Injuries, stoppages, PKs

Numero Uno reader Boris posted this:

My personal pet peeve was how many people went down with "injuries" and then would pop back up on the field 30 seconds later. This served to slow the game down - i know it happens all the time, it just seemed to be more prevalent in this Cup. I think one crazy idea would be to say that if you are injured and play is stopped for the injury - you have to leave the field for 5 minutes (or 3 minutes). It would at least make people think twice about going down. I know there are some problems with this - but it's an easy way to create a deterent.

I thought this would be a good chance to start a discussion about some rules and ideas for possible rule changes.

Boris, I am with you in wanting to improve the flow of matches and have been pondering similar ideas, but, like you, am worried about the downside of punishing real injuries with "penalty box" time. Here are some thoughts on that and a few other topics:

Injuries

In theory I like the whole "fair play/kick it out of bounds" idea - it is a nice gesture of sportsmanship. It is, however, problematic and players exploit it to gain unfair advantages.

Far too often, the timing of a lot of these "injuries" are late in a match, often after a turnover with a potential counter-attack. I think "fair play" would dictate play on until your team wins the ball back rather than the other team having to kick the ball out of bounds. This might help to avoid things like the Portugal/Holland fiasco which ended in a needless yellow card for Deco (and eventual red). How about:

If a player requires treatment during the run of play, he should walk off to the sideline and recieve treatment, and play should continue.

If the player is unable to get to the sideline, then his team has to win the ball back and clear it out of bounds or win a goal kick, corner kick, throw-in etc. before the medical staff can come on the field.

Often, a player picks up a knock when he has been fouled - in those instances his teammates can take their time to make sure the player fouled is OK - if he's not OK, then call on the physio during that break in play. (This is how it currently works for this instance and I think it is fine.)

If the player has picked up a minor knock - tough. Walk it off and rejoin play when ready. If at any time the other team wants to knock the ball out - fine, that is their option. But they are not forced to do it by a vague notion of "fair play."

If a player is injured while comitting a foul - tough. The options should be a) get up and play hurt or b) wait until a goal kick, throw-in, etc for his team or until his team knocks it out on purpose. If the team awarded the kick is no rush and are fine with waiting or calling on physio - fine. That is their option.

Exceptions to the above are any injuries to the goalie and any head injuries.

Other ideas:

PKs

The Penalty Kick rule needs to change. The penalty box is not a good boundary for determining whether a foul stopped a great scoring chance.

I understand the idea is to discourage fouls on great scoring chances, but since the refs know PKs are basically handing 4/5 of a goal to a team, they are less likely to call fouls in the box. So we end up with more fouls comitted in the box, just fewer called. (Granted defenders are careful where they stick their legs in the box.)

This problem is at its worst on corner kicks (and direct kick crosses from a similar position)- it is a free-for-all in the box. Commentators always say there is a fair amount of contact and you have to let things go, but I disagree. Further, the refs love to whistle the attacking team for climbing-on-the back and push-in-the back fouls (refs also love the interfering with the goalkeeper call - a peeve for another post).

But to call those same legitimate fouls on the defense is a PK. Timing a header on goal correctly is one of the most difficult things to do in game - we see guys who are wide open struggle to hit the target at times. But when an attacker rises for a header and someone pushes him in the small of the back or pulls back his shoulder, the attacker has almost zero chance of scoring (it is hard enough to just make contact).

This is a foul a ref will call 10 times out of 10 in the midfield. And never on the defenders in the box. On a corner kick or direct kick cross, a defender must brazenly haul a guy down in the box for it to be even considered. Something is wrong with that.

Possible changes:

- Limit the PK to hand ball or fouls on clear scoring chance (about to go around defender or shoot) .
- For other fouls in the box, how about a direct kick with no wall from top of arc (call it a DK)? - Yes, this would be a scoring chance, but one more reflective of the chance the offense had to score pre-foul. (I know purists will hate this, but someone came up with the idea for the PK and that probably seemed ridiculous at the time.)

Some examples that would win this DK would be a) a trip in the box on a non-immediate scoring chance, b) a push in the back or a jersey grab on a header chance. (I hate the pantomime in the box where the ref comes over and separates two guys and signals "No more of that crap." He then walks away and they resume the jersey tug-off.)

I think you can also use this DK for fouls on potentially good scoring opportunities outside of the box as well. An example is when a winger like Arjen Robben beats a defender out wide, is about to bear in on goal, and is chopped down. Yes Robben wins a free kick (but often far away and out wide from goal) and the defender a yellow card, but that is a good trade-off for the defense when you consider what would happen if they didn't foul him. Wasn't that a better potential scoring chance than Torres dribbling away from goal (but in the box) and getting clipped by Thuram in the France/Spain match? Give 'em both DKs.

I'm all for great defense, but we should reward legitimately great defense - not clutching and grabbing and pushing the boundary of legal play. Once defenders have ceded a few of these DKs (and some goals resulted), we might see more of the former and less of the latter.

Free Kick Stoppages

Once the whistle blows and the ref signals free kick, the defending team cannot touch the ball (not just prevent kicking it away, which they have clamped down on), and must immediately retreat 10 yards. (Why should the team fouling get to slow the other team and set up their defense while a player lolls in front of the ball?)

(Note: I do not want to encourage guys blasting immediately into a defender after a foul and asking for a yellow card - some discretion by refs required).

It is not the God-given right of the defending team to set up a wall. So allowing excessive time for that is wrong - they comitted the foul and disrupted play so it should be incumbent on them to set up the wall quickly. If teams struggle to set up an effective wall, I think it will help encourage fewer fouls and stoppages (and I think ultimately more goals from open play). Right now, play grinds to a halt for long stretches with each foul comitted deep in the offensive zone.

Obviously there are flaws in these ideas (and some might be out-and-out crap), but I would love to hear thoughts, amendments, and any other things that are ripe for change in the beautiful game.