CALLS FOR CHANGE IN PENALTY/DISMISSAL RULES ARE IDIOTIC

CALLS FOR CHANGE IN PENALTY-DISMISSAL RULES ARE IDIOTIC

D. Ray Morton, 27th February 2014

As two English teams slumped to humbling defeats in the Champions' League last week, bizarre calls have been made for a change in the rules of the game when it comes to professional fouls which lead to red cards and penalties. Whether it was domestic bias (as it probably was considering we haven't heard any continental complaints) or something else that brought about this nonsense, it doesn't make any sense!

Martin Demichelis was rightly red carded for his awfully-timed challenge on Lionel Messi in the Manchester City vs. Barcelona fixture nine days ago and Arsenal's Wojtech Szesney, though one could be more sympathetic in his case, clearly brought down Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben the following night to earn himself a sending off of his own. Demichelis had to go. Messi had skinned him, was baring down on goal and looked guaranteed to score when his lumbering compatriot ruthlessly hacked him down in a very cynical move made to look as if he had been attempting a fair challenge.

Demichelis is no fool and has been round the block long enough to know he had no chance of winning the ball cleanly from Messi at that angle. The foul may have started ever so slightly outside the box but within the letter of the law, it is entirely up to the referee's discretion whether to award a free-kick or a penalty. In this case, however, one would suspect the speed of the action lead to the penalty decision. Messi slotted home the spot-kick and some English viewers blabbed about how the game was "ruined as a contest".

What a stupid notion and what ignorance of the game as a whole. When a team concedes a penalty and has a player sent off, yes they are at a disadvantage but that is the point! You get punished for cynicism or clumsiness as the last line of defence and that's how football should be. Any change in that law would bring about an unworkable system where oafish defenders are somehow rewarded for their own shortcomings. To say that the game gets ruined as a spectacle is to suggest that getting a player sent off is the worst thing in the world. This is not five-a-side where losing a player means losing 20% of your team. A good side can recover from having a man sent off as famously demonstrated by Barcelona against Chelsea in 2009 when Andres Iniesta's last minute heroics trumped the Londoners in the dying minutes after Eric Abidal had been, incorrectly at the time, sent off beforehand. With so many close calls in a match, how can a sending off ruin a contest more than say, a goal being ruled offside when it was not?

As mentioned, one could sympathise with Szesney to some extent, as his foul was more about getting the timing wrong instead of ruthlessly chopping down an opponent. That said, is there a better way to deal with the offence? It was a clear goalscoring opportunity and the officials are there to punish wrongful actions, not judge whether the offender's intentions were honest or not. Referees are already like incapable teachers with too many kids in their class so let's not make it any harder or more confusing for them. Face it City and Arsenal fans, this is a classic case of sour grapes.