20 kwietnia 2007
Another Rant
Okay, so I watched last night's Revs/Crew game. Yes, the Revs defense was sloppy. Both of the Crew's goals were off of odd defensive errors. And yes, I could call Andy Herron a hack who has had too many chances, but that's been done better I'm sure.
What I'd like to complain about is the new directive from the league office regarding the procedures when a player is down. For the last century or so, if a player was down, whether or not a teammate, someone would kick the ball out of touch to stop play. Then, after the player was attended to, the team throwing the ball in would throw it to the other team so play could resume with no one losing out. This was one of the aspects of the game that made it, for lack of a better word, gentlemanly, no matter what sort of thugs and hooligans were actually playing.
Now there is a new procedure: when a player is down, the referee will whistle the play over at his discretion. We are only three weeks into the season, but I've already seen two occasions when players are down and the referee didn't see fit to blow the whistle. In neither case could the referee say he was unaware of the situation.
In the Revs game against Chicago two weeks ago, a Chicago player was down close to the goal and Matt Reis was pleading with the referee Baldomero Toledo to stop play. Here was Reis, who never shys away from yelling at diving forwards, asking the referee to stop play so a player from the other team could get some help. Still, it took nearly two minutes before the whistle was blown.
In last night's game, Jeff Larentowicz was down for several minutes while Steve Nicol had it out with the fourth official asking for play to be stopped. Once again, several minutes with no whistle.
What I'd like to complain about is the new directive from the league office regarding the procedures when a player is down. For the last century or so, if a player was down, whether or not a teammate, someone would kick the ball out of touch to stop play. Then, after the player was attended to, the team throwing the ball in would throw it to the other team so play could resume with no one losing out. This was one of the aspects of the game that made it, for lack of a better word, gentlemanly, no matter what sort of thugs and hooligans were actually playing.
Now there is a new procedure: when a player is down, the referee will whistle the play over at his discretion. We are only three weeks into the season, but I've already seen two occasions when players are down and the referee didn't see fit to blow the whistle. In neither case could the referee say he was unaware of the situation.
In the Revs game against Chicago two weeks ago, a Chicago player was down close to the goal and Matt Reis was pleading with the referee Baldomero Toledo to stop play. Here was Reis, who never shys away from yelling at diving forwards, asking the referee to stop play so a player from the other team could get some help. Still, it took nearly two minutes before the whistle was blown.
In last night's game, Jeff Larentowicz was down for several minutes while Steve Nicol had it out with the fourth official asking for play to be stopped. Once again, several minutes with no whistle.
Yes, I know they are doing this in the English Premier League too. Who cares? The policy obviously isn't working here, and heck, I don't know if it is working in England either. It's only a matter of time before some ref ignores a serious injury.
By the way, what happens if a player decides to kick the ball out on his own when he sees someone down? Is that a yellow now?
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
