Daily Mail - 30.07.2019

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Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019

SIN BINS will be

introduced in grass roots

football this season,

specifically to target

dissent. An offending

player will be sent to the

touchline for 10 minutes,

and cannot be

substituted in that

period. It is an idea that

is long overdue.

Sin bins work perfectly

in hockey and address

a variety of

misdemeanours. So

much so, in fact, that red

cards are rare and carry

sanctions that can last a

month or more. That is

where football needs to

be: very little dissent and

red cards a last resort.

SIN BIN CAN BE

USED TO STAMP

OUT DISSENT

Women’s game has to be

more than a warm-up act

BEEFY’S HELPING

HAND TO AUSSIES

Don’t outlaw

innovation

Facing ac Milan in

a pre-season friendly,

Benfica found a very

novel way to utilise

football’s new goal

kick laws.

From this season, the

ball is active once it

leaves the

goalkeeper’s foot

and does not have to

go out of the

penalty area —

although

the team

defending

are still not

permitted

within the

perimeter.

Benfica

goalkeeper

Odisseas

Vlachodimos (above)

was perfectly within

his rights, then, when

he chipped the ball up

to his team-mate

Ruben Dias, who

headed it back into

his arms. Vlachodimos

then launched a quick

counter-attack by

throwing the ball, with

greater accuracy, long

to the halfway line.

Mark clattenburg

said the move should

be banned because

‘uses of a deliberate

trick to pass the ball

to the goalkeeper to

circumvent the law’

are outlawed — but

why?

What exactly is the

trick here, and why

should a player or a

coach be

penalised for

using a

change in

the law to

his best

advantage?

if it means

the defending

team has to be

prepared for the

ball being kicked long,

or passed short, or

rolled out, or chipped,

headed and thrown,

then that makes

football more varied

and interesting.

it benefits the

smartest, most

technically capable

players too. and

that’s no bad thing,

either.

The 2019-20

campaign will be

Feyenoord’s 98th

consecutive season in

holland’s top division,

but perhaps fans

should make the most

of that now Leroy Fer

has arrived.

The Dutchman was

nothing if not

consistent in english

football.

in 2013, he joined

norwich, who were

promptly relegated

the following May,

moving on to QPR

and sharing in their

relegation the

following season. his

time at Swansea was

more of a slow-burner;

making a loan move

permanent in 2016, it

took him until the

2017-18 season to

steer them into the

championship.

now Fer has returned

to Feyenoord, who

may feel bullish about

their chances of

survival having last

gone down in 1919,

when Dutch football

was reorganised.

Still, Fer’s personal

gravity is a powerful

force and coach Jaap

Stam should prepare

accordingly.

EvErton’s new stadium will include

a 13,000 capacity Blue Wave. What’s

a Blue Wave? Well, it’s like tottenham’s

White Wall which was in turn copied from

Borussia Dortmund’s Yellow Wall. the

Germans missed a trick not patenting

that idea. they’d be almost as rich as

Bayern Munich now.

Life’s not fair:

Frank Lampard’s

‘goal’ against

Germany in 2010

was not given

«HAMILTON No 2 TUSSLE PAGE^69

Tom Watson knew,

sport just isn’t fair

CONSIDERING Sir Ian

Botham (right) is the

chairman, it is fair to ask

exactly whose side Durham

are on in the upcoming

Ashes series? Having got

Cameron Bancroft nicely

up to speed in English

conditions in time for the

first Test, the county has

replaced him with Peter

Handscomb. So if Australia

are having any difficulties in the middle order,

or even suffer an injury at wicketkeeper later

in the summer, they know where to look.

No doubt Australia’s Sheffield Shield sides

will be as accommodating when England

next tour in 2021.

Stam should

fear Fer effect

ARSENAL will have been
disappointed at the response
to their first double header
between the women’s and
men’s teams, but what did
they expect? Who wants to sit
in a stadium watching
football for five hours, no
matter who is playing?
This isn’t just about the
women’s game. Double
header matches rarely work
because fans don’t want to
hang around that long. They
like the game in short bursts.
It isn’t NFL, or cricket, where
people come in for the
afternoon, or the best part of
a day, and stadium facilities

are geared to the long haul.

So when Arsenal’s women

kicked off a friendly with

Bayern Munich at 12.30pm —

with the men’s match against

Lyon beginning at 3.15pm —

they did so before a largely

empty stadium. Had the

fixtures been reversed they

would have encountered a

different twist on the same

problem.

When England’s women used

to follow the men on to the

pitch at Twickenham most of

the capacity crowd hopped it

to the bar. That’s what rugby

fans want. A couple of hours

of the sport, the same again

for a jolly-up. Crowds cannot

just be manufactured.

Chelsea plan to give away all

tickets for their Women’s

Super League match with

Tottenham on September 8

and are expecting a ‘sell-out’.

But how can it be a sell-out

when nothing is sold? How

can the worth of the women’s

game be established if tickets

are free? One-off stunts are

no replacement for organic

growth, building a fan base,

small at first but loyal and

steadily growing. Boxing

needs an undercard; football

doesn’t. The majority of fans

don’t want to hang around

all day; and women’s teams

need their own identity, not a

job as a warm-up act.

TOM WaTSOn, who retired

from golf on Sunday at the

age of 69, delivered one of

sport’s most valuable lessons

the day he explained how he

came to be among the finest

links players in history.

When he first came over to

compete in the Open

championship, Watson said,

he hated it. he couldn’t

understand how he could hit

what he considered a good

shot, and it would get a kick

or a bad roll, and end up in a

disadvantageous position.

‘it took me a while,’ he

concluded, ‘to realise that

golf was never meant to be a

fair game.’ having done so,

Watson went on to win five

Opens and, later in life,

three Senior Opens.

he played his final round in

the latter competition this

weekend, having never

missed a cut in 18 visits.

he is only bowing out now

because he no longer feels

he can be truly competitive.

and he’s right. Sport isn’t

meant to be fair. not entirely

fair. handling those

moments of adversity, or

misfortune, or

circumstances beyond

control are what makes

great champions. it wasn’t

fair that Liverpool should

have to play Barcelona 3-0

down without Mo Salah or

Roberto Firmino — but they

did, and won.

it wasn’t fair that chelsea

should take on Bayern

Munich in the germans’ own

stadium, with Jose Bosingwa

at centre half and a callow

Ryan Bertrand at left

midfield — but they emerged

victorious in the 2012

champions League final.

and it wasn’t fair that

england had a goal not

awarded against germany at

the 2010 World cup, when

Frank Lampard’s shot clearly

crossed the line by a yard —

but that doesn’t excuse the

ridiculous, gung-ho display in

the second-half that ended in

a 4-1 defeat.

Watson’s words could apply

to each of those instances.

Sport is not just about

excellence, but about the

reaction to adversity, even in

the harshest conditions.

he took his own advice, too.

Watson was never in the

least bitter about the eight-

foot putt he missed at

Turnberry in 2009 that would

have given him a sixth Open

title at the age of 59. i was at

Lord’s, covering the fourth

day of the ashes Test that

afternoon, except england’s

attempt to bowl out

australia was being played

to a largely empty press box,

with a significant number

gathered in the back room

to watch what would have

been the greatest major win

in golf ’s history.

and when it didn’t happen,

we felt heartbroken for

Watson. But then we got on

with it because, as the man

said, it was never meant to

be a fair game.

PICTURE:

ANDY

HOOPER