ARE SOCCER LAWS TOO VAGUE?

ARE SOCCER LAWS TOO VAGUE?

OR IS IT JUST OUR NATURE TO DISPUTE EVERYTHING?

Something that has been bothering me for the past few days has been the deteriorating behavior of players on the soccer field the world over, and regretfully the disease has caught on in our very own tournaments   organized for   Indian Community in Kuwait.

I know we see it on TV all the time, even in international matches, players arguing with referees, but the fact remains that arguing with a referee is just pointless.  A referee is rarely ever going to change his decision, but for sure he will be annoyed and it may even influence him taking future decisions in the game which may go against the player who was constantly arguing, or it may even hurt his own team.

Soccer referees are human, and for sure they are going to make mistakes every now and then and sometimes the mistakes are so obvious, you want to literally murder the referee, and this is exactly when the character of a player will be visible.  Does he know to ignore the mistake and rather concentrate on his game and help his team win?  Or is he going to argue with the Referee and get into his bad books?  Team managers and so called experts of the game are no better and do their best standing outside the field of play, instigating the players with provocative remarks against the referee and his assistants.

Two of the main reasons   I feel   that players argue with the referee are (a) because of their ignorance of the laws of the game and (b) the vagueness of some of the laws of the game where the laws are not specific and ‘In the opinion of the referee’ is not fully understood by the, players, spectators and at times even the referees themselves.

One law that is still not clear in soccer until today is ‘handling the ball’.   Law # 12 (fouls and misconducts) which clearly states that when a player handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area), the referee will award a direct free kick to the opponents. The word ‘deliberately’ is something that FIFA must review,  as very rarely does a player deliberately handle the ball especially in his own penalty area and in most cases handling the ball is accidental.  However the referee has no hesitation in pulling up a player for handball even if it is not deliberate.  So many other rules are vague including the offside rule, playing an advantage, attempting to kick/trip, accidental fouls,  abusing own players, referees mistakes in ending matches before or after the actual duration of play, etc etc.

 

This is however not the same in other sports like cricket, baseball, badminton, where the laws are very clear and you will rarely find players arguing the umpire’s decision. It has also got to do with ethics of the game, where arguing with the umpire is considered disrespectful and prone to strong action by the laws or the Federation.

Couple of weeks back, in a SEMI-FINAL match between Kerala Challengers and AVC Sports & Cultural Association in the GOA Rolling Trophy, the referee accidentally ended the game 5 minutes before time, and even as Kerala Challengers who incidentally were leading 1-0 when the match ended had already left the field of play, the error was immediately pointed out to the referee who requested Kerala Challengers to return to the field and play out the remaining five minutes. 

Now Kerala Challengers had every right to dispute the referee’s request and initially refused to return to the field as the referee had ended the match, however better sense prevailed and after much coxing and cajoling they did return and completed the remainder of the match.  But just imagine if they had refused to comply with his request or if AVC had to equalize during the five minutes that were played out, it would have been utter chaos.

In such a situation I believe there is no written law that is covered in the laws of the game, although the Referees’ hand-book states that the match may have to be replayed entirely or just the remaining five minutes on another day if the error was not detected immediately.  Including such probabilities in tournament rules or Federation by-laws may be a good idea in future.

Players who constantly argue with the referee test their own character when they assume they know the laws and dispute every decision taken by the referee.  This also incites other players who join in the arguments  with the referee and the game than disintegrates resulting in referees erring due to unnecessary pressure.

While organized soccer for the Indian community has been in existence for over 35 years in Kuwait and I have been a part of it as a player, administrator and a referee, I regret to say that not much has improved.  Playing the game in the spirit of the game really does not exist and winning is all that matters.  If a team loses, the propaganda is that they lost because of the referee.  Abusing referees and even attacking them has happened in the recent past and the good thing is that Kuwait Indian Football Federation (KIFF)  has been firm with punishment for such players.

It is also good to see that Indian Football Referees Association (IFRA) and KIFF are now working hand in hand and my humble request to the current KIFF President who is doing an excellent job, is to get club owners, team managers and players to attend refresher classes at least once in three months,  to enlighten them on the laws of the game and clear doubts on some laws of the game that are vague.

Julio Cardoso

Kuwait