"Keep playing!" - What is fair play?

[Kaizero]

Ex-Man Utd and Blackburn defender, Henning Berg, says there's no such thing as "fair play" unless none of the teams gets an attacking advantage.

 

(article is in Norwegian, so I've done a quick translation.)

 

Lillestrøm manager Henning Berg wants a new debate regarding "fair play" after controversy during a friendly.

 

"Keep playing!" Berg shouted when a Fredrikstad player was down injured, egging the Lillestrøm players on to score a goal at the weekend.

 

"The rules are crystal clear; play until the ref blows the whistle." Henning Berg says to VG.

 

The Lillestrøm manager airs his opininon on the club's website.

 

"I mean everybody, both Fredrikstad and ourselves, should keep playing because they were the ones to keep attacking when one of their own players were down, and the rules are clear saying the ref needs to blow his whistle if there should be a stop in the play."

 

"I shouted for the boys to keep playing, and the ball was played. The problem was that many players already had stopped so Anthony Ujah got a clear path to the keeper. He dribbled past him, and scored, and then hell broke loose." Berg writes.

 

In hindsight, Berg says he would have told his players the same thing again.

 

"You can ask what is right or wrong in that kind of situation. But there's many different opinions."

 

What is "fair play" these days anyways? I have to say I'm personally not so sure, as when a player goes down and its team has the ball, they don't play the ball out of play and keep attacking. But the moment the opposition has the ball, it "needs" to be played out. I also feel it's become more common for teams to not play the ball over the line when they have an attacking opportunity, but be all "fair play" when they don't have a chance.

 

Should there be placed clearer rules regarding "fair play"? As in as long as the ref doesn't blow his whistle, both teams should get to play on even with a man down? (As long as it's not obviously a head injury and such, but then the ref is meant to blow regardless.)

[Lagerstedt]

In todays football where money rules there no place for "fair play" I reckon. Sure, it would be nice if all the players were looking after each other and so on, but that makes the game lose it's little edge. I don't want to pay top dollar to see 22 mates running around pretending to play. No, I want to see a good battle between two good sides and if one player happens to go down, it's up to the ref to stop the game and tell the players to calm down.

 

It's either the way it is now, ref stop the game if it's a serious injury, or all the teams stop playing if a player is down. The latter is basically what we had before and it didn't work so I vote for the ref alternative.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Play should have to continue until the ref stops the game.

 

Only drawback is that some terrified refs would stop the game at every sign of an injury in case they got lynched by Fergie for allowing a goal to be scored while one of his men was down.

[NoU]

AFAIK the new fair play rules are quite clear - keep on playing 'till the ref stops the game. Not all teams seem to get that though.

[Nobody]

Don't put the ball out of play, keep playing until there's a natural stop in the game or until the ref blows. If I was playing and the opposing team put the ball out of play, I wouldn't give it back.

[Guest Stephen927]

On FIFA it always crosses my mind to put the ball out when an opposition player goes down, but I never have done. Think I might have done it once for Kaizero, but the cunt kept the ball!

[hakka]

There is fair play in sport, but not in business. Professional Football is more a business than a sport these days.

[Shak]

It's amazing that physios still have to wait until the ball goes out of play before they can come on to treat an injured player.

 

It would solve this issue immediately if they could just come on immediately when a player goes down, with the added bonus being that playacting dickheads who writhe around on the ground with nothing wrong with them when they don't get a free-kick would only be hurting their own team.

 

It was lunacy that they hadn't changed that rule 10 years ago.

[Exiled in Texas]

Duties of the referee:

 

• stops the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensures that he is removed from the field of play. An injured

player may only return to the field of play after the match has restarted

 

• allows play to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in his opinion, only slightly injured.

 

 

Too many hurt but not injured players causing stoppage in play.

 

IMO too many players go down injured and then jump back up after a quick rest (roll around looking for foul and gesture for a card). 

 

I disagree with the process that if the trainer is called on, that the player must go off but then can come back on anytime with the referee's permission.  So a quick trip to the sideline and they are ready to play again and come back on 10 secs after play resumes.  Were they hurt - YES, but were they injured NO.

 

If play is stopped for treatment, then I'd like to see them have to wait for the next stoppage in play before coming back on.

 

I'd also allow treatment at sideline during play (player cannot leave field - trainer cannot enter). If player cannot get to sideline and needs game stopped for treatment then either Sub now or accept treatment lasts until at least the next stoppage in play.

[Nobody]

To stop all these playacting cunts, if you need to come off for treatment, you should have to stay off for three minutes or something like that.

[Exiled in Texas]

Towlie - that was my thought....either sub now or wait for next stoppage in play (none of this "Come back in, anytime game is in progress").

 

I know that it's different playing with fixed subs rather than unlimited, but it might encourage players to get over it quicker if they knew that stopping play for an injury would result in them waiting for next stoppage after they are ready to return.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

It's amazing that physios still have to wait until the ball goes out of play before they can come on to treat an injured player.

