New Penalty Taking Rule Epitomizes the Futility of FIFA

As the sport's governing body, FIFA can make unilateral decisions which will be implemented at every level of the game from the grassroots up. This organization has the power to change football for the better but instead it is intent on introducing pointless and confusing legislation.

FIFA's latest brainwave is to change the laws regarding the taking of penalties on the eve of their flagship footballing competition. As of the World Cup penalty takers will no longer be allowed to pause at the end of their run ups in order to deceive the goalkeeper.

This is an absolutely incredulous decision from a totally inept organization. I have never, ever heard anyone at any level of the game complaining that attempting a feint in a penalty run up constitutes unsporting behaviour.

It has never previously been an issue for players, pundits, or fans so why is it deemed so important by FIFA? I suspect that the decision making at the supreme governing body of the game of football is done by men whose knowledge of the game is exclusively academic.

I could just about imagine an elderly female relative who was not familiar with the game of football watching a penalty shoot out in which a player feints before striking the ball in order to send the goalkeeper the wrong way and saying, "Oooh I think that's a bit unfair on the poor old goalkeeper."

However, I have never, ever actually heard anyone suggest such a thing, not even a goalkeeper. In fact I have always admired players who are able to successfully send the goalkeeper the wrong way with a feint. I have tried to do it myself on a number of occasions and have never succeeded.

A penalty is a game of nerves and pausing your run up at the last minute takes a lot of nerve. If the keeper remains rooted to the spot, and I have seen this happen, you lose all momentum and are forced to try and generate enough power to score with no run up whatsoever.

It is all part and parcel of the game of football which the rest of us love and which FIFA seems so intent on disrupting. There is no record of Sepp Blatter, the man in charge of FIFA, ever playing football at any sort of level. This is reflected by many of the ideas which have been introduced, and in many cases swiftly abandoned, during his reign.

Was there a problem with the existing extra time rule? No-one else seemed to think so but Blatter's FIFA decided to change first to a golden goal rule, then to a silver goal rule and then to revert to the original system which everyone was happy with in the first place.

Blatter's FIFA has dictated to national associations that they must not use video evidence to review sending offs in the aftermath of games meaning that if a player is wrongfully dismissed they cannot appeal. Fortunately, the Football Association of England, realizing the idiocy of this rule, has elected to ignore it. 

Under Blatter, FIFA introduced a rule to restrict the amount of celebrating players can do after scoring a goal. Anyone removing their shirt after scoring a goal is now automatically booked for "offending the sensibilities of conservative spectators or nations."

Blatter also deserves credit for his suggestion that women players should be forced to play in tighter and more revealing football kits in order to attract more male spectators.

It is as if FIFA feels it needs to introduce as many new rules as possible in order to justify its existence while real football fans are left wishing they would leave the game they love alone.

If a player is wrongfully sent off in the World Cup semifinals and consequently suspended for the final would you want them to be able to appeal? Of course you would. Should a player be be booked for removing his shirt after scoring a goal? No, absolutely not. 

Yellow cards eventually lead to suspensions which can rule the players which fans pay to watch out of significant matches. As such they should be given out judiciously for genuinely dangerous or unsporting behaviour, not to protect the sensibilities of the world's most sensitive spectators.

Does anyone in the footballing world outside of FIFA think that feinting before taking a penalty constitutes cheating? No. Absolutely not.

This is what happens when you put a person in charge of the greatest game in the world whose sole qualification is a degree in business and economics. I accept that some sort of an academic education is necessary for a role such as Sepp Blatters but a level of experience and knowledge of the game of football should also be a prerequisite.

Blatter's point of view seems to be that of the neutral spectator, the fan who watches a game because there is nothing else on television and wants to be entertained.

Football as a sport should not be looking to do more to appease casual spectators, such as Sepp Blatter. It should be looking to maintain its integrity in order to avoid alienating the many millions of passionate supporters.

My message to Sepp Blatter and FIFA is simple:

'The game we love 'aint broke. Stop trying to fix it.'