- Take players off the field for treatment and continue the play (or, adopt rugby rules by treating injured players on the field without stopping the game)
- Stop pitch-side coaching and water sessions during the game
- Subbed players to leave the field by the nearest touchline
- Get official timekeepers to apply the exact extra time
- Match officials to be of the same calibre as those seen in rugby and outlaw players intimidation tactics to change decisions
Any more ideas to improve the enjoyment and take back the game from the cheats before we lose it altogether?
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First one doesn’t work as the movement of the ball and players on the ball is less predictable than rugby.
The calibre one is tricky as you need loads and loads of refs and most of them are semi pro.
Brownie/Terry suggested yesterday that during injury breaks players shouldn’t be allowed within a certain distance of the technical area, seems like a good and easy fix to me
the rules are set up at the moment to allow the constant stoppages and like any elite sport, players / teams will find a way to take any advantage they can.
not sure about playing around physios.. would be interesting to know what would happen if the physios denied a goal scoring opportunity etc.. seems like a can of worms.
the other suggestion made about getting them off straight away and continuing is probably the best approach but it will still penalise genuine injuries and still have to stop the game when they remove the player..
Very tough problem to fix now that the lid has been lifted and it’s been allowed to happen.
Physios leave the water bottles in a convenient place, and the players are left to it, so no physio can then pass on instructions themselves
If a player goes down with a head injury, keep them off the pitch for a minute, rather than 30secs.
It'll be harsh on those with genuine issues, but equally makes almost certain that there is no concussion (the checks can be done within that minute, just off the pitch rather than on it) - But might stop the likes of Blackpool from faking them so much.
If a player goes down, where the game needs to be stopped, but no physio is required, they too can go off the pitch for 30secs.
Really is stupid that time wasting was so clamped down on last season, what with games regularly having 10+ minute injury time added at the end, only for that to suddenly disappear... Got to wonder if it was exposing Referee fitness further down the Leagues, with the officials themselves struggling with the added time EVERY week
Since the rule was added that players receiving treatment have to remain off the pitch for 30 seconds, physios have become part of the problem.
When a Stockport player was down yesterday, the referee waved for the physios to come on. The physio at the side of the pitch completely ignored him and continued to wait until the player himself signalled, further delaying the game.
I've noticed this on multiple occasions this season and the officials seem not to care in the slightest.
All EFL games to be reviewed retrospectively, any player holding their head when zero contact has occurred with that part of the body, 3 game suspension for the player
Dein contends that football's current time-keeping system is flawed, as referees struggle to accurately account for stoppage time at the end of each half. He believes fans are shortchanged, with significant time lost to goal celebrations, VAR checks, injuries, and substitutions, resulting in far less than 90 minutes of actual play. To resolve this, Dein advocates for two real-time 30-minute halves, ensuring that every minute reflects active gameplay and enhancing the fairness of the match for both players and supporters.
Bit clunky but may stop so many injury breaks.
Agree with the previous comment regarding retrospective suspensions for faking head injuries.
Just implement the current laws of the game and add on extra time that corresponds to the time lost for the injury.
Why the **** can't the dimwits who referee league one games do this?
Just make them take numeracy tests. If they can't do simple addition move them to a more suitable job.
I've just finished watching a premier league game where there were NO injuries, a few standard substitutions and no noticeable time wasting. The ref added five minutes.
Yesterday I watched a game with more injuries than I could count. A couple took over three minutes to resolve and we got a whopping seven minutes extra time.
The actual solution is easy. After each game the clubs (or better still the league ) could publish the exact stoppage time during the game together with the extra time actually played.
Indeed I think the government should make this the law for all games where the supporter pays to watch in the same way you have to show the weight of any food sold. Tongue in cheek obviously but when I pay for a football match I want to know what I'm getting!
No more substitutions allowed after 80 minutes? Forced substitutions for players requiring on field treatment?
I don’t think many managers would tell their goalkeeper to go down with an injury on 82 minutes if they were forced to substitute them before play restarts
Allowing so many stoppages, flies in the face of that basic objective.
Of course more and more stoppages could be permitted (what next, toilet breaks), but do fans really want to be stuck in the Stadium for 120 minutes, watching players drink water, having a huddle and God knows what else?
As mentioned above, it isn't just the time issue, far more importantly, it destroys momentum and with that, excitement for the paying customers.
Things were so much better when there were only 2 subs, no water breaks, and player's were taken off the pitch in order to receive treatment, except in severe circumstances.
momentum in the game, particularly if the opposition are on top. All this “let’s just make it like rugby/NFL etc” would do nothing to solve the root cause.
That certainly wouldn't have worked yesterday.
There was an incident in the second half where a Stockport player went down "injured" on the edge of their box but as they had possession the ref waved play on. The County player then double-backed towards his dying teammate so the ref had no choice but to halt play.
Some people like to call this sort of thing "game management", the more colourful phrase these days is "shithousery".
Let's call it what it really is: CHEATING.
You're not just cheating your opponents you're also cheating the paying spectator. If you want to waste time then do it the old-fashioned way. If you don't know how to do it properly then go onto YouTube and look up Tony Watt's effort against Forest; that's as good a training video as you're likely to see.
I hate it when other teams resort to this kind of practice ... and I hate it even more when we have to sink to that level.
This is one of the increasing number of reasons why I don't watch anywhere near as much football as I used to.
Water breaks only when the temperature is above 80°.
Players going down with cramp IS NOT an injury. Play continues.
Any player with a head injury is not allowed back on with 5 minutes. Play continues. If there is blood then a "blood substitute" is allowed as in rugby.
A goalkick is taken from the nearest point to where the ball is no matter where it went off.
It’d be a great way to see an occasional outfield player in goal as well. Don’t get that very often anymore…
The timewasting/play acting is only successful in football because the correct amount of added time is never added.
It also breaks up all rhythm of play. I am convinced that even if the full 90 had been played v Blackpool we would have lost and they would still have messed around with us all leaving at 8pm. It's not just winding the clock down, it is destroying the oppositions rhythm. That's why I think, for keepers at least, at enforced substitution is the way. Then they could only do it once and a keeper isn't going to want to be subbed off anyway so simply will stop it immediately.
Ban touchline team talks midway through the half. When their keeper went down and then got treatment and all their players fucked off to the sidelines, I'd have loved to see a referee be bold enough to restart the game after a set amount of time, and if they aren't ready by then, well tough tits
As far as making subs to break up the game, why not allow subs to be made during live play? This can be done by the 4th official, so he can control when they can enter the pitch. This way they can do away with the ruling of how many sub breaks you can make in a match.