 

It would solve this issue immediately if they could just come on immediately when a player goes down, with the added bonus being that playacting dickheads who writhe around on the ground with nothing wrong with them when they don't get a free-kick would only be hurting their own team.

 

It was lunacy that they hadn't changed that rule 10 years ago.

 

I think allowing the physio on while play continues is probably the only better option than what we have now.

 

And how often is a player who goes down actually injured? One in fifty maybe?

 

TBH I don't think it's an issue at all, people go on about play getting stopped but it happens very rarely in reality, no?

[Cronky]

It's often difficult for the ref and players to tell when a player's injury is serious enough to warrant a stop in play. At the moment, everyone is erring on the side of caution, but I don't think that part of the problem is solvable.

 

However, I often think that the team who surrenders possession tends to lose out a bit. They usually end up with a throw-in in their own half, or with the ball back at the keeper, even if they were in a good attacking position. Surely the ref could simply blow up when he sees a player needs attention, and then restart the game by simply placing the ball at the feet of the player who was last in possession. I may be wrong,  but I think that when re-starting play there's no need for the ref to organise the usual 'drop ball' where the other team has a chance of gaining possession.

 

Having stuck my neck out, I'm now going to check the rules.

 

PS - Just checked and I was partly right. The ball has to be dropped, but there's no obligation for both teams to be contesting the ball.

[Exiled in Texas]

Correct - drop ball does not "require" both teams to be present.  Often used when a keeper has posession but "may" be injured and no foul occured......the referee can just drop the ball to the keeper to pick up and put back into play.

 

I know that I often refer to US High School soccer rules, which do not follow exactly the FIFA standard, but they have a few good additions.  One being, if the referee stops play, not for a foul or misconduct, and one team is clearly in posession, then the restart is an IFK for the team in posession.  (and if neither team clearly in posession - then drop ball)

[Shak]

To stop all these playacting cunts, if you need to come off for treatment, you should have to stay off for three minutes or something like that.

 

Then you're getting punished for genuinely being hurt, which isn't really fair at all.

 

There are literally no drawbacks whatsoever I can think of to just letting the physios come on to treat an injured player while the play is still ongoing.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

Wasn't there some controversy about this during the Marc Vivien Foe death event? It took the physios quite a while to come to his assitance and get him off the pitch. I think part of the problem was that the referee had to see that it was a real injury and the ball had to go out of play.

[Exiled in Texas]

To stop all these playacting c***s, if you need to come off for treatment, you should have to stay off for three minutes or something like that.

 

Then you're getting punished for genuinely being hurt, which isn't really fair at all.

 

There are literally no drawbacks whatsoever I can think of to just letting the physios come on to treat an injured player while the play is still ongoing.

 

And if Physio/Injured player is in the way of play - then IFK-Dangerous Play would be the resulting restart?

[Nobody]

To stop all these playacting cunts, if you need to come off for treatment, you should have to stay off for three minutes or something like that.

 

Then you're getting punished for genuinely being hurt, which isn't really fair at all.

 

There are literally no drawbacks whatsoever I can think of to just letting the physios come on to treat an injured player while the play is still ongoing.

If they're genuinely hurt, then a couple of minutes off the field to rest won't do them any harm.

 

Only drawback I see with physios coming on as the play goes on is that they could be in the way.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

Not every genuine injury requires three minutes of treatment, man.

[Exiled in Texas]

If treatment is required then they can resume play at next stoppage. Their own team could even create the stoppage if needed to get their player back if they needed to - but it would be less disadvantagous to the un-injured team than the current "expectation to immediately cease play - and resume with throw-in back to keeper"

[Adam]

Its simple, have it like rugby where is a player is down the doctor can come on and treat him without the ref having to do anything.

[madras]

Its simple, have it like rugby where is a player is down the doctor can come on and treat him without the ref having to do anything.

i've been saying that for years. game carries on and that player is out of the game (ie can't play anyone onside etc) and must leave the pitch after treatment.

[Thespence]

If a player is down then the ref should play on if it looks like Newcastle are going to score, if it looks like the oppo may score then it is a case of blow the fucking whistle there is man fucking down you cunt.

[Nobody]

Not every genuine injury requires three minutes of treatment, man.

No, but the way footballers make these "remarkable recoveries" needs to stop. Penalising them for staying down for nowt will have a massive impact IMO, should see loads of cheats stop doing it. And if you're really hurt, it won't do you any bad to stay off the field for a while. It's not perfect, but the ends will justifies the means.

[Heron]

Whilst I agree with some of the actions taken by FIFA in the last few decades there are many rules which appear to be a load of wank. Lining up to shake the away teams hand pre-match being one. Another is the offside rule, if you're offside you're offside in my opinion (but I'm a Defender by nature so maybe I'm biased). There are several more but I cannot be arsed to go into them. Getting into European competitions via fair-play is fucking joke too.