From: mallon@hsi.com (Dan Mallon-Kraft)
Subject: Re: Soccer in Barcelona 92 & New Rules
Organization: 3M Health Information Systems, Wallingford CT
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 20:33:23 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.150928.29506@cam-orl.co.uk> fs@cam-orl.co.uk (Ferdi Samaria) writes:
>In article <1992Aug14.085012.2529@syma.sussex.ac.uk>, mppu3@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Conor McMenamin) writes:
>|>       ............................
>|> 	I don't claim to be a football expert, just a lover of the game.
>|> It is exactly this kind of drivel that draws all the whining about
>|> 'Americanizing' football. There are a lot of people on rss, and around
>|> the world, who like football pretty much the way it is. Let's just hope
>|> FIFA remember that there is life after '94, and that the Brazilians,
>|> Argentinians, British, Italians, Spanish, French, Columbians,
>|> Cameroonians, Koreans, ex-Yugoslavians, even a few Aussies(!) etcetc
>|> like football, and don't want to play some awful game that was invented
>|> (by FIFA-not by the USA!) to sell a sport to one country and their TV
>|> networks. If they want it, let them come and get it. We shouldn't bring it
>|> to them.
>
>I could not agree more.

As many of the people in this group seem to think that FIFA are only 
interested in making changes for 1994, let me post an article I read in
World Soccer June 1991 (page 31).

I see some interesting remarks from Platini and Voller would probably
could give two hoots about drawing the US TV networks and their dollars
into football.

"Problems Determined, Debate Opened"

Task force's first attempt

The "Football 2000" FIFA group of experts convened in FIFA House for their
first meeting under the chairmanship of the FIFA vice-president, Lennart
Johansson and the general secretary, Joseph S. Blatter.

They deliberated on the current state of modern football and laid the 
foundations for ideas aimed at reviving football's somewhat flagging
appeal.

Michel Platini(coaches), Rudi Voller (players), Jose Luis Nunez (clubs),
Peter Mikkelsen (referees), Lidio Toledo (sports medicine), Graham Kelly
(administration), Luca di Montezemolo (sponsorship), and Sergio de Cesare 
(media) are the eight experts who, headed by Johansson and Blatter and in
a series of special committee sessions, will be trying to pinpoint and
resolve the problems.

The object of the first meeting was an overall analysis of football based
on the 1990 World Cup in Italy.  A questionnaire was used to determine 
the points requiring urgent attention.

The general opinion was that present-day football was not very attractive
to watch.  This was the opinion of the task force members emanating from
a detailed inquiry conducted before the actual meeting in which they awarded
the display of football at the 1990 World Cup a six out of a maximum of 10.

In his introduction, Blatter hinted at the responsibility on the shoulders
of the members of the working party and that any decisions and reforms
they undertook would have repurcusions on millions of footballers all
over the world.

Bearing in mind that all activities directly or indirectly connected with
football generated a turnover of some 200 thousand million dollars, it
was impossible he said to overlook the economic, social, and political
impact of the world's leading sport and we had a duty to act accordingly.

The penetrating arguments indicated that the members of the task force
were well aware of the responsibility ahead of them.

Spotlighted

Nunez and di Montezemolo spotlighted the enormous financial pressure on 
clubs and the delicate balance between football and television.

The head of the Italia '90 Local Organising Committee regarded the stadia
as the key to finding the solution for most of the current problems.

More comfortable amenities and campaigns aimed at the family would be
most likely to draw spectators back into the stadia, thus, according to
the media representative di Cesare, counteracting the sterile atmosphere
which he claimed could very soon become the norm as a result of 
widespread television coverage and high admission prices.

The working party also expressed concern at the increasing interference
of government authorities in the affairs of football and at the extreme
indebtedness of many clubs, some of whom were entertaining the idea of
forming super leagues to obtain new sources of income.

The commission was also at odds with the fact that nowadays a large
portion of funds derived from football was not reinvested in the sport.
This tended to choke young talent and to widen the gulf between the
rich and poor.  The outcome was that the megaclubs were smothering the
small clubs, thereby gradually undermining the grass roots of football.

Platini put the problems of football on the pitch succinctly he said:
"In the past, a team made sure it built up its own game before destroying
that of the opponents.  Nowadays, the primary objective is to destroy and
only afterwards, if at all to build up."

What football needed most of all was ingenuity and a different mentality
from the player.

Voller replied that other rules applied at tournaments such as World Cups.
"Players find it hard at such championships to overcome their fear of 
defeat and this inevitably affects the standard of play," he said.  On
this point, Toledo took players and coaches to task for the way that
some footballers feigned injury in order to play for time.

The task force members not only voiced the needs of the groups they were
representing, but tried to include aspects they considered important for 
the other parties in their views and wishes.

The experts all agreed that football was not wallowing in a crisis.  Adopting
a negative view of the situation could, in fact, fabricate an aura of crisis.

Skimming through the spectrum of features and facts, the experts put forward
specific suggestions into the debate.  The main focal points were the laws
and referees.

The commission welcomed those measure already undertaken by FIFA, such as
proposals to combat timewasting and seperate training for referees and
linesmen.

Selected 

Kelly advocated trying out any changes to the laws in selected leagues on
a regular basis.  Prolonged trials would prevent players from undermining
the ultimate aim of a change, as has been the case in the four-step rule.

Mikkelsen was very much in favour of professional refereeing because of
the pressure resulting from modern refereeing had reached the limits
of tolerance.

Vice-president Johansson expressed his pleasure at the way the group had
chosen a constructive dialogue and continued along these lines.

Johansson aims to have the final report containing specific recommendations
from the group of experts ready by the end of 1991.  Until then the 
committee chairman has requested that suggestions be treated confidentially.

"We are poised on the brink of a difficult and important task.  It is now
our duty to work conscientiously in order to put charm back into football.

-- 
 Dan Mallon-Kraft		     mallon@hsi.com
 3M Health Information Systems	     {uunet,yale}!hsi!mallon 	    
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer