Getting booked for taking off your shirt – Or any kind of booking for over-celebrating. Surely that’s what we want in football for the players to care a bit when they score and so mean it when they celebrate. I agree that deliberately celebrating in front of the opposition fans is not how players should behave, but getting booked for leaving the playing arena to celebrate with the fans or removing their shirt is ridiculous. It seems to me a rule bought in by the power of the sponsors and makes no football sense. As obviously when a player scores, he will be shown on camera and the sponsors want their company name to be shown too.
Insistence to leave out goal line technology – Although not strictly a rule I feel it belongs in this list. As recently as last month UEFA President Michel Platini ruled out the possibility of introducing any kind of technology based on the hawk eye system used in cricket and tennis to assist referees in goal line incidents. Citing what he describes as an introduction of PlayStation football. Certainly we wouldn’t want technology on every aspect of the game as that would be too disruptive. Surely though being able to see if the ball has crossed the line or not would aid the referees.
Pointless fifth and sixth officials – Following on from the lack of goal line technology, these extra officials are UEFA’s alternative in order to help the referee around the penalty area, in the belief that more eyes mean better decisions. However I have failed to see them greatly add to the game and more eyes on the pitch will not always result in correct decisions as you are also increasing the potential for disagreement amongst the officials and people still getting decisions wrong.
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Unclear offside ruling – No-one seems to be entirely sure or in agreement about what being in ‘an active position’ entails when deciding if a player is offside. The rule states that a player is not offside until they become active in the play. For some this means that a player is not offside until they touch the ball. But players can gain advantages from being offside and not touching the ball by being in the goalkeepers line of sight or causing an unfair distraction and this is not always called up for being offside.
The Bosman Case – Has transferred too much power in contract negotiations to the players, who are effectively now able to hold their club to ransom for the wages they desire, leaving to clubs that offer better wages when they feel like it. Previously this only affected smaller clubs who were forced to tie players down on longer contracts to ensure they wouldn’t leave on a free when their contract ended. But as the Rooney saga demonstrated not even clubs of Manchester United’s stature are free from this.
