1. A Sin bin
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| See you in 10 minutes Frank! |
Advantages
- Less fouls - It would deterrent defenders from deliberately committing fouls on their opponents, with the intention of stopping play in order for his team to regroup. For example at Watford vs Nottingham Forest, Forest committed 20 fouls, many of them to impede players like Forestieri running through their defence and creating a goalscoring opportunity. This is obviously a very unsportsmanlike way of defending and if a sinbin was in place they would have to actually try and tackle to ball rather than barging into his opponent
- Less sendings off - If there are less fouls, there will be far less red cards to be dished out after 2 yellow cards. The game should be kept to 11vs11 wherever possible.
- A refreshed player - Like Wenger says, if the fouling player is having a bad day at the office he can deliberately get sent to the sin bin and re-focus his game and come back re-energised
Disadvantages
- More dives - Attacking players would have more incentive to try and get his opponent to foul him. This could potentially lead to more dives and attempts to con the referee
- More controversy over yellow card decisions - Referees would be under huge pressure in making crucial decisions, and could lead to more abuse towards him if he gets the decision wrong. It would also make match fixing far easier to do in some countries.
- Ultra defence for the weakened team - If a team has a player sent to the sin bin, they would probably then go full on defence mode until their player is allowed to return to the pitch. This could lead to a boring 10 minutes.
2. Larger goals
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| He hits it from long range... AND SCORES (What a surprise) |
This one is simple; Increase the size of the goal.
Advantages
- Increased number of goals - Unsurprisingly, increasing the size of the goal would lead to more goals going in the back of the net. Goals that would have hit the post or the crossbar would be now counted as a goal. Frank Lampard's effort against Germany would have gone in and we could live happily ever after.
- More spectacular long range goals - If the goal is bigger from 30 yards out, players would be more tempted to shoot from distance leading to more great goals from distance which fans love to see.
Disadvantages
- Don't fix if it ain't broke - The goals are already a good size that produces a fair amount of long range goals
- Fairness - Smaller goalkeepers would be more disadvantaged, placing more reliance on physique than shot stopping
- More direct football - meaning less encouragement for teams to play the ball into the back of the net
3. Teams should be encouraged to wear body tight shirts
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| Cameroon sporting their body tight kit at the African Cup of Nations 2004 |
Advantages
- Defenders will have to fairly use their pace rather than their fingers to keep up with attackers
- Footballers can show off their six packs better
Disadvantages
- People with large stomachs will be too embarrassed to wear replica shirts
- Possibly uncomfortable for players to wear
Conclusion: Teams should be given the option of wearing either a normal or tight fitting shirt. If the team gains from wearing these types of shirts, good for them. However, they shouldn't be made a requirement as some players dislike them.
4. Allow 2 referees on the pitch at once
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| The more the merrier |
What's better than having one referee on the pitch? That's right! Two of them
Advantages
- The referee won't have to run as much and will have less problems keeping up with play as they would only be in charge of one side of the pitch
- The referee will have a clearer view of any incidents as a result
- Another set of eyes to help make a decision
Disadvantages
- More probability of the referee accidently interfering with play
- The other referee with a worse view of an incident could provide an unintentional false account of events
Conclusion: I believe two referees on the pitch at once could work as long as one referee was a superior who would make the final call if there was an indecision between them.
5. End of penalty shootouts, and replace them with a mini football match
I've heard of the "Attack-Defender-Goalkeeper" idea before but I felt it could be improved so here's my own twist on it:
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| This mini game would be a fair better reflection of the true victors of a match |
The structure for the mini-games would work the same as the penalty shootout. The attacking team (Red) are given the ball in the centre circle, and are given 30 seconds to score a goal. The defending team (Blue) will try and run out those 30 seconds without Red scoring. After both sides have played 5 mini-games as the attacking team, the winner will be the ones who have scored the most goals. If Blue tries to intentionally foul Red, then a goal is automatically awarded to the Red team.
Advantages
- It is a far greater reflection of football than penalties- Penalties are a lottery that are based on nerves (and inside knowledge), and very little to do with skill. There is no credit given for players who can defend well, header a ball, or pass across the pitch. The only skill tested is if you don't screw up the easy task of kicking a ball into the net from 12 yards. With this mini-game, skills from all different areas of the game will be used just like the real football match.
- Football is a team sport - and therefore should be represented as one at this last stage in the game. It doesn't make sense that the 120 minutes before was all to do with the team and after that it's all down to an individual player. By replacing penalty shootouts with something else can only do the game real justice.
- The right team wins - It's common for inferior teams to play defensively throughout the 90 minutes and extra time in order to have a chance of winning on penalties. It's unfair that that very same team could win a football match despite possibly having no shots on target and <20% possession. In this mini-game, those inferior teams can only win if they have the ability to score and defend in a 3vs3 situation.
Disadvantages
- Far less entertaining for the neutral - A neutral loves a penalty shootout (myself included). The tension, the mind games and the pressure that goes with it. An alternative would probably be far less exciting
- Still unrefined - It could be still argued that a 3vs3 situation isn't a true representation of a football match, and the only way that will would be a full replay
- Less giant killings - The smaller inferior team would have less chance of winning the tie.
There you have it, those are 5 of my favourite football rule change suggestions that could improve the game for the better. Leave a comment stating if you liked any of the ideas and what rules you would change in football if you were FIFA president!
