Football has names like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski, Sergio Aguero, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to attract people to it, but this is not the reason football is the most popular sport on earth.
The reason is football, compared to all other sports, is the one sport that has stayed true to itself for the longest period of time.
This means it has not succumbed to the unattainable goal of trying to reach perfection, namely through the interference of video technology.
Football remains the exact same sport that was played at the first World Cup, way back in 1930. The same rules, the same structures, the same battles are all prevalent, without the distractions of technology that have hindered other sports.
Let’s compare it to some other sports. Let’s compare it to rugby league and cricket.
Rugby league, in its indefinite strive for perfection, now stop at scrums, at knock-ons, at tries, at potential tries and at other points in the match all in the desperate attempt to remove every single error from the sport.
Let’s ignore that a halfback can drop a kick-off on grand final day. Let’s ignore that a team can miss two tackles that would have secured a grand final victory. Let’s ignore that players aren’t perfect but the referees need to be.
Cricket has got to the point that a batsmen, who we will call Steve Smith, can be adjudged lbw to a good inswinger hitting the top of middle and leg but can still challenge the decision just in case it is sneaking over by a millimetre or two.
How does this benefit the sport? And the judgment is made by a computer predicting where it suggests the ball will go. Is this in the best interests of the sport?
In Adelaide, the video umpire spent five minutes making a complete fool out of himself, which was intolerable. An on-field umpire could have done the same thing in five seconds, which would have been tolerable.
Football ignores this endless strive for perfection. It has developed a wonderful culture of acceptance of human error. It realises none of us are perfect, and imperfections are simply part of sport, as it is part of life.
It hasn’t stood still with improving the game, however. Old leather balls were done away with, the backpass to the goalkeeper was abolished, and so was tackling from behind.
Improving the sport is important providing it is done within the boundaries that keep your game healthy. Football has done this perfectly.
Football’s brave decision to ignore video technology, when so many other sports have done so, is a credit to the administrators and the fans of the game.
Accepting human error is part and parcel of being a football fan. The chase for unattainable perfection is a mistake they can now never reverse.
Fiddlesticks
Guest
Who are you to judge? You might notice no one agrees with your rubbish
Beardan
Roar Guru
No doubt in my mind this is all true and i agree with it. However at the top level, where all games are covered by 20 or whatever cameras they could use technology if they want to, but choose not to.
Bobbo7
Guest
Football s the biggest sport because all it needs are a ball and some ground to play on, whether it be grass, concrete or dirt. Now and historically it can be played by anyone everywhere without the need to buy expensive equipment. The rules are also pretty simple. Get the ball in the net. Cricket, rugby, tennis etc require grass and or other expensive gear, meaning it is outside the ability of many in poorer places to play. Those games also have some complex rules and scoring systems. Obviously it is more complicated than that but fundamentally and historically, it is a simple game that can be played by anyone, anywhere.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I remember when the back-pass was eliminated in the early 90's. It was chaos for goalkeepers at the time as defenders passed the ball back out of habit leading to some interesting times in the box :)
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"Football remains the exact same sport that was played at the first World Cup, way back in 1930. The same rules, the same structures, the same battles are all prevalent, without the distractions of technology that have hindered other sports." Sorry to burst your bubble, but this just isn't true. Read this: http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/who-we-are/the-laws/ There have been many rule changes post the first World Cup. Football - like all other sports - would be wise to evolve with time by reforming its game where necessary as we move further into the 21st century. Not only is the premise of your article completely wrong (which I have shown), you are living in a dinosaur age with such thinking. Great organisations learn from history, respect traditions, but always move with the times as necessary. When you don't, you find yourself on the verge of extinction.
SM
Guest
I doubt you could even define the word 'courage'.
c
Guest
the game has not had to change because it is still as good as it has been for decades
offsider
Guest
Mid Barca would have to have a very bad day if you had a team from the bayview.
marron
Roar Guru
Nah man, the problem is they have poor foot-eye co-ordination in those countries.
Punter
Guest
So only Americans & Australians have such high level hand eye coordination & courage to play other forms of football????
Cameron
Roar Guru
Haha cheers mate. Enjoy your piece by the way.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
It is simple, also it doesn't high-level hand-eye coordination (as with other types of football), and doesn't require courage to play, thereby making far more accessible to kids.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Honestly, I admire your ability to continuously provide us with some of the worst opinion pieces this site has seen. Clicking on the articles you have written in the last two weeks, and reading the comments, is quite amusing. Whether you intentionally do so because you enjoy casting out a line with bait, or you honestly think like this, is not really an issue for me anymore. I just have to applaud you for continuously thinking up some of the most inane topics and writing three, sometimes four, paragraphs on it on a daily basis.
Casper
Guest
Midfielder - does it really reflect life though? Around 30 pct of soccer matches finish in a draw. I wouldn't say that that is reflecting life. When competing against someone, you are generally either successful or you're not.
Beardan
Roar Guru
You are not a guru for nothing Cameron.
Cameron
Roar Guru
"The obsession with perfection and video refs has nearly ruined league for me." Ditto.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Yet the sports that have made changes to eradicate these decisions right are still getting them wrong. Nothing is ever clear cut in life and one you can learn from sport is that life isn't fair. Maybe a good life lesson can be learned in the fact that one must learn to live with the decision. It helps in making you who you are. If you choose to become bitter and twisted as a result then that's the way you've learned.
Beardan
Roar Guru
You are almost there Marron. Its simplicity is complemented by the fact they havent sold out to technology. They understand their sport and now that it never needs to change. It never needs to be perfect. They havent tried to 'remove the howler' but allowed it to be part of the beauty of it all.
marron
Roar Guru
What you are saying there beardan is that it's simplicity has allowed it to stay the same or whatever over time which is a strength - not necessarily that it;s lack of use of technology is the reason. The technology thing is just emblematic of the larger idea, and example of it. With China/England - football has existed in various forms for many hundreds (or thousands) of years. The most popular version of it is popular for a variety of reasons - imo, its simplicity, but also the way that different cultures can express themselves through it, the lack of change, and need for change (you only have to look at the way other codes have to tinker with their rules constantly to try and balance the imperfections that arise), the tension that is created by the difficulty of the goal, the way that it can spit in the face of luck and logic alike.
marron
Roar Guru
not sure if "few skills" is accurate, although I would say, straightforward skills, and maybe that's what you meant. The British Empire certainly played it's part, but not consciously. If you read the history of this stuff, what often happened was that the british expats in places were a closed shop for the most part - they weren't interested in spreading the game or what have you, just playing football amongst themselves, like many of them had at school. There'd be a couple of mad enthusiasts who'd introduce the game to the locals and then the locals would run with it. The FA though long held the view that they were too good for anyone else. ANd keep in mind that colonies of Britain are the places in the world where football is not the most popular game! But the simplicity of the game and the ease with which you can set up a game and play, that's what did for it's popularity.