This is football?
Another week, another step in Sepp Blatter's personal vendetta against English football with his pressing for the insane 'six plus five' quota scheme. The man is clearly deeply wounded by the fact that English clubs are performing well in Europe and must do something to counter that. (Funny, I don't remember him having any problems with the Spanish or Italian dominance over the last decade or so.)
He's already done his best to kill the English style of football (fast-paced, exciting and attacking) in favour of his apparent 'ideal game' which would seem to be a dull, non-contact, turn-based strategy played by emotionless automatons. Consider recent rule changes - the crackdown on 'foul or abusive language' and 'crowd incitement' means that, to the letter of the law, it can be deemed an offence to, among other things:
- celebrate a goal (inciting the crowd)
- question a referee's decision or ask him to explain it (dissent)
- show frustration if a decision goes against you or you misplace a pass (dissent)
- criticise a teammate on the pitch for failing to pass to you (abusive language)
Of course not forgetting that most heinous of crimes - criticising a Match Official in a post-match interview. You must blindly accept the increasing level of incompetence in the profession. Referees are accountable to no-one, and don't have to publicly justify a single thing they do, and questioning their judgement is Bringing The Game Into Disrepute. Even if their decisions are blatantly, provably wrong.
Tackling, too, has been virtually outlawed. Any challenge may be deemed 'dangerous play' even if the ball is fairly won, a tackle from behind is a statutory foul regardless of what happens, and with players diving left, right and centre (and often getting the desired free-kick regardless of how ludicrous the dive) there is no flow to the game any more. Teams are almost expected to sit back and let the opposition's attack play out without attempting to interfere, before taking their turn once the final shot is scored or missed.
And of course, it's only English teams that have foreign players, isn't it? There are no Brazilians in Spain, or Germans in Italy, are there? Oh, except there are.
The fact is, this debate shouldn't even have got this far. Any attempt to impose a quota would breach European Law and so should not be allowed (although most football associations seem to think themselves above the law anyway, so why should this stop them?)
And finally, I've also been interested to note that thus far I have not heard anyone mention that several years ago there *was* such a quota imposed, the UEFA 'five-foreigner' rule which crippled the game until it had to be dropped in the early 90's under the same EU restraint of trade laws...
He's already done his best to kill the English style of football (fast-paced, exciting and attacking) in favour of his apparent 'ideal game' which would seem to be a dull, non-contact, turn-based strategy played by emotionless automatons. Consider recent rule changes - the crackdown on 'foul or abusive language' and 'crowd incitement' means that, to the letter of the law, it can be deemed an offence to, among other things:
- celebrate a goal (inciting the crowd)
- question a referee's decision or ask him to explain it (dissent)
- show frustration if a decision goes against you or you misplace a pass (dissent)
- criticise a teammate on the pitch for failing to pass to you (abusive language)
Of course not forgetting that most heinous of crimes - criticising a Match Official in a post-match interview. You must blindly accept the increasing level of incompetence in the profession. Referees are accountable to no-one, and don't have to publicly justify a single thing they do, and questioning their judgement is Bringing The Game Into Disrepute. Even if their decisions are blatantly, provably wrong.
Tackling, too, has been virtually outlawed. Any challenge may be deemed 'dangerous play' even if the ball is fairly won, a tackle from behind is a statutory foul regardless of what happens, and with players diving left, right and centre (and often getting the desired free-kick regardless of how ludicrous the dive) there is no flow to the game any more. Teams are almost expected to sit back and let the opposition's attack play out without attempting to interfere, before taking their turn once the final shot is scored or missed.
And of course, it's only English teams that have foreign players, isn't it? There are no Brazilians in Spain, or Germans in Italy, are there? Oh, except there are.
The fact is, this debate shouldn't even have got this far. Any attempt to impose a quota would breach European Law and so should not be allowed (although most football associations seem to think themselves above the law anyway, so why should this stop them?)
And finally, I've also been interested to note that thus far I have not heard anyone mention that several years ago there *was* such a quota imposed, the UEFA 'five-foreigner' rule which crippled the game until it had to be dropped in the early 90's under the same EU restraint of trade laws...