a decision as you’ll see.
When VAR was introduced, we were told there would be minimal interference. We were told it would improve the decision making. To my mind, there seems to be just as many bad decisions now as there were before. We’re still talking about poor decisions week after week, so what good is VAR? The best idea I can come up with for football is to scrap it entirely, but I don’t think that’s realistic. Now that the footballing bodies have seen it in action, there’s no way they’ll want to be without it. So my more realistic twofold fix for VAR would be this:
Decision Timer
I know, I’m apparently obsessed with time. But – aside from poor decisions being made – the amount of time many VAR checks take is probably the biggest gripe fans have with it. When VAR was introduced, we were told that it would only intervene if a “clear and obvious” error had been made by the on field officials.
If this is true (it isn’t), then it shouldn’t take too much time to overturn a decision. If there has indeed been a decision that is both clear and obvious, VAR should be able to spot it straight away.
With this in mind, I would introduce an independent decision timekeeper who would sit in the VAR booth with the Video Assistant Referee. The ref says when they are looking at an incident and the timekeeper starts a stopwatch. If no conclusive decision can be reached within 60 seconds, the on field decision stands.
This might be a bit trickier when the VAR has to review multiple incidents within the same phase of play, but the time would increase per incident. So if there are three incidents to look at, you get three minutes (but still a maximum of one minute per decision). Sure, this might lead to incorrect decisions, but we currently get incorrect decisions after 5+ minute delays, so at least we wouldn’t waste as much time.
Nuanced Offsides
I mentioned above that the only thing VAR was good for is disallowing goals. Going hand in hand with that is being very good at offside calls. VAR is great with offsides because it isn’t subjective at all; a player is either onside or offside, whether by a yard or a millimetre.
However, us fans still aren’t happy because of the amount of goals chalked off for very marginal offsides. It’s worth pointing out two things about this:
- 1) The offside law wasn’t introduced to penalise attackers whose toe was slightly ahead of the defender; it was introduced to stop goal hanging. So it could be argued this current implementation goes against the spirit of the law.
- 2) Nobody ever complained about this pre-VAR. Yes, if your team conceded a goal where replays showed the scorer was actually a yard offside, that was maddening. But I never heard any fan, player, manager, or pundit complain about an offside where the players were basically level. In other words, VAR “fixed” an “issue” that didn’t really exist.
My solution for this is that, after a goal has been scored, the referee’s assistant puts their flag up if they think there was an offside. If they don’t think there was an offside, they keep their flag down. VAR then checks. If the player is obviously (as in, can be seen with the naked eye) offside, the goal is disallowed. If the player is obviously onside, the goal stands.
Now for the nuance. If the decision is tight and the referee’s assistant kept their flag down, the goal stands. If the decision is tight and the referee’s assistant raised their flag, VAR can draw their digital lines to determine whether the player was offside or not. The logic being that if the flag was raised, the goal would have been ruled out pre-VAR anyway. This way, VAR isn’t taking goals away, but will potentially add goals that would otherwise have been disallowed. And more goals can only be a good thing. Just ask Gareth Southgate.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate that football is a subject that bores some people to tears, so apologies if that applies to you. One final thought before I go: there was some great news from the Government last week. Well, great news if you’re a millionaire. The new budget announcement – containing plans which will be little-to-no help for average working-class people – will see the very highest earners pay very favourable (for them) amounts of tax. If you needed further proof that this Tory Government doesn’t care about the hardship of regular people, here you go. And on that glum note, I bid you farewell for now. Take care.
Rob Recommends
All or Nothing: Arsenal – Documentary – 8/10
More football! I was never not going to watch this. Given how last season ended, I knew this would be a painful watch at times. And believe me, it was. But it was also a fascinating watch. Getting a peak behind the scenes at the club you love is a great experience and there really were some wonderful moments to witness. It goes without saying that if you’re not a football/Arsenal fan, this won’t be for you. But if you’re a fan, I really would recommend.
Obi-Wan Kenobi – TV – 7/10
I’ve got to be honest and say that I was slightly disappointed with this. I’d heard that this show was incredible, but I just thought it was good. At times very good. The simplest way to say it is that I liked it, but didn’t love it.
There was great insight into the lives Obi-Wan and Darth Vader led between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. And the whole thing looked stunning. Add in the fantastic James Earl Jones returning to voice Vader, I’d say it’s worth a watch. Just don’t expect a masterpiece.
Young Rock – TV – 8/10
This show won’t be for everyone. But if you had any interest in professional wrestling in the 80s or 90s, this is an absolute must watch.
Set in the year 2032, Dwayne Johnson is running for president of the United States. During the course of multiple interviews, he tells tales from his past. The story cleverly jumps back and forth between the “present” day and times when The Rock was a child, a teenager, and a young man trying to make it in the NFL and WWE. There aren’t many shows quite like this one. If you smell what the Rob is cooking?
A Rob Blog 