Refs to Punish Bad Behaviour?

Manchester United Players Intimidating The Ref As Per Usual

Apparently, a concerted effort by the English Football Association (FA), Premier League (EPL) and Football League (EFL) aims to stamp out "intolerable behaviour" by players and managers during the coming season.
I'll believe it when I see it.
For far too many years, players and managers have been allowed to get away with a variety of disciplinary offences with the aim of intimidating referees and influencing their decision making.
These offences include:

• Public displays of disagreement at refereeing decisions through body language, gestures and verbal abuse.
• Appeals to referees to increase punishments on opposing players, decrease punishments on their own players, and to overturn decisions they disagree with.
• Ganging up on match officials in a threatening manner.
• Going to ground too easily, diving and feigning serious injury. (It's not clear that this type of behaviour is going to be addressed by the new rules—I suspect it will not be.)

The 10-Yard Rule

In my younger days, my primary Winter sport was rugby (I was a little too tall and, er, industrial for the daintier game of football). One thing every rugby player learns very quickly is to keep their mouth shut and obey the referee at all times. Why? Because anytime a player shows any form of dissent, the referee will immediately punish the player by giving the opposition team 10 yards of advantage—and another 10 yards each time any player demonstrates that he has failed to get the message. Since rugby is a far more territorial game than football, this serves as sufficient deterrent. Indeed a player will very quickly incur the wrath of his own team-mates if he loses his side ground through indiscipline. (Rugby does permit the captain of a side to respectfully ask the referee to explain a decision, so that he can instruct his team how to avoid the offence in the future, but he is not allowed to question the referee's judgement or argue with a decision.)

In 2000, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) introduced a similar 10-yard rule to football competitions. It was in force for four seasons, but I don't ever recall seeing a referee make use of it, and was a complete failure. I'm clearly speculating here, but I would argue that it failed for the following reasons:

• It was rarely and inconsistently used, so it didn't act as a deterrent.
• Football is not as territorial as rugby, and a 10-yard loss of territory is typically insignificant. Many players regularly gain more than 10 yards on throw-ins alone!
• Countries that don't play rugby found the rule odd.

A Culture of Confrontation

I think it's clear that many teams are coached to intimidate referees—you know who they are! :-) They do this because they feel they get advantages from doing so. Not least among them is the fact that such confrontations fire up their fans. In a day and age where people seem to be increasingly antagonistic, disrespectful of those with differing views, and unwilling to listen to arguments that run counter to their own views, I see this as dangerous. The return of hooliganism to the football stage during Euro 2016 was sad to see in so many ways. Consequently, I see enforcement of the new laws as very important for the sport as a whole.

Football players and managers need to act professionally, accept refereeing decisions—even if they're plainly wrong—and get on with trying to win their games. Referees are only human, after all. On the whole, teams will benefit from as many bad decisions as those that go against them, and—in any case—I've yet to see a referee persuaded to change his mind by sound argument from a player.

"I Didn't See It"

Managers such as Arsène Wenger and Jose Mourinho—who are capable of observing the minutest shirt tug or ankle tap by an opposing player in microscopic detail, but somehow get temporary blindness when their own centre-back hits an opponent full in the face with an elbow—also need to step up and set an example. I understand why Wenger, for example, doesn't want to criticise his own players, but if he's disciplined enough to avoid doing that, then he should show the opposition and the match officials the same respect, or simply shut up.
The constant post-match whining about injustices has to cease!

Sportsmanship

In addition, players need to stop trying to hoodwink the referee by going down under slight—or imagined—contact, appealing every throw-in or corner/goal-kick decision, etc. Will that be addressed? I doubt it. Oh for the day when footballers give the ball to the opposition for a corner instead of appealing for a goal-kick in the full knowledge that they were the last to touch the ball. In golf, players are expected to call fouls on themselves (such as accidentally moving the ball at address). Similarly, cricketers through the ages are respected for walking rather be waiting to be given out. Footballers are a less sporting bunch.

Where sportsmanship fails, as it inevitably will, players need to be punished for play-acting, even if that punishment is awarded post-match. If a player dives yet wins a penalty because the referee was fooled, then that player should be awarded a post-match red card. That would soon stamp out play-acting.

The Acid Test

However, I don't see these rules working.

Consider for a moment the season opener, the Community Shield on August 7th: Leicester City vs. Manchester United. If the new rules are to work, they will have to be enforced during this game in order to set the scene for the season to follow. But it will be a very brave referee (it's scheduled to be Craig Pawson) who hands out yellow and red cards to the letter of the new law. Should he start, Wayne Rooney would be off within minutes.

If the rules are enforced, the game's major talking point will be the small number of players who get to finish the match, rather than its result. I have no doubt that the media's reaction would be to point out how the new rules have ruined the sporting spectacle, rather than defend the new rules and their enforcement.

That's exactly why I think, in practice, they'll back away from enforcing them, as they did with the failed 10-yard rule. They're simply too afraid of the adverse criticism that will result. Instead, I fully expect that Manchester United will test the waters early on and surround the referee in their customary way at the first decision to go against them. At that point, we will find out how seriously the new laws will be applied.