Dear WSC
Reading your letters page over recent months has led me to the conclusion that many of your correspondents are obsessive on subjects that are essentially trivial. I feel strongly that this valuable space should be reserved for people with something to say. Incidentally, I feel I should point out that in your article on World Cup nicknames (WSC No 137) you refer to Bam Bam as Fred Flintstone’s son, when he was in fact Barney Rubble’s son.
Alastair Walker, Farnsfield
Search: 'timewasting'
Stories
Constantly changing the rules makes things difficult for everybody, not least the referees
Watching Nigel Martyn take an eternity over a goalkick the other day prompted thoughts about the Law of Unintended Consequences. Some years ago the tidy-minded people on FIFA’s rule-making committee decided that one of their minor rules was unnecessarily holding up play. It was the one that said a goalkick must be taken from whichever side of the goal the ball went out of play.
With new rules being implemented, Steve Parish questions how the game will be affected
New season, new rules. Can’t they leave them alone? Here we go again with more changes. The most obvious will be that the goalkeeper cannot handle the ball from a throw-in (from his own team), but can move for penalties, and that you can score direct from the kick-off. Others are just for “simplification and up-dating of the wording”.
Brian Homewood explains why the Brazilian authorities continue to be world leaders when it comes to bizarre decision making
During the FIFA International Board’s jaunt down to Rio de Janeiro for their annual meeting (it had originally been scheduled for Belfast but was moved to Rio “as a tribute to Dr João Havelange”), general secretary Sepp Blatter launched into a spiel in which he described his determination to stamp out violence on the field. He could not have chosen a more inappropriate venue for his speech.