The FIFA rules committee is so enthusiastic about the 8-second rule for goalkeepers that they now also want to apply something similar for goal kicks, substitutions, and throw-ins. That is, in itself, a good intention – we all get annoyed by wasting time. Prime Minister Jetten naturally also has good intentions, but he is mainly busy changing all plans in no time, and FIFA can prevent that by reading this article from ‘Common Sense’ (‘Boerenverstand’) carefully. Just because of that we have posted this article in English as well.
The penalty for delaying a goal kick (penalty: corner kick) is just fine. But that does not apply to penalties for slow substitutions, and especially not for slow throw-ins. For a substitution which takes too much time, the substitute may only enter the field after a minute, and of course that should become five minutes at least. In such cases there’s a chance that player A deliberately gets off the pitch very slowly, so that his competitor B as a replacement has five minutes less to show his qualities. It is clear, however, that one minute is not enough time.
The penalty for wasting time on a throw-in has not been considered enough: the penalty will be a throw in for the opposing team. This precisely encourages deliberately committing a foul in situations where the team that benefits from time-wasting is allowed to throw in near the corner flag: especially offensively (but also defensively), it does not matter who throws in. Therefore, in these situations, the only correct penalty is a free kick for the opponent. Teams with players who can throw in front of the goal, have a problem: in those situations, the ball must first be dried with a towel, and then it cannot be thrown in on time. What could teams with this strategy do if they still want use this weapon?
⁃ Substituting (or pretending to) at the moment of a throw-in
⁃ Pretending to be injured
⁃ Instructing ball boys to ‘accidentally’ throw a ball onto the pitch
⁃ Asking for an explanation of a previous referee decision (only for team captains).
But we would not be ‘Boerenverstand’ if we did not have a much simpler solution for all these inds of delaying a game: work with effective playing time. The Dutch ‘Simplistisch Verbond’ would be jealous of such a simple and good solution.
For representatives of FIFA who do not dare to put their ego aside by following our wisdom, we have a viewing advice: please take some time and dwell upon the documentary “Real Men Don’t Cry“ (in Dutch: “Echte mannen huilen niet”).
Promoting mental health has a positive effect on making the right decisions!