A&H

RTFM - why don't the "experts" know or understand the LotG?

santa sangria

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Plenty of people in football are paid a lot of money - in the clubs: on the benches, in the stands, at the training ground. And on TV, the radio and on newspapers and media. The media in particular is crawling with football experts. The media is crawling with football experts paid a lot of money to know about football.

But they are not are they? They are not experts. 99% of them don't know the rules. They don't know the laws of the game they are supposed to be experts in. 99% of them have never read the law book, even a summary of the law book (I bet Pep has, Jurgen a little).

Like much of the football "business" and the way many clubs are "run" it's another bizarre thing about the football family that is unbelievably disproportionate - well, backward, inbred, dermatophagic, whatever.

RTefFingM you numpties and get off my TV/radio show/website until you have.
 
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Yep. Watched a game recently where the commentator claimed “it was a reckless challenge - but it didn’t deserve a booking”.
It reminded me why I usually watch football on the TV on mute now 🙂
 
I once streamed a game because I couldn't watch it on regular channels.
The only options were from eastern Europe - with their own commentators in that language.
It made more sense than I've ever heard from the commentary in English.

These people aren't meant to be experts at the game of football, it's a fluke when they are. They're meant to be faces in the game of politics around football, generate controversy and excitement because that's the baseline for what fans want and what sells articles.

It happens in other sports, I know personally one person who is only there because they have high-up connections to the people making decisions, despite having not a single clue about the rules or how the game is played. On the other hand, there are commentators who have come to us as officials (both on fora and by text/instant messaging) asking questions about the rules and why a decision was made (sometimes during a live game!) so that they can provide informed commentary. The difference is clear in the quality and detail of the commentary.
 
Yep. Watched a game recently where the commentator claimed “it was a reckless challenge - but it didn’t deserve a booking”.
It reminded me why I usually watch football on the TV on mute now 🙂

A lot of internet language seems to think reckless = red.
 
Plenty of people in football are paid a lot of money - in the clubs: on the benches, in the stands, at the training ground. And on TV, the radio and on newspapers and media. The media in particular is crawling with football experts. The media is crawling with football experts paid a lot of money to know about football.

But they are not are they? They are not experts. 99% of them don't know the rules. They don't know the laws of the game they are supposed to be experts in. 99% of them have never read the law book, even a summary of the law book (I bet Pep has, Jurgen a little).

Like much of the football "business" and the way many clubs are "run" it's another bizarre thing about the football family that is unbelievably disproportionate - well, backward, inbred, dermatophagic, whatever.

RTefFingM you numpties and get off my TV/radio show/website until you have.
Blooming heck Santa, you need a Snickers and a sit down after that rant! 🤒
 
I'm not sure what has led to this particular diatribe and I still often hear things from pundits and commentators that make me want to yell at the TV screen but I would have said that if anything, things have been improving in this regard recently. For instance there was an incident in a game last week where no less a person than Ian Wright (yes, I know ...) quoted directly from the wording of the Laws as they related to the issue under discussion. And that's not an isolated incident - Mark Chapman has done the same thing on Match of the Day on multiple occasions recently that I can remember.
 
I'm not sure what has led to this particular diatribe and I still often hear things from pundits and commentators that make me want to yell at the TV screen but I would have said that if anything, things have been improving in this regard recently. For instance there was an incident in a game last week where no less a person than Ian Wright (yes, I know ...) quoted directly from the wording of the Laws as they related to the issue under discussion. And that's not an isolated incident - Mark Chapman has done the same thing on Match of the Day on multiple occasions recently that I can remember.
I guess it’s a question(s) really...

Why don’t players, particularly elite players that may have trained 5 times a week since age 12, know even the basics (like careless-reckless-excessive force?

Is it really willful ignorance from those expert broadcasters or cultural when they lead programming down blind alleys with false assumptions, poor lines of questioning etc?

How does this affect the third team, and/or/why is it ingrained in football culture that most of the football family will ignore the rules and just argue against any officiating blindly with no reason?
 
Yep. Watched a game recently where the commentator claimed “it was a reckless challenge - but it didn’t deserve a booking”.
It reminded me why I usually watch football on the TV on mute now 🙂

Every other day you hear pundits claim a challenge was reckless so therefore HAD to be sending off:rolleyes:
 
I'm not sure what has led to this particular diatribe and I still often hear things from pundits and commentators that make me want to yell at the TV screen but I would have said that if anything, things have been improving in this regard recently. For instance there was an incident in a game last week where no less a person than Ian Wright (yes, I know ...) quoted directly from the wording of the Laws as they related to the issue under discussion. And that's not an isolated incident - Mark Chapman has done the same thing on Match of the Day on multiple occasions recently that I can remember.
The other person I remember doing this is Jake Humphrey - interesting that the best informed and most interesting pundits and players are the ones that AREN'T ex-players!
 
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