ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 73, 23 September 1939, Page 22

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

CHANGES IN RULES OF GAME

MAKING PLAY EASIER TO WATCH

In all the big grounds during the coming season the players of the competing sides—save the goalkeeper, who carries a colour distinction—will wear identification numbers on their backs, says the writer. This is a change, obviously in the interests of the spectators, which has been freely advocated for years past. It has not met with unanimous approval. The argument against it is that there is no reason to treat professional footballers, like prize cattle. Such- argument is unsound. So is the special pleading 'that

spectators . know well enough the players of the home team, and don't care whether it is Smith, Jones, or Brown who is playing well for the visiting team. HELPING CASUAL WATCHERS. Selfish concern about the home side has been encouraged by the absence of numbers oh the backs of the players. The numbers should enable and encourage the spectators to follow the games with greater intelligence and interest. Especially will it help the casual watchers to whom even the stars are unfamiliar, and may consequently turn some of the casuals into regulars. To suggest that the players will act differently, in any direction, because they are identifiable by numbers is straining the imagination. The numbers have become more essential, in recent times, because of the increasing j tendency to make positional changes ! during the course of the matches. Confusion has often arisen in the past when the centre-forward and the out-side-right, for example, have interchanged positions. The confusion is increased when several changes are made in the original constitution of the side owing to injury. The last Cup Final provided the highest standard of final tie football seen for many years. The players in that game were numbered. The numbers didn't create the real football. But the numbers did not detract from the playing merits, and they did add interest from the spectator standpoint. LEGAL CHARGING. The one big rule change made, during the close season should most definitely have the effect of producing football more pleasing to watch. This change refers to the occasion when a legal charge may be made by opposing players. Here is the new, wording: "Charging is permissible so long as, in the opinion of the referee, it is fair and is made when the ball is within playing distance of the players concerned, and they are definitely attempting to play it." Lacking practical experience it is not easy to visualise completely the possible effects of this rule change. So

Changes in the rules of Soccer which come into operation in England this season are seen by J. T. Bolton in the "Observer" as an indication that additional consideration is being given to the entertainment side of the sport. The pleasing of the vast numbers of spectators, upon whose support the intricate structure of football in England is based, is becoming recognised by football legislators as being of more and,more importance,

much depends on the interpretation placed upon it by referees. If they interpret the new rule literally—and there is no excuse for treating it otherwise—the effects will be far-reaching, making for more scientific football. No longer shall we see a defender charging a player who is many yards from the ball while a colleague makes an easy clearance. No longer shall we see a defender deliberately allowing, the ball to run out of play over the goal-line ,by holding off an opponent • with his shoulders while this happens. Such: offences, with the new rule strictly enforced, will result in dread penalty-kick awards. Thus in this new season the spectators should get more positive and less negative foot- - ball. THE CRAZE FOR SPEED. The day has gone when there is any point in denouncing craze for' speed in football, much as many people would prefer to see science encouraged. The haste associated with ' modern play in general has to 'be. accepted as a fact. Those in authority over the game are evidently prepared to accept it. The faster the game is played, the greater the need for quickmoving referees. Hence official justification for the deletion from th« referees' list of those men who are over forty-five years of age. While fleetness of foot is not the chief credential to refereeing ability, the need for quick movement is emphasised by the spread of the diagonal method of control. The referee who is up with the play has a better chance .of* being correct •in his decisions. When it is agreed that the referee is in a position to see, the spectators have greater confidence in the correctness oi such decisions. Following on the mention of legislative changes which have as the guiding principle the interests of the spectators, there comes the vital question: Are the players now busy preparing for the new campaign, and those responsible for the actions of the : players on the field, also deciding upon playing methods which will make for more interesting football? The question has special reference tb what ara known as third-back tactics—the em- . ployment of the centre-half purely at a stopper, playing level with the fullbacks, or even behind them, thus of necessity ignoring the constructive aspect of the centre-half's play. The stopper centre-half is the unexpected legacy of the change in the offlsida rule made some fourteen years ago. Fourteen years of the stopper centrehalf is far too long. There was evidence last season that certain clubs were prepared to throw this tactical idea to the winds, and that other clubs were introducing tactics to turn this plan for defensive strength into weakness. The big hope of that vast majority of football followers whp prefer constructive football, is that. in theX coming season a grater proportion of \ clubs will realise that; "dead-end" methods are against the widest interests of the sport.