The Weekly Take, Issue 5: Letter of the Law

It is always a major occasion in the world of football when the first- and second-placed teams in a major league play against each other. This past weekend, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid did just that, with Barcelona coming out on top courtesy of a Lionel Messi free kick.

However, this may not have been the case if two Barcelona players had received the punishment they deserved to get instead of what they actually got.

Two matches before the Barça-Atlético clash, Barcelona played against Girona, and heading into the match against Girona, Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba were both one yellow card away from receiving a one-match suspension.

However, both tried to get themselves booked so that they would miss the subsequent match against Las Palmas, thus ensuring that they would be able to play against Atlético. Alba was booked and thus suspended; Suárez was not.

While it is true that neither Suárez nor Alba were at their best against Atlético, had they been suspended for the Atlético match instead of the Las Palmas one, Barça would’ve been missing two of their starters, including their second-best player. That alone would have changed the way both teams would have approached the game.

While the yellow-card accumulation rules exist for a reason, this sort of exploitation of the rules calls for a minor change to the rules.

My proposal is as follows: the league authorities should be given the power to select which match the offending player will be suspended for in cases in which the authorities consider the player to have gone out of his way to receive a yellow card.

This does not apply to intentional fouls to stop a possible goal, because that would not be considered “going out of one’s way”, as the player who committed the foul would’ve done so anyway.

The rules on yellow cards and suspensions are not the only football rules which I believe need modification.

At present, the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO) is a red-card offense, but it only results in a free kick for the team who had the player fouled.

Thus, there are situations where it may be more advantageous for the defending team to sacrifice a player to prevent a possible goal.

If it is late in the game and the attacking team has a clear run at goal, it is often the smart play for the defending team to have someone bring the attacking player down before he reaches the penalty area.

This would prevent a possible goal or a penalty, and the defending team only has to play a few more minutes with the numerical disadvantage.

Clearly, when the rule on DOGSO was first formulated, this was not what was had in mind.

The rule on DOGSO should be changed so that regardless of where on the pitch the offense takes place, it will always result in a penalty for the attacking team.

Similar to the rules on yellow cards, in no situation should committing this offense cause the offender to benefit. Yet, that is what can happen.

One other rule which I believe needs to be changed is that on diving.

Diving should not be a bookable offense during a match.

I’m not saying that diving to try to earn a free kick or penalty should not be punished. However, it’s the toughest call for a referee to make, and often, a combination of the incident itself, the scoreline at the time, and the reputation of the players involved contribute to the decision made.

The key words are “during a match”.

To me, all decisions and punishment meted out for diving should be retrospective.

After the official review of a match, should there be any player that has found to have dived, he should receive a retrospective yellow card. If the player was also booked once during the same match, he would then receive the same punishments that apply to players who receive an ordinary red card.

While football, like any other human endeavour, will be subject to erroneous judgments made by people, as well as the possibility of loopholes being exploited, the authorities should do all they can to minimise these judgments and loopholes from damaging the game, thus making a football match a better experience for players, fans, coaches, and even referees.