Asian Cup 2015: crackdown on time-wasting sure to meet with Aussie fans approval
IT’S an issue that has dogged Australian football’s mainstream march, a trait that offends sports fans. Now steps have been taken to address time wasting.
IT’S an issue that has dogged Australian football’s march into the mainstream, a trait that offends sports fans across the country.
But since Australia joined the Asian football confederation in 2006, time-wasting and disruption of games has become a frustratingly common occurrence in internationals and even the Asian Champions League.
Culturally acceptable in some quarters of Asia, it was an issue always deemed too sensitive to address – until now. Finally the AFC has realised that it’s a terrible look for the sport, and needs confronting.
That’s why there are signs at every one of the Asian Cup games exhorting the teams to “Don’t delay, let’s play” – the culmination of a discreet campaign launched more than a year ago.
All of the participating nations have been briefed for months that referees intend to be strict with any players they suspect of time-wasting, including the feigning of injuries.
The “60 minutes” campaign was sparked by research for the AFC, showing that the ball was active for around just 52 minutes of the 90 in a game – compared with almost 60 minutes in FIFA competitions, and almost 64 minutes in the major European leagues.
“An increase in average actual playing time is expected to lead to several gains, particularly value and excitement for the fans, improvement in technical quality of play, more broadcasting interest and, with better marketing, more access to resources to invest in football,” the AFC said at the campaign launch.
Though it has officially been bubbling away in the background since, AFC officials have made it clear they want the Asian Cup in Australia to be proof of having made progress.
If the pace of reform within the AFC can be glacial at times, taking the initiative on this when their flagship tournament is being held in Australia has been applauded by players – though bizarrely the AFC have made little attempt to publicise it to the watching crowds, beyond those banners.
“It’s a much needed initiative to be honest because it’s something that needs fixing,” said Sydney FC and former Socceroos striker Alex Brosque, who played in both Japan and the UAE – the latter in particular part of a region where time-wasting and feigning injury are part and parcel of the game.
“It’s not just frustrating for sports fans – if anything it’s worse for the players in a game where it’s going on.
“You can be chasing a game and there are people on the other side trying to halt the flow and slow things down.
“FIFA talk about fair play and the like but this is an area that needs some work. Really it’s never been spoken about before, and there’s a limited amount referees can do by themselves.”
That’s why the AFC is trying to change the mindset of teams, rather than looking for punitive measures.
“We’ve talked before about possible sanctions like a player who goes off injured having to stay off for five minutes, but that opens up a can of worms about players making bad tackles to try to get someone sidelined for five minutes,” said Brosque.
“That’s why you need something like this to try to make teams address it.”
Originally published as Asian Cup 2015: crackdown on time-wasting sure to meet with Aussie fans approval