As a child growing up in western Canada, I had little meaningful exposure to soccer. We were consumed with ice hockey, Canadian 6-man football, baseball and softball, among other pastimes. There was little television coverage of any sports and certainly almost none of international sports like soccer and cricket. In the past decade of my life, things have changed…..
My grandson, who is 11 years of age, has been playing soccer for several years, first in Omaha and lately in Tsawwassen. His enthusiasm and engagement in the game have rubbed off on me. And, the wavefront of North American interest in and support of the game of “football”, as it is termed in many parts of the world, has been like a burgeoning tsunami of progress. The evolution of Major League Soccer (MLS) across the USA and Canada has spurred young kids to get further involved as well. Some of the global stars have come to play here, and the quality and relevance of soccer has further risen. While it is a slower game than ice hockey and typically less dynamic than either version of North American football or Aussie Rules Football, soccer has gained an important foothold on the continent. It will surely grow in the years upcoming. The skills that reach from footwork to headwork and body positioning gradually become clear, and once one has watched Messi run with a ball and strike you are hooked. The crowd atmosphere at the “pitch” as it is termed is very stimulating and encouraging of one’s spirit to be a fan. This is so apart from the hooligans that occasionally have a prominent face in some international locales where such behaviour seems more tolerated. Generally speaking, the affordability of a professional soccer match for an adult or a child is considerably more so than a professional ice hockey game.
With all of its virtues, soccer is to be supported and endorsed. It is a spirited sport, mirroring global diversity of ethnicity and origin, and reachable for aspiring young kids in even the poorest countries and communities. Bravo!
Yet, like all sports, there is room for improvement. Three key things need to happen in soccer that would improve the match. Soccer is the only game wherein so much fake injury and misery are on exhibit. Players are forever moaning, groaning, writhing and laying around on the pitch after various “tackles” that have not hurt them at all. Of course their motives are to help to or possibly attract referee interest in giving the opposing team a yellow, or indeed red, card. This silly behaviour ruins otherwise great contests. It also makes it difficult for fans and referees alike to discriminate the “fakers” from the few that are truly injured. In ice hockey this kind of behaviour leads to a penalty for the faker or whiner. In Aussie Rules Football, there is much more contact, tough play, and blind collisions at high speed, but these young players don’t fake injury. Women’s rugby is a tough game too…….yet rarely does one get a sense that players fake injury. The faking in soccer needs to stop. It needs to be penalized. Coaches and the leagues must clamp down on this nonsense. Play the game with personal integrity and don’t violate the principles of this global pastime.
The second area where soccer could quickly improve its integrity is by having two primary referees on the field. While there are secondary referees on the sidelines and there are occasional video reviews, the primary referee makes the vast majority of decisions in a relatively complex, medium-speed environment. Given the width of view on a big space like a soccer pitch, the single referee, even if of high integrity, simply cannot see all of the goings-on. When a referee is biased, and this is obvious in numerous matches, the second primary referee could balance off the decision and lead to the correct decision in some cases when it would otherwise be lacking.
Finally, the game of soccer is fraught with a lot of time violations. Teams leading the second half abuse the player change times by walking slowly on and off the pitch. Coaches use this strategy as well to run off the clock. All player changes should have a stopped clock. As well, when full time is approaching or has been reached, the primary referee has a lot of latitude as to when the final whistle is blown. At times it is right on the moment of full time and at other times it can be up to a minute or two late even when the coaches, players and fans know the whistle should have already been blown. I am not writing here about the amount of “added time” for injury stoppages (some of which were for fake injuries), but rather for full time at the end of “add time”. Cleaning up this timing thing will bring more legitimacy to the game as well.
I hope that these reflections will be read by someone who cares about the game of soccer, and importantly, has some level of influence to fix these obvious weaknesses. Soccer as the most global game would benefit and the exhilaration of the game would increase.