A little off topic but when i was young i believed the only contact in the game was shoulder to shoulder. nowadays pulling and pushing is allowed .players in the penalty area wrestled to the ground is common. is there any rules anymore i sometimes wonder.
I hate VAR- it sucks! Part of the game is human error and that includes the officials. I would assign it to the bin of failed ideas and phyrric victories. The victory that player A's fringe was 2cm ahead of Player B's shoelace and is therefore offside and a victory for accuracy is bollox.It will kill the game IMHO
Let's not beat around the bush here. Most of us know that since the advent of the Premier League and the influx of players from different cultures,the propensity to cheat has increased beyond measure. Foreign players have brought with them their culture conviction that to cheat and get away with it is something to be admired.....it's seen as a clever manoeuvre to achieve gain in some cultures. Whatever we think of it,it's now endemic in our game. I'm watching my under 13 Grandson. In a match recently,his team had a throw in and the lad that was covering him clearly had hold of his shirt to stop him moving. I shouted at the Ref to draw his attention,and was met with abuse from the other team coach...." what are you on about?". When I pointed out it was a definate foul and his player had clearly been coached to cheat,he got abusive toward me,as though I didn't know the game. ****ing idiot! I've always been grateful and proud of my martial arts schooling,and when I told him his immediate fortune,he quickly disappeared further down the pitch. But this is what we've come to now.....fouling and cheating is rife. In an average match,how many fouls are committed in a penalty area,often by both teams, in advance of a corner......the answer is....dozens!
All the niggly cheating does spoil the game. It should be about football skill and not who is the best at cheating but not appearing to be. I used to like that we have been a relatively honest team compared to a lot of the other sides when we were in League 1. It does count against you though and it’s a necessary evil to join in with, just not to be disadvantaged by it. Edit: That’s a quick solution for VAR. Blatant offsides, blatant mistakes and stamp out cheating - yellow and red cards.
I see partially where you’re coming from, but Eric Gates was great at “finding something to fall over” long before the big influx!! As for the under 13s! I used to coach my son’s team when he was younger. Regularly had opposition coaches say “should’ve gone down you might have got something”… This, of course, is not helped by commentators saying players have “done well” to win a free kick, when, in all honesty, they’ve dived!! Call it as it is instead of pandering to them!!!
