New World Cup rules are long overdue

FOR too long, football has been marred by players behaving nastily and getting away with it because referees failed to see the incidents when they happened. But a rule introduced for the ongoing World Cup allowing retroactive yellow and red cards will go a long way to making the “beautiful game” fairer.

The current World Cup sees significant regulatory adjustment. Much of it is long overdue, however. The use of VAR (Video Assistant Referees) is not exactly new, but its adoption at the World Cup means that demands for on-field “justice” have finally been heeded. The VAR makes decisions on offsides, penalties and red cards a lot more accurate.

An unprecedented new rule is the immediate, retroactive punishment of players during the same game. Up till now, players could get away with foul play during the match if the incidents went unrecognised by referees. Retroactive punishment after the game may be effective, but the impact of in-game retroactive penalisation is far greater.

The new rule is logical. A player responsible for an illegal move in a game should be penalised in that game, so that his punishment has immediate consequences. Would-be cheats may think a sneaky handball that prevents a goal is worth a threematch ban “later”. But the new rules will give them pause for thought since the handball may still result in a red card in the same game even if the referee does not spot it when it happens.

Football’s governing body FIFA is heeding the demands of fans and pundits all over the world. Its previous stand was that controversies helped make football a fascinating sport. FIFA was relying on “injustice” to fuel rivalry and increase the fervour surrounding the game by provoking thirst for revenge.

FIFA got its desired results. But one side effect was quite hideous. An environment that thrived on controversies drew many players over to the “dark side”. They dived for penalties, hacked down opponents, committed gamechanging handballs, and more. Most of them likely felt the foul is worth the risk of getting a three-game ban later.

The advent of video referees is likely to change that thinking. A player who commits an ugly foul in the first half and gets away with it may be slapped with a yellow or red card as soon as he walks on to the pitch for the second half. The new rule’s weak point, obviously, is that while it can control players’ behaviour in the first half, it may not have the same impact towards the end of the game, when cynical fouls often happen.

Hopefully, football will be “more beautiful” after the World Cup. Commentaries and editorials have focused on corruption scandals battering the governing body, but while executives come and go, the real charms of football emanate from what happens on the field. When those charms are enhanced by genuine justice and integrity, what happens off the field will eventually lose its ability to hurt the game.