Does Foul Play Really Count?

Three fouls in the first five minutes – right from the kick off a couple of weeks ago, Chelsea players roughed up Michael Olise with targeted fouling.

It was so obvious, it put me on instant red alert. For some reason, perhaps because it was Chelsea, the ref didn’t see red at all. He barely saw yellow. By the end of the game, well, did you notice the foul count that day? Chelsea 19, Palace 4. The card count? Chelsea 3, Palace 1. The points count? Chelsea 3, Palace 0.

According to footstats.co.uk, over the season so far, for every 100 times Palace players are fouled, Palace foul their opponents just 84 times. The club currently stands 4th in this cleaner play table. Only Villa, Leicester and Norwich are cleaner. The dirty guys who way out-foul their opponents are Watford, Burnley, Southampton and Liverpool.

In our case, teams repeatedly pick Palace players to kick. Despite missing games recently, Zaha (top) and Ayew (fourth) are still right at the top of the list of most fouled players in the Premier League this season. Only Toney and Sarr come anywhere near.

Our fast breaking style and our tricky wing play make Palace dangerous, so we so frequently see opponents cut out the danger with a foul. They hack him down, they trip him up, a nudge in the back, a tug of the shirt. By the time the foul takes place, the ball is usually long, long gone.

In the minds of professionals, there’s very sadly very little wrong with this approach. Action from referees and occasionally VAR only sometimes results in a card where it’s deserved. While experts practice selective blindness. On TV, commentators and pundits can’t help themselves, as the words fly out before the filter cuts in. Flagrant fouls are justified, they’re praised even, by use of custom cliches – a “professional” foul, a “tactical” foul, and even (gasp) a “good” foul.

The game, the fans, need a solution. What do you think? If the fouling is persistent (like Chelsea against Palace), I say rules must be changed for next season, so the 10th foul by a team brings an automatic yellow card for the offending team’s captain. The 15th foul brings him a red card.

These changes would quickly focus minds and, most important, cut thuggery and protect players using skill and speed, all the while enhancing the spectacle for the fans. We all pay to watch the best the players can produce, not the worst.

Tell us what you think by commenting below – we’d love to hear your opinion!

Properly Punish Referees and VARs Who Fail!

It happens waaaay too often. Only a few weeks ago, Kevin Friend warped the result when Liverpool came to Palace and gained two points from scoring two goals that needed both the referee and the VAR to make them legal. Friend’s failure was so obvious, he was punished by relegation to the Championship. For one week. The VAR escaped sanction.

This last Saturday, Rodri of Manchester City clearly handled in the box, the ref missed it and so did the VAR (in this case, the leg end Mike Riley). Official inaction prevented Everton from being awarded a penalty, so making safe for City two extra points that needed the ref and Riley to make them count. Now, Riley has apologised.

But, like Liverpool at Slurst in January, City in February benefit from this clear, obvious and admitted error, the kind of result-changing mistake that VAR was touted to stop. Like Palace, Everton are a bottom half team robbed by men whose inaction and incompetence achieved precisely the same outcome as a great save, a handy lick of luck or a gem of inspired skill that generates the winning goal – it changed the result.

Punishment for teams forced to swallow this injustice can be relegation to the Championship. Not for one week, of course, but for however many years it takes them to win promotion.

The game, the fans, need a solution.

Apologies and one-match demotions teach game officials zero. Nothing changes.

I say, referees who can’t get it right even with assistance from a battery of TV cameras should be heavily fined and suspended for three games for a first offence. If they do it again, fire them for good.

Plus, in the interest of fairness, the match result twisted by incompetence or worse should be voided and the match replayed. Fixture congestion should not be a problem as our bigger clubs were very happy to squeeze in more games for the so-called Super League. But if congestion really is a barrier and no replay can be scheduled, the club that profited from the errors should be forced to accept a draw as the result.

Tell us what you think by commenting below – we’d love to hear your opinion!