No. 5--Who Said Soccer is a Non-contact Sport?--Fatima vs. Sporting

Well, it is generally not supposed to be a contact sport. But, some games are played with excessive contact because the referee does not “nip in the bud” fouls at the first signs of such behavior. This means giving yellow cards as soon as possible, even though it is my opinion that the Laws of the Game are a bit vague. Law 12 (FIFA Laws of the Game) states that a player can be shown a yellow card if a player is guilty of unsporting behavior and or persistently infringes on the Laws of the Game. A red card is to be given if guilty of a serious foul play such as a tackle, which endangers the safety of an opponent.

Rough play occurred in the following game and it was widespread. It was a Portuguese soccer game on TV on October 31, 2007. The teams playing were Fatima vs. Sporting. From the beginning of the game, there were serious and violent infractions such as tripping players from behind, shirts being pulled, pushing and holding. I did not see a yellow card given in the first half. If any were given, it was not in view. It is also my opinion that the referee seemed to cultivate friendships with the players as he smiled to them while discussing an infraction. If the first half of the game was rough, the second half was extremely physical. Finally, in the second half, a few yellow cards had to be issued. But by then it was too late to reduce the physical contact because the referee let the game get out of control. As an additional spectacle, I never saw so many players on the ground so frequently. Often, these players had collision injuries. This occurred about every minute or so.

There is a certain amount of roughness allowed in soccer such as fair shoulder charging and “pushing off” when one player obstructs another player from getting to the ball, but the play during this game was obviously out of line. And, it always gets that way when such infractions go unchecked early on. Maybe some fans like the roughness, but I do not. It is not that I am against normal and allowable physical contact, but in excesses, it takes away from enjoyable skillful play and is made up by distasteful brute contact--causing the flow of the game constantly stopped.

I would like to site one of my experiences when I managed an adult Portuguese team a several years ago. Most or all the players were from the Azores and were used to “playing the ball”, not “playing the man”, as the expression goes. There was one exception though, the left wing defender, Luis had his own style of play. I will explain about him shortly.

We played and lost our first four games, yet in the beginning of each game we were generally up by about two or three goals because these players played with superb ball control. I should add, it was a league with all “American” teams with the exception of our team. However, in each game as time progressed, the opposing team members soon realized that our players, not used to “American roughness”, could be intimidated this way. Our players were just not used to rough play. The strategy against us worked with all of our first four games. So I decided to do something about this.

Using my shoulder charging drill, one that I used effectively with younger players, I demonstrated soccer-legal rough play on each player. Furthermore, I personally demonstrated on each player just how hard one can hit with the shoulder, yet keeping the shoulder charges legal. I will never forget the expressions on some of their faces the first time that I shoulder charged them. In a short time however they became used to roughness.

The next activity was to teach proper defense to defensive players. This was especially aimed at that left wing defender, Luis, mentioned earlier. His style of play always got him caught up-field and out of position. As an opposing attacker came into his zone, Luis was usually trying to catch up with him. This of course was particularly serious when an attacker was dribbling the ball towards our goal. Naturally, he was always out of position that way. Well to save an eminent goal from being scored, he would trip the attacker and thus he frequently prevented a goal from occurring. Obviously, this defensive tactic is flawed, and it also caused goals to be scored from his side of the field. I instructed him on proper defense and each game hoped for the best, but in order for him to stay in proper position, it became necessary for me to take over the job as his defensive coach. But getting him to break his bad habits was difficult to say the least. It became necessary for me to place myself on the sidelines on his side of the field. He knew little or no English, so I would shout to him with my very limited Portuguese to stay in front of his opponent whenever this opponent was in his zone. It was not easy, but I was consistent and persistent. This personal soccer coaching was effective and he eventually learned to be a great defenseman.

With both of the above problem situations corrected, we went on to win every game thereafter and won the championship in our league. The point made is that a certain amount of roughness is permitted by the rules. When this is adhered to by players that fully understand it, they can better deal with other players that are exceptionally rough and still play their game. Furthermore, teaching proper defense proved to be far superior then to rely upon illegal roughness such as tripping to prevent some goals from occurring. For further information on the methods and drills, see my soccer books.

Note: A weak referee can make a difference on the outcome of a game and his or her conduct during games should be reviewed and scrutinized. Note: Under FIFA Law 12, Fouls and Misconduct, Under Disciplinary Sanctions, it says: The referee has the authority to take disciplinary sanctions, as from the moment he enters the field of play until he leaves the field of play after the final whistle.