James shares his opinion today on why time wasters have no place in the game.
I’m sick and tired of football turning from the beautiful game into an acting class. It gets to the point where I don’t even want to watch anymore. There’s multiple types of diving, complaining, whining and time wasting. I realize that we really can’t do anything about diving – referees (I don’t blame them) never seem to get it right. In the process of attempting to stop diving, referees are not calling fouls, especially penalties, because they believe the players are milking the contact and diving when they are actually blatant penalties. It also works the other way when players dive and the referees think they are actually fouled. Although diving is something we can’t change, we can and should abolish time wasting.
A red card is a simple solution to stop players from time wasting. Last week catching the last 5 minutes of Adelaide United loss to Bunyodkor made me sick. The amount of time wasting was a disgrace. If a player ever gets taken off on a stretcher, and once he reaches the side line jumps out of it and starts stretching (WHICH ACTUALLY HAPPENED) he should be banned for life. How can a player in so much apparent pain that he couldn’t even get lifted ONTO the stretcher, 10 seconds later gracefully prance off the stretcher and start stretching? Please, please, please, please referees, penalize these players! Yellow cards are not enough. In order for players to learn they need to receive harsh punishments; at the very least, if a player comes off in a stretcher, they are not allowed to play in the game anymore. It really is getting out of hand, and football is turning into a game where cheating is the best game plan.
Time wasting also should not work if referees add on time. So why, when players are down for 2 minutes getting medical attention in extra time, is there no more added time? While we do see it happen occasionally, a lot of time we don’t and that is something I truly don’t understand.
I hope you have enjoyed my short rant on time wasting, what are your thoughts? How can we improve the game?
About James
i think a red card is a bit harsh. 1 less player could loss or win someone a game. i think yellow cards should be handed out more regularly to these offenders but
yellow cards have lost their authority on the game. when do you see a referee giving a second yellow when it is deserved. like you said red cards can win someone a game but isn’t that the point of cards? Cards are punishments. I think they should add a rule that if you need assistance you need to step out of the field for the same time the medical personal took to assist you.
A bit harsh but I agree that if you get stretchered off, you shouldn’t be allowed to return to play
2 Things that i have noticed and want to point out 1) when a player is actually really hurt he normally doesn’t fuss too much and asks for assistance or an immediate change 2) if the referee’s actually count ALL the time that they take and add it to extra time that would cut their incentive to eat the clock, think about 15 min of extra time for a few games i think they would think twice about trying to win an “Oscar” that match.