If you could change 1 rule in football

[bobbybottler]

1) the match ball must not be made by some twatty kid on Jim'll Fix It

2) if a player scores a hat-trick, it's his go in goal

3) what happened to getting booked for kicking the ball away after giving away a free kick?

[paultheroyal]

One law and one law only. Any handball in the penalty box is a penalty.

In all my days of refereeing this was my main bug bear.

Also, from refereeing local level upto being involved in the Premier League i can tell you that timekeeping is the biggest con going.

[Focher]

have a 10 minute period in each game, at the referee's discretion, when its 'rush goalie'

Dont you mean "spotlight goalie"?

Not in down the mound in Twyford it wasn't. It was all about world cup singles, 3 and in, and rush goalie.

[handbags_harris]

One law and one law only. Any handball in the penalty box is a penalty.

In all my days of refereeing this was my main bug bear.

Also, from refereeing local level upto being involved in the Premier League i can tell you that timekeeping is the biggest con going.

Surely you'd have to roll that out over the whole pitch though?

[Dirk Gently]

Getting booked for celebrating...laughable rule. Completely anti-football.

Agree. This rule is all about ensuring the shirt sponsors name gets prime viewing position after a goal is scored. FIFA introduced the rule after many complaints from sponsors, who are of course specifically wanting those iconic onscreen close-ups of the goal scorer/logo combo.

In many ways it is the most "corrupted" rule we have, in that is has nothing whatsoever to do with the match.

That's a load of bollox, if you're talking about the bit about bookings for taking shirts off.

In some countires it's against religious laws or local taboos to show a bare chest, so this is deemed a bookable offence - and as FIFA, via IFAB, have the firm principle that there is one set of rules for games at all levels in all countries this applies to all.

[paultheroyal]

One law and one law only. Any handball in the penalty box is a penalty.

In all my days of refereeing this was my main bug bear.

Also, from refereeing local level upto being involved in the Premier League i can tell you that timekeeping is the biggest con going.

Surely you'd have to roll that out over the whole pitch though?

Penalty box treat differently and it then saves all arguments.

[bobbybottler]

Also, from refereeing local level upto being involved in the Premier League i can tell you that timekeeping is the biggest con going.

I can imagine. Are you suggesting that Clive Thomas' very precise display of timekeeping in the Brazil / Sweden match in 1978 was in fact exactly as it should work every time....?

[paultheroyal]

The fall out from that says it all, and 99% of games now are ended when the ball is in the air from a goal kick or an attack breaks down and play switches to the opposition.

There is no skill or consistency with time keeping.

I would only ever run my second watch for injuries. If a referee signals to you that he has stopped the watch for time keeping or ball out of play for considerable time then he is lying to you.

[readingfc13]

Instead of penalties, play extra time with only seven players per side (or less if anyone has been sent off). In the event that it is still tied at full time of extra time, play on with the first to score being the winner. Might mean England don't lose at the quarter final stage all the time.... or perhaps not.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Make it illegal for defenders to shepherd the ball out of play for a goal kick. Obstruction.

^^^^ This to the nth degree. My biggst bugbear in football (moreso than diving etc..)

Will mean more goals I reckon

[leww_rfc]

Make it illegal for defenders to shepherd the ball out of play for a goal kick. Obstruction.

+1 but other than that, I like football the way it is tbf.

[leww_rfc]

Oh and i Agree with 'FiNeRaIn' getting booked for celebrating is absolutely ludicrous!

[Jerry St Clair]

A ban on people refering to the rules of the game, when they really mean the laws of the game.

[Handsome Man]

A ban on commentators trying to pronounce foreign players' names and foreign team with foreign accents with the death penalty for saying ray-yal madrid or meeelan.

[soggy biscuit]

A ban on commentators trying to pronounce foreign players' names and foreign team with foreign accents with the death penalty for saying ray-yal madrid or meeelan.

Alf Inger Harland > Alfie Horland
Pavel Nedved > Pavel Nedvyed

[Terminal Boardom]

Surely that would be for each sponsor to complain to the club involved and get its players to stop doing it, rather than getting a new law made FFS!

This is how they spun it back then... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3083490.stm

It was the big global brand sponsors who forced FIFA to act globally. The celebration goal scorer's shirt-front is the money shot for them. They get their logo replayed, often in slo-mo. Over and over. Accompanied by wild cheering.

This can be easily remedied by all players having the club's sponsors logo tattooed across their torsos. Then the sponsors get the money and the muslims are not offended.

Failing this, introduce video refs.

[bobbybottler]

A ban on commentators trying to pronounce foreign players' names and foreign team with foreign accents with the death penalty for saying ray-yal madrid or meeelan.

A couple of questions before we go ahead with that one.

1) How is Ajax pronounced?

2) Does Feyenoord get some sort of award for changing its own name to accommodate stupid English people who didn't know how to pronounce Feijenoord properly?

[Handsome Man]

A ban on commentators trying to pronounce foreign players' names and foreign team with foreign accents with the death penalty for saying ray-yal madrid or meeelan.

A couple of questions before we go ahead with that one.

1) How is Ajax pronounced?

2) Does Feyenoord get some sort of award for changing its own name to accommodate stupid English people who didn't know how to pronounce Feijenoord properly?

1) I would admire any football pundit on national telly who spent a whole game calling them A-jax with a proper English J sound like the toilet product, but I suppose you can say eye-yax without sounding too pretentious.
2) If that is true, then it is brilliant news, although a little sad.

[No Fixed Abode]

Bring the back pass rule in again. Liverpool might win the title then.

[Royal With Cheese]

I'd like the to change the rule that the team scoring the most goals doesn't necessarily win the game. Would be quite useful at the moment.