Re: Discipline (From Gary's twitter feed)

By dw31/8/2015 07:14Mon Aug 31 07:14:17 2015In response to Re: Discipline (From Gary's twitter feed)

Views: 5626

I agree with much of that. I always hark back to the late sixties and well into the seventies when football was played hard but generally fairly, yet bookings were extremely rare, almost to the point of making the news if handed out. Sending offs were almost unheard of. Sadly the powers that be thought that the game would be improved if bookings were issued for progressively minor offences up to the point when referees were actively being encouraged to issue yellow and red cards like confetti. This was noticeably triggered by edicts at the start of World Cup Finals. And, yes, this simply encouraged play-acting, feigning injury, diving etc. to try to get opponents into trouble. There was then the temptation in turn for managers who were suffering from these antics to think if they can do it why not us?

The recent World Cup saw a much needed reversal of this trend. Referees were clearly told to ignore the acting and diving. It worked, even if some fouls went unpunished but it produced a brilliant World Cup. Sadly, domestic games here last season reverted to type.

Edited by dw at 09:33:25 on 31st August 2015