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Add to FavoritesReferees could stop the game for every infringement and holding would eventually decrease. But this would only be after all the supporters have left the stadium and most of the clubs have gone out of business anyway.
Like any times rules are broken or bent, there have to be occasions when those in charge turn a blind eye. This doesn't mean that rules don't matter or shouldn't exist, but that persistent rule-breaking should be penalised, even if it's only a minor offence each time.
With holding, as with fouling, strict enforcement of football rules, or gamesmanship, would have a positive effect only up to a point. As with tackling from behind or passing the ball back to the goalkeeper, rules have been changed and enforced and these incidents have decreased for the better of the game. The same could happen with holding - if rules are enforced so strictly, players would have no option but to conform. No player likes to receive a yellow or red card, or be fined for bad behaviour. Clubs would also ensure their players avoid suspension and further punishments.
But the referee blowing his whistle would constantly stop the game without good reason. These persistent interruptions would ruin the game and drive both fans and players mad. This would mean that giving a foul and penalising players for all the holding they see would be impractical.
Football is also a contact sport and by removing the element of contact it would ruin the game. Players shoulder-charge and do use a certain amount of physical tactics, but this is all part of the game. Taking this away would take away one of the key elements of football and means it couldn't work. How can you start tackling players without making contact?
The English game has become a lot less physical over recent decades because football laws have been tightened up. Some of the tackles which were acceptable a few decades ago would see a player getting sent off now, but this doesn't mean we should go all the way and stop any form of contact.
So while referees stopping the game for every bit of holding they see would be theoretically possible and would help decrease holding, I think it would be so impractical to implement it wouldn't be worth it. And if the game did survive it, it probably wouldn't be worth watching anyway.
Learn more about this author, Ben Hughes.
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No
Football refereeing is a very sore subject with me in fact refereeing ing general is a sore subject. It is so biased and it is not just in college, it is in the pros too. The players don't control the outcomes of the games anymore, the officials do. It is so obvious and the team that they want to win will usually win. Once in a while the team is good enough to overcome prejudiced officials but usually not. It happens in all sports and at all levels.
Holding in football could be called on almost every play. Either defensive or offensive. If they called all that I see, I don't know if holding would decrease but football games would last for six hours. How can one team get six holding calls and the other team get none. Come on now, you don't really believe that do you. How many times have you seen the underdog team make a nice run or score a touchdown and out of the blue here comes a flag. "Holding number 66 on offense" It is so obvious and just pure disgusting. Officials are paid off all the time and they can say what they want to but it is very obvious to people that know football ans watch several hundred games over the years. Football is not the only place it happens either
Just last night I was watching a Duke-Georgia tech basketball game . Georgia Tech was playing right with Almighty Duke and then all of a sudden the fouls started piling up on Georgia Tech. Pretty obvious to anybody who knows anything about sports at all. There was a Memphis State-? game the other night where Memphis State shot 60 free throws and the other team 2. How obvious is that?
I don't believe that if officials called holding on every play that it would really decrease that much cause it is just part of football. There are some that are flagrant and if they really affect the play it should be called but offensive and defensive lineman are going to hold. They always have and they always will. It is just natural. The thing that needs to change is the officials need to change and be fair about it. All teams hold just not the ones that don't slip the officials a hundred spot before the game. Athletics now is not athletics. It is big business and cheating occurs all the time. Whether it is paying officials or paying players or buying big houses for a star players parents. I know of a case where a player came from a poor family that had seven children in a three bedroom house and struggled to get them cloths. One of the boys was a star running back and after having a great years a a certain University, all of a sudden his parents made so much better salaries that they had a nice new house and this poor boy that could hardly afford a five speed bicycle was driving a $60,000 BMW convertible. If the officials had called holding on a lot of the plays this kids statistics wouldn't have been near as impressive. It is just SAD.
Learn more about this author, Bill Whitney.
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