Football with Australian characteristics

Attendance figures for recent A-League seasons have been stagnating and it’s time to change the game.

FIFA Technical Director Marco Van Basten has put forward a number of suggestions for changes to the rules which would help to improve the sport worldwide, although individual nations have made their own rules in the past.

The North American Soccer League once had unique rules to appeal to an American audience such as a 32-metre offside line for example.

I think that new rules should be developed for football in Australia which would enhance the appeal of football for an Australian audience and broadcasters.

The first thing that needs to be changed is the duration of the match and the division of periods.

Channel Nine have said they aren’t interested in A-League broadcasting rights because they can’t monetise broadcasts due to a lack of opportunities for ad breaks.

Instead of having two halves 45 minutes long the game should be split into four quarters of 20 minutes.

The additional opportunities for ad breaks will make the A-League much more attractive to free-to-air broadcasters.

Another thing that could be changed is the number of players.

Some have suggested that teams should be reduced in size to increase the speed of the game but FFA most likely won’t be bringing in more than 16 teams until 2034.

If that’s the case and there are only 16 teams in the A-League then there won’t be enough opportunities for young players to develop.

So if the number of teams stays at 16 then it will be necessary to increase the number of players on each team to 16, 17 or maybe even 18.

Unfortunately this could create congestion on the small pitches used in the traditional form of the game.

The FFA’s whole of football plan talks about using “alternative spaces” wherever they are.

One space which might be suitable could be the numerous ovals which can be found around Australia which are normally used for cricket and these would have more space for the additional players.

Some of the cricketers might even be interested in taking up the sport themselves to stay fit during the off season.

Unfortunately playing on an oval shaped field will make it difficult for linesmen to judge if players are offside so this rule should be dropped.

Another thing that referees often miss are handballs like the infamous Maradona “hand of god” incident so players should just be allowed to use their hands to carry the ball if they want to.

Making traditional tackles however could be difficult so rugby style tackles could be allowed instead which could also appeal to people who like more physicality.

With as many as 18 players on each side and rugby tackles being used it could be very difficult to score goals if one of the teams scores first and decides to park the bus.

To increase the number of goals maybe rugby style goals could be used but the crossbar could be removed since it would just get in the way.

But even with a goal this size which you would think that no one could possibly miss there would still be some players who might struggle to kick straight.

To make up for this a second pair of smaller posts could be added either side of the main goal posts to award them a point for trying even if they miss. But a goal scored between the middle posts could be worth six to create big score lines.

This would create a high scoring end to end game which will be good for spectators but the players themselves could struggle if it’s hot as they did when the Nix played Perth Glory in 40 degree heat.

To reduce heat stress maybe the sleeves could be removed from the player’s uniforms and hot sweaty shin pads which trap heat could be removed altogether.

With all of these new changes some traditionalists might find the new format not in keeping with the spirit of the old rules.

To keep a bit of tradition in the game maybe we could go back to using a black and white 32 panel ‘Buckyball’ to keep them happy.

This new form of the game will need a new name to distinguish it from the version that’s currently played.

Since many fans of old soccer from the NSL days have stayed away from the new football of the A-League I think that we should go back to using the name soccer to bring them back.

This new version of the game could be called Australian Rules football or ARS for short.

I think these simple changes that I’ve suggested will help to make the game more appealing to an Australian audience and in turn increase attendance figures.

But there might still be a few more improvements that I haven’t thought of so there should always be new rules added on a frequent basis to keep the game up to date.

It might be too early to get exited but I think I might be on to something…