MYTHS OF THE GAME
The rules of the game of
soccer are governed by a worldwide body known commonly as FIFA. However, many
of the Laws are misunderstood. Here are some common examples of misconceptions,
myths or other common questions about the game.
1. Not all contact with
by a player’s hand is worthy of a hand ball call
by the referee. Actually, the proper terminology for the foul is handling,
however, according to Law 12, the handling must be
deliberate to be a foul. Therefore, if a player has his back to ball and
someone kicks the ball and it hits his arm, this is most likely not intentional
and therefore, not a foul. One common phrase used to determine whether contact
is deliberate is did the ball hit the hand (not a foul) or the hand hit the
ball (a foul)?. Not sure how completely correct this
is, but it is one simplified analysis that is easy to remember. Now, the
reality is that most referees call almost all contact with the hand or arm a
foul and, if there is contact to the hand when a defender is on or near his own
goal line, he will most certainly be called for it, whether deliberate or not;
unless it is Germany playing the U.S. in the World Cup!
2. The ball is out of
play when it touches the sideline. Nope, Law 9 states that the ball is in play
until the ball has WHOLLY CROSSED the touchline (sideline) or goal line. This
is true even if the ball is in the air, therefore a player cannot jump and kick
a ball back in play if it has, in the air, wholly crossed the line.
Interestingly, the player can be wholly outside the field of play and still
legally play the ball, as long as the ball is either on the line or inside the
field of play. That is why the center flags are supposed to be at least one
yard off of the touch (side) line. Similarly, the goalkeeper can legally be
outside the field of play but be holding the ball over the line in the penalty
area so that it is on the field of play. Conversely, even if his feet and body
are in the penalty area, he may not be holding the ball over the line and
outside it that would be deliberate handling.
3. Offside, what is it?
This is not so much a myth as a lack of understanding. A player is called for
being offside when two things are true, he is in an offside position AND, he is
involved in active play. A player is in an offside position when he is nearer
to his opponents goal than both the ball (thus any backward pass cannot cause
an offside offense) and the second to last defender, (usually the goalie and an
opposing team’s defender. A player is involved in active play by either
interfering with play or an opponent or by gaining an advantage by being in the
offside position. Think of it this way; imagine that the law is designed to
prohibit a player from camping out in front of the
opposition’s goal. So, if a player was doing this, and
one of his teammates sent a long pass to him when he and the opposing
goalkeeper were the only ones down on the other side of the field. He/she would
be in an offside position (which is determined at the time the pass is made)
and would be called for being so, because he/she was involved in active play by
being in that advantageous position. Imagine the same situation except that the
player was injured and sitting down near one of the corner flags. This player
is certainly in an offside position, but he is not involved in active play
because he is not interfering with play or any opposing players and gains no
advantage by sitting down away from play in an injured state. Therefore, he
should not be called for being offside. There are some situations where offside
does not apply, on a throw in, goal kick or corner kick and on a pass to a
player who is on his own half of the field.
4. Tackling from behind
is not necessarily a foul. True. Not all tackles from behind are fouls, though
a player takes his chances when attempting this difficult tackle. If performed
cleanly, and it does not endanger the safety of an opponent, it is not a foul.
However, due to the difficulty of performing such a tackle and the risk of
injury to the opposing player if the tackle is incorrectly performed, many
coaches, especially at young ages, discourage this attempt.
5. If a defensive player
tackles the offensive player but gets to the ball first, there is no foul. This
is also incorrect. Just because you get the ball first does not mean you have
carte blanche to take out the player too. A tackle where the ball is reached
first can still be called a foul if the tackle was made in a dangerous manner.
However, if you get the player before the ball, it is always a foul. But even
if you get ball first, if you then get the player in a dangerous manner, you
may still be called for a foul.
6. Play should always
stop on an offside offense or foul. No again. The referee may use what is
called the advantage rule. If the team that was fouled would be better
off if play continued, rather than it being stopped and the foul called, the
referee has the discretion to let play continue. Sometimes the referee will let
play continue for a time to see if in fact the disadvantaged team did benefit
from the continued play, and, if not, he may then call the foul.
7. Long kicks toward the
opposition’s goal are always a good thing. For little ones, the focus for them
is to kick the ball, and not much more. For them, sometimes the direction isn’t
even relevant. The older the players get though, the better their passing
skills and the more important (and feasible) possession of the ball and
controlled kicking (passing) becomes. Therefore, aimless boots downfield, or
even long dropkicks by the goalkeeper, can often be counter productive, as the
opposing team will often regain possession and bring the ball right back toward
your own goal. Even a pass backward, to keep possession, is a very acceptable
strategy. The goal of a team should be to keep possession, because, if you
don’t have possession, you can’t score.
8. If the other team has
the ball, a player should go after it immediately. Again, not always true. It
is not always good to immediately challenge the offensive player for the ball.
Sometimes it is better to delay the offensive player so that the defenders’
teammates can come and cover for him, in case he tries to
steal the ball and is unsuccessful. The defender may also want to take time to
encourage the opposing offensive player to move in one direction or the other
(usually toward the touch line) or may also want to use patience to find just
the right time to attempt the tackle (when the ball is furthest from the
offensive player’s feet or when he has proper cover from his teammates).
Patience and containment are often the goal of good defending, many times
making an immediate challenge ill advised.
9. Physical Contact and shoulder charges are permissible. True. While violent
and dangerous conduct is impermissible, jockeying for position and shoulder
charges (two players contacting each other when going for the ball) are
permitted, even if the contact sends one player flying. For a fair shoulder
charge, imagine the ball at
10. A player's
"position" is not set in stone. Nothing drives a coach nuttier than a
player not playing in his "position",
however, positions on the field are relative. At any point in time, any field
player can be almost anywhere on the field. They might be making a run into
space to get open for a pass, dropping back to cover for someone else making a
run, moving to support the player with the ball, or moving to support the
player defending the ball. In general, they should maintain a certain
"shape" on the field, but at any instant depending on the
opportunities and necessities of what is happening, the general rule may not
apply. Additionally, there are no set attributes that always apply to a certain
position. Therefore, there is no position that is the "only" one
your child can or should play. Your child could, during a game or over the
course of a season, play more than one position. For youth soccer, all the players benefit by
playing different positions.
11. A coach who wins is a good coach, one who loses is not. This is not necessarily the case. The players and the coaches usually determine who wins and loses. It may be that the winning coach was fortunate to have better athletes assigned to the roster, or he/she may have recruited them. If you want to know if the coach is good, look for improvement in the players over the course of a year or two, whether or not they are having fun, has their been any movement among the players to other teams, does his/her players show up for practice all the time and most of all, are they developing a love for the game. If these are true, you have a good coach