The Future of Footie

I was reading an article in World Soccer about the future of footie and how things will need to change to continue to improve the game. The usual complaints were aired - defenses are emphasized, teams do not score any more, coaches are too cautious, ugly football is abound, referees do not penalize players for fouls, and overall the game has taken on a bad turn. Of course the usual solutions are discussed - larger goals, no off sides, points deduced for fouls, sin bins, smaller penalty areas, and so forth. Those of us who have been fans of footie have heard these ideas thrown around for years now, and while some are not completely outlandish, I think that there is a much simpler solution - call the game the way it is suppose to be, and in order to do so put another set of eyes on the pitch.

I do not accept the argument that World Soccer put forth about the game being called as it is suppose to be, that teams and players will complain and then the refs will swallow their whistles again. NFL fans recall when the league said they would call pass interference and hand checking on wide receivers tighter, there was some low level moaning but in the end teams adapted and the game improved. Why is this not possible in footie? Would managers, teams, players and fans not want to see players like Messi ,Kaka, Ribery or Ronaldo have more freedom to demonstrate their skills rather than constantly watching them get hacked down? I have a feeling that team owners and managers, who spend a tremendous amount of money on players such as Eto'o, Messi, Kaka, Ronaldo, and the Rooneys of footie would want these assets to be able to perform at the highest level. So here are some simple steps to take:

• Add an extra referee to the pitch. I realize there are two assistants that manage the lines, but they are really watching off sides and are stuck to one side of the pitch. Footie is one of the few sports that only employs one referee. I cannot even count how many officials there are in Football - referee, back judge, umpire....etc. Hockey, technically, used only one referee, but have since gone to 2 (and if you include the linesmen you really have 4 officials on the ice). Rugby might be the only other sport that has one official on the pitch, however I would argue that the game, while very fast, does not change field position as rapidly as it does in footie. AND in rugby they will use modern technology aka video, when it comes to scoring decisions! Many times in footie, the plane of the game will change so rapidly that the referee could not possibly position themselves properly, therefore missing some of the action. A two referee system could alleviate much of this issue. You would always have one official behind the ball as well as one in front of the play. Could you even go to a three official system??? One official that is the head official and follows the play from the center of the pitch, the other two officials responsible for their halves.
• With the additional referees, ensure that the laws of the game are enforced! Referees have understood how to crack down on tackles from behind (granted they can still do a better job of this) so why can refs not take a mandate from the powers to be to crack down on hard fouls, elbows, and the clutching and grabbing. With the additional eyes on the pitch these fouls would be easier to see and to police. This would be ever more important during corner kicks where the hand checking and wrestling that takes place in the penalty area is close to professional wrestling standards.
• Extend the free kick wall distance. I have heard some call for the wall to be phased out entirely, not sure how that would work. Would defenders be able to stand between the ball and the goal? Or would just need to mark the opponent, or could they just walk around on the goal line? So rather than abolish the wall, why not push it back to 15 yards. I think this would make going for goal much more appealing than when the wall is only 10 yards out. Or maybe the wall could be placed half way to the goal line.
  
• A final change...use technology that is available. How hard is that??? If tennis can have a machine that can tell whether or not a ball is in our out on a serve, how can you not have a technology that tells the referee is a ball has crossed the goal line? While the situation does not happen every match, it happens enough. Hey FIFA already has used video...rumor is the referee did not see the infamous Zidane headbutt during the World Cup finals and the 4th referee seeing a video feed informed the referee of what had occurred. At least we would avoid embarrassing non calls like this one...
  
  
  
  

I realize none of these are radical, and there could be more that can be done to allow the offense more freedom. However I do not think radical changes such as larger goals, smaller penalty boxes, no offsides, counting fouls like in basketball....Footie is a flowing, fast paced, beautiful game. While the game would be better if there were more scoring, and when I mean more scoring I do not mean 6-4 games, but more 3 0r 4 goal games rather than 0-0 draws. If the governing powers would mandate that the games be officiated properly, with additional referee resources and leveraging some modern technology I believe the game will improve and return to the glory days when the offense was on level to the defensive efforts. While some teams will find another way to swing the momentum to the defense, the ability to properly referee the game will prohibit teams to resort to constant thug like tactics to slow down a superior offensive team. This will only improve the game.