Since my family moved to the 'burbs when I was 10, I've enjoyed playing soccer but I have never been into watching soccer. It just isn't fast paced enough to hold my interest the way hockey does. So I'm a bit shocked by my current interest in the World Cup. Am I really that bored? Or is it simply because I'm cheering on 4 different teams (US, England, South Africa and Australia- the last 3 in the order that my husband has followed since a child) and I'll lose interest as these teams are knocked out of the tournament?
I find myself spending the majority of my time watching wondering if ESPN doesn't want to expand the market for soccer in the US. I'm assuming that more people tune in for the World Cup matches than the average MLS match (this could be completely erroneous). People that aren't necessarily soccer fans but want to see what all the hype is about. So you'd think that ESPN would employ an announcer that explained some of the rules of the game. I do understand that they don't want to annoy people that are already fans by chatter explaining the game or the rules, so at the very least, you'd think they'd have the announcers refer you to a website that has the explanation of the rules. What I'm looking for is something like how the MLB explains the rules and stats of baseball on its website. The point of all this is that I spent 45 minutes searching the internet for FIFA's official red card rules. Basically, I just wanted to know if South Africa's goal keeper would be able to play their next match against France (as I now understand the red card rules, he will not play but be suspended). Do you think I could find those rules anywhere? I found a whole ton of crap about how red cards relate to human trafficking (some sort of soccer-themed promo to raise awareness of human trafficking), but nothing about the FIFA World Cup rules. It was incredibly aggravating. Eventually, I fell back on asking the question on Facebook, where an old friend nicely clarified things for me (Thanks again Jill!). Still, I can't help but feel that if FIFA wants to expand their audience, shouldn't they make it easy for people to find the rules for their tournament? Or maybe they left it up to ESPN and it's ESPN's failure?
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2 comments:
The referee has a lot of discretion in football. Some refs will give out red/yellow cards where others might just call for a free kick.
The ref can't be challenged, and even if he makes a bad call, he can't change his mind. FIFA (and Association Football in general) has been debating this issue for years.
Many have indeed thought that the refs in this particular World Cup have taken way too many liberties in handing out yellow cards, and have allowed too many goals when the fouls should have been called.
I swear the refs gave out a yellow card for "he breathed my air" on the German team (the game the Germans lost in group play) because there was NO contact between the player in question and a member of the opposing team!
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