Friday, July 25, 2014

Belgian first division comes up with what I'm confident is the worst decision of all time


Sporza (Link in dutch, summary taken from /u/EpoxyD on reddit)

"There will be a team of former professional referees who will take note of dangerous play during the Belgian games. They will be focused mostly on dangerous fouls. If they decide the referee in game gave a punishment that was not harsh enough, they can overrule him afterwards and still punish the player."

I may be prone to hyperbole, but this may just be the WORST precedent ever set by not just a soccer league, but any organization ever. Extended review by a panel of professionals months after an event with the power to punish anything they want? Are you fucking kidding me?

Picture yourself in a relationship: You go to a bar one night, innocently flirt with a girl, then leave and nothing comes of it. End of story, right? No harm no foul? NOPE! Not anymore! Your girlfriend and her besties get to go over hours of footage and slow motion instant replay then decide on what I'm sure would be a measured and reasonable punishment. Verdict: your balls get ripped off. Basically exactly what will be happening in Belgium this season. Step on a foot? Three game ban. Mutter something under your breath about the official? Gone for the season. Over-regulation of the game is bound to happen, and that would be disastrous.

The point is this: Shit happens in games. Emotions run high, players are passionate, stuff is going to happen. It's up to the referee to regulate the play and keep people safe. Obviously if somebody goes in and intentionally breaks a leg and the ref somehow misses it, then maybe they should be punished with an extra ban. But reviewing EVERY SINGLE GAME and doling out punishments for ALL of these unseen fouls? Fuck no. It's a slippery slope, and soon even innocuous fouls will be punished with suspensions or fines. Once the whistle blows at the end of 90 minutes, that's the game. Unless they're life altering, leave your grievances and beefs about fouls on the field and forget about them. Unwritten code. It's worked for over a hundred years, no need to change it now.

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